Great Wall

Golden Triangle & Yangtze

L-401: 12 Days Private Tour of Beijing - Xi'an - Chongqing - Yangtze River Cruise - Yichang - Shanghai - Suzhou - Shanghai
Tour Type: Private Tour, any part of the itinerary can be customized, except for Yangtze cruise tour
Guide & Driver: English-speaking guide, experienced driver with an air-conditioned vehicle
Meals: 11 breakfasts, 4 lunches with some being a la carte style, 2 dinners

Highlights:
  • Must-see sights in China - Mutianyu Great Wall, Forbidden City, Terracotta Army Museum
  • Enjoy a la carte meals & taste authentic Chinese cuisines at superb restaurants
  • Savor the majestic beauty of the Yangtze Three Gorges & see the amazing Dam Project
  • View the soaring city skylines and feel the pulse of modern Shanghai
From $2669 per person Free Inquiry
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Day 1 Arrival in Beijing
Welcome to Beijing today! Our guide will greet you warmly outside Customs of the airport after you retrieve your luggage and clear Customs, and then transfer you to the hotel in a comfortable and air-conditioned vehicle. The remaining time of the day is free for your individual activities.

Our guide will be happy to give suggestions on good restaurants nearby and places to explore in the evening. If you have questions such as money issues, transportations, safety concerns or anything you want to know, just ask the expert guide who is ready to provide all information you need.
Day 2 Beijing
Temple of Heaven
As our guide picks you up in the hotel lobby, your 12 days guided tour of China starts. In the morning, after a leisurely stroll on the world's largest city square, the Tiananmen Square, you will visit the famous Forbidden City, namely the Palace Museum, where you will be fascinated by the gorgeous imperial architecture and cultural relics of more than 600 years ago.

To ensure that you can taste authentic and diversified Chinese food, we will serve you an a la carte lunch (valued at CNY150.00 per person and included in our price) at a famous local restaurant, quite a different experience than having lunch at the cheap tourist eateries as most agencies are doing now.

In the afternoon, continue your private tour to the Temple of Heaven, the altar where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshiped the God of Heaven for good harvests. Then you will have a Hutong tour to experience the original Beijing culture by taking a special rickshaw ride through the traditional alleyways and to know about old local customs. It's also a good idea to try local snacks in Hutongs.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte lunch
Day 3 Beijing
Our clients at the Mutianyu Great Wall
Today you will visit one of the greatest world heritage sites - the Mutianyu Great Wall. As one of the best-preserved sections of the China Great Wall, Mutianyu gained its fame for its solidity and strategic importance. When walking on the Great Wall, you will be impressed by the winding but majestic views. A round-way cable car has been included, or you can take a chairlift up and a toboggan down instead. Today's lunch on your own. It is very convenient to have a simple meal at the foot of the mountain and our guide is glad to offer suggestions.

On the way back to downtown Beijing, you will see the full view of the Bird's Nest (the Olympic National Stadium), which was the major venue for the 2008 Olympic Games. Today's visit will be concluded after you spend some free time at a featured local market.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast
Day 4 Beijing to Xi'an by Flight
This morning, we visit the Summer Palace first. In this 800-year-old but well-preserved imperial garden, you will be fascinated by the examples of the ancient art, graceful landscapes and magnificent constructions. Next, we will head to visit the Yonghe Temple, also known as the Lama Temple. It is the most revered Tibetan Buddhist temple outside Tibet. Lunch is by your own arrangement on the advice of the tour guide.

In the afternoon, we will drive you to the airport for your onward flight to Xi'an. Upon your arrival, our local guide will meet you at the airport and transfer you to the reserved hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast
Day 5 Xi'an
Terracotta Army Museum
In the morning, you will explore the World's Eighth Wonder, the Terracotta Army Museum. You will be deeply impressed when you find out that all the figures and horses have distinct facial expressions and positions. Lunch is on your own and our guide will gladly assist. 

