14 Days Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu, Guilin & Shanghai Group Tour

Overnight: Beijing (4-star hotel)

Welcome to China! You are met at Beijing Capital International Airport and transferred to your hotel. The rest of the day is free to recover from your flight.

Full-day guided sightseeing | Overnight: Beijing (lunch included)

Begin at the Temple of Heaven, where Ming and Qing emperors prayed for good harvests, and watch locals practising tai chi, dancing and playing cards in the park. Ride a rickshaw through Beijing's old hutong lanes and visit a local family at home. After a Chinese lunch, walk across Tiananmen Square into the Forbidden City, spending more than two hours among its halls, courtyards and imperial treasures. Optional evening: a kung fu or acrobatics show.

Drive about 2 hours each way | Overnight: Beijing (lunch included)

Drive to Mutianyu, one of the best-preserved and most scenic sections of the Great Wall, with watchtowers strung along forested ridges. Walk up, or take the optional cable car or toboggan (extra cost). After lunch near the wall, return to the city with a photo stop at the Bird's Nest and Water Cube of the 2008 Olympics. In the evening try Peking roast duck (optional).

High-speed train about 5–5.5 hours (second class) | Overnight: Xi'an (lunch included)

Visit the Summer Palace, China's largest imperial garden, walk the painted Long Corridor beside Kunming Lake and take a boat across the lake. After lunch, board the bullet train to Xi'an, the ancient capital where the Silk Road began; your Xi'an guide meets you at the station.

Full-day guided sightseeing | Overnight: Xi'an (lunch included)

Walk on the 14th-century Xi'an City Wall, the most complete city wall in China (optional bicycle ride, extra cost). Visit a cave-dwelling pottery workshop to try making a miniature warrior, then see the Terracotta Army of the First Emperor – thousands of life-size soldiers, horses and chariots in battle formation. Back in the city, stroll around Bell Tower Square. Optional evening: the Tang Dynasty music and dance show.

High-speed train about 4 hours | Overnight: Chengdu (lunch included)

After a free morning, explore the lanes of the Muslim Quarter and the traditional courtyard house of Gao's Courtyard, where you can watch Chinese shadow puppetry. At noon see the musical fountain show on the North Plaza of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (when operating). Take a late-afternoon bullet train (second class) to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.

Full day | Overnight: Chengdu (lunch included)

Spend the morning with giant pandas and red pandas at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, best visited early when the pandas are active. After lunch drive to Leshan and walk down from the head to the toes of the 71 m Giant Buddha carved into the riverside cliff (or view it by boat). Optional evening: Sichuan opera with face-changing.

Sightseeing | Overnight: Chengdu (lunch included)

Join the locals in People's Park, sipping tea in a bamboo-shaded teahouse among people singing, dancing and playing mahjong. After a Sichuan lunch visit Wuhou Shrine, dedicated to the Three Kingdoms hero Zhuge Liang, and the lantern-hung Jinli Ancient Street.

High-speed train | Overnight: Guilin

Enjoy a free morning in Chengdu, then take the bullet train south to Guilin, famous for its karst scenery. Your Guilin guide meets you at the station.

Drive about 2 hours each way | Highest point: about 1,000 m | Overnight: Guilin (lunch included)

Drive into the hills to the Longji rice terraces, carved into the mountainsides over centuries. Walk up to the Zhuang village of Ping'an and enjoy a lunch of rice and chicken cooked in bamboo tubes, then explore the wooden houses of the Zhuang and Yao people. Return to Guilin by late afternoon. Optional evening: Four Lakes night cruise.

Cruise about 4 hours | Overnight: Guilin (lunch box included)

Board a boat at Zhujiang pier and cruise down the Li River through the karst peaks, bamboo groves and fishing villages that appear on China's 20-yuan note. In Yangshuo stroll along the lively West Street before driving back to Guilin. Optional: stay for the "Impression Liu Sanjie" show on the river.

Sightseeing and flight about 2.5 hours | Overnight: Shanghai (lunch included)

Visit Elephant Trunk Hill, symbol of Guilin, and the colourfully lit stalactites of Reed Flute Cave. After lunch fly to Shanghai.

Full-day guided sightseeing | Overnight: Shanghai (lunch included)

Discover Shanghai, China's largest and most modern city. Wander through the shikumen lane houses of old Shanghai, the classical Yu Garden and the busy Yuyuan Bazaar. After lunch visit the Shanghai City History Museum at the foot of the Oriental Pearl Tower and ride up to its second sphere for a bird's-eye view, drive through the skyscrapers of Lujiazui, and end on the Bund as the colonial buildings and Pudong skyline light up.

End of tour

After breakfast you are transferred to the airport for your flight home (shared transfer; private transfer on request).