HEADLINE: Best cities for top-end goods

Luxury goods are notoriously more expensive on the Chinese mainland, and that's why many Chinese consumers do their luxury shopping overseas. Our seven-city survey finds, to no surprise, that the prices in Beijing and Shanghai are the highest in this category.

Louis Vuitton, one of the world's best-known luxury brands, is keenly aware of this pricing challenge. For instance, the French fashion house's Speedy 35 in monogram canvas, one of its most popular handbags, costs the equivalent of $1,060 in both Beijing and Shanghai.

In Paris, the bag costs only $810, followed closely by London at $815 and New York City at $895.

When it comes to luxury watches, Hong Kong offers some of the best deals around. A Rolex Submariner Date in steel and gold, an iconic men's watch, costs just $12,200 in Hong Kong, a duty-free shopping paradise. The second-lowest price can be found in New York at $13,400, then Asian shopping hub Singapore at $13,995.

In Beijing and Shanghai? Prepare to fork out $16,385.

China's "high taxes along with high logistics costs mean retail prices for luxury goods are much higher than identical goods sold overseas," says HSBC's China Luxury Tax report released last year.

No wonder Chinese tourists are flocking to Champs-Elysees, Fifth Avenue and Tsim Sha Tsui.