China Tour from London

Today, please go to the airport by yourself to catch your flight to China. You will find yourself in Beijing in around 10 hours. London and Beijing are now bridged by direct daily flights. While booking your flight, please double-check your arrival date before confirming it with your travel consultant.

Upon arrival, our professional guide will wait for you at Beijing’s airport and transfer you to a luxury hotel for check-in. The remaining time of the day will be left for you to rest and recover from the jet lag.

Accommodation: Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong (5 stars)

Your China tour from London officially starts today. You will be accompanied by our guide to the grand Tiananmen Square which is one of the most well-known landmarks in Beijing. Half an hour later, you will enter and explore the Forbidden City (Treasure Gallery included), the largest wooden structure complex in the world and home to Chinese emperors for six centuries. You will witness the Chinese-version imperial architecture, as well as discover points of interest symbolic of esoteric beliefs of ancient Chinese. Take, for example, the time-keeping stone dials found in front of palace gates. Interestingly, before the gate of Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, where queens and concubines of retired emperors lived, there is a moon dial - the other dials are all sun dials - measuring time at night. Hidden stories like this are everywhere inside the City, and our guide will ensure you a fulfilling tour.

At noon, we will serve you an a la carte lunch (valued at CNY150.00 per person and included in our price) in a fancy local restaurant. The authentic Beijing Roast Duck and delicious Chinese food will be ready for you.

This afternoon, continue on to Yonghe Temple and Temple of Heaven, to explore for more Chinese superstitious beliefs that manifest as meticulous architectural designs. We will enjoy the evening at Liyuan Theatre for a live Peking Opera Show; arrive half an hour earlier to watch the artists painting their faces, with chances to take photos with them.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte welcome lunch

After breakfast, we will start an excursion to Mutianyu Great Wall, the longest section of the Great Wall of China; a ride up via round-trip cable car will be included. It’s only when you look out from the wall itself, to see it winding along the peaks to infinity, that you will truly perceive its world-class magnificence. What's more, a bottle of red wine will be provided for a group-toasting on the wall. It’s recommended you prepare some fast food for lunch or you will have to eat at one among the poorly-rated restaurants nearby; surely our guide will give you some relatively good recommendations.

Later, return to the downtown. We will have a photo stop at the Olympic National Stadium, aka Bird's Nest. Today will be finished off with a tour through Hutong alleys by rickshaw and a local family visit here.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

Today's itinerary starts from the Panda House in Beijing Zoo. Can you figure out how hard it is for other countries to rent giant pandas? Simply put, it’s like wining the bid to host the Olympics. The rental fee for a single panda is one million dollars per year; and you need to rent at least two at a time, for ten years. If there are babies born outside of China, they must be returned once they reach three years old. The creatures’ dietary preference poses a problem, too, since they seem to prefer Chinese bamboo species. So, in order to let them grow happily and healthily, borrowers also have to pay extra high price to airlift bamboo from China, or cultivate the same species on their lands, with soil and other conditions well-attended to.

Then, visit the Summer Palace, which served as the summer resort for royal families in the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911). You will not only appreciate the exquisite design of the garden, but also get more insights about imperial life.

Later, you will be transferred to the airport for a flight to Xi'an. Our guide will pick you up at Xi'an’s airport and help you check in at the hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Local lunch
Accommodation: Crowne Plaza Xi'an (5 stars)

Your tour in Xi'an will start from the Terracotta Army. Excavated from the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 – 210 BC), the first emperor in China's history, it consists of terracotta warriors and horses, plus bronze chariots and weapons, spectacularly stationed in three main burial pits as guardian forces. Exhibits you will see include two most expensive vehicles - bronze chariots - ever made in human history, which took archeologists eight years to restore! One of them, although half as big as the actual size in reality, combined over 76 thousand components, made of two tons of bronze, as well as gold and silver. The museum is full of such curious secrets, which our guide will reveal to you. After that, we will visit the family of Mr. Yang Zhifa, the discoverer of the first terracotta warrior, to learn how the Army was brought to light. An informal lesson follows for you to craft a mini clay warrior by yourself with mold.

In the afternoon, you will be guided to explore Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. In the evening, head to a prestigious theatre to enjoy a fantastic Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show over a Dumpling Dinner.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Dumpling dinner

Tip:
Guests coming in January, February, March and December need to arrange the dinner and evening activity on their own for this day, since the theater is usually not open at those times.

Today's first stop is the City Wall Park at the foot of the ancient City Wall, the best-preserved city wall from ancient China. We will take you to observe local life and invite a master to teach you some movements of Tai Chi, a gentle type of martial art. Then, head up onto the City Wall. We will leave you enough time to stroll on the Wall while enjoying different panoramic perspectives of the cityscape; you can also rent a bike at your own expense to cycle on it, which is a top-rated fun, too.

As lunch time approaches, we will head to the Muslim Quarter, a food bazaar where you can sample an assortment of local food.

In the afternoon, you will travel to Shanghai by flight. Our guide will meet you at Shanghai’s airport and escort you to the hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Local lunch
Accommodation: Radisson Blu Hotel Shanghai New World (5 stars)

Today's itinerary starts with Shanghai Museum, which houses more than 120,000 pieces of ancient artistic relics. Then, you will be guided to the 400-year-old classical Yu Garden, especially known for an exquisite pavilion stilted over a pond, with a zigzag bridge leading to it. Visit the bustling Yuyuan Bazaar outside the garden before lunch.

At noon, enjoy an a la carte farewell lunch (valued at CNY150.00 per person and included in our price). Later, soar up via lift to the 52nd floor of Shanghai Tower to Duo Yun Bookstore, whose window walls allow you to enjoy a sweeping view of the cityscape below. Pay a visit to the Bund area and, to round it off, go on a one-hour cruise along the Huangpu River. Like the River Thames in the UK, the Huangpu also flows through the plains, without torrents, vortex, or hidden reef that would pose threats to sailing ships. 500 meters (550 yards) wide, which is no more than two times the width of the Thames, the Huangpu offers the best angles to see the waterfront views passing by, and this is why we’d like to take you for a cruise on it.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte farewell lunch

Today, as your China tour from UK comes to an end, please go to the airport to catch your return flight on your own. There are daily flights directly linking Shanghai and London. There are 2 airports in Shanghai: Pudong Airport called PVG and Hongqiao Airport called SHA. Please pay attention which airport your flight would leave from. If necessary, we are glad to assist you to book a private airport transfer. Hope you have a nice journey home!

Meals: Western buffet breakfast