Start in: Shanghai
End in: Beijing
Special Experience: First-hand experience of the ethnic cultures in Yunnan, Huntong tour by rickshaw in Beijing
Yunnan Shangri-la Discovery Tour
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 Arrive Shanghai
Accommodations: Holiday Inn Shanghai -Downtown 
Transfer via: International Flight on your own arrangement
Upon your arrival at Shanghai, China's most cosmopolitan city, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free at your own leisure.
Accommodations: Holiday Inn Shanghai -Downtown
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Shanghai Museum,Jade Buddha Temple,Yu Garden,Yuyuan Market
Today, your full-day excursion of incredible Shanghai will include: Shanghai Museum, Yu Garden, Yuyuan Market and the Jade Buddha Temple.
- Shanghai Museum: often ranked as China's best museum, it is the biggest museum in China with a fine collection of over 120,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts.
- Jade Buddha Temple: named after its exquisite milk-white jade Buddha brought from Burma in the 19th century by a Chinese monk, it is a spiritual oasis in the midst of a modern metropolis.
- Yu Garden: located in the Old Town of Shanghai and laid out in 1559 AD by a powerful Ming official, Yu Garden recreates a beautiful landscape of pagodas, pavilions, rockeries, fountains, ancient trees and precious flowers.
- Yuyuan Market: outside the Yu Garden, a bustling market with different snacks and trinkets.
Accommodations: Holiday Inn Shanghai -Downtown
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Oriental Pearl TV Tower,Nanjing Road,The Bund
After breakfast, you will tour the Bund and the Nanjing Road, and then visit the Oriental Pearl TV Tower.
- Oriental Pearl TV Tower: It stands opposite to the Bund in the Pudong area of Shanghai. Located on the bank of the Huangpu River, it is 468 meters high which makes it the highest TV tower in Asia and the third highest tower in the world. From the sightseeing floor, you can get a bird's eye view of the exciting city of Shanghai.
- Nanjing Road: known as "China's No.1 Shopping Street" with a huge selection of merchandise on sale.
- The Bund : where the great trading houses and banks had their headquarters in the 1920s and the 1930s. The Bund is about about a mile long, it is the city's fulcrum.
Accommodations: Kunming 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 flight to your next destination--Kunming. Upon your arrival at Kunming, "the Spring and Flower City", our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free at your own leisure.
Accommodations: Asia Star hotel Dali
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Erhai Lake,Xizhou Bai Minority Village,Three Pagodas,Dali Ancient Town
Transfer via: China domestic flight on our arrangement
After breakfast, be transferred to the airport and take the morning flight to Dali. Upon your arrival, be met and transferred to the city by our local guide. The visit today in this lovely city includes cruise on Erhai, Xizhou Bai Minority Village, Three Pagodas and the Dali Ancient Town.
- Erhai Lake: shaped like a human ear this lake covers over 250 square kilometers. With its vast pool of water shining under the sun like a sheet of vivid green and the snow mantles of the Cang Mountain reflecting quiveringly in it, it is known poetically as "Silver Cang Mountain and Jade-like Erhai".
- Xizhou Bai Minority Village: a photogenic village 20km north of Dali, where Bai minority people are living and where you will can get some ideas of the Bais' flair for architecture and elegant living.
- Three Pagodas: at the foot of the Zhonghe Peak of the Cang Mountain, part of Chongshen Monastery, they are an emblem of the city's venerated history. The tallest of the trio, which is 69.13 metres tall, was built in 836 AD, while two smaller ones were built during a later period. No visit to Dali is complete without a call at these three pagodas.
- Dali Ancient Town: first established in 1382 AD, with a moat surrounding it. This old town has a typical layout like a chessboard, old-timey roofed buildings with dark blue tiles and the white and gray tall walls.
Accommodations: Jiannanchun Hotel
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Lijiang Ancient Town,Heqing Village & Xinhua Village
In the morning, drive to Lijiang (3-hour drive). Along the way, you will stop by the Heqing County and pay a visit to Heqing Villages
- Lijiang Ancient Town: also called Dayan Town, built in the late Song dynasty and the early Yuan dynasty with a history of more than 800 years. This ancient town consists of clean streams flowing freely through the road network, the colorful cobbled streets, age-old swaying willow trees, age-old buildings and stone bridges. There are over 22 different ethnic minorities making Lijiang their home. Now and then you may see local folks in their own tradtional dress. Strolling around this charming ancient town, you will be attracted by the unique atmosphere and surprised by its ancient yet simple sense of "Harmony of Heaven and Man."
- Heqing Village & Xinhua Village: long history of handicraft craftsmanship, you will be visiting gold-making, silver-making, etc., workshops and you will have time to do some shopping if you wish.
Accommodations: Jiannanchun Hotel
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Baisha Mural Paintings,Black Dragon Pool Park,Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
Today, you will enjoy a full day trip to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the Baisha Mural Paintings, the Black Dragon Pool Park and Museum of Naxi Dongba Culture inside the park.
