Day 01Arrival in Shanghai

Your international flight will land in Shanghai today. After you retrieve your luggage and clear the customs, you will find that our guide is waiting for you outside the customs of the airport. We will transfer you to the appointed hotel in downtown area and help you check in. The remaining time of the day is free for your individual activities.

Meals: No meals

Shanghai Bund Photo by our client Ms. Vivian Rich with her feedback

Day 02Shanghai

Your first stop today is Shanghai Museum, which houses large collections of historical art items like China bronze ware, chinaware, calligraphies and paintings. Then go to the famous Yuyuan Garden, where the pavilions, halls, rockeries, ponds and cloisters all have unique Chinese characteristics. You may especially pay attention to their delicate design and fine layout. we will invite you to an a la carte welcome lunch at a fancy and famous local restaurant, which boasts authentic Shanghai and Cantonese cuisine. In the afternoon, you will take a short cruise tour along the Huangpu River. From the cruise, you will see the best part of Shanghai urban landscape, such as western-style buildings on the west bank of Huangpu River and modern skyscrapers on the east bank. Then you will have some free time to stroll on the Bund. You can see that buildings in Gothic, Baroque, Romanesque, Classicism and the Renaissance style stand in a row along the Bund. After that visit an old street in Shanghai. We have some dinner suggestions around our hotel. 

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte lunch

Shanghai Nanjing Road

Day 03Shanghai - Yichang

This morning you will pay a visit to the Jade Buddha Temple. The highlights of this temple are a Sitting Buddha and a Recumbent Buddha both carved with whole white jade. Then you will take a flight to Yichang, and our local guide will be waiting for you outside the baggage claim area of the airport. A comfortable private transfer will take you to downtown Yichang. If time is available, you will visit Yichang Museum, which mainly displays the local cultural relics with the earliest exhibitions dating back to 400,000 years ago. After that, we will drive you to board the reserved cruise ship for your Yangtze River tour.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch

Day 04Three Gorges Dam

Your Yangtze River cruise tour commences at 07:00 this morning. Sailing along the eastern Xiling Gorge, you will first disembark and pay a visit to the magnificent Three Gorges Dam Site. You may climb on the Viewing Platform located on Tianzi Mountain and have a panoramic view of the dam. Then you will be back to the ship and the cruise continues sailing into the western Xiling Gorge. Passing through this gorge is a kind of adventure because it is known for numerous torrents and dangerous shoals, but you do not need to worry about. You may also see many cultural relics in this gorge, such as hanging coffins. Afterwards, the cruise will pass the Five Level Ship Lock of China Dam, which takes at least two to three hours. The Captain's Welcome Party will be held on board. You are invited to participate.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Yangtze River Three Gorges cruises

Day 05Three Little Gorges or Shennong Stream

Sail through the Wu Gorge in the morning. Here, you will see twelve peaks standing in different postures and manners, among which the Goddess Peak in swirls of mist is the most charming and lively. Then according to the schedule of your cruise company, you will take a side trip to the Three Little Gorges or Shennong Stream, both of which are tributaries of Yangtze River. The highlight is that you will take a pea boat drifting along the river, accompanied by the beautiful singings from the tour guide and boat trackers, who are all local Tujia minority people. Back to the ship and the cruise will pass through the Qutang Gorge. It is the most dangerous and shortest of the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River. Standing on the deck of the cruise ship, you will see the steep precipices standing on both banks of this narrow stretch of water.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Yangtze River cruise tour

Day 06Fengdu

Today, you will disembark at Fengdu for an excursion. According to the schedule of your cruise company, you will go to visit the Fengdu Ghost City. Fengdu is one of the most distinctive and famous historical towns since ancient China. As the netherworld in Chinese legend, the Ghost City is well-known for its ghost culture. After that, you will be back to the ship and the cruise continues sailing to the destination Chongqing. Tonight, you will feast on a farewell party on the cruise. Please enjoy yourself thoroughly.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

A traditional medicine store

Day 07Chongqing - Xian

The cruise is scheduled to arrive in Chongqing at around 08:30 to 09:00 when your Yangtze River tour will end. Our guide will meet you on board and transfer you to downtown Chongqing. You will visit the panda house in Chongqing Zoo to have a close contact with the cute pandas, and then visit the Residence of General Joseph W. Stilwell, which was founded in memory of General Stilwell who has contributed a lot to China during the World War Two and thus being the forever friend of Chinese people. After enjoying a rich buffet lunch at a 5-star hotel, you will take a flight to Xian. Our local guide will be waiting for you at the airport. A comfortable private transfer will take you the appointed hotel in downtown area.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Buffet lunch

Terracotta soldiers, Xian

Day 08Xian

Today you will pay a visit to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum which is famed as the Eighth Wonder of the world. Life-sized terracotta figures of warriors and horses were arranged orderly in battle formations, and each has its unique characteristic. They are replicas of what the imperial guard should look like more than 2,200 years ago. To avoid the mass-produced food at the tourist eateries near the warrior site, we will serve you an a la carte lunch at the well-known best local restaurant. This afternoon, you will first tour the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Built mainly of bricks and woods more than 1,300 years ago to collect Buddhist scriptures, the pagoda is in a shape of square pyramid and gradually decreases upwards. Then, you will travel to the ancient City Wall. Standing on the wall, you will see an ancient Xian inside while a modern developing city outside. They are in sharp contrasts but co-exist harmoniously. For dinner tonight, luxury series clients will enjoy the marvelous and imperial Tang Dynasty Dinner Show at Tang Dynasty Palace (Addr: No.75 Chang'an Road, Xian). While for standard series clients, we will arrange the local specialty Dumpling Dinner and Tang Dynasty Dance and Music Show at Shaanxi Opera Theater (Addr: No. 165, Wenyi Road, Xian).

