A 'tier list' of cities in China to go to when traveling

So if you know anything about China, you might know that the central government has certain ‘tiers’ of cities. Basically, cities are divided into groups based on a combination of GDP, population, infrastructure, central government control, etc. So ‘Shanghai’ (a large, rich city) is a tier one city, while ‘Shaoxing’ (a smaller, less important city) is tier three. 

We were having a beer last night and decided to come up with our own tier system based off of what we like in a city when we’re traveling. Generally, for us, we’re looking for (1) walkability (2) great food and (3) uniqueness. A nice nightlife, music scene, or great natural scenery are also plusses.

Now, everyone likes different stuff – I recognize that not everyone has the same taste as us. Note that we’re suckers for old shit. Glossy buildings, skyscrapers, malls, luxury outlets, fancy restaurants… those things don’t really do it for us. Similarly, we also aren’t big hotel spenders. We very rarely do the hostel thing nowadays but we also ain’t aiming to stay at the Ritz. We choose local Chinese hotel chains that generally cost between RMB 120-250 per night.

Of course, I think some people might call us bad tourists. Basically, we never go to any attractions unless they particularly stand out to us. Basically… we get up, walk around, explore, eat, chill, grab a drink at night. I’ll sometimes tell people that our main tourist attractions are “breakfast, lunch, and dinner”. We think that’s the best way to get a sense of a place, instead of rushing from temple to temple or whathaveyou.

Lastly, these are just our opinions are they currently stand. Some of these cities we haven’t totally given a fair shake. Like, the very first time I went to Guangzhou I wasn’t overly thrilled about the place… but then again I didn’t even go into the old district of Yuexiu (the best spot, by far)! So some of these places we’ve only been a day or two and we’re totally willing to admit we’re wrong :)

Tier One: Our Favorite Cities in China

Guangzhou, Guangdong: A.k.a. ‘Canton’. Great town, try to hang out mostly in the Yuexiu District. Dense streets, old buildings, awesome food. A lot to explore.

Guiyang, Guizhou: Capital of the Guizhou province. I wrote this a while back on /r/China, it sums up my feelings toward the place quite well:

Guiyang has grit. Let's just say that a street level photo of Guiyang is much more likely to end up in /r/urbanhell than it is in /r/cityporn

The province is famed for their Baijiu and people there are hard drinkers - it probably has the most bars per capita of any city in China. Most of the spots are very Chinese sort of joints, but tucked down an alley's my favorite bar in all of China - Tripsmith - who brews their own beer, has a properly obsessive bartender making classic cocktails, plays electroswing and Chinese reggae on loop, and unlike most of these sort of places in China is consistently packed with 99.5% local clientele. The drinking culture is strong enough to support a... variety of establishments.

Wintertime, you'll see people making wood fires on the street and inviting you over to sit my the fire. You think it's just because you're a foreigner, but then you see them do the same to other random passerbys. It's just part of the culture there.

The city center's packed to the brim with street food, you'll see charcoal grills at a plurality of corners. Guizhou food itself is simultaneously some of the best in China and some of the most unapproachable for unsuspecting or picky expats. It's intensely spicy, sour, smoky, and makes heavy use of fermented ingredients. A common aromatic is 'yuxingcao' which I love but I've seen others seem to gag on. It's a cuisine with strong, bold, and unrepentant flavors... a suitable analogy to the province itself.

Don't let me paint too heavy of a Hell's Kitchen in the 70s sort of picture though, the city's a provincial capital and sports the prerequisite Starbucks/Uniqlo/Selfieable-Tourist-Spot. But compared to what Shanghai is and what Beijing and Shenzhen are becoming - i.e. glossy, sterilized, uniform odes to modernism - I just can't help but find the roughness of Guiyang anything less than charismatic.

Macao: Macao’s small, but it’s charming as all hell. It’s got some great Cantonese food, and the Macanese food takes the cake as one of the most interesting cuisines in the world. Skip the casinos, they’re basically like Vegas but more expensive. 

