Zhangjiajie’s headline sights sit in different places, so your base decides how much daylight you burn on a bus. Wulingyuan puts you at the Avatar-mountain gate for sunrise; the city puts you by Tianmen Mountain and the train. Both have licensed foreigner-friendly hotels for passport holders.
Xitang is one of the canal towns south of Shanghai, and because it is compact and usually done as a side trip, the base question is narrow: sleep inside the watered old town for lantern nights, or just outside the gate in a modern, reliably licensed hotel.
West Lake is Hangzhou’s reason to visit, and staying within walking distance of its eastern shore puts you on the scenic loop, near the temples and the tea hills, and a short high-speed rail hop from Shanghai. The trade-off is price: lakefront hotels command a premium, while a short walk inland or toward the station saves money without losing the atmosphere. Here is where to stay and how the transfers actually work for a foreign visitor.
Tiananmen Square sits at the centre of Beijing just south of the Forbidden City, and a hotel in Qianmen or Wangfujing puts you within a short walk of both. A licensed hotel that lets you arrive on foot beats fighting a car cordon at this secured square.
The Terracotta Army sits in Lintong, roughly 40 km east of central Xi’an, and most foreign visitors try to decide one thing first: stay in the city and make the trip out, or sleep near the pits and save the transfer. For almost everyone, staying in central Xi’an is the better call — you get the city walls, the Muslim Quarter and the metro on your doorstep, with a predictable 60–90 minute transfer to the warriors, while the area around the site itself is thin on foreigner-friendly hotels and dead after dark.
Suzhou’s famous gardens are scattered across the old city rather than clustered at one gate, so the smart move is to stay inside the historic walls near Pingjiang Road and walk between them. The trade-off is that the modern east side has newer licensed hotels.
The Summer Palace sits in northwest Beijing’s Haidian district, well away from the central hutongs, so staying near it trades city buzz for a calm lakeside base and an easy morning. The trade-off is distance: you are 40 to 50 minutes by Metro from the Forbidden City.
Lhasa is the only realistic base for the Potala Palace, and within it the choice is narrow: the old city near the Barkhor for atmosphere, or north toward Norbulingka for quieter streets that suit altitude. Both are a short ride from the palace and need a foreigner-licensed hotel.
Pingyao’s walled old city is one of the best-preserved Ming towns in China, and the question for a foreigner is simple: sleep inside the walls in a restored courtyard for atmosphere, or just outside for a modern, reliably licensed hotel. Both are minutes from the gates.
People’s Square is the geographic heart of Shanghai, where Nanjing Road, the Shanghai Museum, and the short walk to the Bund all meet, so staying around it gives a foreigner the city’s deepest Metro hub. The trade-off is that the square is a plaza, not a view.