Start in: Beijing
End in: Hongkong
Special Experience: Beijing Hutong tour by rickshaw and Peking Duck Banquet, Terracotta Army in Xian, Yangtze River cruise, Guilin Li River cruise and countryside excursion in Yangshuo
Amazing China Contrast Tour with Yangtze Cruise
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 Beijing
Accommodations: Jianguo Garden Hotel 
Transfer via: International Flight on your own arrangement
Upon your arrival at Beijing airport, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free at your own leisure.
Accommodations: Jianguo Garden Hotel
Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Tiananmen Square,Forbidden City,Summer Palace
Special Dinner: Peking Duck Dinner
Today you will first visit the historic Tiananmen Square, and then the magnificent Forbidden City. In the afternoon, you will tour the exquisite Summer Palace. Enjoy a famous Peking Duck Banquet for dinner.
- Tiananmen Square: the largest city square in the world and the spiritual heart of China, where the national flag is raised exactly at sunrise everyday.
- Forbidden City: located in the center of Beijing, used to be the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties with a history of around 600 years, it is the grandest integral palace complex still remaining in China.
- Summer Palace : Located on the northwestern outskirts of the city, it was an imperial summer resort of the Qing Dynasty. With its perfect layout, magnificent buildings and enchanting landscape, it is the most splendid classical garden in China.
- Peking Duck Dinner: Peking Roast Duck is regarded as one of the most delicious dishes throughout the world. A Peking Duck Dinner is usually a fixed item on any Beijing tour itinerary. At time-honored restaurants such as Quan Ju De, you can savor the mouth-watering traditional Beijing specialty, and at the same time the chefs will show you how they cuts the meat into exactly 108 slices from one duck, each having a piece of skin.
Accommodations: Jianguo Garden Hotel
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Sacred Road,Ding Tomb,Great Wall
Today you will have a tour to the majestic Great Wall(Badaling section), the Ding Tomb of Ming Tombs and Sacred road.
- Sacred Road: the path lined with stone statues of animals, mystical beasts and officials who are supposed to serve the emperor in his afterlife, through which the sitting emperors would go to perform memorial rituals for the ancestors once a year.
- Ding Tomb: the burial site of the emperor Wanli, the 13th emperor of the Ming Dynasty who ruled for 48 years until his death in 1620, it is the only underground tomb of the thirteen Imperial Ming tombs ever excavated.
- Great Wall: the most famous symbol of China and one of the world's most remarkable architectural wonders, it was built over 2,000 years ago and stretches about 6,700km.
Accommodations: Hotel Royal Garden
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Hutongs
Transfer via: China domestic flight on our arrangement
After breakfast, you will visit Hutongs by rickshaw. Lunch will be served in one of the local people's home during the tour, when you can learn how to make dumplings. And then take the afternoon flight to Xi'an. Upon your arrival, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free at your own leisure.
- Hutongs: the old narrow paths with lots of courtyard homes where common people are living. They are like villages within a megalopolis. Through the hutongs' teeming maze of alleyways, you will see the old houses and learn about the daily life of ordinary Beijing citizens.
Accommodations: Hotel Royal Garden
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Terracotta Warriors and Horses,Ancient City Walls ,Bell Tower
Today, you will first visit the incredible life-size Terracotta Warriors and Horses. After lunch, visit the Ancient City Walls and then the Bell Tower.
- Terracotta Warriors and Horses: discovered in 1974 by local farmers digging a well, this is one of the most significant archeological finds of the 20th century. These 6,000 life-size painted Terracotta Warriors and Horses --individually sculpted from real-life models and arranged in battle formation have been protecting the mausoleum of the first emperor in Chinese history--Emperor QinShihuang for 2,200 years ago.
- Ancient City Walls : built during the 14th century on Tang dynasty foundations and they date from the Ming dynasty. The walls are the largest and best-preserved ancient fortress in the world. There is a gate in each of the four sides, and the gate towers built over each gate look lofty and magnificent and form a tight defence engineering system.
- Bell Tower: standing in the center of the city and built in 1582, the Bell Tower is a three-story wooden structure with traditional Chinese architectural features. It is so called because an iron bell is hung in the tower to give the correct time.
Accommodations: On the Cruise
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Big Wild Goose Pagoda,Shaanxi Provincial Museum
Transfer via: China domestic flight on our arrangement
After breakfast, you will have a city tour to the Shaanxi Provincial Museum and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda before your onward flight to the next destination--Chongqing. Upon your arrival at Chongqing, the largest city in Southwest China, our local guide will meet you and transfer to board your ship Regal China.
