D1Arrive BeijingAirport transfer
You are met at Capital or Daxing airport by your driver-guide and taken to your hotel. We keep the first evening deliberately empty — just a short orientation walk and a halal dinner nearby if you want one.
D2The Forbidden City and Tiananmen SquareIn town
Into the palace as the gates open, before the coach groups arrive, with your own guide who knows which courtyards empty out first. Afternoon at the Temple of Heaven, where the emperors prayed for the harvest.
D3Mutianyu Great Wall≈ 150 km
An early start to reach the quietest restored section of the wall before 09:00. Cable car up, an hour or two on the ramparts, toboggan down. Lunch at a village restaurant, back in the city by late afternoon.
D4Summer Palace, then high-speed rail to Xi'an≈ 1,200 km by rail
Morning in the imperial lakeside gardens, then the afternoon bullet train west. You arrive in Xi'an in time for dinner in the Muslim Quarter.
D5Terracotta Army and the Ming city wall≈ 90 km
The warriors before the tour coaches, with a specialist archaeology guide. Late afternoon on the city wall by bicycle — 14 km of ramparts wide enough to ride on, with the old town on both sides.
D6Fly to ZhangjiajieFlight
A short flight south into the mountains. Afternoon at Baofeng Lake by boat, with Tujia folk singing on the water. Early night before the park.
D7Zhangjiajie National Forest Park≈ 60 km
Yuanjiajie and the Avatar Hallelujah Mountain, reached by shuttle and the Bailong glass elevator. Then Golden Whip Stream on the valley floor, a flat shaded walk beneath the pillars.
D8Tianmen Mountain, then Fenghuang≈ 250 km
The 7.5 km cableway up to a cliff-top walkway and the 999 steps to Heaven's Gate. Then the drive to Fenghuang, arriving in time for the lantern-lit riverside evening.
D9Fenghuang old town, fly to GuilinFlight
A morning among the stilt houses and stone lanes of the old town, then the connection onward to Guilin.
D10Li River cruise to Yangshuo≈ 85 km by river
Four hours downstream between the karst peaks, past water buffalo and fishing villages, with lunch on board. Evening in Yangshuo, with the Impression Sanjie Liu river show if you want it.
D11Fly to Shanghai; the Bund at nightFlight
Yangshuo in the morning — bamboo rafts or bicycles through the rice paddies — then the flight east. Evening on the Bund, when both sides of the river light up.
D12Shanghai and departureAirport transfer
Yu Garden and the old town bazaar, then the French Concession, and an airport transfer for your flight home. We can extend to Suzhou or Hangzhou if you have time.
