Best time to visit China

China does not have a single best season. Its 12 destinations peak across 4 different months, which means an itinerary that moves around the country will be in the right season for some of it and the wrong one for the rest — worth building the route around.

Averaged across every destination listed, China is at its best in October, scoring 83 out of 100, with April close behind at 78. July is the weakest month nationally at 44. The window is narrow: only 3 months come within eight points of the best, so an itinerary covering several of these places should be built around that rather than around any one city's own peak.

China is not one climate. Guangzhou averages 28 °C across the year against 16 °C in Qingdao — a 12 °C gap wide enough that advice for one is close to useless for the other. Rain splits the country further: Chengdu sees 157 wet days a year against 42 in Wuzhong, which is a different kind of trip rather than a slightly damper one.