Spring from March to May is one of the best seasons to travel around China. During this period, there are more sunny days, the temperature is very comfortable and warm in most places of China and flowers of different species bloom in enjoyable colors. It’s lovely and pleasant to make a spring outing. Top destinations, like Beijing, Xian, Shanghai and Chengdu are suitable for a visit all year round. Meanwhile, there are many more destinations presenting stunning spring natural landscape, definitely worth your visit. If you’re planning to make a China tour between March and May in spring, check our carefully-selected destinations with the most eye-pleasing natural beauty below to get inspired! Different types of destinations are covered to make you appreciate the most beautiful nature and enjoy the best travel experiences both. Let’s follow the footstep of the spring to find out your wonderful China Spring tour!
Best China Spring Destination Location Map
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Jinshanling Great Wall in Beijing
Flower Blossom in Forbidden City (Palace Museum)
Train Running through Pink Sea of Flowers in Juyongguan Great Wall
Cherry Blossom in Yuyuantan Park
Located in the Northern China, Beijing filled with a long history and profound cultural heritages, is always a popular place to visit in China full year. But when the spring green wind blows through Beijing, this old city is suddenly awakened from a dull frame to a lively land bespread with alluring flowers. If you visit Beijing in spring, you can view pretty flowers in white, pale pink and other colors in different months and locations, smell sweet fragrance, read the ancient architectures rich in cultural charm, listen to interesting historical stories and celebrity anecdotes related to the flowers.
From March to May, you can watch different kinds of flowers in the Forbidden City, whose red walls and golden roofs will be decorated more fascinating. In mid-March, the leading role is the elegant Mangnolia while dainty Apricot flowers wins attention in late March. When April comes, the pure pear and adorable begonias blossom dye the palace. Dignified and graceful peony and Paeonia, and purple wistaria in May paints here a refreshing imperial garden. When hiking Jinshanling Great Wall, Badaling Great Wall and Juyongguan Great Wall in the suburbs between the early and mid-Apri, you can also see the old structures added bright colors by the apricot blossom. Besides, you can seize pink peach & plum blossom in Summer Palace, lilac and Orychophragmus violaceus in Temple of the Heaven, romantic cherry & peach blossom in Yuyuantan Park, and diverse flowers in the city parks.
▶ Learn more about: Most Popular Beijing Tours | Most Popualr China Great Wall Tours
Recommended Beijing Tours in Spring:
Yangtze River Cruise in Spring
Shibaozhai Pagoda on the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River
Starting from Chongqingand ending in Yichang, Hubei Province, the Three Gorges of Yangtze River is one of China’s most famous cultural icons that has been adopted as the landscape pattern of Chinese 10 RMB paper currency. When taking a Yangtze Cruise tour in spring, you can see magnificent mountains stretch far along the green water, golden rape flowers, pink peach blossom and many unknown flowers bloom on both river banks. You will definitely be shocked by the steep mountains and knife-cut cliffs standing by the riverway, a superlative craftsmanship from nature. Meanwhile, you can take shore excursions to visit many cultural and natural pearls, such as the Fengdu Ghost City, an over 2000-year-old site famous for rich exhibitions of hell architectures and sculptures, Shibaozhai Pagoda, a 12-storey (56-meter-tall) wooden tower built down the hillside, Shennv Stream notable for extremely rushing water and narrow channel and Three Gorges Dam - the world’s largest hydropower project. It’s such a special way of traveling, for you can enjoy an unending landscape painting rolling out before your eyes, travel across appalling canyons when you’re asleep.
Recommended Yangtze Cruise Tours in Spring:
Chongsheng Temple and Three Pagodas in Dali
Golden Raple Flower Fileds in Luoping
Lijiang Ancient Town
Yuanyang Rice Terrace in Spring
Water Splashing Festival in Xishuangbanna
Located in the southwest of China, Yunan is a popular tourist region praised as “South of the Colorful Clouds”. Whenever you travel to Yunnan, you can always enjoy very comfortable weather, more importantly, pick up various ethnic culture and natural scenarios.
