Beijing Xian Lhasa Chengdu Yangtze River Cruise Shanghai and Guilin Tour

Detailed Itinerary

• Day 1. Arrival at Beijing.  
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  Reach Beijing airport or railway station. Your private guide will wait at the exit and escort you to hotel for check in.
  Free for the remainder of the day.
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• Day 2. Beijing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Olympic Park.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Take a stroll on the largest downtown square in the world, Tiananmen Square. The square has witnessed the founding of the new China.
  Then visit Forbidden City. This world's largest palace complex was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties(1368-1911).
• Proceed to Summer Palace after lunch. Combining lakes, gardens and ancient structures, Summer Palace is the best-preserved and largest royal garden existing in China.
  Admire the most outstanding architectures in Olympic Park, Bird's Nest and Water Cube. Have an outside view of these two venues.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 3. Beijing: Ming Tombs, Badaling Great Wall.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Visit Ming Tombs in the morning. With a history of over 600 years, Ming Tombs is the final resting place of 13 emperors of Ming Dynasty(1368-1644).
  Discover the largest and the first built tomb, Changling. It is the tomb of the third Ming Emperor Zhu Di and his wife.
• Head to the famous Badaling Great Wall in the afternoon. Badaling is the best preserved and most popular section of the Great Wall of China. It is close Beijing city and featured with magnificent architectures and breathtaking nature scenery.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 4. Beijing Hutong, Temple of Heaven, flight to Xian.  Arrive in Xian and hotel check-in.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Visit Beijing Hutongs by rickshaws. Beijing Hutongs are narrow lanes surrounded by traditional courtyard residences. They have a history of over 700 years and represent the traditional culture and way of life of old Beijingers.
  Continue to Temple of Heaven, the largest sacrificial building complex in the world. The temple was the place where emperors came to perform worship to the God of Heaven and pray for good harvests.
• After lunch, drive you to airport to take flight for Xian.
  
  Local guide will pick you up from Xian airport and escort you to check in the hotel.
•   Breakfast, Lunch, , ,
• Day 5. Xian: Terracotta Warriors and Horses, Huaqing Pool, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Dumpling Dinner and Tang Dynasty Show.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Drive about 1 hour to visit Terracotta Warriors and Horses. Be honored as the Eighth Wonder in the World, Terracotta Warriors and Horses is a part of the Mausoleum of the Emperor Qin Shihuang(259-210BC). Over 8,000 life-size warriors, horses and chariots are arranged in battle formations.
• After lunch, proceed to Huaqing Pool. Huaqing Pool had been a resort palace for many dynasties because of its natural beauty and hot spring resources. It has become a landmark site for Chinese Tang Culture.
  Move on to Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Originally built in 652 of Tang Dynasty, the pagoda is functioned to collect Buddhist materials that were taken from India by the hierarch Xuanzang.
• Have delicious Dumplings for dinner. With different tastes, appearances and cooking techniques, dumpling dinner become an unmissable authentic dainty for travelers to Xian.
  Enjoy Tang Dynasty Show after dinner. Tang Dynasty Show presents the essence of music and dance art of the Tang Dynasty over a thousand years ago.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the show.
•   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day 6. Xian: Shaanxi History Museum, Great Mosque, Ancient City Wall, Bell and Drum Tower Square.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  First proceed to Shaanxi History Museum. Over 1,700,000 cultural relics are displayed in this comprehensive museum to show the history and culture of Shaanxi province and ancient China.
  Then visit Great Mosque. With a history of over 1,200 year, Great Mosque is one of the oldest and largest mosques in China. It was designed with traditional Chinese architecture style and decorated with Islamic culture.
• Go on to Ancient City Wall, one of the most important landmarks of Xian. It was built over 600 years ago as an important military defensive system to fortify the city.
  Continue to Bell and Drum Tower Square. The square offers good views of Bell and Drum Tower. It is the good place for local people to relax and enjoy leisure time.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 7. Xian flight to Lhasa,  Arrive in Lhasa, Nietang Buddha.  
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  Pick you up from hotel and transfer to airport. Take flight to Lhasa.
  
