12 Days Beijing Xian Chengdu Guilin and Shanghai Tour

Hello, welcome to China! Meet your private local guide and driver at the airport and head for your luxurious hotel in Beijing for check-in. Beijing, the ancient and modern Chinese capital, awaits your visit.

• Hotels: Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel, Beijing Fairmont Hotel, Fairmont Beijing Hotel

Great Wall

No visit to China is complete without the Great Wall. Take cable car up and down Mutianyu Great Wall, which is looking like a huge dragon flying on the air. Then you will wonder how it was built by hands in ancient times.

Back to downtown Beijing and take a rickshaw ride through the long, narrow hutong alleys to find out the hidden secrets and cultural essence of Old Beijing and encounter local people living peacefully at the traditional courtyards.

Taste delicious Beijing Roast Duck for dinner (optional).

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Tian'anmen Square

Tour China’s imperial city and visit Beijing highlight attractions. First of all, have a walk across the world’s largest city square – Tiananmen Square, which was an important witness of many great Chinese historic events. Then enter the Forbidden City. With a rich collection of cultural and artistic treasures and massive ancient royal palaces, it is now a fabulous museum, and known as the Palace Museum.

Also visit Summer Palace, a royal garden and a summer resort of the emperors of Qing Dynasty. Appreciate its imposing architectures and beautiful landscapes, and take a boat at Kunming Lake for relaxation.

See a Kung Fu evening Show to experience authentic Chinese martial arts (optional).

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Hutong rickshaw

Like a Chinese emperor pays a pilgrimage tour to Temple of Heaven. Apart from appreciating the grand temple architectures, you can see many local people doing morning exercises, and even attend a Tai Chi class yourself. Then visit the Panjiayuan Weekend Market – all sorts of articles, mostly old objects and antiques, are for sale, including wood carvings, calabash, bronze wares, earthwares, stones, bracelets, Chinese paintings, etc. And you will meet some Beijing local artisans.(Replace Panjiayuan with Lama Temple during the weekday.)

Take a high speed train to Xian, one of the most famous historic cities in the world.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: Sofitel Legend Peoples Grand Hotel Xian

Temple of Heaven

Marvel at Terracotta Army at the excavation pits, considered as the eighth wonder of the world. The life-sized terracotta warriors and warring horses were buried 2000 years ago to protect China’s First Emperor in the heaven.

Back to downtown Xian and pay a visit to Shaanxi History Museum, a treasure house of Chinese history. With your guide’s instruction, you will understand Xian’s glorious past as being the royal capital for over 1200 years.

Taste various flavors of dumpling at dinner time and watch the Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show (optional).

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Terracotta Warriors Museum

Tour Xian Old City Wall in the morning, in a short distance to Xian Bell and Drum Tower. It is the longest and best-preserved of its kind in China and beyond. There’s chance to watch the performance of the ancient ceremony on the wall.

Explore the bustling Muslim Quarter packed with diverse food stalls and restaurants. And walk to the Great Mosque of Xian at Huaxue Alley, dating to around 1000 years ago. Its beautiful architecture blends both Arabic style and ancient Chinese style.

Transfer to the railway station and enjoy about 4-hour bullet train journey to Chengdu, the sweet hometown of giant pandas.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: Buddha Zen Hotel Chengdu, Fairmont Chengdu, Grand Hyatt Chengdu

Xian Ancient City Wall

18km away from Chengdu, Dujiangyan Panda Base is home to over 30 giant pandas. The panda keeper program allows the volunteer to have an intimate contact with those cute furry balls.

You will not only learn knowledge, history and current living situation of giant pandas, but also you will feed the pandas with the yummy foods you prepare, have fun with them, and help to improve the pandas’ household. You can even hug a panda and take photos (with additional fee).

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

A day of panda volunteer program

Experience Chengdu’s laidback atmosphere and glimpse local lifestyle at Chengdu People’s Park. The scenic park is very popular among locals who drink tea and enjoy various activities at the park – playing chess, practicing tea ceremony, playing mahjong… Later have a brisk stroll through Jinli Old Street and Kuanzhai Alley featuring ancient cobbled streets and architectures, quaint tea houses and traditional handicrafts shops.

After visiting Wenshu Temple, an ancient shrine blending delicate, elegant garden art, you will be driven to the airport, and fly to Guilin.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: Guilin Shangri La Hotel, Jolie Vue Boutique Hotel Guilin, Sheraton Guilin

Jinli Old Street

Li River is an epitome of Guilin Karst landscape. Enjoy a cruise voyage on the best section of Li River and feel like you are drifting on a Chinese landscape painting. Pass by the renowned Nine-horse Fresco Hill and Yellow Cloth Shoal.

Disembark in Yangshuo, then walk along the West Street. This 1400 year-old street is now known among locals as the “Foreigners’ Street”, since it is very much favored by international travelers throughout the world. Afterwards, explore the countryside of Yangshuo, where the primitive villages are surrounded by rugged limestone peaks and vast rural farmlands.

Enjoy the night show of Impression Liu Sanjie (optional).

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: Yangshuo Banyan Tree Hotel, Yangshuo Mountain Retreat, Alila Yangshuo

Li River cruise

Appreciate the breathtaking karst scenery in the heights. Ascend Folded Brocade Hill, a typical karst limestone hill, to get a full view of Guilin city center embraced by jagged mountainscape and see Li River flowing to the distance. Also enjoy an exploration in Reed Flute Cave. A magic underground palace inside a mountain, the cave boasts a large number of colorful, peculiar stalactites and stalagmites with dramatic lighting effects. What a fascinating scene!

Fly to Shanghai in the afternoon. Pick up and transfer to hotel.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: Four Seasons Hotel Pudong Shanghai, Grand Central Hotel Shanghai, Grand Hyatt Shanghai

Reed Flute Cave

Shanghai is an international metropolis, but it has legendary history and tales to tell. Explore the highlights of Shanghai – firstly visit Shanghai Museum, a comprehensive museum of ancient Chinese culture and art with thousands of valuable collections.

Then learn Chinese garden art by touring Yu Garden. It is an outstanding reprehensive of classic Chinese garden, featuring extremely exquisite carvings, an old theatrical stage, and beautiful ancient pavilions, corridors. Come to the Town God Temple, the center of Old Shanghai, to explore the enticing old streets lined with food stalls, boutiques and souvenirs shops.

Thereafter, see “the Universal Expo of architectures” on the Bund – 52 colonial architectures of different styles stand together and has become a symbol of Shanghai. Ascend Shanghai World Financial Center to overlook the Huangpu River and Shanghai’s skyline.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Yu Garden

Your 12 days China highlights tour ends. Time to say goodbye. Your private guide and driver will escort you to the airport. Fly home or proceed to another destination.

• Meals: Breakfast,

Shanghai Pudong area