How to book a tour
Impression of China
Tour code: beijing 064
Duration: 14 days
Route: Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Suzhou, Huangshan, Guilin, Guangzhou
Attractions: Mount Huangshan, Hongcun, Grand Canal, Pan Gate, Lingering Garden, Reed Flute Cave, Li River, etc
Itinerary:
Day 1 ( )
Arrival / Beijing
Transfer via: International flight to Beijing-On your own arrangement
Arrive at Beijing. Be met & transferred to your hotel. Free at leisure for the rest of the day.
Day 2 (B, L, )
Beijing
Full day trip to the Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. Enjoy the Peking Opera Show in the evening.
TianAnMen Square, the symbolical heart of China and gathering place for the masses. It is the biggest public square in the world, which can hold one million people. Having a free walk there, imagining the great historic events of the 20th century took place there. You will also see legendary landmarks including the Great Hall of the People and the towering 125 foot granite obelisk, Monument to the Peoples Heroes, honoring those who died in revolution.
Walking across the Golden River Bridge, enter the Forbidden City, the inner sanctum and palace where for centuries Chinese emperors ruled their world. It has 9000-room maze of courtyards, places, and ceremonial halls, where 24 emperors used to live. Forbidden City was indeed a forbidden place, where commoners were kept out for nearly 500 years in the past. Tour the palace and imagine the mystery, intrigue and incredible power that reigned here.
Temple of Heaven was built in the 15th century, a sacred site for ancient Beijing, where the emperor and his 1000 member entourage would retreat twice a year for religious ritual. Surrounded by enormous grounds designed in accordance with fengshshui, the Temple complex consists of the Celebrated Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a unique wooden and blue-tiled structure built without a nail. It is considered the supreme achievement of traditional Chinese architecture.
Day 3 (B, L, D )
Beijing
Full day trip to the Great Wall, Ming Tomb and Sacred road. Enjoy a famous Peking Duck Banquet for dinner.
The Great Wall of China is the longest structure ever built. It is about 4,000 miles long, and it was built entirely by hand. About 1, 200 - 1, 500 miles of the Great Wall were built during the reign of Emperor Shi Huangdi (Qin Dynasty). The Great Wall crosses northern China from the east coast to the central part of China.
Visit the fabled Ming Tombs, the resting places of thirteen emperors and their splendid treasures, passing down the Spirit Way, a road lined with statues of dignitaries, as well as huge elephants, lions, camels and horses, you will encounter the marble tombs of the Ming Dynasty emperors. Visit one of the spectacular tombs- Dingling featuring an underground palace.
Day 4 (B, L, )
beijing/ Xi'an
Transfer via: PM flight
Visit Hutongs by rickshaw. Visit Summer Palace. Take evening flight to Xi'an.Once upon you get to Xi'an, be met & transferred to your hotel in Xi'an.
Hutongs: The old narrow paths where common people lived. All the Hutongs crisscross with each other, dotted with the Kindergarten, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the Tea House, and the lake, House of Gong Infant and local people's houses among them.Hutong is a kind of alleyway peculiar to Beijing. Surrounding the Forbidden City, many of these small windy alleyways were built during the Yuan (1206-1341), Ming(1368-1628) and Qing(1644-1908) dynasties. In the prime of these dynasties the emperors, in order to establish supreme power for themselves, planned the city and arranged the residential areas according to the etiquette systems of the Zhou Dynasty. The typical buildings in Hutong are quadrangles-a compound with houses around a square courtyard.
The Summer Palace is the largest and best-preserved royal garden in China with a history of over 800 years. With its cool features - water, gardens and hills, it was the palace of choice for vacationing emperors and Dowager Empresses. It was badly damaged by Anglo-French troops during the Second Opium War (1860) and its restoration became a pet project of Empress Dowager Cixi, the last of the Qing dynasty rulers.
Day 5 (B, L, )
Xi'an
Visit the Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses, the Bell Tower and the Wild Goose Pagoda.
The Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses: The greatest archaeological findings of the century: the army of terra-cotta warriors and the bronze chariots entombed in vast underground vaults at emperor Qin's tomb.
The Bell Tower: The emblem of Xian city.
The Wild Goose Pagoda: The pagoda where widely renowned Master Xuanzang (Monk Tripitaka) stored his classics brought from India.
Day 6 (B, L, )
Xi'an / Shanghai
Transfer via: PM flight
Visit the Provincial Museum, the Ancient City Wall and the Hanyang Tomb.
Shaanxi historical museum: The Shaanxi Historical Museum, a large-scale modern State-class museum, is situated at the western side of the "Wild Goose Pagoda" in Xian City. It covers an area of about 70,000 square meters, the architectural area of which is 55,000 odd square meters. It was completed on June 20, 1991 and open to the public.
Xian City Wall: Xian City Wall is a major landmark, and iis the best preserved, as well as the oldest and largest of the city defence systems in China. Bikes can be rented to ride along the top of the wall for about RMB20/hour.
The Hanyang Tomb: The Jing Emperor's tomb in Han Dynasty which was opened in 2001 and is famous for its rich collections of different kinds of tombs.
Take afternoon flight to Shanghai Hongqiao airport. Arrive at Shanghai. Be met & transferred to the hotel with your private guide & vehicle. Free at leisure for the rest of the day.
Day 7 (B, L, )
Shanghai
Tour to the Bund, Nanjing Road, Yu Garden,Yu Market & Jade Buddha Temple. Watch famous Shanghai Acrobats at night.
Yu Garden: It is characteristic of the architectural style of the Ming Dynasty and it used to be a private garden with 400 years' history. Infront of the garden, there is a market called Yu Market.
The Bund: the former foreign settlement, ranged along with imposing buildings of the colonial period.
Jade Buddha Temple: It is one of the main tourist highlights of Shanghai and it's also the most famous active temples in China. if you're lucky, you can watch the monks serving a ceremony in a side room.
Day 8 (B, L, )
Shanghai / Huangshan
Transfer via: PM flight
Tour to Shanghai Museum, Jade carving factory, Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Lunch will be Tiemuzhen Mongolian BBQ, transfer to Suzhou by train in the late afternoon.
Shanghai Museum: The biggest museum in China, with a collection of over 120,000 pieces of Chinese art & cultural relics. The museum is especially famous for its treasures of bronzes, ceramics, paintings, and calligraphy.
Oriental Pearl TV Tower: Standing by the Huangpu River with 468 meters high, Oriental Pearl TV Tower is the highest TV Tower in Asia.
Take evening flight to Huangshan.Be met & transferred to your hotel in Tunxi.
Day 9 (B, L, )
Huangshan
Take cable car up to the top of Mt.Huangshan, tour to Jade valley and other peaks. Stay overnight on top of the mountain.
Mt. Huangshan: known as "the loveliest mountain in China", famous for its magnificent scenery made up of many granite peaks and rocks emerging out of clouds.
Day 10(B, L, )
Huangshan / Suzhou
Transfer via: PM train (about 10hrs)
Take cable car down from the Mt. Huangshan. Visit Shexian for the unique Paifang architectures, the Ancient Street (laojie) & visit Ink Stone Factory. Be transferred to the railway station for the overnight train with soft sleepers to Suzhou.
Hong Cun Village: An ancient town over 800 years old leaning against Mt. Huangshan, it is folded in the fog of the Mt, which makes it look like a river and mountain picts. It enjoys the reputation of "The Chinese town in the pictures". Especially, the whole town distributes like a "cow", which made it one of the wonders in the world culture heritage. The famous film"Crouching Tiger" was made here.
Shexian Paifang: Paifang, is an archway usually made of fine wood or stone,as memorial and decoration. Shexian county is famous as the "the Town of Paifang" and has thousands of arches scattered around. It is the best place to explore the social culture in China's feudal society.
