Pandas & Golden Cities

This morning, after meeting your guide and driver at your hotel, let’s start today’s tour from the magnificent Tiananmen Square, where famous landmark buildings such as the Monument to the People’s Heroes, the National Museum, and the Great Hall of the People stand. As you stroll to the northernmost ancient Tiananmen Tower, marvel at the two towering ornamental columns on either side of it. From your guide, you’ll learn that they were once a medium through which officials could offer advice to the emperor. It can be traced back to the ancient times of around 2377 BC to 2259 BC, when a tribal leader erected two wooden pillars at the entrance to his council hall so that his subjects could inscribe their opinions on them to regulate his behavior.

Then walk through the Tiananmen Tower to enter the world’s largest imperial palace complex, Forbidden City. It is divided into two parts, the Outer Court and the Inner Court. The Outer Court served as a workplace for emperors to transact political affairs and the Inner Court was the living space for royal families. 

★  Privileges of Our Guests:

1. We will ensure you 2 to 3 hours’ visit in the Forbidden City, long enough to cover all major palaces and royal courts. Also, coming here for over 100 times a year, the guide is quite familiar with the site and able to show you around along the best sightseeing route.
2. To save you time from waiting in a long queue on the spot, we will book entry tickets online in advance.

In the afternoon, move on to the Temple of Heaven, a solemn place for emperors to worship the God of Heaven in ancient times. The most outstanding architecture inside is the Altar of Prayer for Good Harvests, a giant round building with three layers of eaves. It is also a landmark of Beijing appearing frequently on the media.

After a day’s trip, there will be a special treat for you: a brilliant Chinese Acrobatic Show performed at the Red Theater.

★  A La Carte Welcome Dinner to Taste Authentic Chinese Food and Peking Duck

It is our routine to arrange quality food for our guests. For today’s dinner, valued at US$22 per person and included in our price, you get to taste delicious Chinese food and crispy Roast Duck. Our guide will assist you in ordering the dishes after consulting your preference. Try to eat like a local with chopsticks! The restaurant you will be served at is a traditional courtyard house, shaded by trees and oozing elegance. You’ll be fascinated from the moment you step in. On the table, dining sets are all in a court style decorated by traditional motifs with local features. Of course, the ingredients are fresh and healthy to ensure you a first-class dining experience.

When today’s sightseeing ends, your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch, A la carte welcome dinner with Peking Duck

This morning, after picking you up from your hotel, your guide and driver will accompany you on a 1.5-hour ride to the most beautiful Mutianyu Great Wall, the highlight of this China tour package. The Great Wall of China was constructed to defend against the incursions of the northern nomads, the Huns. Since Qin Shi Huang (259 – 210 BC), the first emperor in Chinese history, unified the six states, he initiated the project and achieved effective results. Later, the next regime went on to massive renovations and expansions of the Great Wall for over 100 years, forcing the Huns to migrate westward to Europe and withdrawing from the Chinese historical stage. It is said that today’s Hungarians are descendants of the Huns, as the president of Hungary once said when he visited China: “We are actually from the distant East as well.” Once there, enjoy your leisure hiking time on the Great Wall and view the surrounding mountain scenery.

★ Privileges of Our Guests:

► We’ve specially included a round-trip cable car ride for you to go up and down the Great Wall effortlessly. You can also go up by chairlift and try the exciting toboggan down.
► After descending from the Great Wall, your adventures will be celebrated with a bottle of red wine!

Enjoy a buffet lunch after your Great Wall hiking. Then, go back to downtown area to continue today’s visit. While passing by the Bird's Nest, also called the National Stadium, we will make a stopover for you to take pictures of this huge nest.

Today's last stop will be Hutongs, a historical area by lakeside gathering many old alleyways and traditional courtyards. Rickshaw was a popular transport tool from late 19th century to early 20th century in Beijing and even the whole China. It will be quite interesting to travel among the crisscrossing Hutongs on it as old Beijingers did. Following the rickshaw ride, a visit to a local family living in a traditional courtyard house there will help you know more about locals’ life. Finally, we will escort you back to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Buffet lunch

After breakfast, check out from hotel and your guide will escort you to visit the Summer Palace. Mainly composed of the Kunming Lake and the Longevity Hill, the Summer Palace is the largest and best preserved imperial garden in China. It is a monument to classical Chinese architecture in terms of both garden design and construction. In summer, there are lovely lotus blooming, while in winter, it becomes a good place for people to enjoy the fun of skating. Enjoy local food for lunch before leaving Beijing.

