Start in: Shanghai
End in: Beijing
Tour Map
2008 Taste of China
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 Arrive Shanghai
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.
Meals: B,L,D
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. Enjoy a wonderful Portman Acrobatic Show at the Shanghai Centre Theatre tonight.
- 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.
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Elephant Trunk Hill ,Reed Flute Cave
Transfer via: Internal Flight on our arrangement
Free in the day until our local guide escorts you to the airport for your 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. After rest for a little while, you will have city tour to the Elephant Trunk Hill and the Reed Flute Cave.
- 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.
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: West Street(Yangshuo)
After breakfast, drive to Zhujiang Pier (about 40-minute drive) to start the boat cruise along the tranquil Li River which is the highlight in Guilin until you get to Yangshuo County. Along the river, you will be inspired by 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 are certainly walking into a traditional Chinese painting by cruising on it. At Yangshuo, after roaming through the West Street, drive back to Guilin (1.5-hour drive).
- West Street(Yangshuo): a busy and exotic slate street in Yangshuo County, about 2km long crammed with shops, pubs, cafes and hotels, where you can relax yourself and do some souvenir shopping.
Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Chongqing Zoo
Transfer via: Internal 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--Chongqing. Upon your arrival at Chongqing, the largest city in Southwest China, our local guide will meet you and escort you to the city to have a half day city tour to Chongqing Zoo. Enjoy a hot pot dinner before your transfer to get on board the ship. Your ship departs Chongqing at 21:00.
- Chongqing Zoo: the largest zoo in southwest China with over 1000 birds and 170 species of animals, where you can see charmly naive giant pandas, lesser pandas and their offspring, golden hair monkeys and South China tigers.
Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Shibaozhai
Shore excursion to Shibaozhai this morning.
- 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.
Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Lesser Three Gorges
Shore excursion to Lesser Three Gorges by smaller vessels this morning.
- 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.
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: The Three Gorge Dam
Shore excursion to Three Gorges Dam site this morning. After lunch, you will disembark the ship in Yichang at 13:30. Then our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free at your own leisure.
- The Three Gorge Dam: spanning the Yangtze at Sandouping, Yichang, Hubei province, China, construction began in 1994, it 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, and by then the water level will rise to 135 meters above sea level. The reservoir began filling on June 1, 2003, and will occupy the present position of the scenic Three Gorges area, between the cities of Yichang, Hubei; and Fuling, Chongqing Municipality.
Transfer via: Internal Flight on our arrangement
Free on the day until our local guide take you to the airport for your flight to Xi'an. Upon your arrival at Xi'an, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel.
Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Bell Tower,Terracotta Warriors and Horses,Ancient City Walls
Special Dinner: Dumpling Dinner
Gala Event: Tang Dynasty Show
Today, you will enjoy a full-day excursion to the incredible life-size Terracotta Warriors and Horses,after lunch, visit the Ancient City Walls and the Bell Tower. Complete the day with a savory dumpling dinner and the Tang Dynasty show both at Shaanxi Grand Opera Theatre.
- 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.
- 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.
- Dumpling Dinner: Dumpling or Jiaozi in Chinese is a traditional and popular food in China, especially in the north. At the dinner, nearly 20 varieties of dumplings that are steamed and stuffed with different delicious fillings such as vegetables, meats and seafood are served. These dumplings are not only tasty, but also characteristic with their colors and fragrance, style and culture meanings. All these make the dinner so unique that you should not miss it when traveling in Xi'an.
- Tang Dynasty Show: the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) was one of the most glorious dynasties in China's history, and Xi'an was the capital during the Tang Dynasty and called as Chang'an. Tang Dynasty Show is a performance of Chang'an music and dances in Tang Dynasty style laid out according to various historical records and ancient arts and relics discovered in Xi'an. During the show, the musicians present the music with the Tang-Dynasty-style musical instruments and the dancers dance by wearing a Tang-Dynasty-style robe with long white silk sleeves, and you will certainly enjoy this national art that reflects the glory and richness of the Tang Dynasty era.
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Big Wild Goose Pagoda,Shaanxi Provincial Museum
Transfer via: Internal Flight on our arrangement
After breakfast, you will have city tour to the Shaanxi Provincial Museum and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda before your onward flight to the next destination--Beijing. 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.
- 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.
Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Forbidden City,Tiananmen Square,Summer Palace
Today you will first visit the historic Tiananmen Square, and then the magnificent Forbidden City. In the afternoon, you will marvel at the exquisite Summer Palace.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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,L
Sightseeing: Great Wall
Today's full-day excursion will take you to the majestic Great Wall(Mutianyu section), the Chang Tomb of Ming Tombs.
- 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.
Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Temple of Heaven
Special Dinner: Peking Duck Dinner
After breakfast,you will visit Beijing's splendid Temple of Heaven. Enjoy a famous Peking Duck Banquet for dinner.And then take flight to your sweet home.
- 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.
- 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.
China domestic flights as specified in the itinerary 
Accommodations for 13 nights, including
30 meals, including 12 full breakfasts, 12 lunches and 6 dinners
(including Dumpling Dinner, Peking Duck Dinner)
1 gala evening events--Tang Dynasty Show in Xian 
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
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