Day 1 · Beijing
Arrive in Beijing
Your guide and driver meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free.
- Travel
- 30 km, about 1 hour
13 days · 12 nights
Thirteen days through the old heart of China by fast train, with your own guide in every city.
Choose your dates when you enquire
Ask about datesA private journey across six cities linked by high-speed train. After three nights in Beijing you head west to the Buddhist grottoes of Datong and the walled town of Pingyao, then south to Xi'an for the Terracotta Warriors, before Nanjing and two final nights in Shanghai.
The same person from your first question to the flight home, with a wedding or vow renewal planned alongside if you like.
How the days unfold. Your advisor tailors the pace, the hotels and the extras to you.
Beijing
Day 1 · Beijing
Your guide and driver meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free.
Day 2 · Beijing
Cross Tiananmen Square and walk through the courtyards and halls of the Forbidden City, home to emperors for five centuries. After lunch, explore the hutong lanes of old Beijing and see the White Stupa of Miaoying Temple from the outside.
Huanghuacheng and Beijing
Day 3 · Huanghuacheng and Beijing
Walk a scenic stretch of the Great Wall at Huanghuacheng, where the wall runs down into two lakes. After lunch, spend the afternoon among the galleries and cafes of the 798 Art District, set in an old factory complex.
Datong
Day 4 · Datong
Visit the Temple of Heaven, where locals gather in the park each morning for tai chi and dancing. In the afternoon take the high-speed train to Datong.
Datong and Pingyao
Day 5 · Datong and Pingyao
See the Yungang Grottoes, more than 250 caves carved with Buddhist statues in the fifth and sixth centuries. After lunch visit the Hanging Monastery, built into a cliff high above the ground, then take the train to Pingyao.
Pingyao
Day 6 · Pingyao
A full day on foot with your guide through Pingyao, a Ming and Qing era town that kept its walls, courtyard houses and temples, and was once home to China's first banks. Look out for the paper cuttings sold along Mingqing Street.
Xi'an
Day 7 · Xi'an
Take the fast train to Xi'an, the old capital of Chang'an. In the evening wander the food stalls of the Muslim Quarter, home to one of the oldest Muslim communities in the world, followed by dinner at a local restaurant.
Day 8 · Xi'an
Walk the Ming city wall, with bikes for hire on top if you would like to ride a section. After lunch, see the Terracotta Warriors with your guide, then visit the Xi'an Museum.
Nanjing
Day 9 · Nanjing
Travel by high-speed train to Nanjing, once the capital of the Ming dynasty and of the Republic of China. The evening is yours.
Day 10 · Nanjing
Visit the mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen and the former Presidential Palace, then, after lunch, the Nanjing Museum and its great collection of imperial porcelain. Finish with a stroll by the Qinhuai River near the Confucius Temple.
Shanghai
Day 11 · Shanghai
Take the train to Shanghai, where your guide meets you. Visit the small Propaganda Poster museum, walk along the Bund, and have dinner at a local restaurant.
Day 12 · Shanghai
Wander the pavilions, rockeries and ponds of Yu Garden and the market beside it, then visit the Jade Buddha Temple. After lunch, stroll the leafy streets of the former French Concession.
Day 13 · Shanghai
Breakfast and some free time before your transfer to the airport.
The hotels for each stop. Your advisor confirms them, or something just as good, for your dates.
Beijing · 3 nights
Or similar
Datong · 1 night
Or similar
Pingyao · 2 nights
Or similar
Xi'an · 2 nights
Or similar
Nanjing · 2 nights
Or similar
Shanghai · 2 nights
Or similar
Tell us when you would like to travel. Your advisor confirms dates and hotels, tailors the trip to the two of you, and stays with you until you are home.
China
4 days · 3 nights
Beijing
A short private stay in Beijing built around one full guided day: the halls and gardens of the Forbidden City in the morning and a long walk on the Mutianyu Great Wall in the afternoon. Around it you have an arrival afternoon and a whole free day to explore, or to add a guided tour.
China
13 days · 12 nights
Beijing → Xi'an → Chengdu → Chongqing → Yangtze River → Yichang → Shanghai
You start in Beijing with the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, then fly to Xi'an for the Terracotta Warriors. A bullet train takes you to Chengdu and its pandas, and from Chongqing you cruise three nights through the Three Gorges before finishing in Shanghai.
China
9 days · 8 nights
Beijing → Xi'an → Overnight train → Shanghai
Three cities across nine days. You begin with three nights in Beijing for the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall, take the fast train to Xi'an for the Terracotta Warriors, then ride the overnight sleeper to Shanghai for its old town, the Bund and the canal town of Zhujiajiao.
A private journey across six cities linked by high-speed train. After three nights in Beijing you head west to the Buddhist grottoes of Datong and the walled town of Pingyao, then south to Xi'an for the Terracotta Warriors, before Nanjing and two final nights in Shanghai.
Every trip can be shaped around you before you book.
Arrive early or stay on at the end, in the same hotel or somewhere new.
Your travel expert books flights that fit the first and last day.
Choose a better room or a hotel with a view for the nights that count.
A honeymoon, an anniversary or a birthday, planned into the trip.
Other ways to see China, closest in length first.
River and ocean cruise | 13 days | Beijing · Xi'an · Shanghai
River and ocean cruise | 13 days | Beijing · Xi'an · Shanghai
Private jet journey | 12 days | Beijing · Dunhuang · Shanghai
Small group tour | 14 days | Beijing · Lijiang · Hong Kong