- Big Wild Goose Pagoda: regarded by many as a symbol of the city Xian, the pagoda was built in 652 A.D. in the Tang Dynasty to house the sutras brought back from India by the famous monk Xuan-zang.
- Shaanxi Provincial Museum: opened in 1991, the largest comprehensive museum in the province. The museum exhibits over 3,000 historical relics which is just a fraction of their collection. Most of the exhibited items are rare treasures, showing you the splendid Chinese culture.
Accommodations: On the Cruise
Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Fengdu Ghost City,Shibaozhai
Departs Chongqing at 08:00AM. Shore excursion to Fengdu Ghost City or Shibaozai. The ship company will choose one of the scenic spots as your excursion destination.
- Fengdu Ghost City: constructed on the Mingshan Hill by the river bank, it is so called because of the legend which goes that about 1,700 years ago, two officials, Yin and Wang (the combination of their surnames means "Ghost King ") became Taoists here and eventually Immortals. Now with fantastic temples of underworld demons and gods, it shows the Chinese ghost culture and is a place for punishing the devil and awarding the good.
- Shibaozhai: a gem of Chinese architecture, literally means Stone Treasure Fortress in English. It is a 12-storey red wood tower which was first built in Qing Dynasty with a history of 300 years. It was built against a rectangular rock with sheer cliffs on the river bank, 56 meters high, on the top of which you can enjoy a panoramic view of the rapid river and the surrounding countryside.
Accommodations: On the Cruise
Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Shennong Stream,Lesser Three Gorges
Shore excursion to Shennong Stream or lesser three gorges by smaller vessels. The ship company will choose one of the scenic spots as your excursion destination.
- Shennong Stream: a small tributary of the Yangtze River is 60 kilometers long and is famous for its picturesque scenery. Shennong Stream is beautiful and ancient. When you take a sampan drifting along it, which is not without risk yet exhilarating and a challenge to battle with the nature. You will be attracted and surprised by its crystal clear steam flowing swiftly from north to south through deep gorges, steep ridges and peaks, thick vegetation and wild flowers, flying birds and a plank road built along a cliff and ancient hanging coffins. Sweet love songs will be presented to you by the local ethnic people.
- Lesser Three Gorges: indicating three separate valleys along the Daning River, the chief tributary of the Yangtze River, they are called "Dragon-Gate Gorge", "Misty Gorge" and "Dicui (Emerald) Gorge" respectively. You can take a small boat to enjoy the spectacular views and experience a water-borne sensation you have never had before when the natural scenic wonders unfold in front of you with clear water flowing fast through the gorges, sheer cliffs and steep mountains rising on either side to create one fine art gallery.
Accommodations: On the Cruise
Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Three Gorges
Shore excursion to Three Gorges Dam site.
- Three Gorges: spanning the Yangtze at Sandouping, Yichang, Hubei province, China. Construction began in 1994, and the 'Three Gorges Dam' is now the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. The Dam will be 2,335 meters long, 18 meters wide, and its bottom will be 130 meters wide after completion in 2009. When completed, the water level will rise to 135 meters above sea level. The reservoir began filling on June 1, 2003, and it will occupy the present position of the scenic Three Gorges area, between the cities of Yichang, Hubei, and Fuling, Chongqing Municipality.
Accommodations: Holiday Inn Riverside Wuhan
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Wuhan,Yellow Crane Tower,Hubei Provincial Museum,Guiyuan Temple
Drive to Wuhan this morning and arrive around 12:00 Noon. Upon your arrival at Wuhan, our local guide will meet you and escort you to the city to have a city tour including Yellow Crane Tower, Hubei Provincial Museum and the Guiyuan Temple.
- Wuhan: the capital of Hubei Province, it is an important city in the central part of China as an essential transportation hub between north and south, west and east, that is why it is called as ˇ°a passageway to nine provincesˇ±.
- Yellow Crane Tower: first built in 223 AD and famed as "No. 1 Tower in the world", standing on the top of the Snake Hill imposingly, with 50 meters high, the five-level Tower covered with tiny tiles glazed in gold is where many poets and artists through the ages found their inspiration and left us with many pieces of poetry and prose.
- Hubei Provincial Museum: built in 1953, the museum is highlighted by a large collection of artefacts from the Zenghouyi Tomb dating from aound 433 BC and unearthed in 1978, the most spectacular collection is a complete set of 65 ritual bronze bells of different sizes made more than 2200 yeaers ago that are played using hammer-like objects and poles, the museum offers wonderful performances on duplicate bells throughout the day.
