Essence of China - from $1849

01Arrival in Beijing Our guide will meet you outside the customs of the Capital Airport after you retrieve your luggage and clear the customs, and then transfer you to the hotel. The rest of the day is free for you to have a good rest. For dinner on your own arrangement, we have some suggestions around our luxury hotel. Meals: No meals Accommodation: Crowne Plaza Day 02Beijing In the morning, you will visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. As the largest city square in the world, Tiananmen Square has seen the country's development in the past 500 years and become an important venue for most of the national ceremonies. Walking through the square, you will come to the largest and best-preserved imperial palace complex - the Forbidden City. With 590 years of history, the Forbidden City will bring you back to the prosperous Ming and Qing dynasties by showing thousands of imperial architecture and precious culture relics. To avoid the cheap tourist restaurant as the most are doing now, we will serve you an a la carte lunch at a famous local Cantonese restaurant to taste the authentic Chinese food. Usually our a la carte meal price is three to four times higher than that of the eateries arranged by other agencies and our food quality is surely incomparable. After lunch, visit the Temple of Heaven, which is the imperial altar for the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to worship the god of heaven. Today's trip will end with a lively Chinese Kung Fu Show at the Red Theatre. The Show, the Legend of Kung Fu, tells a dramatic story in the form of skillful Chinese Kung Fu, exciting acrobatics and enjoyable dance, presenting you a grand visual feast. Meals: American breakfast, A la carte lunch Day 03Beijing Today your visit will begin with the splendid Badaling Great Wall. As the elite of the Great Wall, Badaling, like a soaring dragon stretches along the mountain ranges. You will be deeply impressed by the wandering walls, spectacular passes and towers, and splendid mountain scenery. After the visit, our guide will accompany you to a Jade Store for a short stop. For lunch today, most agencies will arrange clients to dine at the shopping site restaurants. You will have to stay for another 40 minutes after the lunch since the agencies could get some commissions or rebates from the store. To avoid having this kind of lunch, we will drive you to a popular local restaurant to have Sichuan food. After that, you could go on your sightseeing without any delay. In the afternoon, you will visit the Sacred Way and the Ming Tomb. The Ming Tomb, a cluster of tombs for 13 emperors and their wives and sons of the Ming Dynasty, is renowned for burying the most emperors, its long history of 600 years and the majestic architecture. On the way back to downtown, drive by the Bird's Nest (Olympic National Stadium), the venue of 2008 Olympic Games. You will see the full view of the huge 'nest' at a distance. Take this chance to add one memorable photo in your album. Meals: American breakfast, Lunch Day 04Beijing - Xian This morning, you will firstly visit the existing largest imperial garden - the Summer Palace, which is an outstanding combination of Chinese classical landscape design and natural beauty. Then you are scheduled to visit a Pearl Store before lunch. We will serve you an a la carte lunch at a fancy restaurant with delicious food and great atmosphere. After lunch, you will have a Hutong tour to experience the original Beijing culture by taking a special rickshaw riding through the various Hutongs and to know about old capital's manners and customs. Then you will take a flight to Xian and our guide will be waiting for you outside the baggage claim area of the airport and transfer you to the downtown hotel. Meals: American breakfast, A la carte lunch Accommodation: Sheraton Hotel Day 05Xian In the morning, visit the Eighth Wonder of the World, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum. You will not only be attracted by the life-sized warrior figures and horses, each of which has distinct facial expressions and positions, but also be astonished by various kinds of ancient weapons which reflect the highly advanced technology in weapon-making 2,200 years ago. Not far away from the museum, you will come to a Pottery-making House, where you can learn about the process of making potteries and other items. To avoid the mass-produced tourist food near the warrior site, we will serve you an a la carte lunch at a delicate restaurant, which boasts tasty food and graceful environment. On this day, nearly all the agencies will arrange their clients to have lunch at the shopping site eateries, where the food quality is terrible and the meal price they pay is 3 or 4 times lower than that of our a la carte meals. After lunch, visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda - the well-preserved 1,300-year-old Buddhist pagoda of Tang Dynasty. Just a few minutes' drive from the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, you will come to the next stop - Provincial History Museum, which exhibits over 370,000 historical relics and is regarded as 'the best museum in the country'. Tonight, you'll enjoy the Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show