13 Day China Tour in Beijing Xi'an Chengdu and Shanghai

Day 1: Arrive in Beijing

1. Beijing
   1h
   After arrival in Beijing, you will be greeted by your guide and transferred from your airport to your hotel. After checking in, you will have the rest of the day to yourself.
   This evening, gather with your fellow travelers for a welcome dinner, a relaxed introduction to the journey ahead.

Day 2: Beijing Exploration: Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, and Jingshan Park

1. Tiananmen Square
   1h
   Tiananmen Square is one of the largest public squares in the world and sits at the very center of Beijing. It takes its name from the Tiananmen, the Gate of Heavenly Peace, on its north side, which opens toward the Forbidden City. The square is surrounded by landmark buildings including the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Monument to the People's Heroes at its center, and it remains the city's main ceremonial gathering place, known for the daily dawn flag-raising.
2. 3h · Admission ticket included
   Closed on Mondays, this attraction was the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties, completed in 1420. It is the largest surviving palace complex in China.
3. Jingshan Park
   1h · Admission ticket included
   Originally an imperial garden, Jingshan is now a public park and the highest point in central Beijing. Five pavilions stand on the artificial hill, also known as Coal Hill, reached by around 400 steps. The summit gives the best view over the whole Forbidden City complex and the old quarters of Beijing.

Day 3: Beijing Exploration: Temple of Heaven and Mutianyu Great Wall

1. The Temple Of Heaven
   2h · Admission ticket included
   Built in 1420, this was where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties performed the empire's most important religious rites. Each year they came here to worship Heaven and pray for good harvests. The pinnacle ceremony fell at the winter solstice, when the emperor, as the "Son of Heaven," personally led the offerings, incense, and ritual music believed to keep harmony between heaven and the state.
2. Mutianyu Great Wall
   3h · Admission ticket included
   One of the best-restored sections of the Great Wall, set in forested mountains northeast of Beijing and known for its dense watchtowers and sweeping ridgeline views. A round-trip cable car up to the Wall is included. A chairlift and toboggan are also available. If you would like to switch to either, tell your guide before they buy your cable car tickets and pay the difference in cash to the guide.
   One of the best-restored sections of the Great Wall, set in forested mountains northeast of Beijing and known for its dense watchtowers and sweeping ridgeline views.

Day 4: Beijing to Xi'an by High-Speed Train

1. Xi'an
   5h
   After breakfast you travel by high-speed train from Beijing to Xi'an. The journey takes roughly 4.5 to 6 hours depending on the service, and first class tickets are included in the tour price.

Day 5: Xi'an Exploration: Full-Day Visit to the Terracotta Warriors of Qin Shi Huang

1. Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum
   4h · Admission ticket included
   Discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well, the Terracotta Army is one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century and forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site covers three excavated pits totalling around 22,000 square metres and holding roughly 8,000 life-size pottery warriors and horses, arranged in battle formation. They were made to guard the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China, and have stood there for more than 2,200 years.

Day 6: Xi'an City Wall, Wild Goose Pagoda, and Bullet Train to Chengdu

1. Ancient City Wall
   1h · Admission ticket included
   The most complete ancient city wall still standing in China. Built between 1370 and 1378 under the Ming dynasty, on the foundations of the older Tang-era wall, it forms a full rectangle around the old city, roughly 13.7 km (8.5 miles) around, about 12 meters high, and up to 18 meters thick at the base. Broad enough to walk or cycle along the top, it is lined with watchtowers and punctuated by four great gates, and stands as one of the largest and best-preserved military fortifications surviving from ancient China.
2. Giant Wild Goose Pagoda
   1h · Admission ticket included
   The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda stands within Da Ci'en Temple and was built in 652 during the Tang dynasty to house the sutras the monk Xuanzang brought back from India. It remains an active site of Buddhist significance and a well-preserved example of Tang architecture, built in brick as a square tiered tower with a clear base, body, and crown.
3. Chengdu
   4h
   After the morning's sightseeing you travel by bullet train from Xi'an to Chengdu, a journey of roughly 3.5 to 4.5 hours in first class, then transfer to your hotel to check in.

Day 7: Chengdu Exploration: Giant Panda Research Base, Wenshu Temple, and Surrounding Teahouses

1. Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
   3h · Admission ticket included
   The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is the largest giant panda breeding facility in the world, home to giant pandas, red pandas, and other endangered wildlife alongside its breeding and research programme. Pandas are most active in the cooler morning hours, particularly around feeding, so an early arrival changes what you actually see.
2. Wenshu Yuan Monastery
   1h · Admission ticket included
   Wenshu Yuan is Chengdu's oldest and largest Buddhist temple, founded in the Tang dynasty and rebuilt in its present form during the Qing. Its best-known holdings are the White Jade Buddha and the Thousand Buddha Pagoda. Worshippers light candles and incense throughout the day, leaving the courtyards under a constant haze of smoke. A teahouse at the back of the complex is a good place to sit and watch local life, while the streets outside are lined with fortune-tellers and stalls selling joss sticks, paper money, and statues.