After that, we will drive you back to downtown Xi'an. You will visit the Provincial History Museum, which offers you an overview of the thousands of years of Chinese history and the splendid ancient cultures. Next, you will continue to visit the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, which is a famous well-preserved Buddhist pagoda of the Tang Dynasty. The extant pagoda has thirteen stories and it still keeps the primitive features. After that, we drive you back to the hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast
Day 6 Xi'an to Chongqing by Flight
Local people playing Tai-chi in Xian
On your last day in Xi'an, we will visit the City Wall area. First, we come to the City Wall Park, where many locals are doing morning exercises like sword dancing, practising Tai Chi, playing musical instruments, and playing table tennis. Then we ascend the well-preserved ancient City Wall. You can either walk or rent a bicycle to ride around on the wall, discovering the history of this ancient capital of 13 dynasties from every brick and tile. Next, you will continue to visit the Great Mosque, which perfectly compromises the merits of Chinese and Islamic cultures and is said to be the only Islamic mosque in Chinese style in the world. Take a stroll on the lively Muslim street to savor for some local snacks before we will drive you to the airport to take a flight to Chongqing.

Upon your arrival, our local guide will meet you with a comfortable transfer service. Visit the Ciqikou Village, where many of the houses date from the Ming and Qing dynasties. As dinner is not provided on the cruise ship today, we recommend you try the local food for dinner before we transfer you to board the cruise ship. When the ship departs from Chongqing at about 21:30, your relaxing Yangtze River cruise tour begins.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast
Day 7 Yangtze River Cruise
Captain's welcome party
During the Yangtze River Cruise tour, you will be provided with a detailed daily schedule every day, so you know when to have breakfast, lunch and dinner, and what are the activities and arrangements each day. The river guide will give you a brief introduction of the cruise and explain the schedule for you. Should you have any questions, you may feel free to ask the river guide or the reception.

Today you will disembark and visit the Ghost City of Fengdu. It is believed that every soul is judged in the Ghost City after death, you can learn a lot about the culture of ghost in China here. For travelers who take President Cruises, you will visit the Shuangguishan National Forest Park instead, which is a great place to enjoy a leisurely walk and melt into nature.

In addition to the scheduled onshore excursions, you are free to enjoy yourself on the cruise ship, relax completely on the sundeck or join various cultural programs onboard.

This evening, the Captain's Welcome Party will be held, and it will be a great fun for guests to join in.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 8 Yangtze River Cruise
Shennong Stream
The highlight part of your cruise tour is coming today. You will appreciate the unique scenery of the Three Gorges. After admiring the majestic Qutang Gorge and the Wu Gorge this morning, you will disembark and take an interesting adventure by motorized ferry along Shennong Stream or Shennv Stream. Sitting on the ferry, you will travel along the zigzagging watercourses and enjoy the grotesque rocks and picturesque scenery along the banks, accompanied by the folk songs from the trackers. It will last about 3 to 4 hours. Then the ship sails into the Xiling Gorge, which is the longest gorge among the three and renowned for the numerous shoals, swift currents and grotesque peaks.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 9 Yichang to Shanghai by High Speed Train
Your amazing Yangtze cruise journey will end with a visit to the Three Gorges Dam, which is the major construction of the Three Gorges Project, the world largest irrigation project. Before disembarking, you should pack your luggage and check out from the ship. After the visit, the cruise company will transfer you to the Three Gorges Tourist Center in Yichang city, where our local guide will meet you and take you to the Yichang East Railway Station to catch a 7.5-hour high speed train to Shanghai. Upon your arrival, our guide and driver in Shanghai will greet you at the train station and transfer you to the hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast
Day 10 Shanghai
The Bund
Your private Shanghai trip starts from the Shanghai Museum, which houses large collections of historical items. Then you will visit one of the most famous gardens in the southern part of the country, the Yu Garden, which is well known for delicate architecture, exquisite layout and beautiful landscapes.

After that you will enjoy an a la carte lunch (valued at CNY150.00 per person and included in our price) of authentic Shanghai and Cantonese cuisines at a fancy and famous local restaurant.

