The Oriental Pearl Tower rises in Lujiazui on the Pudong bank, and staying there puts you next to the tower and China’s most foreigner-friendly hotels. The trade-off is the view: from the Bund you watch it; from Lujiazui you stand beneath.
Lijiang in northwest Yunnan is really three places, the busy Dayan Old Town, the calmer Shuhe to its north, and the foot of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, so where you stay sets how much lane life you get versus how fast you reach the glacier.
Huangshan, the Yellow Mountain, is not a day trip you bolt onto a city stay, because the cable cars start at the foot and the sunrise is on the summit. Most foreigners base at Tangkou at the south gate for the early cable car, or in Tunxi for the train.
The Li River cruise runs between Guilin and Yangshuo, not from one hotel door, so where you sleep sets whether you ride it downstream in the morning or backtrack to catch it. Both ends have licensed foreigner-friendly hotels, and the choice is scenery versus convenience.
The Forbidden City sits in the dead centre of Beijing, just north of Tiananmen Square, and staying within walking distance puts you next to the city’s single biggest sight plus some of its best Metro links. The trade-off is price: central Beijing commands a premium, and the blocks immediately around the palace are among the most expensive in the country. This guide covers the neighbourhoods worth considering near the Forbidden City, real transfer times, and which foreigner-friendly hotels make sense for the money.
Dunhuang is a small oasis town on the old Silk Road, and its sights, the Mogao Caves, Crescent Lake, and the singing sand dunes, sit a few kilometres south of the centre. The practical base for a foreigner is a hotel in Dunhuang city, with the licensed hotels.
The Canton Tower stands on the south bank of the Pearl River in Guangzhou’s Haizhu district, and staying either by it in Haizhu or across the water in Zhujiang New Town puts you among the city’s most foreigner-friendly hotels. The trade-off is a river crossing.