In March every year, Canola flowers takes the lead to bloom in Luoping, and the amazing scene of spacious sea of flowers and distinct pyramid hills catches attention throughout the country. Kunming, “the City of Eternal Spring” suddenly turns into a huge garden city embellished by multifarious flowers, including pink begonia, white pearl blossom and violet jacaranda. The top places to visit in Kunming contains the Stone Forest with cinerous rocks of odd shapes, Green Lake where local minority people dance, sing and enjoy leisure time under sunshine.
When visiting Dali, you can visit the Cangshang Mountain and Er’hai Lake to freshen your eyes and soul, wander though Dali Ancient Town to communicate with legacy of history. Many festivals and events of Bai ethnic groups take places before and after March, so you may experience rich ethnic customs with luck. If you travel to Lijiang in spring, you can view Lijiang Ancient Town garnished by varied flowers, green weeping willows and fresh sprouts, fantastic Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and take delight in wonderful nightlife activities. In addition, during your Yunan spring tour, you may see multicolored mirror-like Yuanyang Rice Terraces and go to Xishuangbanna - “Little Thailand in China” to see the tropical forest, taste local flavors and have fun in the Water Flashing Festival.
Li River Cruise in Guilin
Longji Rice Terrace in Spring
Bamboo Rafting in Yangshuo
Local was Fishing at Sunset
As the old Chinese saying goes “the mountain and water scenery of Guilin is the best under heaven”. Guilin simultaneously earns high reputation in the world as the perfect embodiment of the eastern charm, the best image of idyllic realm and the most outstanding masterpiece of China’s Karst landform. Guilin in spring is beautiful like an enchanting watercolor beyond description. You can take a relaxing Li River Cruise to put yourself in the picture, feel the green river flowing into the distance quietly, view dramatic limestone Karst hills on either side. Later, you can transfer to Yangshuo, try a bamboo rafting or a biking trip along the Yulong River, see the faraway misty mountains, golden rape flower fields ashore and verdurous ripples on the water’s surface. The more than 1400-year-old West Street is a good place to glimpse the culture and history of Guilin and to eat, stroll and relax. If you’re a senior photographer, you can wait the fascinating sunset and watch special show of Cormorant fishing. When you plan a Longji Rice Terraces tour in Spring, April is the best time to shoot the blue-green seedling and spectacular water-filled fields while during May, you can seize moments of traditional farming methods.
Recommended Guilin Tours in Spring:
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Spring
Flower Blossom at Tianzi Mountain in May
Bet you get to know Zhangjie from the world’s first 3D film - Avatar. Yet, it’s also another notable UNESCO World Heritage site in China. Without exaggeration, all travelers to Zhangjiajie will feel awestruck when viewing the peculiar sandstone peak forest and imposing Karst landform. More than 3,000 stone pinnacles rising abruptly out of the ground with hundreds of rivers flowing through, they’re great works of nature and the real Avatar Hallelujah Mountain. Zhangjiajie in spring is magnificent as always, and it is more pretty when beautiful flowering and verdant trees and lawns blankets the awesome peaks in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Tianzi Mountain. As if these upright peaks have lives and are in full vitality in the spring. You can make stunning hiking in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park - the first national park in China and a world geopark, see the quartz-sandstone pillars, walk through twisting and tranquil Golden Whip Stream, watch lovely fishes swimming in bright, clean brook, challenge a trekking journey in Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, fully immerse in the fresh cool air and exuberant woods around. In April, you may meet cute azalea flowers in Tianzi Mountain.
Spring Scenery in Linger Garden, Suzhou
Local Tea Planatation in Hangzhou
Tongli Water Town in May
Humble Administrator’s Garden in Spring
Suzhou is a famous national historical city with over 2,500 years of history and dubbed “the Venice of China”. Elegant classical gardens of Suzhou, peaceful water towns, magical Chinese silk and the Grand Canal are four prominent highlights of Suzhou. You can choose one or more gardens to admire the superb harmony of natural elements and artistic architectures, and tasteful life of the ancients. When spring visits Suzhou, wisteria blossom in Humble Administrator’s Garden and begonia flowers in Linger Garden color the delicately carved perforated more exquisite, which appeals to loads of tourist. Zhouhuang Water Town during the warm spring is placid and picturesque, where you can find riverside dropping willows sprout green shoots and reflect on the calm river with the black roof-tiles, white walls and stone bridges. Countryside scenery, golden seas of rape flowers and warm sunshine will help you totally forget the urban bustle. You can get spring breath and quaint scenery in Tiger Hill.
