Day 1 Home City/Beijing
Your journey of discovery begins as board a flight to Beijing, China.
Day 2 Beijing
On arrival in Beijing, you are met and escorted to your hotel.
Days 3 – 5 Beijing
Spend three days exploring the treasures of this fabled city. The heart of the Beijing is Tiananmen Square, largest in the world and site of the mausoleum of Chairman Mao Zedong. You pass through the Gate of Heavenly Peace to venture into the Forbidden City, and visit the Great Wall of China, a breathtaking sight as it snakes into the distance over rugged mountains to the north of the city. Other Beijing highlights include the magnificent Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and the Panda Zoo. Free time for shopping on Silk Alley. You will also enjoy a performance of Beijing opera, followed by a farewell Beijing Duck Dinner.
Day 6 Beijing/Shanghai
This morning, fly to Shanghai. Visit the Yu Garden, a 16th-century Ming period private garden/ residence in the heart of Shanghai’s old Chinese Quarter, a neighborhood of twisting lanes, home to wonderful boutiques. The phenomenal garden architecture, built in traditional Chinese style, includes many ponds, dragon-lined walls and bridges separating the unique garden areas and pavilions.
Day 7 Shanghai/Zhujiajiao/Shanghai
Explore Zhujiajiao, a "water village" threaded with lakes, stone bridges and lush tea gardens – the perfect way to spend your half day in this magnificent country. In the afternoon, explore the Shanghai Museum, considered among the finest museums of Chinese art in the world. This evening attend the famous Shanghai Acrobatic Show.
Day 8 Shanghai/Yichang
Taking a guided walk along the Bund, the magnificent waterfront Esplanade along the Huang Pu River. Later, you fly to Yichang and board your elegant river cruise to begin your Yangtze adventure.
MS ‘Century Star’ (B.L.D)
Days 9 – 11 Cruising the Yangtze River
The appeal of the Yangtze lies not only in the river’s great natural beauty, but in the cultural and historical ties which link nearby communities with the life-giving waters. Your cruise takes you to the legendary Three Gorges, an inspiration for Chinese poetry and painting for centuries. You travel through Qutang Gorge, the "Devil’s Gate", renowned for its treacherous currents, precipitous heights and narrow width; Wu, or "Witches" Gorge, with its 12 towering peaks; and the rapids, whirlpools and seven small gorges of Xiling Gorge, longest and most exciting of the three. Enjoy the Captain’s Farewell Banquet.
MS ‘Century Star’ (B.L.D)
Day 12 Chongqing/Chengdu
Final port of call is Chongqing. Here you continue by Express Train to Chengdu, capital of China’s Sichuan Province, where you join travelers on China Holidays Roof of the World tour.
Sheraton Hotel (B.L.D)
Day 13 Chengdu/Lhasa
After an early-morning flight to Gonger Airport, continue by road to Lhasa, where you transfer to your hotel. You’ll need some rest to adjust to the altitude of ‘the Roof Top of the World’. In the afternoon, you visit the Norbulinka, the former summer residence of the Dalai Lama from the late 18th century to the 1959, located on the outskirts of town and filled with gardens, palaces and pavilions.
The Brahmaputra Grand Hotel (B.L.D)
Days 14 – 15 Lhasa
You have two days to explore ‘the Roof Top of the World’. Visit the seventh-century former home of the Dalai Lama, the Potala Place-the crowning glory of Lhasa. Its towering red and white edifice and gold roof rises 985 feet above the valley floor and can be seen for miles around. Visit Jokhang monastery, the spiritual center of the country and the colorful Barkhor Bazaar. Also experience the 15th century Sera (one of Tibet’s Great six monasteries) and also visit the Tibetan Museum.
The Brahmaputra Grand Hotel (B.L.D)
Day 16 Lhasa/Chengdu
Fly to back Chengdu. Enjoy the Tea House in the People’s Park.
Sheraton Hotel (B.L.D)
Day 17 Chengdu/Xian
You will visit the Giant Panda Reserve, before fly to the Xian.
Day 18 Xian
Visit the first Emperor of China’s tomb complex with its army of terra-cotta warriors and the ancient City Wall. After dinner, enjoy a Tang Dynasty Show.
Day 19 Xian/Guilin
Today you will visit the Shaanxi Province Museum, which has the richest collection of ancient artifacts in all of China. Later, you fly to Guilin.
Day 20 Guilin
Today you board a river boat for a half-day cruise on the Li River is akin to traveling inside a Chinese landscape painting. Take in amazing vistas of limestone mountains on your way to the charming village of Yangshou and explore Reed Flute Cave the many limestone caverns that dot the area.
Day 21 Guilin/Beijing
Visit the Elephant-trunk Hill.Before fly to Beijing. On arrival, you are met and transferred to your hotel.
Day 22 Beijing/Home City
Board your homebound flight or travel on to another destination in the Orient. China Holidays can help you plan your own extension, "tailor-made" as you require. (B)
Yangtze Passage & Tibet combines tour arrangements in China’s greatest cities with a four-night cruise on one of the world’s great rivers: the Yangtze. This carefully designed itinerary shows you all of China’s major cities and best-known sights, in an exciting and evocative overview of a magical nation. Your visit begins in Beijing, a city that embodies the very essence of Imperial China in the palaces of the Ming and Qing courts, Shanghai, rich in a colonial history evident in the Bund’s stately waterfront buildings. Tibet, explore Lhasa, to tour the awesome Potala Palace and the sacred monasteries of Jokhang, and Sera. Xian, the country’s cradle of culture. Here you pay a fascinating archaeological visit to the First Emperor’s terra-cotta bodyguard-estimated at 8,000 soldiers strong. Guilin, where you cruise on the Li River.
