Short answer
Ten days, three cities, Beijing 4 nights, Xi'an 3, Shanghai 3, with two of the ten days left deliberately empty. That is the whole design. Families do not fail in China because the itinerary is too short — they fail because it has a different temple in it every morning.
All three intercity legs are high-speed trains: Beijing to Xi'an about four hours, Xi'an to Shanghai roughly six to seven hours. Both are one-train, no-airport days, which is exactly what you want with children and luggage. Book the moment the window opens — usually about 15 days ahead.
On fares: since January 2023 the rule is age, not height. Under 6 travels free without a seat, one free child per ticketed adult, and free children still have to be added to the booking with a valid ID document. Ages 6 to 13 pay a discounted fare. From 14, full price.
The shape of ten days
Notice what is not in this table: no third sight on any day, and two days with nothing scheduled but a park and a meal.
| Day | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beijing | Arrive, hotel pool or a walk in the hutongs, early night for jet lag |
| 2 | Beijing | Forbidden City in the morning, Jingshan Park to run around after |
| 3 | Beijing | Great Wall at Mutianyu — cable car up, toboggan down |
| 4 | Beijing | Rest day. Temple of Heaven park, a tea house, shopping |
| 5 | Beijing → Xi'an | Mid-morning train, then the city wall by bike at dusk |
| 6 | Xi'an | Terracotta Army half-day, back for an early dinner |
| 7 | Xi'an | Muslim Quarter food walk, Great Mosque, Drum and Bell Towers |
| 8 | Xi'an → Shanghai | Train day; the Bund after dark if anyone is still awake |
| 9 | Shanghai | Yu Garden early, then a boat on the Huangpu or the natural history museum |
| 10 | Shanghai | Half-day, then the airport — or a Hangzhou or water-town day trip if the flight is late |
The first flight day is the one to protect. Children who land in Beijing at 16:00 and are taken straight to Tiananmen will be useless by day three.
Child train fares and what to book
This is the part parents get wrong most often, because the old height rule is still all over the internet. China Railway moved to age-based fares on 1 January 2023.
| Age at travel | Fare | Seat | What you do at booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 6 | Free, one child per ticketed adult | No seat unless you buy one | Add the child to the booking with a passport or other valid ID; buy a child ticket if you want a seat |
| 6–13 | Discounted child fare, roughly half the adult fare in standard classes | Yes | Book normally, using the child's own ID document |
| 14 and over | Full adult fare | Yes | Book exactly as an adult |
| Any age, sleeper | Smaller discount — budget around three-quarters of the adult fare | Berth included | Not needed on this route; all three legs are day trains |
Seat class matters more with children than without. Second class on the high-speed trains is 3+2 seating with a decent aisle; first class is 2+2 and quieter. On the Xi'an to Shanghai leg, which is the long one, first class is worth the difference if the budget allows. If you want the details on which train and which platform, our standard ten-day China itinerary covers the same three cities without the child-specific pacing.
Beijing, days 1 to 4
Beijing is the best family city in China, and the reason is that its two biggest sights are physical rather than intellectual. Children remember the toboggan. They do not remember the third hall of a palace.
Forbidden City, day 2
Bookings open about seven days ahead at 20:00 Beijing time and there are no same-day tickets; it is closed Mondays except public-holiday Mondays. Every visitor, children included, needs a passport-linked booking.
Walk it south to north, enter at the Meridian Gate and leave by the north gate, then cross the road into Jingshan Park. That park is the release valve: a hill with a view back over the roofs, which is a better end to the morning than another courtyard.
Great Wall at Mutianyu, day 3
About 73 km northeast of the city, and the right choice for families: well restored, much quieter than Badaling, and served by an enclosed cable car up with a toboggan descent. The toboggan has age and height rules and closes in winter, so check on the day before promising it to anyone. Take the whole day, not a half day.
Rest day, day 4
Temple of Heaven is a park with a monument in it — that is the correct order to do it in with children. Buy the combined ticket, walk the grounds, watch the card games and the dancing, then eat. The hutongs around the Drum Tower are a good afternoon for the same reason: no ticket, no queue, plenty of snacks.
Xi'an, days 5 to 7
The train from Beijing lands at Xi'an North, about 12–15 km north of the walled centre and connected by metro. Allow 30–45 minutes from the platform to the hotel — with children and bags, nearer 60.
The city wall is the family highlight here. It is a full circuit of about 14 km on a wide, flat top, and you rent bikes on the wall itself, including tandem and family options. Do a section rather than the loop, in the late afternoon when it is cooler and the light is better.
The Terracotta Army is 40 km east at Lintong and is a half-day rather than a full one with children. Ticketing is real-name and passport-linked, there are no on-site ticket windows, so book online in advance. It opens early; the first hour is the calmest and the coach groups arrive later in the morning. One ticket covers the pits and the Lishan Park area, so you can walk off the crowd afterwards rather than heading straight back into the car.
Day 7 is the food day. The Muslim Quarter around Beiyuanmen is the walkable, snackable, completely child-friendly version of Xi'an, and the Great Mosque behind it is a quiet courtyard worth fifteen minutes.
Shanghai, days 8 to 10
The Xi'an to Shanghai leg is the long one, roughly six to seven hours by high-speed train, and it is a full travel day. Bring more snacks and more downloaded video than you think you need. The alternative is a short flight, which costs more and eats the same day in airport time.
In Shanghai, three things work with children and one thing does not. The ones that work: Yu Garden early before the crowd, the Huangpu River boat at dusk for the skyline, and the Shanghai Natural History Museum if it rains. The one that does not: a full day of the former French Concession on foot, which is a lovely adult afternoon and a long walk for anyone under eight.
If you have a theme-park day in mind, the Shanghai parks need date-based tickets booked ahead, and prices move with the calendar — check the official channel for the day you want rather than trusting a reseller's price. A Hangzhou day trip is the cheaper alternative and the high-speed train takes well under an hour each way.
Booking windows for a family
- Trains, about 15 days outReal-name, passport-linked, and the window has changed more than once — check the official railway channel for your dates. Book seats together; a family split across a carriage is worse than a later train.
- Forbidden City, 7 days out at 20:00 Beijing timeSet an alarm. Tickets for popular days are gone within minutes, and there is no same-day fallback.
- Terracotta Army, online before you travelPassport-linked booking, no on-site sales. Pick a morning slot.
- Great Wall cable car and tobogganSold at Mutianyu, but check seasonal closures and weather the day before.
- Any theme park day, as soon as dates are fixedDate-based pricing and date-based capacity. Official channel only.
What to cut when a child has had enough
- Running late on day 2: cut the afternoon and keep Jingshan Park. Skip the extra palace halls.
- Rain on the Great Wall day: move it a day and take the Beijing Science or natural history option instead, or simply make it the rest day and reverse days 3 and 4.
- Terracotta Army is too much: do Pit 1 only, then leave. It is the one that matters.
- Day 8 travel day has broken everyone: cancel the Bund that night. It will still be there, and it is better in daylight with children anyway.
- One city has to go: drop Xi'an, not Shanghai. Beijing plus Shanghai is two easy rail days and no long haul.
Practicals that make the difference
Luggage. One case per adult plus a backpack each. Trains have overhead racks and space at the carriage ends, and you will move between stations with the whole family in tow more times than you expect.
Payment. Set up both major mobile wallets before you fly, with each adult on their own account. Two independent payment methods means a failure at a ticket window is an inconvenience instead of an afternoon.
Pushchairs. Fine in Shanghai and in parks. On the Wall, through the Forbidden City's stepped courtyards and around the pits, a carrier wins every time.
Food. Order one dish per person that you know works and let the children try from the middle. Rice, noodles, steamed buns, dumplings, roast chicken and fruit are everywhere; you do not need a Western menu, and hunting for one wastes the evening.
Entry paperwork. The 240-hour visa-free transit window is ten days for eligible nationalities travelling on to a third country, which matches this itinerary with no slack for a delayed flight. Many passports also have a longer unilateral visa-free window. Check the official rules for your nationality before booking — the conditions are strict and the lists change.
Frequently asked questions
Do children need their own train ticket in China?
Since January 2023 the rule is age-based, not height-based. Children under 6 travel free without a seat, one free child per ticketed adult, and they still have to be added to the booking with a valid ID document. Children aged 6 to 13 pay a discounted fare, and anyone 14 or over pays the full adult fare.
Is ten days too much for young children?
It is too much at the pace most itineraries set. Three cities over ten days works if two of the days are deliberately empty — one in the middle, one before the last travel leg. Four cities in ten days does not, because the travel days are the part children cope with worst.
Which city works best for a family?
Beijing, easily. The Great Wall at Mutianyu has a cable car up and a toboggan down, the Temple of Heaven is a park rather than a museum, and the hutongs give you somewhere to walk without a ticket queue. Xi'an is second, and Shanghai is the easiest city to travel inside.
How early should we book the Forbidden City?
Tickets are released about seven days ahead at 20:00 Beijing time and there are no same-day sales. It is closed all day on Mondays except public-holiday Mondays. One ticket covers adults and children, and every visitor needs a passport-linked booking.
Can we take a pushchair around the sights?
In Shanghai and in parks, yes. On the Great Wall, through the Forbidden City's stepped courtyards and up the Terracotta Army ramps-and-stairs, a pushchair becomes something you carry. A carrier is the better call for children under three.
Is the food a problem for children?
Less than parents expect. Plain rice, noodles, steamed buns, dumplings and roast chicken are everywhere and children eat them without complaint. The advice is to order one dish you know works rather than to hunt for a Western menu.
What should we cut when a child has had enough?
Cut the second sight of the day, every time. Two half-days beat one full day in this itinerary, and a museum interior is the first thing to go — swap it for a park, a teahouse or a boat ride on the same day.
Does the 240-hour visa-free transit rule cover a ten-day family trip?
For eligible nationalities travelling on to a third country, the 240-hour transit window is ten days, which matches this itinerary almost exactly — no slack for delays. Many nationalities also have a longer unilateral visa-free window. Check the official entry rules for your passport before booking flights, because the conditions are strict.
Related reading
The same three cities without the child-specific pacing are laid out in the standard ten-day itinerary, and if you want to add Chengdu's pandas — the single best child stop in the country — start from the two-week version instead.
Compiled from China Railway published child-fare rules, official ticketing guidance for the Forbidden City, the Terracotta Army and Mutianyu, and family trip reports from foreign visitors, cross-checked 30 September 2026. Ticket prices, booking windows, opening patterns and theme-park dates change frequently — the official ticketing channel for each site at the time you book is authoritative. Nothing on this page is financial, legal or medical advice.