Emperors, Grottoes And Ancient Capitals – 8 Days

Start at Tiananmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world, framed by monumental buildings and the great gate that gives it its name. Then walk through the gate into the Forbidden City, the palace of the Ming and Qing emperors for nearly five centuries and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Inside, your guide leads you through a sequence of vast courtyards and ceremonial halls to the private quarters, gardens and smaller pavilions where the imperial family lived. Stop for lunch at a local restaurant nearby.

Cross to Jingshan Park, the artificial hill that rises just north of the palace. A short climb to the pavilion at the top gives you the best view in Beijing: a sea of golden-tiled roofs stretching south through the Forbidden City, with the modern city spread out beyond it.

Visit the Temple of Heaven, where Ming and Qing emperors came to pray for good harvests. Its round Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, with a triple roof of deep blue tiles, is one of the most recognisable buildings in China, and the temple is listed by UNESCO. In the surrounding park, local residents gather in the morning for tai chi, singing, dancing and card games.

Drive out to Mutianyu, a well-restored stretch of the Great Wall set among wooded hills north of Beijing. Ride the cable car up to the ramparts and walk at your own pace between the watchtowers, with the wall rising and falling along the ridgeline in both directions. It is generally quieter than the sections closer to the city.

Return to your hotel in Beijing with the evening at leisure.

Your driver takes you to the station for the high-speed train to Datong, about two hours to the west in Shanxi province. Your local guide meets you on arrival.

After lunch, visit Huayan Temple, a Buddhist monastery founded during the Liao dynasty. Its main hall is one of the largest surviving Buddhist halls of its era in China, and inside the lower temple you will find finely carved clay statues of bodhisattvas that have stood here for around a thousand years. Then walk to the Nine Dragon Screen Wall, a long glazed tile wall from the Ming dynasty, where nine coiling dragons in vivid yellow, green and blue were made to guard a prince’s palace.

Check in to your hotel in Datong and enjoy the evening at leisure.

Spend the morning at the Yungang Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site carved into the cliffs west of Datong in the fifth century during the Northern Wei dynasty. Walk past caves filled with Buddhas large and small, some towering over you, others no bigger than your hand, along with musicians, flying celestial figures and carved pagodas.

After lunch, drive south to the Hanging Temple, built into the side of a cliff above a gorge and held up on slender wooden beams. It is unusual in bringing together Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian worship in one place. Climb carefully along its narrow walkways and look down into the valley below.

Return to Datong for the evening.

Board the high-speed train from Datong to Xi’an, a journey of about five to six hours that crosses the loess country of northern China. Settle in with a book and watch the landscape change from your window.

Your Xi’an guide meets you at the station and takes you to lunch, then on to your hotel.

Change into hanfu, the traditional dress of the Han Chinese, with hair and make-up in a classical style, and step out to the Great Tang All Day Mall. This long pedestrian boulevard recreates the look of the Tang dynasty, when Xi’an, then called Chang’an, was one of the greatest cities in the world. After dark it glows with lanterns, street performers and illuminated pavilions.

Drive out to see the Terracotta Army, buried more than two thousand years ago to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor to unify China. Discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974, it is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Stand at the edge of Pit One and take in rank upon rank of soldiers, each with an individual face, hairstyle and expression.

Back in the city, climb onto the Ancient City Wall, built in the Ming dynasty and one of the best-preserved city walls in China. Walk a section or rent a bicycle and ride along the top, looking down on the old town on one side and the modern city on the other.

Finish at the Drum Tower, which once sounded the hours of the day for the city, and enjoy the evening at leisure.

Visit a local family at home and learn to make dumplings or hand-pulled noodles, staples of the northern Chinese table. Your hosts show you how to mix, roll and fold, and you sit down together to enjoy the results.

Your driver takes you to the airport for your onward flight.