Day 8: Domestic Flight from Chengdu to Nanjing

1. Nanjing
   4h
   After a relaxed morning you transfer to the airport for the flight to Nanjing, roughly 2 hours 15 minutes. Nanjing is one of China's four great ancient capitals, having served as the seat of ten dynasties and regimes since the third century. On arrival you transfer to your hotel.Nanjing is one of four ancient capitals in China. Ten dynasties or regimes took Nanjing as the Capital since the third century, and there are plenty of culture relics here. Explore UNESCO-listed Ming Xiaoling Tomb to learn about royal mausoleum culture. Next, go to enjoy a leisure stroll on the Ancient City Wall (Xuanwumen Section) which is the longest, largest, and best-preserved ancient city wall in the world. Walking on the top of the wall gives to you the nice highlight of ancient time and modern Nanjing.

Day 9: Nanjing Exploration: City Wall and Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum

1. Xiaoling Tomb of Ming Dynasty
   2h · Admission ticket included
   Set on the southern slope of Purple Mountain, this is the tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, and his empress, Ma, for whom the tomb is named. Begun in 1381, it became the blueprint for imperial tombs across the next five centuries of Ming and Qing rule and is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its most famous feature is the approach: a curving Sacred Way lined first with twelve pairs of stone animals, among them lions, camels, elephants, and mythical beasts, then with statues of civil officials and military generals standing guard.
2. Nanjing City Wall (Ming City Wall)
   1h · Admission ticket included
   The Nanjing City Wall is the longest city wall ever built anywhere in the world. Raised between 1366 and 1386 by Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Ming emperor, with a workforce of some 200,000 labourers and around 350 million bricks, it originally ran about 35 km around the city, and roughly two-thirds still stands today.

Day 10: High Speed Train to Suzhou and The Humble Administrator's Garden

1. Suzhou
   2h
   After breakfast you travel by high-speed train from Nanjing to Suzhou. On arrival you transfer to your hotel to check in.
2. Humble Administrator's Garden
   2h · Admission ticket included
   The Humble Administrator's Garden is the largest of Suzhou's classical gardens and part of the UNESCO-listed Classical Gardens of Suzhou. Construction began in 1509 during the Ming dynasty, commissioned by a retired imperial official. The design centres on a broad central pond, with pavilions, halls, and covered walkways arranged around the water and linked by bridges and small islands. The grounds divide into eastern, central, and western sections, with the central garden regarded as the truest surviving expression of Ming garden style.

Day 11: Tongli Water Town, Canal Boat Cruise & High-Speed Train to Shanghai

1. Tongli Town
   3h · Admission ticket included
   Spend the morning in Tongli Water Town, a canal town in Wujiang District with more than 1,000 years of history. Narrow waterways, stone bridges, and Ming and Qing period residences and gardens sit alongside each other throughout the old town. A small boat ride along the canals gives a different view of the town. In the afternoon you board a short high-speed train to Shanghai and check into your hotel.After we will take a short train ride to Shanghai and check into your hotel there.

Day 12: Shanghai Exploration: The Bund, Yu Garden, and Shanghai Tower

1. The Bund
   1h
   Stretching along the western bank of the Huangpu River, the Bund is renowned for its collection of historic buildings representing architectural styles such as Neoclassical, Gothic, and Art Deco. Across the river, the futuristic skyline of Pudong creates one of Shanghai’s most distinctive city views.
2. Yu Garden
   1h 30m · Admission ticket included
   Created during the Ming dynasty, Yu Garden is one of Shanghai’s finest surviving classical gardens. Its pavilions, ornamental rockeries, ponds, bridges, and secluded courtyards reflect the refined design traditions of gardens in the Jiangnan region.
3. Shanghai Tower
   1h 30m · Admission ticket included
   Rising 632 metres above Pudong, Shanghai Tower is the tallest building in China and one of the tallest in the world. Its observation deck offers panoramic views of the Huangpu River, the Bund, and Shanghai’s vast urban landscape.

Day 13: Departure Flight, Arranged by Travelers

1. Pudong International Airport
   30m
   Enjoy the morning at your leisure. Check out of hotel at noon and head to the airport for your departure flight

Pickup details

The booking time is a placeholder. Send us your flight details after booking and we'll confirm your exact meeting time.

Your guide meets you in the arrivals hall at Beijing Capital Airport (PEK). Arriving into Daxing (PKX)? Select "enter your own pickup location" and enter Daxing Airport.

Arrival day is at leisure after hotel check-in. The tour ends in Shanghai with a transfer to Pudong Airport (PVG).

• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Specialized infant seats are available
• Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
• Not recommended for pregnant travelers
• Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
• Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
• This tour requires a minimum of four guests to operate. If your party has fewer than four guests, more than eight guests, or if you are traveling solo, please contact us to discuss available options. Early booking is recommended, as space may be limited.
• Please note that this itinerary serves as a sample. The order and locations of planned events may change due to factors such as flight arrival times, road and weather conditions, as well as our desire to tailor the tour to your abilities and interests. Your guide will provide daily updates to keep you informed. Our priority is to ensure that everyone enjoys a safe adventure, creating cherished memories and an unforgettable experience!
• Accommodations on this journey are selected for overall comfort, location, facilities, service level, character, and suitability for the itinerary rather than star rating alone. Hotel ratings and guest expectations may vary between local and international platforms, so listed properties are intended as a guide to the standard and style of accommodation provided. If a listed property is not used, a comparable alternative of a similar standard will be arranged.