Cut a six-city China trip to fit a 1km continuous-walk limit

For the traveller who can walk about 1km continuously and is travelling with two friends, reduce the six-city plan to Nanjing → Beijing → Shanghai. Drop the mountain, waterfall and hill-walk days in Zhangjiajie, Furong Town and Chongqing from the base trip. If the Beijing approach does not fit, take the simpler Nanjing → Shanghai route.

Plan one short attraction visit per half-day, followed by a seated meal or rest at your hotel. Keep intercity-transfer half-days free of sightseeing. The reported 10km daily capacity is not a target: station approaches, security queues and hotel corridors also use it.

Use 600m as an editorial ceiling for a planned continuous walking segment before a usable seat or vehicle: 1,000m × 60% = 600m, leaving 400m of reserve. This is a planning choice, not a medical recommendation or a promise that every 600m segment will be manageable. Use your own lower limit when needed.

Which destinations or attractions should I leave out?

Keep or remove: Keep a short Nanjing garden visit

The actual choice for this trip: Choose the accessible garden inside Xuanwu Lake Couples Garden / 玄武湖情侣园无障碍花园. The city describes a 420m core loop, ramps and handrails, plus a path extending to the main entrance.

Keep or remove: Keep Beijing only if the approach fits

The actual choice for this trip: Choose one National Museum of China gallery after arranging the North Gate entry and the controlled street approach. Do not add a Tiananmen Square walk to fill the half-day.

Keep or remove: Keep a short Shanghai museum visit

The actual choice for this trip: Choose Shanghai Museum East / 上海博物馆东馆, one gallery and an early return. Use the disability priority route at the 1F North Gate when eligible.

Keep or remove: Remove from the base itinerary

The actual choice for this trip: The Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum stair climb; Wulingyuan/Ten-mile Gallery mountain sightseeing; Furong Town’s stone-street, waterfall and dock circuit; and Chongqing’s Shancheng Alley/Sujiaba hill-walk outing. These are the walking-heavy versions of the visits, not a claim that the whole cities exclude disabled visitors.

The Nanjing figure needs care: 420m measures the core loop, not the taxi drop-off, entrance connection, sightseeing detours and return. If you walk the entire loop without a seated break, only 180m remains within the 600m planning allowance for other walking in that same segment. The official article does not give that connection’s length or the spacing of usable seats. Start and finish at the same point; do not assume the whole lake circuit is the accessible garden.

How do Nanjing, Beijing and Shanghai fit into the reduced trip?

1. Nanjing half-day: taxi to the staffed Couples Garden main-entrance area, locate the accessible garden and the return pickup before starting, then visit the core loop only. If the approach has already used the walking allowance or no usable resting place is available, shorten to the entrance garden and return. A friend can check the next connection while you remain seated.
2. Beijing half-day: reserve the National Museum through its official website or mini-program, within the published seven-day advance window. Keep the successful confirmation and the original ID used in the reservation. Use the booked entry time at the North Gate; priority access also requires valid proof of eligibility. If your foreign disability document or approach route cannot be accepted, omit this visit and retain the two-city route.
3. Shanghai half-day: go to Shanghai Museum East at 1952 Century Avenue. Its ordinary individual entrance is B1 East Gate near Dingxiang Road; disabled visitors may use the 1F North Gate priority channel near Century Avenue with original valid ID. Choose one gallery, ask for its nearest seat and exit, and leave before the route becomes tiring. Ordinary individual visits currently need no reservation; special ticketed/interactive areas have separate rules.

National Museum wheelchair borrowing is free for the day of the visit with valid ID and a RMB 500 deposit at its service desk. Its restricted-items list includes electric mobility devices and offers alternative services; do not assume your powered chair can enter or that a manual-chair transfer suits you. The assistance number is +86 10 6511 6400. The normal closed day is Monday, except national holidays.

Shanghai Museum East opens Wednesday–Monday 10:00–18:00, last entry 17:00, and normally closes Tuesday. Its service line is +86 21 6022 6699 during 10:00–18:00. Wheelchairs may be borrowed free for use inside the museum, with valid ID or a RMB 300 deposit. A loan is useful only if a suitable chair is available and you can use it; it does not cover the street approach.

Can taxis or metro replace the longer walks?

Use a taxi between your hotel and each retained attraction as the default. Save the Chinese venue name, accepted entrance and return pickup. A taxi removes the journey between places; it does not guarantee access to the doorway or remove walking inside. At Beijing’s controlled Tiananmen area, do not assume a car can reach the National Museum North Gate.

• Before leaving the car, identify the entrance and the return pickup. If a barrier, detour or queue makes the approach exceed your remaining walking range, stay with the vehicle or a known seat and cancel that block.
• Use metro for a particular journey only when the exact street entrance, lifts, interchange and destination exit fit your needs. A station’s general lift symbol does not describe the whole route.
• If a lift or loan chair is unavailable, return by the saved taxi route and cancel the next attraction. Friends can make the longer outing separately while you take the planned rest half-day.

The sources establish the named garden design and museum entry/services; they do not establish every doorway, seat, taxi stop or lift working on your travel day. Those local conditions may shorten one half-day without forcing you to rebuild a six-city itinerary.

Source scope checked 20 September 2026: the named Nanjing municipal design report and the National Museum and Shanghai Museum East published entry, wheelchair-loan and device rules. The 600 m planning ceiling is an editorial limit, not medical advice or a field-measured route. Current entrance access, seating and the actual door-to-door journey remain unverified.