When choosing the best time to travel to China or even to travel to China, you need to take into account both the weather and the holidays.

Climate

In terms of land mass, China is the third largest country in the world. China’s climate ranges from sub-arctic in the north (incredibly cold) to tropical (incredibly hot and sticky) in the south. In terms of topography / terrain, China is also very diverse with mountains, deserts and plateaus in the east and plains, great rivers and hills in the west. Only in terms of elevation has Mount Everest in Tibet, the highest point in the world with a height of 8,848 meters above sea level. Then you have the Turpan Depression in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region with an elevation of 154 meters below sea level. The fifth lowest point in the world.

Such extremes mean that there are times when the weather will be suitable and will make for a great travel experience and there are times when the weather will be very inappropriate and will make it a travel experience that you would rather not remember.

So in terms of weather, when are good times to visit different places in China?

In general, the best times to travel to North and Northeast China are early spring and late fall. Summer is also a great time to visit this part of China if you can handle the dry heat. The time to avoid is winter, when temperatures are as low as -40 ° C. The exceptions are ski trips and the Harbin Snow and Ice Festival.

For southern and central China, spring and fall are the best times. Winter is bearable in southern China in places like Hong Kong, Macao, and Hainan, but it’s still very cold in central China in places like Hunan and Sichuan provinces.

Unless you like high temperatures, humidity, and sweat, avoid traveling to central China during the summer. Chongqing, Wuhan and Nanjing are called the three ovens of China and if you travel there in summer, it will be difficult to fully appreciate and enjoy these wonderful cities.

Holidays

Chinese holidays can offer a unique and captivating glimpse into a very rich and fascinating culture and can also trigger overnight vacations. In China, the main festivities are the Spring Festival (the equivalent of Western Christmas), the Qing Ming Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Dragon Boat Festival.

Of these holidays, the only one I would avoid is the spring festival, where half the country packs up and goes home for the holidays. Literally. To give you an example at the 2011 spring festival, 221 million people traveled by train. This is the largest migration of people anywhere in the world.

If you travel to China during this time, train tickets will be almost impossible to buy and bus stations, train stations and most of the rest, please chaotic and crowded, very crowded. The two images don’t really do justice to the state of the train stations during this festival. You don’t want to know the state of the bathrooms during this time.