China Tour of Beijing Xian Guilin Yangshuo Kunming Lijiang Shanghai

Entry Beijing

Day 1.

Arrive at Beijing airport.
Be picked by private vehicle and English-speaking tour guide from Beijingservice.com.
Be transferred to hotel for check in.
Remainder of the day is at leisure.

Beijing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tea ceremony, Olympic Park

Day 2.

English speaking tour guide and private vehicle will pick you up from hotel at 08:30 am.

Visit Tiananmen Square - The biggest downtown Square of the world. Take a stroll in the square.

From the north end of Tiananmen Square, we will enter the Forbidden City -also called Palace Museum, is located at the center of Beijing. It was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Rectangular in shape, Forbidden City is the world's largest palace complex. Visit Forbidden City along the central axis from south to north for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Take a Chinese Herbal Medicine class for about 40 minutes before lunch.
Drugs that the Chinese medicine uses are usually plants, so it usually called Chinese herbal medicine.
In Chinese people's process of fighting with the disease for thousands of years, rich medical knowledge was gradually accumulated through the practice and understanding.
These medical knowledge be passed by apprentice dictation first, and then were written down in books, which helped the medical knowledge spread fast and farther.

After lunch in a local restaurant, we will drive 30 minutes to Summer Palace - 20 kilometers northwest of downtown Beijing. Summer Palace is the largest imperial garden of Ming and Qing dynasty. The whole Summer Palace covers an area of over 290 hectares including more than 3,000 buildings, such as halls, pavilions, towers, etc. Take sightseeing in this beautiful garden for one hour and twenty minutes.

Taste Chinese tea, enjoy Chinese tea ceremony and have a rest in a local tea house.
China is the hometown and birthplace of Chinese tea.
Being the national drinks of China, tea have a history of four to five thousand years.
Tea culture is one of the specific representative of Chinese culture.

Proceed to visit the Olympic Park. As the major venue of the 2008 Olympic Games, the Olympic Park contains three areas including the Forest Park in the north, major venue and supporting facilities area in the center and the completed stadiums and the reserved area. The completed stadiums contains the National Stadium (Bird's Nest), National Swimming Center (Water Cube) and the National Indoor Stadium (Folding Fans). Take an outside view of the venues.

We will transfer you back to hotel after the whole day tour.

Breakfast, Lunch

Beijing: Ming Tombs, Lunch, Badaling Great Wall

Day 3.

Be picked up from hotel at 08:30 am.

Drive 1.5 hours to the Ming Tombs. Ming Tombs is the final resting place of 13 Ming Dynasty emperors, along with 23 empresses and a number of concubines. It has a history of over 600 years. Surrounded by mountains on three sides,

the Ming Tombs features splendid landscape.
Chang Ling (the Tomb of Chang) was built by the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty in 1409 AD. Chang Ling is the largest tomb in architectural scale. The hall of Chang Ling is the largest structure of nanmu wood in China.
Visit Changling for 1 hour.

On the way to restaurant, we will visit a large scale jadeware processing factory. Jade culture is one important part of Chinese culture. We hope foreign travelers can get a glimpse of Chinese Jade culture during this stop. Thousands of pieces of jade, jewelry and handicraft articles are exhibited, from small bracelet to huge carving. An open workshop is available to demonstrate Jade carving, which enable customers to get some knowledge of Chinese jade carving processes. Visit time is around 40 minutes.

Move on to the famous Badaling Great Wall. The Great Wall was built and maintained between the 7th century BC and 17th century BC. It was originally built to protect the empire from northern invaders. The Great Wall stretches through the countryside over deserts, hills and plains for 8,851.8 kilometers.
Badaling was built in 1505 during the Ming Dynasty. This section of the Great Wall is the best preserved and most visited one. It is 7600 meters long and 1000 meters above sea level,commanding a strategic position in ancient times.
Take sightseeing on Badaling Great Wall for about 2 hours.

Be transferred back to your hotel after the whole day tour.

Breakfast, Lunch

Beijing Hutong, Temple of Heaven, Lunch, Beijing-Xian

Day 4.

Be picked up from hotel at 08:30 am.

Visit Beijing Hutong. Hutongs are lanes or alleys formed by lines of Siheyuan (a compound with houses around a courtyard). Most of them were built during the Yuan (1206-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1908) dynasties surrounding the Forbidden City. Many famous operas and dramas are based on the themes of hutong life. Man-power rickshaw is arranged for you to feel the Hutong of Beijing.

Proceed to visit Temple of Heaven. Built in 1420 during Ming Dynasty, Temple of Heaven is the best preserved and largest sacrificial building complex in the world. The emperor came to the temple every winter to pray for ample harvests and good weather. Strictly built on the basis of philosophical requirements, the temple in many ways features the relationship between Heaven and Earth.
Visit Temple of Heaven for 1 hour.



Be transferred to airport to connect flight to Xian.

Arrive in Xian. Be met and transferred to your hotel.

Breakfast, Lunch

Terracotta, Forest of Stone Steles Museum, Tang Dynasty Show

Day 5.

Be picked up from your hotel at 08:30 am.

Visit the Terracotta Warriors and Horses -the Eighth Wonder of the World. More than 6,000 different looking pottery figures depict the history of the Qin Dynasty from 221 BC-206 BC.

