China Tour from Los Angeles

Please catch your flight for Beijing today.

Tip:
You can choose to fly from Los Angeles to Beijing via the direct flight CA984, which takes 15h 5min, on Fridays and Sundays. If your arrival time in Beijing predates our official day to start the tour, we are glad to arrange for you an independent lodging or tour; or you can simply consider booking a connecting flight.

Upon arrival, your guide and driver in Beijing will give you a warm greeting outside the customs. Later, our driver will transfer you to your hotel.

Accommodation: Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong

This morning, set out for the largest urban square in the world, Tiananmen Square. We will stroll across the square to the famed Forbidden City, to capture the grand beauty of royal buildings of Ming and Qing dynasties (1368 - 1911). You are going to feast your eyes on seventy palaces housing some nine thousand rooms, which another name of the City, Palace Museum, derives from. You will also have a chance to appreciate the Treasury Gallery here.

Around noontime, you will be treated to a sumptuous lunch with Peking Duck served. Later, visit Yonghe Temple, a royal lamasery, and Temple of Heaven, where Ming and Qing emperors sought blessings from Heaven for their people. This evening, enjoy a Peking Opera Show at Liyuan Theatre after capturing some fascinating moments of the artists painting their faces at the dressing room. The theatre we will visit takes prides in providing a time-honored stage for Peking Opera to pass down its profound history and culture. Like the Forbidden City, it’s a can’t-miss for anyone visiting Beijing. It also offers a chance for visitors to watch artists putting on makeup and take photos with them - an unusual experience for sure!

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte welcome lunch

Today we are going to tour the Mutianyu Great Wall with a round-trip cable car ride included. Like a ribbon winding along ridges of forest-covered mountains, the beautiful Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China has been attracting tourists from home and broad for decades. The Great Wall is perhaps the most famous symbol of Chinese culture, but do you know there was a time when westerners thought the section in Beijing was all that the Great Wall contains? Thanks to an American traveler who explored the Wall himself in 1908 and announced the fact, they began to know it was actually a mammoth project across half China constructed by many dynasties. The section we are going to visit today dates back 600 years, meaning it was built during the Ming period (1368 - 1644).

► Drink a toast on the Great Wall & Tips for lunch
A toast of red wine will be proposed on the Wall to celebrate your memorable moment of standing on this engineering feat. It’s suggested you prepare some snacks in advance for lunch, since the restaurants here are limited in both amount and quality; if you really want to eat at the site, your guide is of course glad to recommend some of the restaurants.

Afterwards, drive back to downtown and make a stop before the Olympic Bird's Nest to take photos. The rest of your afternoon will see you enjoying a rickshaw tour and then a family visit at Hutong area, made up by historical alleys flanked by traditional courtyard houses.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

After breakfast, you will be guided to see lovely pandas at Panda House in Beijing Zoo. Then, appreciate the picturesque landscape surrounding the Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake inside Summer Palace, one of the best-preserved royal gardens on earth. Commissioned by Emperor Qianlong, the garden was originally a birthday gift for his 60-year-old mother, but it’s in fact more than that: it was built not only to expand the West Lake, the predecessor of the Kunming Lake, to prevent it from flooding, but to provide a place for the government to train marine forces.

After lunch, your guide will escort you to catch a flight to Xi'an. Upon arrival, be warmly greeted by the guide of Xi'an and transfer to the hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Crowne Plaza Xi'an

This morning, pay a visit to the unrivalled Terracotta Army at the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 – 210 BC), to marvel at thousands of life-size pottery figures, including infantry warriors, kneeling archers, and a curiously green-faced solider. After the excursion, drop by the house of a farmer famous for discovering the first terracotta warrior, and then have fun creating a mini clay solider, which you can take home, following step-by-step instructions from an artisan.

Late into the afternoon, continue with a visit to Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. During dinner time, we will entertain you in a theatre with a dumpling banquet and Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show. The dumpling banquet is something you don’t want to miss if you are a fan of traditional Chinese culture. No one can fully experience Xi’an without joining the banquet, the culinary counterpart of the Terracotta Army. Imagine you savor those wrapped meat balls while watching dances that would take you to the Tang era (618 - 907)!

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Dumpling dinner

Tip:
If today is a day in January, February, March, and December, please arrange the dinner and evening activity on your own, as the theater is usually closed at these times.

Start today by observing the morning life of the locals in the City Wall Park, before mingling with them by doing some Tai Chi martial art. Then, our guide will accompany you to overlook the cityscape of what was the ancient capital from Xi'an City Wall. You can either take a leisure stroll or ride a rental bike at your own expense.

Then, explore the lively snack street of Muslim Quarter to try some local food. You are recommended to sample Ma Jiang Liang Pi (cold noodles with sesame paste), a representative traditional specialty of Shaanxi. Loved by locals and non-locals alike, it can be found almost everywhere in China, with each region enjoying their own versions. “Liang Pi” is wide and thin noodles made of flour, which becomes “Ma Jiang Liang Pi” if mixed with “Ma Jiang” or sesame paste, popular for its rich flavor. Later, we will transfer you to Shaanxi History Museum, where you can appreciate cultural relics relating the past of Shaanxi and China.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch

After breakfast, a 4-hour high-speed train trip will take you to Chengdu. From Chengdu railway station, your local guide will escort you to the hotel for check-in. Enjoy the free rest of today to explore the surroundings.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast
Accommodation: Holiday Inn Chengdu Oriental Plaza

After breakfast, head for the Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Be ready to be amused by those cuddly pandas eating bamboo, climbing trees, and sporting with each other! If lucky, you can also take a peek of adorable baby pandas in the early morning. Then, take a stroll through the famed Wide and Narrow Alley, where you can taste some local cuisine for lunch.

In the afternoon, our Chengdu trip will extend to Jinsha Site Museum, built on the archeological site of the capital of the lost Shu Civilization, which thrived 3,000 years ago. You will witness the original Gold Foil of Sun and Immortal Bird, the museum’s flagship, whose iconic image has become the emblem of Chengdu and can be encountered everywhere across the city. The museum also prides itself on a collection of gold masks, another proof of Shu people’s crafting prowess.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

This morning, you will be escorted to the airport for a flight to Shanghai, the last city on your itinerary. Upon your arrival, the guide will transfer you to the hotel for check-in. The rest of the day is free on your own arrangement.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast
Accommodation: Radisson Blu Hotel Shanghai New World

Today, the first stop is Shanghai Museum, a treasure trove of exquisite bronze wares, calligraphies, and ceramics offering insight into China’s ancient art history. Later, you will enjoy an in-depth exploration of Yu Garden, whose verdant plants, pretty rockeries, and classical pavilions and bridges over ponds will make your day. Visit its traditional bazaar next.

After an a la carte farewell lunch (valued at CNY150.00 per person and included in our price), let the fastest elevator in the world take you to Duo Yun Bookstore, on the 52nd floor of Shanghai Tower, to capture a bird’s-eye view of the metropolis outside its panoramic window. Then, head down to the Bund area and go on a one-hour cruise along the Huangpu River. You will spend some time on the Bund as you like, until it’s time for us to transfer you back to hotel and bid farewell.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte farewell lunch

After breakfast, check out of your hotel and it’s recommended you hail a taxi to catch your homeward flight. We hope you’ve enjoyed this 12 days China tour from USA, and wish to bring joy to your life again!

Tip:
There is a direct flight MU583 1320/0905, which takes 11h 45min from Shanghai to Los Angeles on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. For other days, you might need to book a connecting flight. If you want to extend your tour by 1-2 day(s) to tour neighboring areas, we are also glad to adjust the itinerary by arranging a private extension for you.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast