China Delights

Your private China tour will start today from the grand Tiananmen Square. After photo-taking, you will be accompanied to the splendid Forbidden City to admire the luxurious imperial palaces during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368 - 1911). You will also visit the Treasure Gallery and the Hall of Clocks to appreciate rare objects as well as the elaborate clocks of the royal family.

Lunch will be served at the famous Fangshan Restaurant located at the Beihai Park. "Fangshan" means the food is cooked according to the imperial kitchen recipes. This restaurant is 80 years old and popular for its 'imperial food' features. 

In the afternoon, we will proceed to the Temple of Heaven. Our guide will accompany you as you linger around the temple and introduce the ancient sacrificial ritual to you. 

Meals: American breakfast, Imperial lunch

An exciting day awaits you! After breakfast, we will drive about 1.5 hours to the Mutianyu Great Wall. There are cable cars running at the scenic spot. Climbing up this section of the Great Wall is time-consuming and exhausting, so we've reserved the round-way cable car for you. You will make the most of your time to appreciate the majestic scenery. Lunch is by your own arrangement. You may consider to pack away some fast food at the foot of the mountain and have a speical picnic lunch on the wall. 

Aftewards, we will drive back downtown. En route you will get the chance to see the Bird's Nest (Olympic National Stadium) and the Water Cube (the National Aquatic Center), and take amazing photos of these unique constructions. 

For dinner tonight, we would like recommend the Beijing Roast Duck. A visit to Beijing without the crispy, tender and tasty Peking Duck would be a great pity. Among the multifarious restaurants serving Peking Duck, the most famous one is the time-honored Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant. You are advised to order according to your own preference and pay on the spot. You can order a duck plus the pancakes and side dishes, and also duck soup and some light vegetable dishes if you are interested. Usually it costs around CNY200 to CNY300 per person. Please take a taxi back to your hotel in the end. 

Meals: American breakfast

After breakfast, you will visit the Summer Palace, which is bestowed with brilliant constructions and picturesque natural landscapes. You will put yourself in the midst of the joyful scenery with a traditional boat trip on the Kunming Lake. Then a visit to the Yonghe Lama Temple, the largest and best preserved lamasery in China is followed.

For lunch today, the Bai Family Mansion is recommended. This restaurant is in a gorgeous courtyard and the waiters wear traditional Qing Dynasty dresses. The specialties here are imperial snacks, Kungpao shrimp, Deep-Fried Four Treasures and Chicken. The Chinese music and occasional "face-change" performances are also highlights here. It costs about CNY500 per person, which will be paid by you on the spot. 

In the afternoon, you will take a flight to Xian. Our local guide and driver will pick you up and transfer you to the hotel.

Meals: American breakfast

The Terracotta Army Museum is considered the symbol of Xian by most visitors. After breakfast, our guide will escort you directly to this grand museum, which contains a wonderful and multifaceted military troop from the Qin Dynasty (221 - 207 BC), including over 8,000 pottery soldiers, 400 horses, 100 chariots and numerous weapons. You might be surprised to find that the life-sized terracotta warriors are pretty tall, proving the height of soldiers in that age. Interestingly, the laws in Qin Dynasty delineated that people could get married when a man was 1.5 m (4.9 ft) and a girl reached 1.4 m (4.6 ft), regardless of age. The heights were the standards for being adults at that times, and people should be ready for marriage after their puberty rites. With the guide, you may find more interesting stories about the terracotta army and powerful Qin Dynasty.

On the way back downtown, we will stop by the Huaqing Aegean International Hot Sprig Resort to have an a la carte lunch. The afternoon tour will include the Ancient City Wall and the prosperous Muslim Quarter. You can have a cycling trip on the City Wall or tour around by sightseeing car.

You will experience the marvelous Tang Dynasty Dinner Show tonight, which will take you back to that dreamy and prosperous period over 1,100 years ago. You will be served with delicate imperial food of the Tang in the meantime. Our guide will escort you back to your hotel after the show.

Meals: American breakfast, A la carte lunch, Tang Dynasty dinner show

Today's sightseeing trip will start from the Shaanxi Provincial History Museum, which boasts over 370,000 historical relics from stone tools of remote times to artifacts before 1840. Next we will head for the Small Wild Goose Pagoda to feel the Buddhist culture and enjoy the tranquil atmosphere.

For lunch today, we would like to arrange in the Yuezhenxuan Restaurant which specializes in Cantonese cuisine. The popular snacks here are the Steamed Shrimp Dumplings and the Steamed Creamy Custard Bun.

Afterwards, you will be escorted to the airport for your onward flight to Guilin. Our local guide and driver will pick you up and escort you to the hotel.

Meals: American breakfast, A la carte lunch

Today you will have a city tour to visit the Reed Flute Cave, the Seven Star Park and the Elephant Trunk Hill. Lunch will be served to you at a nice and decent local restaurant. The Reed Flute Cave is the most magnificent attraction in Guilin. It gets its name from the reeds growing outside, with which people make flutes. The Seven Star Park is the largest park in Guilin and the Elephant Trunk Hill is the symbol of the city.

Tonight you will take a cruise at the Two Rivers and Four Lakes for around 90 minutes to enjoy the breathtaking scenery. The Guilin cuisine is recommended at the famous Weidao Zhizao Restaurant. As always, dinner is to be had at a restaurant of your choice and is at your own expense. Your guide will take you to the restaurant and you are advised to get a taxi back to the hotel.

Meals: American breakfast, A la carte lunch

Today, you will travel to Yangshuo by Li River cruise - the essential component of your Guilin trip and it takes around 4.5 hours. En route, do not forget to capture the scenic mountains and beautiful Li River with your camera. Upon arrival in Yangshuo, you will have a countryside tour and visit a local villager's home to experience the farmer's lifestyle. Then you will have some free time at the famous West Street. Half residences and half shops, it has a history of nearly 1400 years. Wandering around the street, you will be encompassed by shops, bars, cafes, restaurants and the roadside hawkers. You have plenty of options for dining here. The recommended local foods are beer fish and rice noodles.

Tonight, you will enjoy the Impression Sanjie Liu (VIP seats) which is performed on the picturesque Li River. It is a top live-action performance in China, demonstrating the traditional lifestyle of the minority Zhuang People. Stay overnight at the hotel in Yangshuo will also bring you a different experience.

Good to know: Here we would like to remind you the lunch on the cruise is not that good. It is the simple box lunch provided by the cruise company. We can only say it is edible but far from delicious. We suggest you have a big breakfast at the hotel this morning.

Meals: American breakfast, Lunch

In the morning, you have free time to explore Yangshuo by yourself. Taking a bike trip to visit the Moon Hill and the Big Banyan Tree is highly recommended. It takes around one hour each way. If you just want to relax, you will find a tiny and enigmatic world within the marvelous scenery and have a cup of coffee in a sidewalk cafe. During lunch time, you will have another chance to taste the delicious food at the West Street. After that, our guide and driver will chauffer you to the airport to catch your onward flight to Shanghai. Upon landing, our local guide and driver in Shanghai will welcome you and then take you to the hotel.

For dinner tonight, you can take a taxi to the Wangbaohe Restaurant at the Central Hotel, which is a good place for tasting Shanghai cuisine, especially the crab. A dinner here generally costs CNY250-300 per person.

Meals: American breakfast

We will start today's Shanghai tour from the World Financial Center, where you will take pictures of this unusual-shaped skyscraper as well as the surrounding modern buildings. After that you will be escorted to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, which illustrates the city's achievements in planning and construction. Around noon, an a la carte lunch will be served at a fancy and famous local restaurant, which offers authentic Shanghai and Cantonese cuisines. 

After lunch we will proceed to the Yu Garden, which is regarded as a bright pearl among classical gardens in southern China, as well as its nearby commercial blocks. We then continue the visit to the Bund Area and then board a cruise ship there to take in the scenery on both banks of the Huangpu River.


After that, our guide will take you to the Shanghai Circus World to enjoy an exciting Era Acrobatic Show and return you back to the hotel at the end.

Meals: American breakfast, A la carte lunch

Today, we will arrange for you a whole day's trip to the Nanxun Water Town by a comfortable car ride. Upon arrival, you will stroll around this well-preserved old town with the guide's company. In the old days, Nanxun was a town mainly for wealthy merchants, so it is rich in manors that were elaborately designed and constructed; some were even influenced by western architectural styles with stained glass, fireplace, Roman columns, European fountain and many other features. After the visit, we will return to Shanghai.


Meals: American breakfast

Today your private China tour will draw to an end. A comfortable hotel-airport transfer is arranged according to your flight schedule, and our guide will help you board your homebound flight. We wish you a happy journey home! 

Meals: American breakfast