  
• Local guide will meet you at Lhasa airport.
  View the Nietang Buddha on the way to your hotel. Nietang Buddha is the biggest stone statue engraved on a cliff in Tibet and the first attraction to welcome visitors to Lhasa.
  Check in the hotel and have a good rest.
•   Breakfast, , , ,
• Day 8. Lhasa: Potala Palace, Sera Monastery, Norbulingka Park.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel at 09:00am.
  Visit the landmark of Lhasa, Potala Palace. With a history of over 1,300 years, Potala Palace is the highest ancient palace in the world, integrating palace, castle and monastery.
  Then drive to Sera Monastery. As one of the three largest monasteries in Lhasa, Sera Monastery houses many vivid Buddhist statues such as Maitreya, Bodhisattvas and keeps a lot of fine murals.
• Move on to Norbulingka Park, is the largest and finest garden in Tibet. Norbulingka Park was served as a summer palace for the Dalai Lama where they handled political affairs and practiced religious activities.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 9. Lhasa: Drepung Monastery, Jokhang Temple, Barkhor Street.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel at 09:00am.
  Drive to Drepung Monastery. The monastery is the most important monastery of Gelugpa in Tibetan Buddhism. It houses many rare cultural relics.
• Proceed to the ultimate pilgrimage destination of Tibetan Buddhists, Jokhang Temple. It was first built in 647 A.D. to house sacred image of the Buddha, which the king's Nepalese wife brought with her as a dowry.
  Continue to the thriving bazaar of the Barkhor Street. Tibetan culture, economy, religion and arts assemble here.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 10. Take flight to Chengdu.  Arrive in Chengdu, Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base.  
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  Pick you up from hotel and transfer to airport. Take flight to Chongqing.
  
  
• Local guide will meet you at Chongqing airport.
  Drive to Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base,the best destination to see the rare pandas. Besides pandas, the base also cares for other over 20 species of rare and endangered wild animals including black-necked cranes, white storks and so on.
  Afterwards, transfer you to check in the hotel.
•   Breakfast, , Lunch, ,
• Day 11. Leshan Giant Buddha.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Drive about 2 hours to Leshan. Visit the famous Leshan Giant Buddha. Located on the confluence of three rivers, Leshan Giant Buddha is 71 meters high and has a history of 1,200 years. It is the tallest and largest Buddha statue carved out of a cliff in the world.
• Transfer you back to the hotel in Chengdu after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 12. Chengdu: Dufu Thatched Cottage, Wuhou Temple, Wangjiang Tower Park, flight to Chongqing.  Arrive in Chongqing and hotel-check in.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  First go to Dufu Thatched Cottage, the former residence of a celebrated poet of Tang Dynasty(618-907), Du Fu. With ancient style architecture and a large garden, Dufu Thatched Cottage now a museum in memory of Du Fu.
  Then visit Wuhou Temple. Wuhou Temple was first built in 221 to commemorate Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Shu State during Three Kingdom Period. You will know the history of many stories about Three Kingdom in this ancestral temple.
  
• Move on to Wangjiang Tower Park. The Wangjiang Tower in the park is one of the symbolic buildings of Chengdu. There are 150 different species of bamboo in hte park, so the park is also known as Bamboo Park.
  Afterwards, transfer you to airport to take flight for Chongqing.
  
  Local guide will pick you up from airport in Chongqing and escort you to check in the hotel.
•   Breakfast, Lunch, , ,
• Day 13. Chongqing: Ciqikou China Three Gorges Museum Great Hall of the People and Erling Park, board the ship.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Drive to Ciqikou Ancient Town. This town has a history of over 1,700 years. Most of the houses were built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties(1368-1912). Walking along the street, you may get a feeling of going back to the old time of Chongqing.
• Then visit China Three Gorges Museum. With collections nearly 170,000 cultural relics, the museum showed the construction of the three gorges project and its development throughout the ages. Travelers may get abundant knowledge of Chongqing history, local culture as well as vivid knowledge about the city itself.
  Continue to the biggest theatre in Chongqing, Great Hall of the People. It is one of landmarks of Chongqing City. Great Hall of the People is a group of buildings imitating the palace style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
  Move on to Erling Park. First built in 1909, Erling Park used to be a private garden named "courteous park". The park has some historical buildings and many special plant species. A newly built tower provides the view of the entire city.
  Afterwards, transfer you to port to board the cruise ship.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 14. Yangtze River Cruise Ship.  
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• In the afternoon, go ashore to visit Fengdu Ghost City, where the Chinese believe the soul of the dead goes.
• In the evening, you will be the guests at the captain's cocktail party.
•   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day 15. Yangtze River Cruise Ship.  
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  Cruise through the famous Three Gorges: Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge. Enjoy the lofty peaks and historical sites.
  Take an excursion to Shennong Stream, another tributary of the Yangtze River. You may find the plank roads and ancient hanging coffins.
•   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day 16. Yangtze River Cruise Ship, flight to Shanghai.  Arrive in Shanghai and hotel check-in.  
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  Disembark at Maoping Port in the morning and take shore excursion to Three Gorges Dam. Admire this world's largest hydroelectric dam.
  You local guide will meet you at the tourist center in Yichang and escort you to airport. Take flight to Shanghai.
  