Mangshi, Yunnan: The city in the Dehong Prefecture of the Yunnan province, right along the Burmese border. Really chill little town. I think we might like this place more than is reasonable, but at the very least the food’s absolutely incredible. The little towns/cities outside of Mangshi, while less charming, are worth exploring too – the landscape’s gorgeous and each ethnic group has their own food. 

Qingdao, Shandong: Built right by the sea, windy super walkable roads. Gorgeous city, seafood’s great there. Also, Tsingtao beer in plastic bags – that’s a thing.

Suzhou, Jiangsu: Old town is very walkable, the city really keeps it well. Lots of random ancient gardens that dot the little alleys. Food’s awesome, classic Jiangnan fare.

Tier Two: Great Cities

Shunde, Guangdong: Right south of Guangzhou, Shunde’s a small town but’s famous for its food. Put simply, I strongly believe that (so long as you know where you’re going), Shunde has the very best food in the country. For whatever reason, a lot of the old private chefs in the merchant families of Guangzhou were from Shunde – post 1949, these private chefs went back to their hometown. Some of the old ‘nongzhuang’ style family restaurants are just awesome, we’ve converted a number of ‘Cantonese food skeptics’ by taking little trips out there. When going to Shunde, stay in the Daliang subdistrict – it’s where the older, denser, more walkable bit is… and it’s convenient to get out to any of the Nongzhuang restaurants from that area.

Hong Kong: I have such an extreme range of emotions about Hong Kong. On the plus side… it’s extremely walkable, there’s some incredible old restaurants, its characteristic ascetic is just so damn classic, and it’s blessed with some of the coolest natural geography for any city, anywhere. Yet sometimes its intense density is a bit too much, the status-driven culture there for some reason depresses both of us, and especially on the island/south Kowloon the whole place feels very… midtown Manhattan (if you, say, like Fifth Avenue in NYC… forget about it, you’ll love HK with zero conditions). But then I’ll take a walk around Sheung Wan, or some spots north in the New Territories, or meander around some of the markets/cooked food centers… and I forget about all that nonsense. 

Kunming, Yunnan: Kunming is just plain pleasant. Awesome weather, great food. There’s a bit of a music scene (though less than Chengdu/Beijing/Wuhan/Dali) and a decent little microbrewing scene (though less than Beijing/Guiyang). On the downside, it’s a bit spread out.  

Chengdu, Sichuan: Ours, like many people’s, first reaction to Chengdu was… “this is it?” You’re greeted by an urban form that’s basically ‘bog-standard big Chinese city’ – glossy buildings, wide streets. It has such a reputation for being a charming city that there feels like there’s some disconnect there… even the old town has basically been renovated into a tourist trap. All that said, the food’s great and if you can find yourself one of the old-school fly restaurants outside the city, you’re in for one of the best meals of your life (there’s also often some of the classic Chengdu-style teahouses around the fly restaurants too, which’re cool). Also, the music scene there’s my favorite in China – I’m a sucker for Chinese folk, and that’s where much of it comes from. Plus, Pandas. 

Beijing (~2014): Great food, my favorite nightlife anywhere in the world, meandering Hutongs, center of the music scene in the country… what’s not to love? Oh, that’s right… how ugly and spread out the place is – Beijing’s a lot more ‘Houston’ than ‘New York’. Air pollution’s a drag too. But when it comes to what it has going for it, Beijing’s got a hell of a lot (note: last time I’ve been to Beijing was 2014 – I’ve heard that basically everywhere cool… the little restaurants, the punk rock bars, many little microbreweries… have basically all been ‘bricked in’ in an effort to, I dunno, make the city suck. Haven’t been back myself, dunno how much of that’s reality or exaggeration).

Wuhan, Hubei: Super-underrated city. Great food, quite walkable. Music scene’s cool too, though it’s a bit more metal – check out Vox Livehouse, and there’s a cool little bar we like called ‘Wuhan prison’ right underneath. 