Then visit the Forest of Stone Steles Museum -a classical courtyard styled structure with the oldest and richest collection of steles in China.

Proceed to visit the City Wall - the best preserved, oldest and largest ancient city defense system in China. The wall has a history of over 600 years.

Taste local Dumpling Banquet -traditional food for Chinese New Year. It is a must taste food in China.

Enjoy Tang Dynasty Show -performance of Chang'an music and dances that was originated in the Tang dynasty over a thousand years ago. The musicians present the music with the Tang-dynasty-style musical instruments. You will enjoy a national art that reflects the glory and richness of the Tang Dynasty era.

Be transferred back to your hotel.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Provincial Museum, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Banpo Neolithic Village

Day 6.

Be picked up from your hotel at 08:30 am.

Visit the Provincial History Museum -a magnificent architectural complex in the Tang Dynasty style. It is the first huge state museum with modern facilities in China.

Then we will visit the 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. Now it is Landmark of the Xian.

Visit the Banpo Neolithic Village -a stable village was built by late Neolithic people, which depicts a matriarchal society based on farming.

Be transferred back to your hotel.

Breakfast, Lunch

Xian - Guilin, Reed Flute Cave, Elephant Trunk Hill

Day 7.

Be transferred to airport to connect flight to Guilin.

Arriving in Guilin, be met and transferred to your hotel with private vehicle and tour guide.

Have private city tour in this scenery city. Visit Reed Flute Cave -Known as "the Palace of Natural Arts" contains beautiful stalactites and stalagmites.

Then we will visit Elephant Trunk Hill -the symbol of Guilin, looks like a giant elephant with a long trunk.

Be transferred back to your hotel.

Breakfast, Lunch

Li River Cruise, Yang Shuo, Guilin

Day 8.

Pick up from your hotel in the morning.

Be transferred to the Zhujiang Pier (about 1 hour drive) for a 4.5 hours wonderful Li River cruise with lunch aboard. You will enjoy the picturesque mountains, peaceful green fields, farms and villages with water buffaloes, cows wondering around on both sides of the riverbank.

Disembark at the one thousand year old town Yang Shuo -one-thousand-year-old town, a lovely and relaxing place to break a journey and to soak up some of China's most beautiful scenery in the afternoon.

Have a short exploration to the old town before to be transferred back to Guilin city.

Breakfast, Lunch

Guilin – Kunming

Day 9.

Pick up from your hotel in the morning.

Visit Seven Star Park - the biggest park in Guilin.

Then visit Fubo Hill. On Fubo Hill, there are lots of rock stone carvings and Buddha statues from Tang Dynasty. From the summit you may have a bird's-eye view of Guilin city.

Transfer to airport to connect flight to Kunming.

Tour guide and private vehicle will meet you at Kunming airport.

Transfer you to the hotel.

Breakfast, Lunch

Kunming

Day 10.

Be picked up from your hotel at 08:30 am.

visit Stone Forest, Golden Temple, Buddhist Qiongzhu Temple on the beautiful wooded Yu'an Mountain.

Transfer you to the hotel.

Breakfast, Lunch

Kunming - Lijiang

Day 11.

Take a morning flight to Lijiang and transfer to the hotel.

Visit the Baishui Tableland. Have a tour to the Dry Sea.

Take the cable car to Spruce Plateau and overlook the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
Visit the Baisha Village. Then we will visit the Baisha Murals.

Transfer you to the hotel.

Breakfast, Lunch

Lijiang

Day 12.

Be picked up from the hotel on the morning.

Visit a local Naxi family. Then have a tour to the Rock Joseph's Former Residence in Yuhu Village.
Keep on visiting to the Square Street of the Lijiang Old Town.
Enjoy the Naxi Ancient Music at Dongba Palace in the evening.

Be transferred back to hotel after the tour.

Breakfast, Lunch

Lijiang-Shanghai

Day 13.

Morning is free.

Be transferred to airport to Shanghai in the afternoon.
Arrive in Shanghai. Be transfer to hotel.

Breakfast

Yu Garden, Nanjing Road, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the Bund, Huangpu River Cruise

Day 14.

Be picked up from your hotel at 08:30 am.

Visit Yu Garden -one of the best Suzhou-style gardens in southern China.

Then we will visit Nanjing Road. Nanjing Road is one of the most famous and bustling business streets in the world. It is also called Chinese First Business Street. It is the window for Shanghai to open to the world and also shopping paradise for people at home and abroad.


After lunch, move on to Oriental Pearl TV Tower -the world's third tallest TV and radio tower, which combines ancient concepts with 21st Century technology.

Then visit the Bund. The Bund, also called Zhongshan Road, is a famous waterfront and regarded as the symbol of Shanghai for hundreds of years. The most famous and attractive sights are the 52 various buildings of different architectural styles including Gothic, Baroque, Romanesque, Classicism and the Renaissance, which are also located at the west side of the Bund. The Bund was the centre of Shanghai's politics, economy and culture hundreds of years ago, consulates of most countries. Many banks, businesses and newspaper offices were settled there, and that's why we have these art-like buildings
Have a short Cruise on Huangpu River.

Enjoy Acrobatic Show in the evening.

Be transferred back to the hotel after the performance.

Breakfast, Lunch

Departure

Day 15.

Be picked up from your hotel, transferred to the airport to connect the flight for Departure.

Breakfast