Luxury China tour - outstanding guide service
Shanghai – Yangtze Cruise – Chengdu – Xi’an – Beijing
Join us on this luxury small-group tour of China to experience the country’s rich history, stunning landscapes, and diverse cultures. From the iconic Great Wall to the serene beauty of the Yangtze River, each stop reveals a new facet of China’s story. Engage with locals, taste authentic cuisine, and witness traditions that have endured for millennia. Whether you’re wandering the bustling streets of Shanghai or the peaceful countryside, every moment is an opportunity to connect with this extraordinary culture.
Important Features
- Small group size – average 15, maximum 20
- Inter-city travel exclusively by high-speed train
- No annoying forced shopping of any kind
- Quality meals at non-tourist restaurants
- Unlimited supply of bottled water during group activities
- Outside cabin on or above bridge deck for Yangtze cruise
- Free Wi-Fi in all hotels
- Great Wall visit at Mutianyu with cable car rides
Options Available
- Traditional face mask changing performance with dinner in Chengdu
- Tang Dynasty cultural show with dinner in Xi’an
- Peking Opera show with dinner in Beijing
Meal Code: B = breakfast / L = lunch / D = dinner
Day 1/Thu: Departing for Shanghai
The trip starts with your transpacific flight departing from a city of your choice. International airfare is not included but can be offered on request. You’ll lose a day upon crossing the International Date Line.
Day 2/Fri: Arrival in Shanghai
Meet the driver on arrival for your private transfer to the hotel. You’ll have the remainder of the day at leisure. The guide will get in touch with you tonight.
Day 3/Sat: Shanghai (B/L/D)
With a population close to 25 million, Shanghai is China’s largest city and a dynamic hub of global trade and cultural exchange. The city delights visitors from around the world with its futuristic skyline and historical landmarks.
We begin our day with a visit to Jade Buddha Temple located in an old neighbourhood. We then walk the famous Bund – a waterfront promenade with a riveting history.
After lunch, we stroll the historical People’s Park and adjacent People’s Square in the heart of the city. Originally part of the Shanghai Race Club first established in 1850, the park and the square are surrounded by world-class museums and shops, which attract millions of visitors each year.
We wrap up the day’s sightseeing with a tour of the exquisite Yu Garden in the old town centre.
Day 4/Sun: Shanghai (B)
Free day to explore on your own.
If you are interested in art and history, Shanghai Museum would be a great place to spend half a day. This museum houses a huge collection of precious national treasures. Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum and Nanwaitan Fabric Market (high-end tailor shops) are also recommended.
Optional Suzhou Day Tour
After breakfast we ride the high-speed train (30-40 minutes) to Suzhou, an ancient city most famous for its gardens, ancient canals and silk industry. In the late 13th century a Venetian named Marco Polo visited Suzhou and was very impressed by what he saw. He vividly described the prosperous silk industry and dubbed Suzhou “Venice of the East” due to the small waterways crisscrossing the city.
Our full-day schedule takes in the historic Tiger Hill, Humble Administrator’s Garden, North Pagoda, a short canal cruise, and a visit to Suzhou Silk Embroidery Research Institute if time allows. We return to Shanghai by train in early evening.
The all-inclusive price with lunch starts from US$250 per person and requires a minimum of 2 participants to operate.
Day 5/Mon: Shanghai – Yichang (B/D)
After breakfast, we board the high-speed train (D952, 08:30/14:43) to Yichang. Since lunch is not provided, please buy some snacks before boarding the train. If you don’t want the hassle, you can buy hot food and all kinds of beverages on the train.
In the past 20 years, China has been on a building spree expanding the country’s rail network and upgrading existing railways. Its high-speed rail service rivals France’s TGV and Japan’s “shinkansen” in terms of safety, speed, comfort and punctuality.
We visit a riverfront park and a food market on arrival. We board the Yangtze cruise ship after dinner.
Day 6/Tue: Yangtze Cruise (B/L/D)
At 6,380 km the Yangtze is the longest river in China and the third longest in the world after the Nile and the Amazon. The most impressive section of the Yangtze is the Three Gorges stretching 119 km.
Today’s shore excursion takes us to the Three Gorges Dam, the site of the world’s largest hydroelectric power station. Later today, we sail through Xiling Gorge, the longest (66 km/41 miles) and deepest of the Three Gorges.
Day 7/Wed: Yangtze Cruise (B/L/D)
Morning excursion to picturesque Shennong Stream involves transfer to a smaller vessel. Depending on river conditions, an alternate excursion may be substituted to the gorges of Goddess Stream.
Have your camera ready for the 25-mile-long Wu Gorge, which is known for its quiet beauty, forest covered mountains, and cliffs so sheer that the sun barely penetrates the precipices. Soon after, the ship enters Qutang Gorge – the shortest (5 miles), narrowest (500 feet), and most dramatic of the Three Gorges.
Day 8/Thu: Yangtze Cruise (B/L/D)
Today’s excursion calls for scenic Snowy Jade Cave (karst formation of stalactites and stalagmites) and Xiaoguanshan Ancient Folk Culture Park. The park is a relocation site for architectural and cultural relics rescued across Fengdu County before the completion of the Three Gorges Dam.
Depending on river conditions, an alternate excursion may be substituted to Shibaozhai – a maroon-coloured wooden pagoda built against the side of a hill overlooking the Yangtze.
Day 9/Fri: Chongqing – Chengdu (B/L/D)
We disembark the cruise ship in Chongqing after breakfast and ride the high-speed train (G8646, 10:43/12:11) to Chengdu.
Capital of populous Sichuan Province, Chengdu is an ancient city with a population of 14 million. The fertile Chengdu Plain, on which Chengdu is located, is often referred to by the Chinese “Country of Heaven”, a phrase also translated as “The Land of Abundance”. The discovery of the Jinsha archaeological site suggests the area had become the centre of the Bronze Age Sanxingdui Culture around the time of the establishment of the state of Shu prior to its annexation by Qin in 316 BCE.
Afternoon sightseeing includes Wang Jiang Lou Park and a traditional local tea house. “Wang Jiang Lou” means “river-overlooking tower” and the park is so named because of the ancient pagoda-shaped wooden tower onsite. The beautiful little park dotted with verdant bamboo groves has long been a favourite spot among locals for leisure.
Day 10/Sat: Chengdu – Xi’an (B/L/D)
Morning sightseeing at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The giant panda, unrelated to the red or lesser panda, is a bear native to south central China, living in mountainous regions. It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda’s diet is over 99% bamboo. The giant panda has an insatiable appetite for bamboo. A typical animal eats half the day – a full 12 out of every 24 hours – and relieves itself dozens of times a day. Giant pandas are solitary creatures. They have a highly developed sense of smell that males use to avoid each other and to find females for mating in the spring. After a five-month pregnancy, females give birth to a cub or two, though they cannot care for both twins. The blind infants, born fully white, weigh only 5 ounces (142 grams) at birth and cannot crawl until they reach three months of age.
The panda is a conservation reliant endangered species. Recent statistics (late 2022) shows 637 pandas living in captivity with most of them inside China. The most authoritative estimate as of late 2022 puts the number of giant pandas living in the wilderness at 1864.
The high-speed train to Xian takes less than 4 hours (G90, 15:00/18:18).
Day 11/Sun: Xi’an (B/L)
With a history dating back over 3,000 years, Xi’an served as China’s capital of several dynasties including the Han (206 BCE – 220 CE) and the Tang (618 – 907). It is home to the famous Terracotta Army as well as the eastern terminus of the fabled Silk Road – a network of trade routes connecting China proper with regions as far as the Mediterranean beginning in the Second Century BCE.
We spend the morning visiting the Terracotta Army. Built on the excavation site, the museum is located 30 km east of the city. Designed to follow the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) into eternity, the Terracotta Army represents one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
After lunch we return to the city for a stroll on the ancient city wall. Declared a national treasure by the State Council in 1961, the wall (first built in 1370) encircles an area of 14 square kilometres. It runs 13.7 kilometres long and measures 12 metres in height with a thickness at the base between 15 to 18 metres.