In the afternoon, you will take a one-hour cruise on the Huangpu River. The huge mansions on the east bank of the river and the old western buildings on the west bank will show you the history and the modernness of the city simultaneously. Afterwards, you will visit the Tianzifang Art Street.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte lunch
Day 11 Shanghai - Suzhou - Shanghai
Today you will take a day trip to Suzhou from Shanghai. Driving for about 2 hours we will reach our first stop, the Humble Administrator's Garden, also one of the four most famous gardens in China. Different from the Summer Palace in Beijing which is a royal garden, this one is a private mansion built by Wang Xianchen, the censor of the Ming Dynasty. With the central pond as the focus, this garden is really a masterpiece and you will be attracted by its wonderful construction of pavilions, towers, chambers and terraces. Its neighbor is the Suzhou Museum, a treasure house which also deserves your exploration.

Next we will drive one hour to the Tongli Water Town, an over-1000-year-old ancient town with many folk houses and buildings of the Ming and Qing dynasties. One of the great characteristics of this ancient town is that there are many bridges and lots of water. Fifteen rivers have divided the town into seven islets, and nearly fifty looks of bridges have perfectly connected the separated town. After the visit, we will drive you back to your hotel in Shanghai.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast
Day 12 Departure from Shanghai
Today you will prepare for your homebound flight. Our guide and driver will meet you in the hotel at the appointed time and see you off at the airport. If you wish to extend your 12 days China tour package, please contact your travel consultants to further discuss. We wish you a pleasant journey home!

Meals: Western buffet breakfast
B-- Breakfast L-- Lunch D-- Dinner
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DestinationsLuxury HotelsStandard Hotels
BeijingHotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong Pentahotel Beijing
XianCrowne Plaza Xi'an Holiday Inn Xian Big Goose Pagoda
Yangtze RiverNew Century Cruises with balconyPresident No.7/No.8 with balcony
ShanghaiRenaissance Shanghai Yu Garden Hotel Ocean Hotel Shanghai
2023 Special Deal
10% off - book 60 days before, 5% off - book 30 days before
Tour Prices with Luxury Hotels
2-3 travelers4-5 travelers6-9 travelers
$3189 $2870$2929 $2636$2619 $2357
Tour Prices with Standard Hotels
2-3 travelers4-5 travelers6-9 travelers
$2929 $2636$2669 $2402$2369 $2132
  • Prices are per person in US Dollars based on double occupancy.
  • The prices in red reflect 10% discount.
  • Any part of the itinerary e.g. tour length, activities & hotels can be tailored to your individual interests.
Price Includes
  • Domestic airfares & train fare
  • Hotel accommodation with breakfasts
  • A la carte lunches as itinerary specifies
  • Private English-speaking guides
  • Private drivers & air-conditioned vehicles
  • Entrance fees to tourist sites
  • Yangtze River cruise with full board
Price Excludes
  • International airfares
  • Entry Visa fees
  • Personal expenses
  • Tips or gratuities for guides and drivers
Why Travel With Us
Other levels available for this itinerary:
  • Customer Reviews
  • Questions & Answers
  •  
    4.849 Reviews
    Bernard’s family
    United States
    Posted on March 10, 2020
    We are finally back in New York after our tour and also after spending about a week in Shanghai & Suzhou. Our experience on the tour was very positive overall and we are very impressed with Travel China Guide. We will not hesitate to recommend this company to other people in the future. In fact we have already recommended TCG to many of our friends in Beijing and when I was posted to Beijing with UNDP we have used this company many times for our guests. Highly recommended!
    Josette Bosqued
    France
    Posted on March 02, 2020
    During our trip we have been very surprised by the low number of french tourists visiting China, and especially of individual tourists. All our guides noticed that and were very worried about this situation. Also, as we would be very glad to share our experience with anyone (french-speaking) who wants to visit China through the TCG help!