Meals for Luxury series: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte lunch, Tang Dynasty dinner show
              Standard series: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte lunch, Dumpling dinner

Day 09Xian - Beijing

In the morning, you will visit the Great Mosque, one of the four largest mosques in China built in a mixed style of traditional Chinese and Muslim. Then, pay a visit to a local family to get to know more about the local people's life. You can raise questions that you feel interested and the host will answer you friendly. Of course, your tour guide will be the translator then. Around noon, we will serve you an a la carte lunch at a popular local restaurant with delicious food. In the afternoon, you will take a flight to Beijing, and our local guide will be waiting for you at the airport. A comfortable private transfer will take you to the appointed hotel in downtown area. Relax for the remainder of the day by yourself. For dinner on your own arrangement, we have some suggestions around our luxury series hotel and standard series hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte lunch

Great Wall, Beijing Photo by our clients Bruce and Ruth Campbell with their feedback

Day 10Beijing

Today you will visit one of the greatest world heritage sites - the Badaling Great Wall. Badaling is the best-preserved and most famous section among all the existing Great Wall of China. Standing on it, you will see the long wall, like a huge dragon, winding up and down the mountain ranges. To avoid the shopping site restaurants near the Great Wall, we will drive you to enjoy the famous Sichuan food at the best local restaurant. Then the visit continues to the Ming Tomb, a cluster of emperors' tombs from 15th to 17th century in Chinese history. The last stop today is the Summer Palace. Based on Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill, it was a classical mountain and water garden. It is also the largest and best-preserved imperial garden in China. On the way back to downtown Beijing, we will drive by the Bird's Nest (Olympic National Stadium). You can see the full view of the nest and take some pictures.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch

Sacred Way, Beijing Photo by our clients Mr. Bernard Gerard van Marle& Ms. Inge Ruth van Marle with their feedback

Day 11Beijing

In the morning, visit Tiananmen Square - one of the largest and grandest city squares in the world. After a stroll on the square, you will pass the Meridian Gate and enter the imperial palace – the Forbidden City. First built in Ming Dynasty about 600 years ago, it is the world's largest palace complex. Now it is a tourist site as well as a museum exhibiting imperial architecture, culture relics and court lives. As is our practice to avoid the poor food at the cheap tourist eateries, we will serve you an a la carte lunch at a nice local restaurant, where you can taste the authentic Chinese food. In the afternoon, explore the Temple of Heaven, which was once the royal temple for the emperors to offer sacrifices to God of heaven. Tonight, our guide will take you to Red Theatre to watch a lively Chinese Kung Fu Show. The show, presented in the form of skillful Chinese Kung Fu, also narrates an enchanting story.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte lunch

Day 12Departure from Beijing

Today you will take your international flight back home. Our guide and driver will meet you at the hotel and transfer you to the airport. Hope next time we still have the chance to serve you with our dedicated service. However, should you wish to continue visiting China instead of going back home right away, we suggest you choose our City Package for an extension tour.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

Accommodation

Grade	Luxury	Standard
Shanghai	Renaissance Shanghai Yuyuan Hotel	Ya Fan Long Men Hotel
Yangtze River	President No.1	President No. 2 President No. 3
Xian	Shangri-la Golden Flower - South Wing	Grand New World Hotel
Beijing	Crowne Plaza	Holiday Inn Central Plaza the best Holiday Inn Hotel in Beijing

• ◆ 2012 Price
• ◆ 2011 Price

Based on per person and in U.S. dollars, valid from Mar. 1st, 2012 to Feb. 28th, 2013

Grade	Luxury				Standard
	High season		Shoulder season		High season		Shoulder season
	Double	Single	Double	Single	Double	Single	Double	Single
2-5 persons	$2419	$3199	$2379	$3129	$2149	$2709	$2109	$2639
6-9 persons	$2099	$2889	$2059	$2819	$1839	$2399	$1799	$2329
10 & above	$1929	$2689	$1889	$2619	$1649	$2149	$1599	$2079

Note: For the Yangtze portion of this itinerary, we quote the price based on the President No.1 cruise ship (Luxury Series). The quotation is subject to change if you happen to meet the sailing date of any other cruise ships. Besides, the prices also exclude the service charge of CNY150.00 per person recruited by the cruise company, you need to pay on the spot when you board the cruise.

Based on per person and in U.S. dollars, valid from Mar. 1st, 2011 to Feb. 29th, 2012

Grade	Luxury				Standard
	High season		Shoulder season		High season		Shoulder season
	Double	Single	Double	Single	Double	Single	Double	Single
2-5 persons	$2399	$3169	$2359	$3099	$2099	$2639	$2059	$2569
6-9 persons	$2089	$2859	$2049	$2789	$1789	$2339	$1749	$2259
10 & above	$1969	$2709	$1929	$2639	$1649	$2149	$1609	$2079

Note: For the Yangtze portion of this itinerary, we quote the price based on the President No.1 cruise ship (Luxury Series). The quotation is subject to change if you happen to meet the sailing date of any other cruise ships. Besides, the prices also exclude the service charge of CNY150.00 per person recruited by the cruise company, you need to pay on the spot when you board the cruise.

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For our quotation inclusions & exclusions, booking and cancellation terms, please read Terms and Conditions.