- Baisha Mural Paintings: located in Baisha Township, 8km north of Lijiang, there are altogether 53 groups of mural paintings in different temples with fine and smooth lines, bright colors,vivid patterns and harmonious composition. Painted from the early days of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911),these mural paintings are an artistic representation of the different religious cultures such as Buddhism, Lamaism, Daoism and the Naxi Dongba religion.
- Black Dragon Pool Park: where you can see the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from afar and the reflection of the mountain in the pool in a clear day. This park is the source of the water system of the Old Lijiang Town as the clean spring from Jade Dragon Snow Mountain gathers here.
- Jade Dragon Snow Mountain: it is so called because it looks like a flying jade dragon from afar. The mountain consists of 13 peaks and sprawls 35 km from north to south. Its glacier is the closest to the equator in the Northern Hemisphere. By taking the cable car up to a certain height, you can enjoy the expansive mountains views and snowy scenery.
Accommodations: Holy Palace Hotel
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Shigu Village,First Bend of the Yangtze River,Tiger Leaping Gorge
After breakfast, you will have a full day trip to the First Bend of the Yangtze River and Iron Chain Bridge in the Shigu (Stone Drum) Town, and then Tiger Leaping Gorge. Drive about 100km to Zhongdian (Shangri-la County) afterwards, where you will stay overnight.
- Shigu Village: The hypsography is very rugged in Shigu Village, Which is located on the opposite of the First Bend on the Yangtze River.
- First Bend of the Yangtze River: formed by the Yangtze River rushing down from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with a sharp turn of 45 degrees at Shigu (Stone Drum) Town before the river continues running on to northeast.
- Tiger Leaping Gorge: This gorge is located 92 km north of Lijiang County, between peaks of over 3,000 meters above the Jinsha River (upper course of Yangtze River). The legend goes that tigers often leap to the other side of the river by a huge rock lying in the middle of the river at the entrance of the Gorge, hence the name. This 17-kilometer-long Gorge is honored as the deepest and one of the most marvelous gorges on the earth.
Accommodations: Holy Palace Hotel
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Zhongdian,Bita Lake,Napa Lake,The Songzanlin Lamasery
The full-day excursion today will bring you to Bita Lake, Napa Lake, Gedan Songzanlin Monastery. In the evening, pay a visit to a Tibetan family, where you will enjoy a local Singing and Dancing Show with some special snacks.
- Zhongdian: The beautiful "Shangri-la" described in "The Lost Horizon" is, in fact, the city of Zhongdian, located in the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province. Even today, Zhongdian County remains an untainted natural paradise.
- Bita Lake: 35km away from the County, meaning "the place where roburs become felts", it is a lake surrounded by mountains with clear water and abundant fish resources. Due to the road condition, you need to walk 7km on your own or ride a horse before you can get to the lake.
- Napa Lake: 8km away from the County, meaning "the lake beside the forest", it is a lake on the plateau in the depths of the Yila Grass with mirror-like water and lots of precious fowls.
- The Songzanlin Lamasery: the most important Lamasery of Tibetan Buddhism in Yunnan province.
Accommodations: Holy Palace Hotel
Meals: B
Free time at your own leisure.
Accommodations: Jianguo Garden Hotel
Meals: B
Transfer via: China domestic flight on our arrangement
After breakfast, head for the airport for the flight to Kunming. Please wait for your next flight to Beijing at the airport (no guide service at Kunming airport). Upon you arrive at Beijing, our local guide meet you and escort you to the hotel. The rest of the day is free at your own leisure.
Accommodations: Jianguo Garden Hotel
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Tiananmen Square,Forbidden City,Temple of Heaven
Today you will first visit the historic Tiananmen Square, and then the magnificent Forbidden City. In the afternoon, you will marvel at Beijing's splendid Temple of Heaven.
- 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.
- Temple of Heaven: the place which was visited yearly by the emperors who performed intricate rituals to insure a good harvest for the whole nation at ancient times.
Accommodations: Jianguo Garden Hotel
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Sacred Road,Ding Tomb,Great Wall
Today's full-day excursion will take you 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: Jianguo Garden Hotel
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Hutongs,Summer Palace
After breakfast, you will first visit Hutongs by rickshaw. Lunch will be served in one of the local people's home during the tour, where you can learn how to make dumplings. And then the Summer Palace.
- 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.
- 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.
Meals: B
Free in the day until our local guide escorts you to the airport for your onward flight to your sweet home.
China domestic flights as specified in the itinerary 
Accommodations for 14 nights, including
14 nights at four star or higher hotels
15 meals, including 14 full breakfasts, 1 lunches and 0 dinners
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
At every part of the trip we were met by competent and friendly guides and drivers. The guides all speak good English and were enthusiastic, knowledgeable and flexible with the basic arrangements to meet our wishes.
- Alan Stansfield,Britain
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