Dinner is not included for today. There are many restaurants around the hotel. Ask your guide for recommendations.
Day 12/Mon: Xi’an – Beijing (B/D)
We spend the morning exploring Xi’an ancient Muslim quarter in the old town centre. The grand mosque the adjacent Muslim bazaar are the highlights of the Muslim quarter.
The mosque was established in the 8th century and the majority of the complex was constructed in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It was further expanded in the Qing Dynasty. Unlike mosques in Middle Eastern or Arab countries, this mosque is completely Chinese in style. It has neither domes nor traditional minarets.
Our travel to Beijing is again by high-speed train (#G668, 12:05/16:32). Since lunch is not provided, please buy some snacks before boarding the train. If you don’t want the hassle, you can buy hot food and all kinds of beverages on the train.
Day 13/Tue: Beijing (B/L)
The capital of China, Beijing is a world-class cultural and educational centre with a population around to 21 million, ranking it China’s second largest city behind Shanghai. Beijing is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, and huge stone walls and gates – treasures that make it the most popular tourist city in China by the number of visitors it receives every year.
We begin today with a visit to the Forbidden City. Officially known as the Palace Museum, the Forbidden City was the place where the emperors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties lived and carried out their administration. Construction of the Forbidden City took 14 years (1406-1420) to complete. The complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 72 hectares or 180 acres. It exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. Though the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in 1912, the royal family was allowed to continue to live in the Forbidden City till 1924, when the last emperor, Pu Yi, was driven out of the imperial palace. One year later the Forbidden City was turned into a museum. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987, this is the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.
Next up is Tian’anmen Square. Located in the heart of Beijing, the square measures 880 metres from north to south and 500 meters from east to west. Said to be the largest public plaza in the world, Tian’anmen Square has the capacity to hold one million people. The imposing Tian’anmen Tower sits at the north end of the square while the Monument to the People’s Heroes dominates the centre. The square is flanked by The Great Hall of the People (west) and the National Museum (east). Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum and Qianmen (Front Gate) are located in the south of the square. One of the top 16 tourist attractions in Beijing, Tian’anmen Square is also the witness of the Chinese people’s great struggles for democracy and personal freedom since 1919.
Afternoon sightseeing takes place at the Temple of Heaven, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Situated in southeastern Beijing, the Temple of Heaven is China’s largest extant sacrificial temple where, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the emperors conducted the elaborate and most exalted sacrifices addressed to “the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.” Construction of the temple started in 1406, during the reign of the Ming Emperor Yongle, and took 14 years to complete. The temple was expanded under the Qing emperors Qianlong (1736-1796) and Jiaqing (1796-1820). Occupying 2.73 square kilometres (roughly 1,700 by 1,600 metres), the area of the Temple of Heaven is more than twice that of the Forbidden City.
The famous Hongqiao Pearl Market, the largest pearl market in the world, is right across the street from the Temple of Heaven. Recommended by numerous guidebooks for freshwater pearls, Hongqiao teems with domestic and international shoppers. If you are interested, please ask the guide to drop you off there. However, you’ll need to get back to the hotel by taxi, which costs about 8 US dollars.
Dinner is not included for today. There are many restaurants around the hotel. Ask your guide for recommendations.
Day 14/Wed: Beijing (B/L/D)
After an early breakfast we embark on a full-day excursion to the legendary Great Wall at Mutianyu, 75 km northeast of the city.
Zigzagging over 6,000 kilometres from east to west along the undulating mountains, the Great Wall was built to hold off tribal invaders from the north. As history shows, the Wall failed the Chinese rulers miserably, especially in the case of Kublai Khan who and his men swept across China from the Mongolian steppe, thus the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368).
Construction of the earliest sections of the Wall started in the 7th century BCE. A major renovation started with the founding of the Ming Dynasty in 1368 and took 200 years to complete. The wall we see today in Beijing is almost exactly the result of this effort.
Today we enjoy a delicious dinner at a popular Peking Roast Duck restaurant. Peking Roast Duck is a famous Beijing dish prized for the thin and crispy skin with authentic versions serving mostly the skin and little meat, sliced in front of the diners.
Day 15/Thu: Returning Home (B)
Your tour ends this morning. Transfer to the airport any time. Guests flying back to North America will regain a day upon crossing the International Date Line, thus arriving home the same day as departing from Beijing.
| City | Nights | Hotel/Ship | Category |
| Shanghai | 3 | Amara Signature Shanghai | luxury/5 stars |
| Yangtze Cruise | 4 | Victoria Cruises – Sabrina | luxury/5 stars |
| Chengdu | 1 | Chengdu Taihe International | luxury/5 stars |
| Xian | 2 | Sheraton Xian North City | luxury/5 stars |
| Beijing | 3 | New Otani Chang Fu Gong | luxury/5 stars |
Dates & Prices
discount available
Prices are per person based on double occupancy. See Terms & Conditions for cancellation policy.
| Depart (Thu) | Return (Thu) | Land Only* CA$/US$ |
Single Supplement CA$/US$ |
| 2025 | |||
| 07-Aug | 21-Aug | $5300/$3790 | $1399/$999 |
| 21-Aug | 04-Sep | $5300/$3790 | $1399/$999 |
| 28-Aug | 11-Sep | $5300/$3790 | $1399/$999 |
| 04-Sep | 18-Sep | $5390/$3850 | $1470/$1050 |
| 11-Sep | 25-Sep | $5390/$3850 | $1540/$1100 |
| 09-Oct | 23-Oct | $5390/$3850 | $1610/$1150 |
| 16-Oct | 30-Oct | $5390/$3850 | $1610/$1150 |
| 23-Oct | 06-Nov | $5390/$3850 | $1610/$1150 |
| 30-Oct | 13-Nov | $5390/$3850 | $1610/$1150 |
| 06-Nov | 20-Nov | $5390/$3850 | $1470/$1050 |
| 13-Nov | 27-Nov | $5390/$3850 | $1470/$1050 |
| 2026 | |||
| 19-Mar | 02-Apr | $5530/$3950 | $1399/$999 |
| 26-Mar | 09-Apr | $5530/$3950 | $1540/$1100 |
| 02-Apr | 16-Apr | $5530/$3950 | $1540/$1100 |
| 09-Apr | 23-Apr | $5530/$3950 | $1540/$1100 |
| 16-Apr | 30-Apr | $5530/$3950 | $1540/$1100 |
| 07-May | 21-May | $5530/$3950 | $1540/$1100 |
| 14-May | 28-May | $5530/$3950 | $1540/$1100 |
| 21-May | 04-Jun | $5530/$3950 | $1540/$1100 |
| 28-May | 11-Jun | $5390/$3850 | $1399/$999 |
| 04-Jun | 18-Jun | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 11-Jun | 25-Jun | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 18-Jun | 02-Jul | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 25-Jun | 09-Jul | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 02-Jul | 16-Jul | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 09-Jul | 23-Jul | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 16-Jul | 30-Jul | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 23-Jul | 06-Aug | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 30-Jul | 13-Aug | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 06-Aug | 20-Aug | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 13-Aug | 27-Aug | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 20-Aug | 03-Sep | $5320/$3800 | $1399/$999 |
| 27-Aug | 10-Sep | $5390/$3850 | $1470/$1050 |
| 03-Sep | 17-Sep | $5460/$3900 | $1470/$1050 |
| 10-Sep | 24-Sep | $5530/$3950 | $1470/$1050 |
| 17-Sep | 01-Oct | $5530/$3950 | $1470/$1050 |
| 08-Oct | 22-Oct | $5740/$4100 | $1650/$1190 |
| 15-Oct | 29-Oct | $5740/$4100 | $1650/$1190 |
| 22-Oct | 05-Nov | $5740/$4100 | $1650/$1190 |
| 29-Oct | 12-Nov | $5530/$3950 | $1650/$1190 |
| 05-Nov | 19-Nov | $5530/$3950 | $1470/$1050 |
| 12-Nov | 26-Nov | $5530/$3950 | $1470/$1050 |
* Land Only price excludes international airfare. Please contact us for a fare quote.
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What the tour price includes:
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What the tour price excludes:
See Terms & Conditions for more information. |