★ Experience the High Speed Train of China

In the afternoon, you will take a high-speed train to Xi’an. High speed train has been a name card of China and a must-do for travelers to the country. As an expert in operating China tours, we will for sure take it into consideration for our guests. The ride between Beijing and Xi’an is a good one, neither too long nor too short. Usually, the travel time is around 5.5 hours while a few takes only 4.5 hours. We will try our best to book those taking around 4.5 hours to save you time. Upon arrival, your Xi’an guide and driver will meet you at the railway station and escort you to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch

This whole morning will be spent visiting the Terracotta Army Museum, a huge underground army stationed by the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Thousands of terracotta warriors await your examination, all vividly sculpted during the emperor’s reign of the Qin Empire. According to statistics, the shortest of these unearthed terracotta figures is 173 cm (5 feet 8 in), while the tallest reaches a staggering 196 cm (6 feet 5 in) - a curious find because it makes us wonder: are ancient Chinese really so tall? Actually, it may be that only those tall enough could be selected as the emperor’s honor guards; the hair buns and the base under their feet also contribute to their great heights. Apart from visiting the burial pits, our guide will also take you to explore the lately-opened exhibition hall for the most precious archaeological excavations from the mausoleum, some having never been put on a display. Bronze waterfowls, little gold and silver sculptures, a stone dice, and especially the coloring on potteries are all among the wonders, more than two hundreds in total. They are divided into eight themes to tell you about the Qin-era art, society, philosophies, as well as Qin Shi Huang’s life - the most mysterious would be the one that allows you to imagine the emperor’s grand underground palace, which remains some thirty meters below untouched.After the Terracotta Army tour, you will enjoy your lunch at a good restaurant nearby.

★ Privileges of Our Guests:

1. Visit the Home of Terracotta Army’s Discoverer
After lunch, we will uniquely arrange a visit to the home of Mr. Yang, who discovered the terracotta army when digging a well in 1974. It will be a precious chance to learn the legendary discovery of this manmade wonder from him and take a picture with him. At the home, you can also see the replica of the first discovered terracotta warrior and the hoe used to dig the statue out.
2. Interesting DIY of a Mini Terracotta Warrior
For a visit to the Terracotta Army, there is no better souvenir than a self-made terracotta figure. In a local workshop, you can opt to make a mini terracotta general, soldier, or others measuring about 10 cm (4 in) high. Don’t worry. An artisan will teach you how to make it step by step and there is also a mold to assist you. You can carve your name or special logo on your artwork, just like the Qin Dynasty artisans did on their warriors.

Later, get back to the city and visit the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, built in the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD) for Monk Xuan Zang to store and translate Buddhism scripts brought back from India. It is right in the Grand Ci’en Temple built by Emperor Tang Gaozong for his deceased mother. The pagoda has a total of seven floors, each storing precious cultural relics, including two Buddhist sariras presented by Indian monks in 1998. 

Stroll this place until evening, when you will dine on a local special dumpling dinner, followed by an inspiring Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show to brighten your night. At last, your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch, Dumpling dinner

This morning, we will first visit the City Wall Park, a gathering place for the locals, especially elders to do morning exercises and have fun. You will find the life of the elderly in China is rich and colorful: dancing, singing, playing Chinese yo-yo, cracking a whip... Here, you’ll have a little workout to strengthen both your body and mind. A master of shadowboxing – a thousand-year-old kind of Chinese martial arts combing meditation – will teach you some moves to energize you. 

Then follow the guide to ascend the time-honored City Wall, which was used to defend the city from attacks. Standing on the wall, you will see two different Xi’an: the ancient one full of historical architecture inside the wall and the modern one boasting high buildings outside. Cycling on the City Wall is a very popular activity. If interested, inform the guide your preference and pay the rental fee on the spot to have fun.

★ A La Carte Lunch to Taste Xi’an Local Food

Xi’an is famous for not only abundant historical remains, but also delicious food. Today, we'll serve you authentic local dishes at a featured restaurant in the Muslim Quarter, a paradise for foodies. You may choose whatever you like, including hot oil noodles, fried dumplings, crumbled flatbread in mutton stew, glutinous rice with jujube, and even see how they will be made through the visible glass window.

Next, visit the Great Mosque, a remarkable Islamic cultural relic, which perfectly combines Chinese traditional and Islamic architectural styles.

