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Q: Travelling in China with the elderly: where to take them?
With grandparents coming to visit this summer I'm trying to figure out where in China to take them. They aren't very able anymore, I mean they can walk but it is slow and they need looks of breaks. China is very conducive to those predicaments. Can anyone suggest somewhere nice to take them. They came to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou 10-15 years ago so they've done the big stuff. I was thinking somewhere south, perhaps a newer city with good pavements and not too much (we'll be taking lots of taxis and I don't want the whole trip to be us stuck in traffic jams.)
10 years 14 weeks ago in Transport & Travel - China
I would suggest Hangzhou as long as it's not during a national holiday. Quite nice to visit during off-peak times. Other alternatives would be Suzhou and Nanjing....although I wouldn't suggest Nanjing in the hotter parts of summer....one of the "furnaces of China". 
DrMonkey:
Trust me, Suzhou in summer rivals Nanjing in humid warmth ^^
Macau & Hong Kong, flawless sidewalks, taxis with seatbelts, safer food. Chance of survival way higher.
Both are very different from the mainland
But, didn't Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou change just a little in the last 10 years ?
smoglife:
Yes, I think they probably have, but I think they'll be too hot in the summer for my grandparents. And travelling around is a bit of a nightmare, so the fact that they have been before means they wont be disappointed that they didn't see Tiananmen, Forbidden city etc.
somewhere that you can avoid the masses. i doubt they would enjoy pushing and shoving their way everywhere. i would think staying away from the tier one cities is a good idea. my parents are on the older side of the scale, they really enjoyed LiJiang. they went in the summer, it was a little busy, but they enjoyed it. also, you can think about further north, the vast grass plains of inner mongolia. so big that it doesn't matter if the masses are there, you can always find a place to get away too.
guilin, xiamen
rest of china looks all the same. better be careful of hot areas in summer...
mArtiAn:
I'll second the suggestion of Guilin. Not much for visiting cities on holiday myself, but Guilin has it's attractions and there's a great boat ride down to Yangshuo.
BrendanE:
Second guilin and yangshuo, the trip down is absolutely beautiful and there are many boat rides you can do down the lijiang with minimum bump and hastle. Just don't take them down the southern river in yangshuo as there is a lot of waterfalls!
Dalian in Liaoning province is nice in summer. Clean air, beautiful beaches, lots of foreign tourists (no staring) and supposed to be one of the cleaner cities in general. Near Dalian there's Dandong and in between Bing Yu Valley (冰峪沟), aka 'Little Guilin' for the landscape.
Thanks everyone. That has been a big help. I can now send them a list of possibilities.
