Luxurious Yangtze Cruise 13 Days Beijing-Xian-Chongqing-Yangtze-Yichang-Shanghai
Day 1 Beijing Upon arrival, you will be greeted by the guide and be transferred to your hotel in the city center. Relax after your long flight. Accommodation: Raffles Beijing Hotel (Landmark Room) Day 2 Beijing (B, L, D) This morning your tour begins with a walk through Tiananmen Square, which is the world's largest with a capacity to hold over one million people. Continue through the beautiful Gate of Heavenly Peace to enter the splendid
Forbidden City. It was the sacred heart of the empire for about 500 years (1420-1911), totally 24 Ming and Qing Dynasty emperors lived and ruled here. Your tour here will include access to two special exhibition halls, Hall of Clocks and Treasure Gallery, which are not included in normal tours. Have lunch at Li Jia Cai (Family Li Imperial Restaurant), the first Michelin star restaurant in Beijing famous for Chinese imperial cuisine. After lunch embark on a pedi-cab tour of the hutongs(alleyways) in Beijing's historic Houhai(Back Lakes)district. These alleyways containing traditional courtyard homes used to be neighborhoods in Beijing. Though many have been torn down to make room for modern buildings, some are saved and well preserved. On this tour, you will get to visit several homes and chat with the families who reside in them, a rare insight into everyday life of Beijingers. Tonight enjoy a traditional Peking duck dinner at Dadong Restaurant which is considered by many as the best duck restaurant in Beijing and repeatedly voted "Best Chinese Restaurant of the Year" in Beijinger's Annual Restaurant Awards. The skin of the duck at Dadong is crispy and you don t find any oil at all in the duck meat, more tasty and healthier. Accommodation: Raffles Beijing Hotel (Landmark Room) Day 3 Beijing (B, L) Today head for the superb Mutianyu section of the 2,000-year-old Great Wall, which is the country's most famous attraction and one of the few sights in the world that is still able to exceed the expectations of visitors. Walking along the walls and enjoy the breathtaking landscapes. Cable car ride is available to save your energy. For lunch, you will taste the authentic American food at Mutianyu Schoolhouse Canteen. After lunch visit the Summer Palace, a royal residence set among traditional Chinese gardens on the beautiful Kunming
Lake. Stroll along the famous Long Corridor and enjoy the traditional imperial architecture. Dinner is on your own choice. Accommodation: Raffles Beijing Hotel (Landmark Room) Day 4 Beijing (B, L, D) Today you will visit the spectacular Temple of Heaven, one of the most important landmarks of Beijing and a magnificent example of ceremony architecture, where emperors offered ritual sacrifices and prayed for good harvests. After that go to Liulichang, a street with long history and rich cultural atmosphere. It is a favorite place of scholars, painters and calligraphers as there were hundreds of shops selling ancient books, paintings, ink stones...etc. This noon, you will taste authentic Cantonese cuisine and dim sum for lunch at Crystal Jade. In the afternoon pay a visit to Lama Temple (Yonghe Temple), the largest and best preserved lamasery in China. The last program of today is a leisurely walk along Salitun, the famous bar street in Beijing. Dinner is on your own arrangement tonight. Accommodation: Raffles Beijing Hotel (Landmark Room) Day 5 Beijing Xian (B, L, D) After enjoying your breakfast you will be transferred to the airport and take flight CA1209 (China Airlines, 10:30am 12:25pm)to Xian. Upon your arrival, your local guide will meet you and transfer you to the city center. Lunch today will be served at Real Love Chang An, Xian's best-known restaurant. You will be deeply impressed by both its tasty dishes and
excellent decoration. This afternoon visit the Shaanxi History Museum, which houses a wonderful collection of historic and cultural artifacts. Xian saw its heyday in Han (206 BC - AD 220) and Tang (618-907)Dynasty. The museum boasts a great deal of extremely valuable relics reflecting the history, culture and social life of the two periods. From this point of view, even the Palace Museum (Forbidden City) can't compete with it. Tonight you will enjoy dinner at Tang Palace while watching a fantastic dancing show Tang Dynasty Show. It is quite impressive and reflects the social conditions and culture of Tang Dynasty (618-907) vividly. Flight: CA1209 (Air China, 10:30am-12:25pm) Accommodation: Sofitel on Renmin Square (Executive Room) Day 6 Xian (B, L) After breakfast depart with your guide and driver for Xian's most famous attraction, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. Your tour here will include a privilege to get a closer look at the soldiers and horses. You may see the archaeologists working in the pit as the warriors are still being excavated. Lunch will be served at Xian Restaurant. This time-honored restaurant serves authentic Shaanxi food including various traditional Xian snacks.