  
• Local guide will pick you up from Shanghai airport and escort you to check in the hotel.
•   Breakfast, , , ,
• Day 17. Shanghai: Yu Garden, Jade Buddha Temple, Nanjing Road, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, The Bund.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Start your Shanghai trip with Yu Garden. This well-restored Suzhou-style garden is one of the best gardens in southern China. It perfectly combines pavilions, halls, bridges, towers, ponds and rockeries.
  Go on to Jade Buddha Temple, a Buddhist temple with the architecture style of Song Dynasty(960-1279). The temple houses many ancient Buddhist sculptures, rare paintings and Buddhist scriptures.
  Take a stroll on Nanjing Road. Nanjing Road is the most prosperous shopping street in Shanghai and one of the top ten pedestrian streets in China.
• After lunch, proceed to Oriental Pearl TV Tower. This 468-meter-high tower is the most recognizable landmark of Shanghai. It has four major sightseeing observatories at different heights.
  Wander on The Bund. The Bund is a famous waterfront along the Huangpu River. It is famed as "Exhibition of International Buildings" because of 52 various buildings in different architectural styles, such as Gothic, Baroque, Romanesque and the Renaissance.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 18. Take flight to Guilin.  Reach Guilin, Reed Flute Cave, Seven Star Park, Fubo Hill.  
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  Pick you up from hotel and transfer to airport. Take flight to Guilin.
  
  Local guide will meet you at Guilin airport.
  Drive to visit Reed Flute Cave. Known as "the Palace of Natural Arts", Reed Flute Cave is a spectacular world of various stalactites and stone pillars formed from 180 million years ago.
• Walk in the Seven Star Park, the biggest comprehensive park in Guilin. The park is the epitome of the essence of Guilin's landscape.
  Then we will visit Fubo Hill. On the hill, there are lots of rock stone carvings and Buddha statues from Tang Dynasty(618-907). You may have a bird's-eye view of Guilin city on the summit.
  Afterwards, transfer you to check in hotel.
•   Breakfast, , Lunch, ,
• Day 19. Li River Cruise to Yangshuo.  
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  Your private guide will pick you up from hotel in the morning and transfer you to Zhujiang Port.
  Take a Li River Cruise to Yangshuo escorted by your guide. The section from Guilin to Yangshuo is the essence of the Li River scenery. It is reputed as the "Hundred-mile Gallery". The cruise will last about 4.5 hours. Lunch is on onboard.
• Disembark at Yangshuo in the afternoon. Take a short exploration in this ancient town. Walk on the famous West Street and feel the relaxed atmosphere.
  Then transfer you back to the hotel in Guilin with private car.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 20. Longsheng Rice Terraces and Zhuang Ethnic Village.  
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  Be picked up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Drive to Longsheng to visit Longji Rice Terraces. First built about 800 years ago, the large tracts of rice terraces were built alone the slope layer upon layer, displaying different appearance in different seasons.
• Then discover the Zhuang Ethnic Village located around the rice terraces. The village has a history of over 600 years and still retains their unique costumes and life style.
  Transfer you back to the hotel in Guilin after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 21. Departure.  
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  Pick you up from hotel and transfer to airport for departure.
•   Breakfast, ,