and the Dumping Dinner at Shaanxi Opera Theatre. The marvelous show vividly reflects the ancient royal singing and dancing of the Tang Dynasty about 1400 years ago. Meals: American breakfast, A la carte lunch, Dumpling dinner Day 06Xian A morning visit to City Wall, one of the best-preserved existing City Walls, to stroll around on the wall and you will have a bird's eye view of the city. You will then have a local family visit and a la carte lunch will be arranged in the home of the family that you visit, to taste the authentic home cooked dishes. We also offer Chinese food cooking class to our valued guests for free in our family visit. If feel interested, you may learn to cook Chinese dishes with the hostess. After lunch, visit the Great Mosque which was built in the year of 742 AD with a similar architecture style of Chinese temples. On your way to the mosque, you will walk across the famous snack street - Muslim Street, where you may find many delicious local snacks as well as interesting souvenirs. Meals: American breakfast, Home-cooked a la carte lunch Day 07Xian - Guilin In the morning, before heading to the airport, you will visit Xian Museum and the Small Wild Goose Pagoda. Xian Museum was opened to the public in 2007. It is well known for its cultural treasures displayed at the exhibition hall, the ancient pagoda of the Tang Dynasty, the morning bell chimes of the pagoda and the beautiful garden landscape. As a part of the museum, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda is one of the most important architecture of ancient Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty and now is a famous historic site in the city. Then take a flight to Guilin and we will transfer you to the hotel. Your luxury series hotel is located on the bank of the Li River, and you can stroll along the bank and enjoy the picturesque scene of the city. Meals: American breakfast Accommodation: Sheraton Hotel Day 08Guilin - Yangshuo - Guilin Enduring memories are created today as you cruise down the Li River to Yangshuo. The length of Li River is about 50 miles, and you can see picturesque scenery all the way during your cruise. Upon arrival in Yangshuo, take a short bicycle trip to the countryside to enjoy the rural beauty of Yangshuo. You will also visit a local villager's home to experience the farmer's lifestyle there. Alternatively, we will transfer you there instead of taking bicycles. After a whole day's excursion to Yangshuo, transfer back to Guilin in the late afternoon. Tips: Today we have to provide you a poor lunch on the cruise which can not meet our serving standards. This is a long-standing problem that nobody can solve it. We recommend you take a hearty breakfast at the hotel this morning. The cruise arrives at terminal Yangshuo around 13:30 to 14:30 according to the different water flows. There are plenty of coffee shops ashore for your choice. Meals: American breakfast, Lunch Day 09Guilin - Shanghai Today's excursion starts with one of the most famous attractions in the city, Reed Flute Cave, which is renowned for the varieties of stalactites, stalagmites, columns and lime-flowers which came into being about 700,000 years ago. Walking in the cave, you will also be impressed by the interesting names of the stalactites and stalagmites, such as Palace of Crystal, Dragon Pagoda and Flower & Fruit Mountain. Then we will take you to visit a Pearl Museum. Your next stop will be the Seven Star Park. Your city visit will end with the Elephant Trunk Hill. You must wonder how such a huge rock resembles an elephant drinking water on the riverside, and your guide will give you much information then. When finishing all the attractions in the city, you will take a flight to Shanghai and our guide will greet you at the airport and transfer you to the hotel in downtown area. Meals: American breakfast, Western-style lunch Accommodation: Renaissance Shanghai Yuyuan Hotel Day 10Shanghai After breakfast, you will visit Shanghai Museum and the Yuyuan Garden. As one of the four largest museums in China, Shanghai Museum is famous for its vast storage of 120,000 of art relics, especially for the exhibition of bronze wares, porcelain wares, calligraphy and paintings. After learning about history, you will learn about the ancient Chinese gardening - visiting one of the most famous gardens in south of the Yangtze River, Yuyuan Garden. After visiting a Silk Factory, we will serve you an a la carte farewell lunch at a fancy and famous local restaurant, which offers authentic Shanghai and Cantonese cuisines. In the afternoon, we will transfer you to the Bund area, where you take a short cruise on the Huangpu River. On the banks of the river scattered almost all the major attractions of Shanghai, which symbolize the past, present and future of the city. After the cruise, you will visit the Bund area and then explore an old street. Meals: American breakfast, A la carte lunch Day 11Departure from Shanghai Our guide will pick you up from the hotel and drive you to the airport so that you can board the flight back home loaded with pleasant memories. Should you wish to continue visiting instead of going back home right away, we suggest you choose our City Package for an extension journey. Meals: American breakfast