When to Go

The best time to go is early spring and autumn, when temperatures and humidity are much lower than in the summer, but this is complicated by a few factors. Unless you have friends in the hotel industry, don't even think about visiting Guangzhou during the twice-annual China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair)—typically held from April 15 to May 4, as well as October 15 to November 4— when hotel prices double or triple. It’s best to skip China during the Golden Week holiday (always October 1–7) when millions of locals crowd airports, hotels, and major sites. Likewise, avoid China in the two weeks before and two weeks after Chinese New Year, which falls, according to the lunar calendar, between mid January and mid February. It’s at this time that the trains and buses are packed with workers headed home for the holidays and most businesses close down for the week. So what do we recommend? March, early April, September, October (excluding Golden Week), and early to mid-November.