- Guiyuan Temple: Wuhan's most famous Buddhist temple with 400-year history, the temple houses a collection of rare sutra, a jade Buddha and 500 gilded Arhats, the main attractions are statues of Buddha's disciples in an array of comical poses.
Accommodations: Guilin Park Hotel
Meals: B
Transfer via: China domestic flight on our arrangement
Free in the day until our local guide escorts you to the airport for your onward flight to your next destination-- Guilin. Upon your arrival at Guilin, the most scenic city in China, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free at your own leisure.
Accommodations: Guilin Park Hotel
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Li River Cruise,Yangshuo County,Moon Hill
After breakfast, drive to Zhujiang Pier (about 40-minute drive) to start the boat cruise along the tranquil Li River, the highlight of your sightseeing tour in Guilin, until you get to Yangshuo County. Have an excursion to the Moon Hill then drive back to Guilin (1.5-hour drive).
- Li River Cruise: Along the river, you will be inspired by the breathtaking views of peaks and pinnacles, crystal-clear water and reflections in the water together with the serene pastoral views of rice paddies and water buffaloes.You will certainly feel like you are walking into a traditional Chinese painting by cruising on this wonderful river.
- Yangshuo County: founded in 590 AD, Yangshuo County has been booming because of tourism. With so many beautifully shaped mountains surrounding this county, it is described as "the world of green lotus and jade bamboo shoots".
- Moon Hill: viewed from different places, the moon takes on different shapes, sometimes full moon, sometimes half-moon and sometimes crescent, forming a marvelous spectacle in Yangshuo. Climbing about 800 steps up to the very top, you will have a fantastic view of the whole county.
Accommodations: Miramar Hotel (H.K.)
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Fubo Hill,Elephant Trunk Hill ,Reed Flute Cave
Transfer via: China domestic flight on our arrangement
Today, have a city tour of the Elephant Trunk Hill, the Fubo Hill and the Reed Flute Cave before your transfer to the airport for your flight to Hongkong. Upon your arrival at Hong Kong, a vibrant metropolis, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel.
- Fubo Hill: where you can see lots of Buddha statues left about 1000 years ago in the Returned Pearl Cave and have a birds' eye view of the whole city after climbing up to the very top.
- Elephant Trunk Hill : the symbol of Guilin, which resembles a giant elephant drinking water from the Li River.
- Reed Flute Cave: 5 kilometers away from the city center, famed as "A Natural Palace of Art", in which you can see lots of stalactites & stalagmites illuminated by the lights of different colors. You will also learn how they were formed.
Accommodations: Miramar Hotel (H.K.)
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Victoria Peak,Aberdeen,Repulse Bay,Stanley Market
Today, you will explore Hong Kong's unique blend of Chinese heritage and colonial influences. Your tour will include Victoria Peak, the floating community of Aberdeen, Repulse Bay and Stanley Market of Hong Kong Island.
- Victoria Peak: the island's highest point with 552 meters high, which has spectacular views of city's famous skyline, Victoria Harbour and the romantic South China Sea on a clear day.
- Aberdeen: a harbor area crowded with junks and sampans, where 6,000 people live and work on junks.
- Repulse Bay: one of the most famous beaches in Hong Kong where you can enjoy a more relaxed holiday atmosphere.
- Stanley Market: great for bargain-hunting, this market specializes in factory outlet clothes.
Meals: B
You will enjoy free time today to explore this dynamic metropolis all by yourself, you may do some shopping in this shopping paradise if you feel like until our local guide escorts you to the airport for your flight to your sweet home.
China domestic flights as specified in the itinerary 
Accommodations for 14 nights, including
10 nights at four star or higher hotels, 4 nights at five star yangtze cruise ship
28 meals, including 14 full breakfasts, 10 lunches and 4 dinners
(including Peking Duck Dinner)
Round-trip transfers---between airports, hotels and scenic spots in each city by private air-conditioned motor coaches with experienced drivers
A local English-speaking guide in each city
Entrance fees to scenic spots listed in the itinerary
Luggage transfers between airports and hotels
China Life Tourist Accident/Casualty insurance
Government taxes and service charges except tips for tour guides and drivers
Recently my friend and I took a cruise on the yangzte river. I was very pleased with Leo Huang's service. He responded promptly to all my emails and I did send a lot! He was very courteous and patient, taking time to answer all of my questions and sending extra information. We do not speak Chinese so he sent us notes to give to people so they could understand what we want.
- Jeanette Schinker,Canada
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