Start in: Shanghai
End in: Beijing
Special Experience: Chinese classical garden and silk tour in Suzhou, pay a visit to a Tibetan family
Tibet Impression 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,L
Sightseeing: Shanghai Museum,The Bund ,Nanjing Road,Yu Garden,Yuyuan Market
Today, your full-day excursion of incredible Shanghai will include: Shanghai Museum, the Bund and the Nanjing Road, Yu Garden and Yuyuan Market.
- 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.
- 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.
- Nanjing Road: known as "China's No.1 Shopping Street" with a huge selection of merchandise on sale.
- 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,L
Sightseeing: Humble Administrator's Garden,Lingering Garden,Tiger Hill Park,The No.1 Silk Factory
One full-day tour to Suzhou (100km away from Shanghai), which has been known as the Venice of the East. After your arrival, be met by your local guide, and your tour in Suzhou includes: the classical Humble Administrator's Garden and the attractive Lingering Garden, the ancient Tiger Hill Park and the No.1 Silk Factory. Back to Shanghai after the tour in Suzhou.
- Humble Administrator's Garden: covers 10 acres and is the largest garden in Suzhou. It was built in 1509 during the Ming Dynasty and is divided into the eastern, middle and western parts. All of this centers upon the broad expanse of a lake to form the poetic and picturesque garden landscapes and waterscapes with exquisite buildings and luxuriant vegetation.
- Lingering Garden: is one of the four most famous gardens in China and was constructed in 1593 during the Ming Dynasty. It is famous for its artistic way of dealing with the spaces between various kinds of architectural forms and garden courts.
- Tiger Hill Park: a symbol of the city, with a history of over 2,500 years, the Tiger Hill has had the reputation of being the No.1 sight of Suzhou, with a Song-dynasty leaning pagoda on top which was built in brick to imitate wood architecture.
- The No.1 Silk Factory: Suzhou is famous for its silk production. In the factory you can learn more about silk production and detailed steps of the silk making process, and you will have an opportunity to purchase some of the incredibly delicate works as well.
Accommodations: Shangbala Hotel
Meals: B
Sightseeing: Lhasa
Transfer via: China domestic flight on our arrangement
You will be escorted to take morning flight to Chengdu. Upon you arrive in Chengdu, our guide will pick you up and help you boarding another flight to Lhasa. Upon your arrival at Gonggar airport, you will be met by your local guide and transferred to the hotel in Lhasa city (2-hour drive), and you will view the Stone Giant Buddha engraved in the mountain face en route.
- Lhasa: the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region with an elevation of 3650 meters (12,000 feet) above the sea level, is nicknamed Sunlight City. It is the highest city in the world. This ancient sprawling city, settled 1,300 years ago, is the region's political, economic and cultural center as well as a sacred place of Tibetan Buddhism.
Accommodations: Shangbala Hotel
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Potala Palace,Barkhor Street,Jokhang Temple
Your sightseeing today will include the Lhasa's cardinal landmark -- Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and flourishing Barkhor Street.
- Potala Palace: the symbol of Lhasa, perched upon Marpo Ri Hill, 130 meters above the Lhasa Valley, it is the greatest monumental structure in Tibet and one of the most famous architectural works of the world. The construction was started in 641 AD and it was rebuilt by the Fifth Dalai Lama in three years, while the Thirteenth Dalai Lama extended and repaired it into what it is now. As the religious and political centre of old Tibet and the winter residence of Dalai Lamas, the palace witnessed the life of the Dalai Lamas and the important political and religious activities in the past centuries. The Potala Palace also houses great amounts of rare cultural relics including the gold hand-written Buddhist scriptures, valuable gifts from the Chinese emperors and a lot of priceless antiques.
- Barkhor Street: a circular street around the Jokhang Temple in the center of the old section of Lhasa, it is the oldest street in a very traditional style in Tibet, where you can enjoy bargaining with the local Tibetan vendors for the handicrafts which are rarely seen elsewhere in the world. Barkhor Street is one of the most important religious paths along which pilgrims walk around Jokhang Temple while turning prayer wheels in their hands. They have been doing this for countless centuries. Buddhist pilgrims walk or progress by body-lengths in a clockwise direction. This walk can continue all day and well into the night.
- Jokhang Temple: located in the center of the old section of Lhasa, built in 647 AD by Songtsen Gampo and his two foreign wives, and later extended by successive rulers. It has now become a gigantic architectural complex and it is the spiritual center of Tibet.
Accommodations: Shangbala Hotel
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Norbulingka Park,Sera Monastery,Tibetan Family
The whole day tour will first bring you to the Norbulingka Park, and then the Sera Monastery. Pay a visit to a Tibetan Family.
- Norbulingka Park: Norbulingka means "Jeweled Garden", built in 1751 AD as a summer palace for the Dalai Lama where they handled political affairs and practiced religious activities. It is now a large-scale palace complex and garden in Tibetan style covering an area of 40 hectares. The whole complex 370 rooms of different sizes and lawns shaded by green trees and enclosed by various flowers. Before 1959, commoners had no access to this park. Nowadays, on festivals and holidays, the local people in their colorful costumes come here with food and tents to sing and dance overnight.
- Sera Monastery: Sera means "Wild Rose Garden" in Tibetan because lush wild rose woods once grew around it. The monastery is one of the three largest monasteries in Tibet. Located at the northern outskirts of Lhasa, it was built in 1419 AD by Jamchen Choje (or Sakyayeshe), one of the eight disciples of Tsong Khapa who was the founder of the Gelugpa Sect. The Sera Monastery houses three colleges built in the 15th and 16th centuries, and it is famous for the "Buddhism Scriptures Debating".
- Tibetan Family: where you will be greeted and warmly welcomed by common Tibetan people in their traditional way and entertained with their typical food.
Accommodations: Jianguo Garden 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 Beijing. Upon you arrive in Beijing, you will be escorted to your hotel.
Accommodations: Jianguo Garden Hotel
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Tiananmen Square,Forbidden City,Temple of Heaven,Summer Palace
Today you will join in the tour to visit the historic Tiananmen Square, and then the magnificent Forbidden City, the Beijing's splendid Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace.
- 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.
- 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
Sightseeing: Ding Tomb,Great Wall,Sacred Road
Transfer via: International Flight on your own arrangement
Today you will join in tour to visit the majestic Great Wall (Badaling section) and the Ding Tomb of Ming Tombs. Then you will be escorted to take your international flight to your sweet home.
- 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.
- 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.
China domestic flights as specified in the itinerary 
Accommodations for 8 nights, including
5 nights at four star or higher hotels, 3 nights at three star hotels
13 meals, including 8 full breakfasts, 5 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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