China family holidays

Beijing with Kids

• Start with the Chinese capital and cultural and historical centre. Its Temple of Heaven, a huge park and palace complex, is a great place to begin the day – the earlier the better if you want to watch locals performing tai chi and karate. 

• For people-watching and kite-flying, head to Tiananmen Square.

• Gawp at the treasures in the Forbidden City, a city complex that housed China’s emperors for more than 500 years, including dragons, phoenixes, lions and flying horses.

• Escape the crowds by heading to Beihai Park, former imperial pleasure garden, where you can grab an ice-cream and take a pedal-boat on the lake.

• Or head for the UNESCO World Heritage listed Summer Palace, another welcome respite from central Beijing, built as the emperors’ summer residence and great for picnics.

• Take the bus to the Badaling Pass about 90km from Beijing, a good if touristy place to view the Great Wall – the cable-car saves little legs. Take food and water with you.

• For more on visiting the Chinese capital and the Great Wall, see our feature An Insider Guide to Beijing.

Shanghai with Kids 

• Be overwhelmed, in a good way, by Shanghai – home to 18 million souls, it has plenty to keep families happy, including the Shanghai Disney Resort and Happy Valley theme park,

• Discover The Bund, old Shanghai's colonial riverside, with dozens of historical buildings and locals performing tai chi.

• Take a cruise along the Huangpu River to get a relaxing overview of Shanghai, or whizz to the 88th floor of the Jin Mao Tower for great views.

• For fresh air, head to Century Park to join locals picnicking or to Yu Gardens in Old Town, where the restored buildings and gardens get packed to the brim with tourists but provide a diversion from the urban jungle. In the evening, watch a performance by the famous Shanghai Acrobats.

• Make the short flight (75 minutes) from Beijing to Xi’an to see the Terracotta Army and Horses – 7,000 life-size pottery soldiers, horses, chariots and weapons arranged in battle beneath an enormous hangar-like building. Xi’an itself is still surrounded by its city wall, which you can tour in a chauffeured golf buggy.

Hong Kong with Kids

• Discover what is, ultimately, a water city made up of islands, meaning you can have lot of fun getting from A to B on ferries and other boats.

• Shop! Hong Kong has everything high-end brands to bargain street-market finds, plus gadgetry galore. But it isn’t all about spending money – simply strolling through the markets is an activity in itself, with many kids enjoying ogling the jars of dead seahorses and snakes at Sheung Wan market.

• Head to Hong Kong Park, Victoria Park or Kowloon Park – all great green spaces to let off steam and feed the ducks, and take the practically vertical tram-ride past skyscrapers up to The Peak, to fly kites and enjoy the fabulous views.

• Keep the kids out late to see the nightly (8pm) Symphony of Lights laser and sound show, viewable for free from the Kowloon waterfront.

• Head to the white sands of Repulse Bay for sandcastles and swimming. The water is safe and there’s a lifeguard in summer. Don’t forget the outlying islands, either: you could easily spend a day on Lantau Island, getting there by ferry and riding its Ngong Ping cable-car to see the world’s largest outdoor seated Buddha and catch a show at the Monkey’s Tale Theatre, and hiking through its country parks. You could also take a cruise to look for endangered pink dolphins in the waters around Lantau.

• Visit Man Mo Temple, named after the gods of literature and martial arts, whose statues you can see there. It’s hugely atmospheric, with smoke from the massive incense coils burned by worshippers filling the air and lots of fortune-sellers’ stalls.

• Spend the day at Disneyland Hong Kong – smaller than its counterparts elsewhere and best for kids about 5-9 years old.

• Enjoy the Hong Kong Space Museum with its planetarium and OMNIMAX cinema, the Hong Kong Science Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and the Hong Kong Museum of History.