China & Holy Tibet

This morning, we will start off your Beijing tour from Tiananmen Square, which is surrounded by Tiananmen Tower, the Monument to People's Heroes and the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. Then our guide will walk you through Tiananmen Tower and enter the Forbidden City from the Meridian Gate. It is the royal palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368 - 1911), housing grandiose crimson halls with glazed-tiled roofs. You will be led to visit the Treasure Gallery and the Clock Hall inside the Palace, to appreciate luxury royal artifacts as well as intricate clocks.

Hall of Supreme Harmony, as the grandest hall for major meetings and ceremonies in the Forbidden City, is definitely the must-see. On the square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, you can see the white square brick pieces on the ground, which are eye-catching and line up in two rows on either side. These are the signs for officials and honor guards to stand at the right positions at the ceremonies. The little hill-shaped bronze blocks would also be put on the ground, with the ranks of officials carved on, to help them find the positions quickly and accurately before a ceremony began. Standing by the white bricks, you can imagine what a grand ceremony was like on the square once.

Lunch today is served at the Fangshan Restaurant in Beihai Park. You'll enjoy the service and imperial food there just as the emperors did. In the afternoon, we will visit the Temple of Heaven.

Dinner is by your own arrangement, and we would like to recommend a small but exquisite restaurant, Najia Xiaoguan Restaurant which is favored by local people for its fantastic ambience, passionate service and delicious food. You should not miss the most popular dish which is fried prawns in crispy shells. This restaurant is not very expensive and normally CNY150 per person would be enough for an ordinary meal. As one of the most popular restaurants in Beijing, people frequently wait in line for a meal up to two hours in the evening. If you are interested, and wish to avoid a long wait, we are happy to reserve a table for you in advance and drive you to the restaurant after the tour. You will need to take a taxi back to the hotel afterwards.

Meals: American Breakfast, Imperial lunch

Please get up early and have a substantial breakfast today as we will transfer you to the suburban district for a visit to the famous Mutianyu Great Wall. Surrounded by luxuriant vegetation, this section of the wall has the most beautiful scenery all the year round. You may enjoy the blooming flowers in spring, the green mountain in summer, the red leaves in autumn and white snow in winter. A round trip cable car is included so as to save your time and energy when climbing the wall. 

After getting down from the Great Wall, you may have lunch at a nearby fast food restaurant at your own expense. Then we will drive back to the downtown area. Our next stop is the Summer Palace, the largest and best-preserved imperial garden in China. It mainly consists of the large Kunming Lake and lush Longevity Hill. If weather is clear, you will take a gaily-painted boat to cruise on the lake.

The restaurant we recommend for dinner tonight is 1949 the Hidden City. It is located at Gallery 49 Courtyard 4, a modern art gallery which itself is also worth a visit. If interested, our guide and driver are happy to drive you there before they go off duty. The restaurant provides perfect roast duck with its home-made hoisin sauce, very tasty and delicious. The cost there is around CNY500 per person at your own expense. You will need a taxi to return to the hotel after dinner. 

Meals: American breakfast

Your flight from Beijing to Lhasa leaves early in the morning. Our guide will transfer you to the airport and help you with the boarding procedure. After 5 hours on the plane, you will land in the holy city of Lhasa and be greeted by the local guide. The rest of the day is free so that you may adapt to the high altitude, which is 3,650 meters above the sea level. In order to have a good rest, you may consider having dinner at your hotel, where they serve Chinese, western and also Tibetan foods.

Meals: American breakfast

After breakfast, our guide will accompany you to visit the world famous Potala Palace. It is the largest palatial complex in Tibet for holding important religious and political rituals. You can see a large collection of historical relics including the Buddha statues, murals, Thangka, Buddhist scriptures and gold and silver wares inside. After that, your trip continues to the Jokhang Temple, a sacred religious site among local Tibetans for enshrining the statue of Sakyamuni at age 12.

A western-style lunch will be served at the viewing platform of the Thangka Hotel. After that, you will take a visit to the Barkhor Street brimming with stores selling Tibetan-style handicrafts. While strolling around, you will encounter pilgrims holding a prayer wheel walking clockwise around the block or making long kowtows towards the Jokhang Temple. The last stop today is the Norbulingka, nicknamed as the 'Summer Palace in Lhasa', which was built for generations of Dalai Lama to handle religious and political issues in summer.

For dinner tonight, you may either choose the hotel restaurant, or find a western style restaurant near the Barkhor Street. Also, as Lhasa is close to Nepal, it is quite easy for you to find an authentic Nepalese restaurant. Return to your hotel by taxi after dinner.

Meals: American breakfast, Lunch

Today, we will have a morning excursion to the Yamdrok Yumtso Lake, one of the three holy lakes in Tibet. Seen from afar, this tranquil lake is like an extremely blue ribbon laying flat among rolling hills. Coming closer, you will see the lake rippling gently and hear the gurgle of water. At noon, our guide will drive you back and take you to a local restaurant for a Chinese or Tibetan-style lunch.