Ancient Street: Located in the center of the Huangshan City, the Ancient Street was built 700 years ago in the Song dynasty. Its total length is about 1.5 km and the sides of the street are laid with slab stones. There are hundreds of old but well preserved shops, evoking a bygone era in buildings that are simple and elegant. It is a commercial walking street.
Day 11 (B, L, )
Suzhou / Shanghai
Transfer via: PM train (about 1 hr)
Arrive at Suzhou. Be met at the railway station & have a cruise on the Grand Canal, then visit the Pan Gate, Lingering Garden,The No.1 Silk Factory.Take evening train to Shanghai.
Grand Canal: The Grand Canal ranks alongside the Great Wall of China as the country's greatest engineering achievement and it is the longest man-made waterway in world.Cruising on the Canal,you can see the local people's life.
Pan Gate: Pan Gate is an ancient city gate with land and water entrances. One gate with land and water entrances was quite typical in ancient China. Pan Gate is the only one left.
Lingering Garden: Shouzhou is famouse for its the Gardens. Lingering Garden is an elaborate succession of small gardens. Linging in the garden you would marver this unique architecture art.
The No.1 Silk Factory: Suzhou is also famous for its silk production. In the factory you can see how the silk is processed from the silk worm to the final woven cloth.
Day 12 (B, L, )
Shanghai / Guilin
Transfer via: Morning flight
Transfer to Guilin by air. Visit Reed Flute Cave, Elephant Trunk Hill. Take evening cruise on Li River and surrounding lakes.
Visit the Reed Flute Cave. Aside ten minutes drive (half hour bike ride) from downtown, the cave is one of the largest known examples of what each tropical karst cone conceals within it. The script writers and set designers for Star Trek would have a field day in this cavernous underground stalactite/stalagmite maze-style theater. The dropping water is rich and the dripstones are not only in various types but also in big size, displaying a wonderful cave world. This cave was called "The Art Gallery of Mother Nature". Colored fluorescent lights which cast shadows and illuminate shapes of imaginary animals, fruits and vegetables complete the unworldly effect.
Following with Elephant Trunk Hill. It is located on the west bank of the Li River by a small branch called Peach blossom River, and resembles a huge elephant standing on the bank of the river, sucking up water with its long trunk. The trunk is particularly striking and lifelike when viewed either nearby or afar. A circular foot cave called Shui Yue Dong (Moon-In-the Water Cave) separates the trunk and the body. A 3-story Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D) brick pagoda rises from the top of hill.
Day 13 (B, L, )
Guilin / Yangshuo
After the breakfast you take bus to Dock. You will start your Li River Cruise from here. The total Journey is around 30 Kilometers and takes 4 hours. On the way you will see the most beautiful landscapes and pass throw the local villages.
Later this day you will arrive at Yangshuo. You can also choose to stay in the town, stroll around the local market, witness the daily activities of local society. Or you might enjoy a class for Chinese Tachi in Yangshuo at sunset.
Yangshuo, the natural scenery features unique karst hills, crystal water, exquisite stones and intricate caves as well as a cultural historic heritage and folks of diverse customs. At night, have fun on the West Street, don't drink too much to miss tomorrow's program. Or you can go to watch the envening show - Impression Liu Sanjie. The optional ticket is RMB 188 per person. The Cormorant Bird catching fish show at night is also something new (optional).
Day 14 (B, L, )
Yangshuo / Hong Kong
From 6:30 to 9:00 am, cycle for 2 hours from Yangshuo to Aishan Village in the early morning, you will arrive at the Licun village and then you continue you bike ride on the trails to Yangshuo. After a hot shower in the hotel, you will be transfer by company vehicle to take bamboo rafting for two hours on Yulong River through limestone mountains and trails.
Later today you will be transferred to Guilin International Airport to catch the flight to Hong Kong.