16 Days China & Tibet Discovery Tour with Yangtze River Cruise

After you arrive in Beijing by flight, please take a taxi by yourself to our reserved hotel. The rest of the day is free for you to explore the surroundings.

Stay overnight in Beijing

Today is guided tour to Forbidden City and Summer Palace which are the traditional must-see places in Beijing. The Forbidden City is the best preserved imperial palace in China and the largest ancient palatial structure in the world. The splendid architecture of the Forbidden City represents the essence and culmination of traditional Chinese architectural accomplishment.

The Summer Palace is the largest royal garden in the world built in Qing Dynasty. The grandeur and beauty of the Palace is overwhelming and is sure to impress anyone.

Stay overnight in Beijing

• The iconic architectural style and legendary history of Forbidden City are fun to explore.
• Summer Palace

The Great Wall tour proves that China was one of the strongest countries in its history. Stretching thousands of kilometers, the Great Wall protected the ancient Chinese against the invasion of the enemy from its north side for more than 1000 years; the Great Wall was listed as one of the world's eight wonders. Mutianyu Great Wall, featured “graceful”, enjoy the best quality among all Wall sections, 80km north-east of Beijing with 22 ancient watchtowers, about one every kilometer. (Cable car is optional if you do not want to walk).

After the tour, you will be drop off at the Beijing West Train Station to board the high-speed train to Xi’an. The Beijing-Xi’an high-speed train takes only 4 to 6 hours, offering you a comfortable and fast transfer from Beijing to Xi’an. Upon arrival, you can take a taxi from the railway station to the reserved hotel in the downtown.

Stay overnight in Xi’an

• Mutianyu Great Wall in Spring
• Mutianyu Great Wall in Autumn

In the morning, the tour guide will pick you up from Xian Railway Station.

The day tour in Xian is impressive too. The Emperor’s Terracotta Army is also one of the eight wonders in the world. These terracotta warriors and horses are the size of a real army, and were buried alongside the Emperor in a vast underground palace.

In the archeological site of Banpo Village, built more than 6,000 year ago, you will see how the resident matriarchal tribe used to survive in the Neolithic age.

Stay overnight in Xian

• Life-size Terracotta Warriors modeled after real ancient soldiers
• Banpo Site in Xi'an

Today we will continue the sightseeing in Xi’an city. As a landmark of Xi’an, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was built for storing Buddhist sutras in AD 652, and is seven-layered with a height of 64.5 meters.

Located to the northwest of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Shaanxi History Museum is China’s first large-scale national museum. There are more than 370,000 pieces of cultural relics collected in the museum, ranging from simple stone tools of ancient humans to various kinds of objects in social life before 1840.

Stay overnight in Xian

• Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a landmark building in the ancient capital of Xi'an
• China's first large-scale national museum - Shaanxi History Museum

Please take a taxi by yourself from hotel to Xi’an Xianyang International Airport to board the flight to Lhasa. When check in and pass by the security, you need to show your original Tibet Travel Permit.

Flying from Xian to Lhasa, you will fly from China's low-altitude inland into the high-altitude Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and you can see the plains, canyons, forests, glaciers evolving into the snow-capped mountains from the aircraft.

Upon arrival, your tour guide will pick you up at Lhasa Gonggar Airport and transfer you to hotel in Lhasa by Tibet Vista shuttle bus.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

Today's tour will first bring you to the Potala Palace which is the winter palace of the Dalai Lama. It was put to use since the 7th Century by the 33rd great king of Tibet. The most valuable collections of Potala Palace are the gilded burial stupas of former Dalai Lamas and meditation Cave of the 33rd great king of Tibet.

Then after lunch, tourists head to Jokhang temple which was founded by the 33rd great king of Tibet in the 7th century. Inside you can see the statue of Buddha Sakyamuni at the age of twelve. Outside, you can see pilgrims making prostrating in front of Jokhang Temple. Around the temple is Barkhor Street, where you can do kora (a religious circle of a building or mountain) with pilgrims and locals, and explore the old market.

Besides, we can taste Tibetan tea with locals in tea house; the welcome dinner will also be arranged accordingly;

Optional:
With time permitting, you may go with the tour guide to visit Tibetan handicraft art or Tibetan Traditional Medicine center. You can upgrade your service to enjoy Tibetan Culture Show in the evening (fr. 60USD).

Stay overnight in Lhasa

• Potala Palace, the religious center of Lhasa
• Barkhor Street

In the morning, you are going to visit Drepung monastery which is one of the “great three” Gelug monasteries of Tibet, founded in 1416 by Jamyang choge, one of the Tsongkhapa’s main disciples. You can visit the biggest monastery kitchen inside the monastery and enjoy Buddhist Sculpture Carving workshop near Drepung.