    Back to France after our 2-week wonderful tour in this marvelous country, we would like to thank you for your excellent and really professional organization and services. We are really glad you arranged so perfectly our individual tour, directly in China. Our first and most sincere acknowledgments are for Ms. Wendy Lee (TCG staff in XiAn) who organized so friendly and perfectly our tour. We would like also to transmit our best regards to the TCG staff members who received us (on Sunday!) in their office during our visit in XiAn.

    All of our guides were French-speaking guides and we would like to thank TCG for providing so thoughtful attention to us, French tourists. We add all of them were perfect and so kind, very fluent in French, really efficient and we learned a lot of interesting information or anecdotal insights about dynasties paving the complex imperial China history. We are grateful to them, Ms. FanFan in Beijing, Mrs. Zhang in XiAn, Brigitte in Shanghai, and Mr. Qu on the cruise. We thank Mr. Hu in Chongqing and Mrs. Qu in Yichang for their ability to manage short transfers and changes in the program induced by delayed flights (or boat) in Chonqing and Yichang. We add a special mention for Zhang in XiAn: we really appreciated her comments during the Terracotta Warriors, Forest of Stone Steles, Great Mosque and museum visits. She enlivened our car transfers with anecdotes about the life of Empress Wu ZeTian. Our guides have done a wonderful job, they love France and French culture, and we hope more French tourists will visit China and highlight their competence.

    All the cars (or minivans) were in perfect state, and all our drivers were perfectly courteous and professional and, in spite of a charged traffic, everywhere skillfully drove us in secure conditions.

    Our Yangtze River cruise on the very comfortable New Century boat was outstanding and will remain an unforgettable souvenir. We were the unique French among 14 individual foreign travelers (on a total of 50 non-Chinese passengers), but we received all during the cruise a personal, courteous and delightful attention from all the ship staff. Excursions, specially the Shennong Stream cruise and the visit to the Pharaonic 3-Gorge dam, were very enjoyable.

    We make some minor comments concerning the detailed organization. The chosen hotelswere all very comfortable and breakfast buffets were great. We especially enjoyed two evening events, the performance of Kungfu in Beijing and Acrobatic Show in Shanghai, but less the too tourist Dynasty show in XiAn, except the great Pans pipes player. We also enjoyed most of the restaurants, even if most of the lunch meals were served in "tourist" restaurants, fortunately not overcrowded at that time.

    We would certainly recommend tcg's reputed services to anyone wishing to visit this beautiful country.
    ... More
    John T Kearns & Ms. Jane G Kearns
    US
    Posted on January 04, 2020
    We were quite satisfied with our China tour from Travel China Guide. At the beginning of the tour in Chongqing, our guide, whose name we have forgotten, met us at the airport, and did a very nice job of showing us around to Ciqikou. He even accommodated our request by taking us to the zoo on the monorail. Chongqing is an impressive city, and the pandas in the zoo are also wonderful.
    On our boat, our accommodations were comfortable, and the staff worked hard to make our trip a success. Meals on the boat seemed carefully planned. We had many dishes to choose from, and all of them were appetizing and tasty. Each buffet was beautifully decorated by a wonderfully talented chef; a treat to see as well as to eat. We were delighted to have so much opportunity to perfect our skills at using chopsticks. We also liked the entertainment provided by the talented young people working on the boat. And we enjoyed the demonstrations and displays of arts and crafts. The guide on the boat, Helen, who addressed the English-speaking passengers, does a really terrific job. She is knowledgeable about the sights to be seen from the boat, and about the history and customs of people living along the river. Helen is energetic, well organized, and extremely cheerful. She seems to enjoy her job, and she makes her audience enjoy their tour. Her contribution to everyone's enjoyment of the trip down the Yangtze is enormous.
    The excursions to Shibaozhai and to take the pea pod boats on the Shennong Stream added a lot to our trip. Our guides for these trips were quite good, but the sights that we saw were so impressive that they overshadowed what the guides could tell us.
    In Yichang, we enjoyed our guide Steven (we think that was his name). He was cheerful and funny, and kept us entertained. We very much appreciated Steven's help in getting us checked in at the airport. He went out of his way to be helpful. This website will be helpful if you look for a China tour.
    ... More
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