13 Days Beauty of China Plus Yangtze River Cruise Tour

On your arrival at Beijing Airport. Our guide will hold a sign with your name waiting for you at Exit. Pick up and transfer to the hotel. Free at leisure for the rest of the day.

This morning, our guide will pick you up from your hotel. You will visit the Tiananmen Square firstly. Tiananmen Square is the world's largest city center square and was the locality of numerous major political and historical events. It is the witness of Chinese development. Then go through an underground tunnel to the imperial palace, also known as the "Forbidden City", which functioned as the house of emperors and their families, and also the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government for up to 500 years.

In the afternoon, move on to the Temple of Heaven, which covers an area of 273 hectares which is four times larger than the Forbidden City. It was used to hold a memorial ceremony for the God in Winter Solstice Festival and to pray for harvest in the first month of the lunar year by the emperors in Ming and Qing dynasties. It is China's existing largest structure for sacrifice to heaven.

After breakfast, start to drive to visit the Mutianyu Great Wall, which is known for its beautiful surroundings - dense woods and rich pastures changing colors with the seasons of a year. Mutianyu Great Wall is located in Huai Rou County on the north-east of Beijing. This section of the Great Wall is about 75 KM from the center of Beijing. As one of the best-preserved parts of the Great Wall, Mutianyu section of Great Wall used to serve as the northern barrier defending the capital and the imperial tombs.

In the afternoon, head back to Beijing city. Visit the Summer Palace, the Summer Palace is known as the Gardens of Nurtured Harmony, it has been included in World Heritage List in December 1998. It stated that the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of China landscape garden layout. Natural landscape of hills and open water is along with man-made features like pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to create a harmonious ensemble of remarkable aesthetic value."

On the way back to your hotel. You will have a short visit to see the exterior Bird Nest and Water Cube - the amazing architectures that built for Beijing Olympic Games.

After breakfast, you'll forget about the skyscrapers and construction cranes of modern Beijing as you venture into Beijing Old Hutong, where the atmosphere of Old Peking lives on for generations. You'll ride rickshaws down narrow lanes and alleyways, past vegetable markets, traditional medicine shops and tiny, wooden teahouses.

After lunch, transfer to the Beijing West Railway Station for the 5.5 hours high speed train to Xian. On your arrival, our local guide will pick you up and transfer to the hotel.

After breakfast, pick up from the hotel. Then drive to visit famous and must-see spot, the Terra-Cotta Warriors, which is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BC and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife.

Back to Xian city, visit the Big Goose Pagoda. A major Buddhist site, the simple, elegant brick Pagoda stands in the grounds of the attractive Da Ci'en Temple. The Pagoda was built in the 7th century to house the Buddhist materials that Xuanzang (Tripitaka) brought back from his epic journey to India.

Continue to visit Xian Ancient City Wall, which is one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world and the most complete ancient city wall in China. And today, the city wall is regarded as a landmark dividing the Xian city into the inner part and the outer part. You are free to take the bicycle around the city wall at your own expenses(optional).

Take morning flight to Guilin. Your Guilin tour guide will wait for you at the airport and help you to transfer to the hotel.

After lunch, visit Reed Flute Cave - a national 4A scenic spots and a must-see tourist attraction in Guilin, which is a magnificent karsts' cave with a myriad of stalactites and stalagmites of all strange shapes. Your imagination is very important. Some look like lions, and some look like frogs and some look like a crystal palace. The cave is esteemed "the art palace of the nature".

Then move on to Elephant Trunk Hill, which looks exactly like a huge elephant stretching its trunk drinking water by the Li River. It is a proud of Guilin people. They use the picture of elephant trunk hill as the symbol of Guilin city. As the hill is situated in downtown area and at that place are stairs to the top for a panoramic view of Guilin.

Pick up from your hotel in the early morning. Drive about one hour to get to the Zhujiang Pier for a 4-hour's cruising on Li River - the highlight of sightseeing tour in Guilin with lunch aboard. You will enjoy the beautiful mountains, verdant fields, farms and villages with water buffalos, cows wondering around on both sides of the river bank.

Get off at the old town Yangshuo - famous for its spectacular views of hills and rivers with famous bar streets. You can have a walk along the famous West Street and enjoy the free leisure time there. And then, drive back to your hotel in Guilin downtown and free of the leisure in the rest of the day.

After your breakfast, transfer to the airport. Take flight to Chongqing, also called "Mountain City". Your Chongqing tour guide will wait for you at the airport.

Before getting up to cruise ship, you may firstly have a visit to Eling Park, where displays the layout of Suzhou gardens. And then, continue to have a viewing of the Chongqing People Grand Hall, which looks like the enlarged version of the sacramental Temple of Heaven in Beijing. After that, have a leisure walk on the Ancient Town of Ciqikou to get touch with the local lifestyle.

When it is the time to have Yangtze River Cruise embark, you will be transferred to the wharf and get on board.

Your memorable Yangtze River tour begins today. You will take a short break from the fabulous natural scenery to visit spectacular along the river, Fengdu Ghost City, which is famous for its ghost culture. First take a cable car up to the hill and visit the temples all over the mountain with many statues. Then, return to the ship and move towards the fantastic Three Gorges.

This morning you will sail through miles of stunning gorges. In the afternoon you will arrive at Badong where you will disembark for a magical excursion down the Shennong Stream. Local trackers will pull us in wooden sampans through awesome gorges and lush pine forests. Along the way you will see the remnants of ancient roads and pass cliff-top grottos that held the coffins of warriors. If you are lucky, you will glimpse rare animals, such as the golden-haired monkey.

Pass through the Xiling Gorge which is the longest and historically the most dangerous of the Three Gorges. Then move on to the massive the Three Gorges Dam and disembark for a tour of this engineering marvel at Sandouping Village.

After lunch, you will arrive at Yichang. Transfer from cruise to airport in Yichang for your flight for Shanghai. Arrival at Shanghai, pick up and transfer to the hotel. You are at leisure for the remainder of the day.

First visit Shanghai Museum, the selection of over 112,000 Chinese cultural relics from the Old Stone Age to modern times. You will be amazed to see the pottery that is over 10,000 years old. You have to go quickly though all the 4 floors. Then proceed to visit the pedestrians only Nanjing Pedestrian Road, a walking bustling street that is always packed with people watching other people. Then move on to the Bund, one of the most noted waterfront and architectural symbols of Shanghai. Then visit a Silk Factory, where you can bargain for silk products and China's traditional silk arts.

After lunch, take one hour cruising on Huang Pu River. You start with the Hangpu River Cruise that will take you along the skyscrapers on the new area known as Pudong. Then you ruise to the west side of the river that has many skyscrapers and the famous Bund that has a row of the early 20th century buildings near the river. Back to your hotel.

Free at leisure until be transferred to the airport to see you off.