In the afternoon, we will visit the Sera Monastery At this monastery, there is an interesting sutra debate at 15:00 daily from Monday to Friday. At that time, lamas will gather in a courtyard to debate Buddhist scriptures. The persons who are standing ask questions and those sitting on the ground provide answers. It is very interesting and should not be missed. 

You will make your own arrangement for dinner. As Tibet is remote and thus short on varied restaurants, you may decide to try some authentic Tibetan food, such as the highland barley wine, yoghourt, buttered tea, Zanba, fried lamb chop and yak meat and so on. However, most people are not accustomed to these kinds of food. You can also get some advice from your local guide. After dinner, we will transfer you to enjoy the grand subject-live performance Princess Wencheng. Wencheng was a princess in Chinese Tang Dynasty and was granted to King Songtsan Gampo of Tibet for marriage in 641. This performance reproduces her overcoming hardships along the long wedding journey and introducing Chinese culture to Tibet. After the show, you will be driven back to the hotel. 

Meals: American breakfast, Lunch 

Before heading for Xian today, you will pay a visit to a local Tibetan family. Then our guide will escort you to the airport for your onward flight to Xian. Upon arrival, you will meet our Xian guide at the airport and then take a comfortable ride to the hotel. You are free for the rest of the day to relax at the hotel or stroll around the surroundings.

For dinner tonight, we would like to recommend the restaurant of Chang'an Yi Hao for you to enjoy the typical Shaanxi food. The signature dishes of this restaurant are Roasted Whole Chicken and Sweet Yam with Sticky Rice and Chinese dates. You may also try some local snacks. Cost at this restaurant is around CNY300 per person for an ordinary meal excluding wine. If you are interested, you may go there by taxi. 

Meals: American breakfast

A typical Xian tour is never complete without a visit to the Terracotta Army Museum. After a hearty breakfast, you will be transferred to this world's wonder by a comfortable ride. There you can see over 8,000 life-size pottery soldiers, horses and chariots of the Qin Dynasty (221 - 2017), lining up orderly in three pits. On the way back to the downtown area, we will alight at the 5-star Huaqing Aegean International Hot Spring Resort to have an a la carte lunch.

The afternoon visit starts from the City Wall which has been around for over 400 years. Riding a bike is recognized as the best sightseeing way. Alternatively, you may hop on a sightseeing car to tour around. Then continue the journey to the 1,200-year-old Small Wild Goose Pagoda.

The Tang Dynasty Dinner Show is the highlight of this night. You will feast your stomach with imperial dishes while appreciating dazzling music and dance show of the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907).

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

After breakfast, our guide will accompany you to explore the Shaanxi History Museum, which holds more than 380,000 articles from prehistoric times (1.7 million years ago - the 21st century BC) to the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 AD). After that, you will visit the Great Mosque and explore the prosperous Muslim Quarter which houses many time-honored brands of snacks and handicrafts.

Afterwards, our guide and driver will transfer you to the airport and help you check in for the flight to Shanghai. Upon landing, you will be picked up and escorted to the hotel.

For dinner tonight, we would like to recommend the restaurant of Cang Xian Gong Fang for you. This restaurant is famous for its various and fresh seafood. Usually, it costs CNY300 per person excluding wine. 

Meals: American breakfast

Firstly, we will head for Lujiazui District to take pictures of the World Financial Center as well as Shanghai Tower, Jinmao Tower, and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Then, our guide will escort you to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, which was completed in 2,000 and exhibits aspects of the city, its humanity, environment and development as well as its past achievements and prospects for the future. It's a prefect window to better understand Shanghai within your short stay in this charming city. At noon, an a la carte lunch will be served at Xian Qiang Fang Restaurant. 

In the afternoon, you will visit the Yu Garden, a famous Chinese style classical garden. You may be overwhelmed by its exquisite design, hundreds of plaques and various pavilions, rockeries, ponds. Then we head to the Bund for a lesiure walk and taking a one-hour cruise tour on the Huangpu River to admire the featured buildings with different architectural styles along the bank. 

Tonight, you will be escorted to enjoy an ERA Acrobatic Show at at Shanghai Circus World.  

Meals: American breakfast, A la carte lunch 

After breakfast, our Shanghai guide will escort you to the railway station for your day trip to Suzhou. We will book first-class seats on the high speed train in advance. Upon arrival, our Suzhou guide and driver will meet you at the station. Then we will start off this Suzhou tour to visit the Humble Administrator's Garden. With oddly-shaped rockeries, emerald ponds, as well as elaborately-adorned pavilions and rooms being well arranged inside, this garden presents you with elegant scenes at each step along the winding path.

Walking out of the garden, you may have lunch at a nearby restaurant at your own expense. Our guide is glad to provide you some recommendations according to your preference. After that, you will be accompanied on a relaxing tour to the Tongli Town, where you will walk along narrow flagstone-paved lanes to appreciate traditional courtyards and immerse in local cozy lifestyle.

At the end of the trip, the guide will escort you to the railway station for your return high speed train. Our Shanghai guide will come to pick you up and then transfer you back to the hotel.

Meals: American breakfast

Your luxurious vacation in China ends today as we transfer you to the airport for your homeward flight. We hope you have enjoyed this trip and many unforgettable moments of your stay in China will remain forever in your memory！

Meals: American breakfast