Tour route: Shanghai - Chengdu - Tibet - Xi'an - Beijing
Upon your arrival in Shanghai, China's most cosmopolitan city, your personal guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is yours to relax, or step out into this amazing city for an adventure on your own.
Today's sightseeing will start from the Bund, then to Yu Garden and the Yuyuan Market. Later, drop by the Silk Workshop and proceed to the Jing'An Villa & Zhang Garden, a traditional Shikumen(Stone Arched Gates) district. Through walking and talking with the citizens residing there, one can fully appreciate a vibrant, dynamic and complicated urban landscape. At the corner of Wujiang Road, you might take a rest watching how to make Xiaolongbao through the windows, as well as try to taste local dim sun flavor.
Tonight, a recommendation for you is the famous Acrobatics Show which will bring you a memorable night in Shanghai.
This morning, drive out of the city to visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding to meet the lovely pandas. Then go back to Chengdu city and visit the Wenshu Temple, at the back of the complex is the Teahouses, a great place to relax you and do some people watching. Walking along the Jinli Old Street, fully appreciate Sichuan’s customs and folk arts and touch the history and local life of Chengdu people.
A highly recommendation to you tonight is Sichuan Opera with face changing performance as an optional entertainment.
You will be free to explore the city on your own until being escorted to the airport for your flight to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. When you arrive, your local guide will welcome you and transfer you to your hotel (around 1.5 hours' drive). After check-in, you are advised to rest at your hotel to acclimatize to the high altitude.
Your Tibet tour begins with the overwhelming Potala Palace. As an emblem of Tibet, it was the winter palace of Dalai Lama (Tibet’s commensurate pope) and the actual religious center of the region. Every day many pilgrims from all over Tibet trek months and miles to worship their gods and pray for their blessing here. Brilliant religious architectures, sculptures and paintings can be fully-admired here.
In the afternoon, you will visit the centuries-old Jokhang Temple, the holy spiritual center of Tibetans, and walk the circular pilgrim route with local followers at Barkhor Street.
Today you’ll tour the enchanting Norbulingka Park, which is known as Tibet’s Summer Palace, see the training place of Dalai Lama at the historic Drepung Monastery, and then proceed to the Sera Monastery to appreciate the unique Buddhism scripture debating culture. You will see the daily life of the devoted monks and discover how they enjoy their simple life in these ancient monasteries.
Free in the day until our local guide escorts you to the airport for your onward flight to Xi’an. Upon arrival, your local guide will meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel. After a short break, you will be escorted to visit the Small Wild Goose Pagoda and take a calligraphy class there.
Note: The Small Wild Goose Pagoda and calligraphy class are closed onTuesdays.
You will visit the incredible life-size Terracotta Warriors. Here you'll see over 6,000 life-size Qin Dynasty-era terracotta soldiers, chariots and horses, an army designed to protect Qin Shihuang, China's first emperor, in the afterlife. After lunch, you will visit the Jade Gallery and then cycle along the top of Xi’an’s Ancient City Walls (1-2 hours). When on the wall, you will be impressive by the view of the old city contained within its walls on one side and the modern city that lies without to the other side. After that, have a relaxing stroll through Muslim Street and get some general idea about Chinese Muslim’s daily life.
An optional night show for you is Tang Dynasty Show, which is a dancing performance based on Tang Dynasty background.
On this day you will first visit Tiananmen Square, the largest plaza on earth. Passing through the iconic Tiananmen Gate, then you will enter the splendid Forbidden City, China’s No.1 palace complex famous for its grand royal buildings, exquisite ornaments and priceless treasures. Continue to the Summer Palace afterward, and enjoy a 15-minute boat ride on Kunming Lake. Your tour concludes with a stop at a pearl store.
Tonight, if you’re interested, take in a thrilling Chinese Kung Fu Show as your optional entertainment.
Recommended Accommodation for Your Journey
There is no doubt that your journey enjoyment will be increased by a good choice of accommodation. Our well-established network with key hotel chains around China will bring you more benefits of competitive rates and guaranteed hotel quality with availability.