Kashgar, Xinjiang (~2008): So it’s been over a decade since I’ve been to Kashgar. When I went, old town Kashgar was absolutely awesome – I’m a huge sucker for Xinjiang food too (Kashgar is the food capital of the province). I’ve heard they demolished a big swath of the old town, but it should still be pretty cool.

Taipei, Taiwan: Taipei is… pleasant. It’s hard to say anything bad about the place, and hey, those night markets gotta be like the eighth wonder of the world. But kinda like Singapore… it’s almost too clean and orderly for my tastes if that makes any sense? Still a nice city.

Quanzhou, Fujian: Really nice little city. Kinda akin to what ‘China’ was in my imagination when I was a high school student. Something very strange for a small Chinese city with some money is that their old town is basically a functioning downtown.  Very chill, highly recommended.

Kaili, Guizhou: Miao city outside of Guiyang. Definitely on the touristy side, but the ‘touristyness’ is kind of more ambition than reality at this point? Probably the best place to eat Miao food. Sunday market is really excellent.

Nanjing, Jiangsu: There’s been some redevelopment here, but this was one of Steph’s favorites growing up. Nice old town, lots of historical spots. Food’s good. Duck’s great, ditto with their crawfish (best crawfish in China, IMO). Check out Master Gao’s brew pub, my favorite microbrew in China. 

Beihai, Guangxi: Little city right on the coast. Chill spot, nice seafood. The islands outside the city are particularly gorgeous – basically like Bali, though without the rice paddies and the legions of Western tourists.

Dali, Yunnan: Dali’s sort of the opposite of most of the cities we’ve talked about – in Dali, the old town’s the place you wanna avoid. Nice walkable city otherwise, some great Bai food, good music scene, great jumping off point for places outside.

Hangzhou, Zhejiang: Hangzhou’s a pretty nice city, stay around the old town near West lake. Other parts of the city are quite spread out. Food’s great, provided you know where to go. 

Tier Three: Worth Visiting

Shenzhen, Guangdong: I’ve lived in Shenzhen for the last ten years, so I’m incredibly biased in all facets here. I simultaneously know all the enjoyable little places, and also kind of become bored with the place. I think if you asked a lot of people, they’d knock Shenzhen back a bit. Back in the day when I first got there, Shenzhen was a sort of chaotic mess of commercial activity – street food, little vendors, massage parlors, markets. I like that sort of stuff, but I think most people don’t. So over the past ten years, it’s been transforming itself into a glossy ode to modernism. Street food’s been wiped out, many dense areas’ve been leveled… all to make room for malls, chains, and well-capitalized companies. The old Shenzhen still exists in pockets. As a city of migrants, you can get solid food from around the country if you know where to look. I don’t know… it’s definitely still worth a day or two if you’re interested in China’s post 1979 economic history, or a hardware nerd (Huaqiangbei is like the center of the global electronics components trade). Stay in Luohu, the rest of the city isn’t very walkable.

Chaozhou, Guangdong: Ever heard of ‘Teochew’ people? They’re one of the world’s great diasporas – you can find Teochew people around mainland China (the largest group on Shenzhen is Teochew), Hong Kong (HK food is sort of a Cantonese/Teochew mix at its core), around South East Asia, and in the West. This is where they comes from. ‘Chaozhou’ is really three different cities – Chaozhou, Shantou, and Jieyang. Of the three, Chaozhou is likely the most pleasant (though full disclosure, never been to Jieyang).

Shantou, Guangdong: Go to Shantou now, while the old city still exists. It’s a living ruin, depressing as all hell but super beautiful in its own way. Gorgeous old colonial buildings that’ve started giving way to nature and taken over by street cats. The whole place is kind of sad in a Detroit sort of way, but definitely makes you think. Shantou’s quite walkable, and the food’s good.