In the afternoon drive to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It was built in AD652 to house and protect Buddhist scriptures brought back from India by a famous Chinese monk Xuanzang, who spent 17 years traveling to India for the scriptures and translating them into Chinese. His journey has been described in the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West. Dinner will be your own choice tonight. Accommodation: Sofitel on Renmin Square (Executive Room) Day 7 Xian Chongqing Three Gorges Area (B, D) After breakfast you will be transferred to the airport and take flight HU7268 (Hainan Airlines, 1250-1405) to Chongqing. This afternoon enjoy a half day tour of the city, including the Chongqing Museum and General Stilwell Museum which was found in memory of the five-star general Joseph Warren Stilwell (1883-1946). He contributed a lot to Chinese people during the Second World War. For dinner, you will make it at Yunyuan Garden, tasting typical Sichuan food. Later on, you will board your Yangtze River cruise boat. Tonight you will take a ship to Three Gorges Area. Flight: HU7268 (Hainan Airlines, 12:50pm-2:05pm) Accommodation: super 5-star Yangzi Explorer
Day 8 Yangtze Cruise (B, L, D) After breakfast make shore excursion to Fengdu, a legendary old town made famous by old stories of sinister spirits and terrible ghosts. You will see many statues of ghosts and devils in the mountain town. Return to the ship and continue cruising down the Yangtze River. Accommodation: super 5-star Yangzi Explorer Day 9 Yangtze Cruise (B, L, D) Today sailing through the Qutang Gorge and Wu Gorge. Have a boat excursion to Shennong Stream. Sail through the Parrot Gorge and Dragon Boat Gorge amid breathtaking scenery of lush pine and crystalline waters, discovering the ancient plank roads, ancient cave coffins and rare animals. Then sail through the Three Gorges dam shiplocks. Accommodation: super 5-star Yangzi Explorer Qutang Gorge Day 10 Yichang Shanghai (B, L)
After breakfast visit the Three Gorges Dam, which is the world's largest water project. Return to the ship and continue to Yichang. Disembark the cruiser at about 11:30am. Your local guide will meet you and take you to the center of Yichang. Lunch is served at Guobin Garden Hotel. Afterwards you will be transferred to the airport and take flight FM9366(Shanghai Airlines, 3:35pm 5:05pm) to Shanghai. Your guide in Shanghai will pick you up at the airport and transfer you to your hotel. Check in for a 3-night stay. Dinner will be your own choice tonight. Accommodation: Westin Bund Center Hotel(Crown Deluxe Room) Day 11 Shanghai (B, L, D) This morning visit the lively People's Square, a popular area for Shanghai residents to do morning stretching exercises and a good spot to take in a panoramic vista of the city. Continue to the Urban Planning Museum to learn more about the city's future and past and to see a scale model of how Shanghai will look in 2020. Then stop in at the Shikumen Museum, where a traditional courtyard home is decorated as it would have been in the 1920s. Lunch will be served to you at Din Tai Fung Restaurant which is highly praised for its tasty steam dumplings and many other authentic dim sum items. This afternoon move on to the Former French Concession to experience a mixture of both Chinese and Parisian taste. After that visit the trendy
boutiques and restaurants in the Xintiandi district. Tonight, you will have dinner at Lan Club Shanghai, a high-end venue that brings premium levels of culture and cuisine. Accommodation: Westin Bund Center Hotel(Crown Deluxe Room) Day 12 Shanghai Tongli Suzhou Shanghai (B, L, D) Today you will be driven to Tongli. Explore this small water town with
delightful scenery in peace and tranquility. It's well-known for its "low bridges, running water and small villages", for its customs and traditions, as well as its rich collection of antiques and historic sites. Continue your bus ride to Suzhou. You will have lunch at Deyuelou, a time-honored restaurant in Suzhou and well-known for its history and the delicious local-taste dishes. Visit Suzhou Museum which is designed by the world famous architect I.M.Pei. Besides thousands of cultural relics housed, the museum itself is absolutely a piece of exquisite piece of art work. You will also visit Net of Master Garden. Small but elegant, it was listed as a UNESCO world cultural heritage site in 1997. Return to Shanghai after your tour in Suzhou. Tonight you will dine at Jean Georges, a very nice French restaurant on the Bund that offers wonderful views across the river of the Pudong skyline. After dinner go to the historic Peace Hotel to hear its famous jazz band. Accommodation: Westin Bund Center Hotel(Crown Deluxe Room) Day 13 - Shanghai (B) Free till departure transfer to the airport. End of the fabulous tour in China.