Hangzhou has been loved by poets and literati since ancient times for its beautiful scenery, mildness and sense of literature and art. When visiting Hangzhou in spring, you must want to compose verse to express your affection for the alluring sights. The best site to discover the Hangzhou’s fascination is the West Lake. Spring Dawn at Su Causeway is the most famous spring landscape in Hangzhou. By this time, the temperature is excellently comfortable, adorable flowers bloom and jade green willows drop on the banks and a balmy breeze ripples across the lake. All words will fail at such beauty. You can walk around, enjoy a biking tour or boat ride. Furthermore, you can visit Lingyin Temple to worship the Buddhist culture and go to a local tea village to physically see the verdurous terraced tea plantation, tea-picking and making processes.
If you have a tight schedule, you can make a day trip to Suzhou, or take 2 days for Hangzhou. The best suggestion is visiting them both if time allows.
▶ Learn more about: Most Popular Suzhou Tours | Most Popular Hangzhou Tours
Rape Flowers Bloom in Wuyuan during March
Unique Residences in Huangling Village, Wuyuan
As temperature warms up from March, nearly ten thousands hectares of rape flowers start to bloom in the ancient villages of Wuyuan, which has been acknowledged as one of the most beautiful photography sites in China. In March and April, the terraced rape flowers spread like a golden sea, and are mingled with green leaves, trees and unique white-wall folk houses. The orderly-located ancient architectures and the golden ocean of rape flowers sketch out a serene and dreamy hideaway retreat. No wonder so many photography fans flock to Wuyuan to record the sensational natural scenery of Spring. When you walk through the traditional dwellings, overlook or steep yourself in the rape flower fields, your time will slow down, and you can feel a closer communication with the nature, experience disturbed country life to break from the outside world.
Recommended Wuyuan Tour in Spring:
Mangnolia Flowers at Huangshan Mountain
Picturesque Hongcun Village in Spring
Lucun Viallge surrounded by Rape Flower Fields
From March, ancient villages at the foot of Huangshan Mountain unfold broad golden seas of rape flowers. The likeable blossom sets off the aesthetic Huizhou-style architecture a truly painting and a peaceful retreat. Hongcun and Xidi Ancient Villages, two outstanding examples are the best places to witness human life in great harmony with nature. Nearby Lucun, Bishan, Tachuan, Xin’an River also present stunning golden rape flower fields.
Beautiful Peach Blossom in Nyingchi
Emerald Basum Tso Lake
Nyingchi is titled as “Oriental Switzerland” and “Jiangnan in Tibet” for its exceptional verdant natural beauty that is impossible to see in other regions of Tibet. The rarely seen green scenery and higher oxygen level in Nyingchi largely benefits to altitude acclimatization and presents a different sightseeing experience. During your Nyingchi tour in Tibet, you can view dense primitive forests, majestic snow-capped mountains, giant crystal glaciers, emerald lakes, large old cypress, wooden cabins, scattered herds... an unexpected beautiful fairyland.
Every spring, specifically from March to April, Nyingchi becomes extraordinarily popular all over China, for hosting grand Peach Blossom Festival. Once then, snowy mountains standing afar, white soft clouds floating in the blue sky, myriad clumps of pink peach flowers gathering above the green fields, grand canyon studded with Tibetan houses, all compose a beautiful idyllic scenery, which easy for you to forget you’re in high-altitude Tibet.