Afterwards, you will be escorted to one of the four biggest museums in China - Shaanxi History Museum. You get to appreciate treasured exhibits unearthed from Shaanxi province, the place that witnessed the rise and fall of thirteen dynasties in China’s history. If the Shaanxi History Museum is not available, alternatively, the famous Forest of Stone Steles Museum will be arranged instead. Let’s call it a day now. We will finally escort you back to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte local food lunch

If you leave a city for its neighbor in China, no vehicle could be more convenient than high speed trains! A morning train will take you from Xi'an to Chengdu in about 4 hours. Our tour guide in Chengdu will pick you up from the station and help you check in at your hotel.

Have a rest or go explore your surroundings. We recommend you spend some time to hang around at Taikoo Li, a classy commercial zone featuring a blend of modernity and classical Chinese charm, and Chunxi Road, the liveliest, most diverse business district of this city. Both are landmarks of Chengdu.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

In the hometown of pandas, nothing would be a better start for our journey than a visit to its Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the largest facility for breeding and researching giant pandas in the world. Get your fill of those cuddly pandas! Since they are most playful in the morning, it will be the best time for us to watch those adorable creatures eat, play or climb, for your heart to be melted.

We will then proceed to the Thatched Cottage of Du Fu, a classical Chinese garden built to honor this great Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) poet. Inside, traditional pavilions, corridors, and terraces harmoniously intertwine with meandering streams, tranquil ponds, and bamboo groves, revealing different perspectives with every step, embodying the traditional Chinese garden philosophy where each turn presents a living, breathing artistic composition.

In the afternoon, we will head to People’s Park to stroll amid a beautiful landscape and experience real life. You will learn about China’s Blind Date culture at the “matchmaking corner”. You can read flyers of personal profiles of unmarried young men or women hung up in rows by their parents to seek proper life partners for their daughters or sons. Or, chat with locals over a local tea served in a cup with a lid and a saucer, or give some gratuities to a traditional ear-cleaning expert and have your ears artistically and enjoyably cleaned.

Finally, we will conclude today’s sightseeing at the Wide and Narrow Alleys, a historical relic in Chengdu, famous for its artistic and cultural ambiance. It is also a perfect place for you to savor the Sichuan flavors loved throughout China. Finally, we’ll escort you back to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

Today you will be escorted to the airport for your last scheduled destination: Shanghai. Our Shanghai guide will wait for you at airport and accompany you to your hotel for check-in. Have a good time the rest of the day.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

In the morning, our guide will escort you to visit the scenic Yu Garden and Shanghai Museum. Yu Garden is a famous classic garden in south China. The beautiful scenery and quiet atmosphere make it rare in the bustling city. After, wander through the lively Yuyuan Bazaar just outside the garden. The Shanghai Museum is one of the four most famous museums in China, holding a rich and high-quality collection of ancient precious works of art.

In the afternoon, your guide will escort you to explore the Bund and see the cluster of western style buildings at a close range. Have a leisurely stroll and take nice photos. Next, enjoy a one-hour Huangpu River cruise to appreciate the two representative profiles of the city on both banks. It helps you understand the past, see the present and look into the future of this modern city. At last, your guide will escort you back to your hotel.

► Dinner Suggestion (at your own expense):
Yang’s Pan-fried Pork Buns Restaurant with many branches throughout Shanghai is recommended. Dating back 30 years, their pan-fried pork bun is the most quintessential snack of Shanghai that embodies local culinary traditions. The buns have thinner wrappers to give space for more filling, which is rich in gravy. Try the originally-flavored, and bite while they are still warm for richer textures. Soups and other side dishes are also offered and the prices are all wallet-friendly! Average cost per person: around USD 5.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

For private tour guests, your guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel and escort you to the airport according to your international flight schedule, while members on group tours need to make their own way to the airport. By taxi, it costs around US$30 to Pudong Airport (PVG) and around US$15 to Hongqiao Airport (SHA). We wish you a pleasant journey home and thank you for traveling with us!

► If your flight is later in the day, our travel consultants will be glad to offer you some advice to further explore this metropolis on your own. If you plan to spend more days in Shanghai, then the nearby charming water towns, the elegant garden city of Suzhou, and Hangzhou - the home to Taobao-Alibaba Group as well as a scenic city, are all worth visiting. Please feel free to contact us for a tailored private itinerary.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast