DALIAN, CHINA

Wedged between the Yellow and Bohai Seas on the southern cusp of the Liaodong Peninsula, Dalian enjoys five-star status as one of China's premiere cities. The "Hong Kong of the North," became one of China's few "open door cities" in 1984, allowing foreign investment long before other areas of China were accessible. As a result, Dalian glows with a cosmopolitan swagger full of vacation-happy charisma. Trendy dance clubs, ultramodern shopping centers, refurbished four-star hotels and internationally acclaimed restaurants are the norm rather than the exception. The surrounding geography is a wealth of beaches and mountains, all with just-minutes-from-downtown-accessibility, lending this cosmopolitan center plenty of outdoor attractions. Since the 1980s, Dalian's cultivation of its tourism industry has helped elevate it to "Must Visit" status, ranking it with Shanghai and Beijing on travel destination itineraries.

As China's lone northern ice-free harbor, Dalian has been a perpetual source of foreign government envy. From 1895 to 1955, Russia and Japan alternated as Dalian's landlord four separate ... more