Recommended Nyingchi Tour in Spring:
Luoyang Longmen Grottoes in Spring
Peoney Festival in Luoyang
Luoyang in the west of Henan Province, central China is a famous Chinese ancient capital of 13 dynasties. Often mentioned as “Sister City” of Xian, Luoyang has a long history of thousands of years and innumerable cultural legacies. When traveling to Luoyang in spring, you can visit all historical sites as usual, and Longmen Grottoes and Peony are the two cultural symbols you shouldn’t miss. You can view lots of vivid Buddhist statues in Longmen Grottoes, admire centuries-old Buddhist culture and splendid traditional art and craft. A visit of the White Horse Temple - China’s first Buddhist temple helps you know where, when and how the Buddhism introduced to China.
In the warm months of April and May, the large and rich peony flower become the most high-profile scene in Luoyang. The peony, considered a symbol of elegance, notability, luxury and splendor is wildly recognized as “the King of Flowers” and the national flower of China. Its cultivation in Luoyang began in the Sui Dynasty around 1,500 ago and reached the peak in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Thus, if you tour Luoyang in spring, you can attend the Luoyang Peony Festival (held from early April to early May annually) to adore beautiful peony blossom of different kinds and colors and hear amusing folktales. Spending 1 extra day visiting Shaolin Temple and hiking the spectacular Mount Song from Luoyang is a classic and popular side trip idea for Chinese Kung Fu fans.
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Recommended Luoyang Tours in Spring:
Plum Flower Blossom in Ming Xiaoling
Cherry Blossom in Ancient Jining Temple, Nanjing
Nanjing is a respected ancient capital of six dynasties and itself is a scenic tourist destination with plentiful cultural relics. When visiting Nanjing in spring, you can get to Zhongshan Ling, marvel at the magnificent Mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and green mountains extending as far as your eyes can see. Ming Xiaoling, the mausoleum of the founder of Ming Dynasty in spring is a must-visit in Nanjing, where can see well-designed funeral system and remarkable combination of Chinese traditional architecture and natural environment. In spring, the best city light spot belongs to the colorful plum blossom all over the Plum Flower Mountain inside the Xiaoling. Cherry blossom near the Jiming Temple is also attractive. It’s advised to take in-depth culture exploration of Nanjing in Niushoushan Forest Park, a sacred Buddhist shrine where honors the world's only parietal relic of Buddha in fabulous modern buildings. You will feel cultural educated and relaxing when breathe the fresh air and see wide green mountains.
Recommended Nanjing Tours in Spring:
Fanjingshan (Mount Fanjing) in Guizhou
Towering Twin Mountains at Fanjingshan
Fanjingshan rose to fame worldwide after being inscribed as a UNESCO Wold Nature Heritage site in 2018. Before that, very few people knew it since China has so many famous mountains. The Fanjingshan, located in remote area of Guizhou, actually is a holy mountain said to be the ashram of Maitreya Buddha and a well-preserved nature reserve of high degree of biodiversity. If you travel to Fanjingshan in spring, you can feel special season character here, due to the temperature and scenery varies distinctly as elevation rises. Flowers begin to open at the foot of the mountain in March, but the summit area may still have snows. When temperature rises in late April, immense clusters of alpine azalea bloom at Fanjingshan, forming an extraordinary flower fall. You can hike the wooden path guarded by green trees, or take a thrilling cable car up to catch bird’s eye view of the lush forests, or experience the narrow and zigzag heaven ladder on the cliff side, meet diverse flora and fauna. Beyond doubt, Fanjingshan is a less-known transcendent and refined fairyland worth your visit.
Recommended Fanjingshan Tours in Spring:
Gulangyu Island in Xiamen
Red Kapok Flowers in Nanputuo Temple in Spring
Xiamen in China’s southeast coast Fujian Province is a lovely seaport city most known for the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage - Gulangyu Island, beautiful tree-lined costal scenery and year-round mild climate. The more cozy temperature, flourishing plants, warm sunshine, balmy flowers, green grass makes spring the most beautiful season of Xiamen.