Shanghai: Everything that I wrote about Hong Kong? Yeah, basically ditto for Shanghai, though it doesn’t have some of Hong Kong’s advantages. Just stay the hell out of Pudong – as Milton Friedman described it, “a Potemkin village … a statist monument for a dead pharaoh on the level of the pyramids”. Easy on the camera, but stick to the other side of the river. Puxi’s quite cool though, very walkable, some cool old neighborhoods. Be sure to eat a ‘Shengjianbao’ – basically the same idea as a Xiaolongbao but doughier with a crispy fried bottom. Awesome. There’s also some of the best Western food in China, but as a traveler you’d probably not care so much about that.

Zhaoqing, Guangdong: City where Steph’s parents are living now. Pretty walkable. Not too much going on, but there’s this really nice lake downtown with a bunch of bars and dapaidang lining it. Could never slag on a place where you can eat some classic Cantonese food, wash it down with a beer, all while looking out at this:

Urumqi, Xinjiang (~2008): Basically like what I said about Kashgar, but larger and less charming. Been ages since I’ve been there, but I quite liked it at the time.

Yangshuo, Guangxi: Yangshuo’s less a city and more of a tourism village taken to its logical limit. Both of us kinda loathe Yangshuo itself, but you certainly can’t argue with the scenery. The secret to Yangshuo is to grab either a mountain bike or a motorcycle (depending on your preferences), choose a direction, and go. Nice food once you get outside of the tourist town, and… karst hills are pretty. Our buddy Rob is really into climbing, and if that’s your thing, Yangshuo is like the place for it apparently.

Jinghong, Yunnan: Same sort of deal as Yangshuo, though the town itself is much nicer. Tougher thing is that there’s less tourism infrastructure – like, last time I was there we need to find a motorcycle repair shop and convince them to rent us one. 

Haikou, Hainan: Been a long, long time since I’ve been here (~2007). Remember the town being fun and relatively walkable but can’t remember much specifics.

Rongjiang, Guizhou: Dong minority city with some real interesting cuisine. Not much going on but food is food. 

Guilin, Guangxi: Guilin should probably be higher on the list, I guess. Pretty walkable, quite decent food… honestly kind of like the Guangxi equivalent to Quanzhou in a few ways. I guess it’s that classic case of expectation management. 

Tier Four: If it’s convenient, why not

Hezhou, Guangdong: Small town that borders Guangxi. Decently walkable. Food is so-so. 

Yulin, Guangxi: The home of the world renowned dog meat festival! But seriously, that festival’s like only 50% gimmick, dog’s one of their specialties there. No judgement on my part – there’s a few walkable places, decent little city.

Dalian, Shandong: The city itself is sort of drab. Not overly walkable. The last time I was there (~2013), the street food was absolutely incredible though. 

Xining, Qinghai: Not too much to do here except use it as a jumping point for Qinghai and the Tibetan plateau. I was there back in 2008 (when I was 22), so it’s always possible that I missed a bunch of stuff.

Zhongshan, Guangdong: Real spread out, there’s like two lanes in the old town. Like Shunde, if Shunde was smaller and without it’s world-class food. The pigeon’s pretty cool here though.

Dongguan, Guangdong: I dunno, Dongguan’s a place. It was infamous for being the prostitution capital of China for a couple solid decades there. Super spread out. Chang An is a decently walkable area though.

Changsha, Hunan: It’s been over a decade since Steph’s been here, and I (Chris) have never been. Steph didn’t have a very good impression of the place, which’s basically been what I’ve heard from almost… everyone I’ve talked to. We should probably give it a fair shake though one of these days.

Tier Five: Why the Hell am I here again?

Zhuhai, Guangdong: Take Shenzhen, remove anything worthwhile or cool in the city, then spread everything out even further so it’s impossible to get from point A to point B without a car.

Lijiang, Yunnan: Close your eyes. I want you to visualize the absolutely worst tourist trap in your country. Now take that place, and imagine the Chinese equivalent. Welcome to Lijiang.