Standard Tour Class | Comfortable Tour Class | Deluxe Tour Class | |
Shanghai | Greenland Jiulong Hotel
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Sunrise On The Bund
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Hyatt On The Bund
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Chengdu | Tianfu Sunshine Hotel
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Tibet Hotel Chengdu
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Shangri-La Hotel
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Lhasa | XinDing Hotel
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Four Points by Sheraton Lhasa
![]() Room Type:Junior Suite No 10, Bo Linka Road, Lhasa, Tibet, China |
Shangri-La Hotel
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Xian | Mercure Xian On Renmin Square
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Grand Noble Hotel Xian
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Wyndham Grand
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Beijing | Howard Johnson Paragon Hotel Beijing
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Beijing Novotel Peace Hotel
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The Regent Beijing
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We pick Hotels for You Based on:
Location:most of properties we selected are either located in downtown area with main city attractions or close by main transportations. These conveniences will certainly improve your holiday experience.
Facility & Service Quality:all hotels are inspected strictly and regularly, must be with great performance on accommodating English speaking customers, and excellent feedbacks from our pervious clients as well.
Diversity for Choice: many styles and grades of hotels are available for different budgets, tastes and culture backgrounds.
Hotel criteria for each tour class
Hotel arrangement for Standard Tour Class
It will meet the basic requirements for a comfortable stay, good size and clean guest rooms with AC, TV, hot water, shower and private bathrooms. On-site restaurants with breakfast included and lunch or dinner at your own pick up. A small fitness center or spa can be expected.
Hotel Arrangement for Comfortable Tour Class
Normally you'll stay at formal and large hotels conveniently located with shopping, dining and entertainment facilities nearby. Quality service, fully furnished rooms, restaurants, room service, fitness center and swimming pool (in very rare cases there is no pool) all together offer an above-average accommodation experience.
Usually good 4-star hotels are adopted or boutique hotels at request. Hotels best available will be arranged if no qualified choice, e.g. in remote area.
Hotel Arrangement for Deluxe Tour Class
Luxurious hotel with top-notch service and an extensive range of facilities for an excellent accommodation experience. Multiple restaurants on site with extensive menus for choice, room service available 24/7, fitness center and concierge service round out the experience. Hotels best available will be arranged if no qualified choice, e.g. in remote area.
Meals
Normally China Odyssey Tours provides two meals each day: Breakfast and Lunch. You will have the freedom to make your own dinner choice.
It is normally served at the hotel where you stay. Depending on the hotel, the breakfast would be in western style, Chinese style, or a combination.
When plan your lunches, we consider the balance of food quality, dining environment and tour convenience. We provide a la carte lunch in a local restaurant whenever possible. A la carte meal will give you an opportunity to eat at local restaurant, follow local customs, and taste local dishes. The a la carte allowance would be adequate for a decent meal in our recommended local restaurants, but varies from different restaurants and different cities. However in some remote regions where it’s simply hard to find a non-tourist restaurant, the meal could be arranged at a local tourist restaurant or a local family.
Dinners will not be included in your meal plan unless you have that requirement. Enjoying the local food could be one of your best experiences in China. This is why we provide you this flexibility of food choice. Your private guide will always give you good suggestions based on your preferences.
If you have certain food allergies or special requirements such as vegetarian food, let us know. We will do our best to accommodate your needs.
Private Guide & Transfer
You will have a private tour guide, private driver, and an air-conditioned vehicle escorting you at every destination you travel. This will provide you with maximized personal care, security, and flexibility.
All of our tour guides are qualified professionals and registered English Speaking Tourist Guides in China who are reassessed annually. All of our tour vehicles are clean and in excellent condition, manned with licensed safe drivers.
You will always be greeted punctually on arrival at each destination airport. At every departure, your guide will stay at your side until you have checked in and passed through the security checkpoint.
All of our travel guides in every destination are locals, who know the area well, they are very good at guiding you around and telling background stories of the tour sites, as well as showing you the secret spots for taking your best photos.
When changing your itinerary is needed due to unexpected reasons, your private tour guides will be more than accommodating in suggesting alternatives to ensure that you have a wonderful experience.
With our comfortable and safe private transportation, your tour will be more relaxing and less tiresome, keeping you in the best spirits to make the most of your experience in China.
In every destination visited, your vehicle is air conditioned, clean, and expertly maintained. Your private driver is licensed, insured, and very experienced.
To maximize your comfort, we use vehicles with extra space for you and your luggage. Depending on how many are traveling together, we generally use sedans or mini vans (7 seats) for 4 people or less, large vans or small coaches (12-22 seats) for 5-12 people, medium coaches (33 – 37 seats) for 13 – 25 people, and large coaches (45 seats over) for more than 25 people.
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Any part of this itinerary can be altered to fit your need, e.g. accommodation, add/skip city, tour length.
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