In the Afternoon, Tourists will visit Sera Monastery which is another one of the “great three” Gelug monasteries of Tibet. The hot attraction is the Monks debate at around 3 - 5 in the afternoon. In addition, you can tour the Tibetan religious scripture printing house; inside the monastery, you can see three sand Mandalas and colorful Rock Painting of Buddha.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

• Sera Monastery is one of three famous monasteries in the city along with the Drepung Monastery and the Ganden Monastery.
• Drepung Monastery was one of the “three greet” Gelug monasteries of Tibet.

You will fly to Chengdu after tour in Lhasa. The tour guide will escort you to Lhasa Airport and see you off. There is only 2 hours’ flying from Lhasa to Chengdu. As tour package does not include transfer from Chengdu Airport to reserved hotel in downtown, please take a taxi in the airport on your own.

In the afternoon, you can spend your time to explore Chunxi Road, Jinli Street or Kuanzhai Alley in central Chengdu.

In the morning, the guide will pick you up to visit Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda. Morning is pandas' feeding time, you will visit both adult and baby pandas houses and watch them eating fresh bamboo.

Then, you will visit the Wenshu Temple. Located in the city center, Wenshu Temple is a central leisure tourism area and is integrated with the CBD of the traditional city business center. After that, we will go to explore the famous Jinli Street and Remin Park. You can enjoy a relaxing walk at the ancient street of Jinli, and have a cup of tea in Remin Park, to experience the local lifestyle of this charming city.

Stay overnight in Chengdu

• cute giant panda
• Closely see the cute giant pandas at Chengdu Panda Base.

In the morning, you will take a high speed train from Chengdu to Chongqing, which takes about 2 hours. After arriving in Chongqing, you will meet your local guide in Chongqing and visit the ancient town of Ciqikou. It is a nice time to taste the local specialties, or find a teahouse and feel the customs of Chongqing here.

After that, your tour guide will take you to Chaotianmen Port to board the cruise and help you check out. You will have a chance to go through the Chongqing City from the airport to the pier, which is biggest city built by the Yangtze River. The cruise sails at about 21:00 in the evening.

Overnight in the Cruise

Today is your first day of Yangtze River Cruise Tour. You will visit Fengdu Ghost City (off cruise tour, optional) at about 09:00. Having nearly two thousand years' history, the Fengdu Ghost City combines the cultures of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism with the mystique of ghosts. Tourist can see the Chinese Ghose culture and characters in here.

Then enjoy a Shibaozhai Shore Excursion at about 16:00. Shibao Zhai Village is a tower with 12 floors. It is one of several high wooden buildings in China nowadays. It is the typical and symbolic buildings characterizing of Chinas southern folk architectural techniques.

Stay overnight in the cruise

• Fengdu Ghost Town, the hometown of Chinese Divine Comedy
• Shibaozhai, one of the few tall wooden structures still existing in China

The second day of Yangtze River Cruise Tour begins with the White Emperor City (off cruise tour, optional) at 07:30.It is situated at the entrance of Qutang Gorge, north of the Yangtze River. It was known as White Emperor City which dates from the Western Han dynasty, approximately 2000 years ago, when the king of Shu, Liubei, called himself the White Emperor.

Then you will sail through Qutang Gorge at 10:45, Wu Gorge at 12:45, and have a shore excursion to Goddess Stream at 15:15.

Stay overnight in cruise

• Qutang Gorge
• Wu Gorge

Today is the last day of your cruise journey, and you will visit Three Gorge Dam at 08:15. The world record smashing Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest dam and hydroelectric power station, you will have chance to witness the tropic man-made wonder.

The Cruise Tour ends at Yichang at 12:45. Yichang tour guide will pick up you from pier tourist station and escort you to the airport. Then you can fly to Shanghai. Please take a taxi from Shanghai airport to reserved hotel in Downtown by yourself.

Stay overnight in Shanghai

• Yangtze Cruise
• The world's first water conservancy project---Three Gorges Dam

Today we are about to visit some of the highlights of highlights of Shanghai Tour. Starting with fascinating Shanghai Museum, the magnificent 4-story building houses an incredible collection of bronzes, sculptures, ceramics, coins, paintings, calligraphy, costumes and other exhibits in different dynasties. It’s the perfect place for fans of Chinese history and art.

Next comes the Yu Garden. Built in the 16th century during the Ming Dynasty, the Yu Garden used to be the private residence of a senior Government administrator in the Ming Dynasty. For passionate photographer, never miss the chance to photograph Old Street of Yu Garden.

In the evening, we will visit the most iconic building of Shanghai, i.e. Oriental Pearl TV Tower. You can enjoy the amazing panorama of the skyline of Shanghai at night. And as you stroll along the Bund, you will get amazed at the spectacular Huangpu River and dazzling light from buildings of Pudong.

Stay overnight in Shanghai

• Roaming over The Bund at night is definitely an amazing experience in Shanghai.
• Oriental Pearl TV Tower is the most iconic architecture of Shanghai.

End the tour, please arrange taxi from your hotel to Shanghai airport.