When you visit Xiamen in spring, you can walk or make a biking leisurely along the seaside Huandao Road where clean paths are armed by tropical trees. Just feel the gentle breeze, watch boundless seawater and immerse yourself in the mind-blowing sights. Besides, you can pay a special visit to Nanputuo Temple, admire the Buddhist serenity and get a magnificent bird’s view of the Xiamen University from the back mountain top, vast jungle are dotted with red-roof modern buildings. In March and April, the fiery-red Kapok flowers tint every street of Xiamen, including the Nanputuo Temple. The highlight is taking a ferry to visit the Gulangyu Island, discover different spots on the island, such as the awesome collection in the Piano Museum, modern Shuzhuang Garden and the highest Sunlight Rock from which you can catch a panoramic view of clusters of European-style mansions. Snack shops and specialty stores are everywhere, easy to taste local flavors.
Tourists usually make a day trip to Nanjing Tulu from Xiamen, catch a glimpse of the Hakka culture and featured traditional residential earthen building. If you love photography, spring months are still optimal times to capture Kelp harvest and fish catching in China’s most beautiful coastal line - Xiapu.
Recommended Xiamen Tours in Spring:
Jiaju Tibetan Village in Danba
Pearl Flower Blossomm in Danba
Danba is a small county located in the east of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, western Sichuan. It owns many reputations, like one of the Top 6 Beautiful Countryside of China, “A Kingdom of Thousands of Watchtower” and “Beauty Valley”. These high square ancient watchtowers, considered “the Pyramid of the Oriental” once was built for military purpose, but now stand as story tellers and guards of Danba. Tibetan villages expanding from the valley to the mountain with looming Tibetan houses is another spectacle in Danba. It shows an arcadian scroll consisting of snow-capped peaks, lucid streams, sensuous village life with rising smoke and simple daily scenes. Girls here are said to be beautiful as rose. When warm spring arrives in Danba, you can see the above attractions, enjoy white pearl blossom and fancy pastoral landscape, and make a close contact to the ethnic culture behind them. If time permits, it’s recommended to extend trip to nearby Jinchuan to seize more terrific pearl blossom.
Spring is a good season to visit most destinations in China. You can plan a China spring tour based on your own holiday time, destination, personal hobby and budget, members of group, etc. Labor Day holiday from May 1 is a peak tourist period you should avoid. Read on below guide for more inspiring ideas.
If it’s your first trip to China, then Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Chengdu are top classic destinations you may visit. Normally, 2 to 3 days are enough for each. For those who already visited them, the Yangtze River Cruise (4-5 days), Yunnan (Lijiang, Shangri-La, Dali, Kunming..., 5-8 days), Guilin (3-4 days), Zhangjiejie (3-5 days) are highly recommended palaces to make in-depth discovery of China. Suzhou, Hanzhou, Huangshan, Nanjing are popular side trip destinations from Shanghai. If you have a long vacation, you can travel several destinations together. If you’re quite interested in spring flowers, Nyingchi Peach Blossom in Tibet and Wuyuan Rape flower are most beautiful colors you may make a special visit. Depending on your private taste, there are many more choices for you to appreciate the spring blossom across China.
To help you enjoy a worry-free spring trip to China, we highly recommend you travel with us China Discovery. Our experienced travel expert will help you arrange your trip sincerely. Our local drivers will escort you to the attractions with comfortable car directly with speed and safety. And our English-speaking tour guide will accompany you all the way, show you the best highlights, so you can focus all your attention on the highlights. Whether you have planned places to go or have no idea, you China spring tour can be tailor-made according to your group size, time, physical condition, plan, interest, budget, etc. Please feel free to contact us if you need any help!
This is the most popular China tour to Beijing, Xian and Shanghai to visit the most iconic China attractions - Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors, The Bund, etc., and explore great of both China’s past and present.
Reach the place south of the colorful clouds, enter into the “Plant and Animal Kingdom”, see the magnificent mountains and plateaus, appreciate the breathtaking river and lakes, and join in minority village to enjoy ethnic culture…
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Visit the top travel destinations in vast China, Beijing, Xian and Shanghai, with the fabulous trip to Zhangjiajie and Guilin with stunning natural miracles.
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