Emperors, Karst Peaks And Tea Hills – 14 Days

Start on Tiananmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world, framed by the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum and the gate that gives the square its name. Then cross into the Forbidden City, the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Your guide leads you through its great ceremonial halls, the inner courts where the emperors lived and the quiet imperial garden at the northern end.

After lunch at a local restaurant, climb into a pedal rickshaw for a ride through the hutongs, the narrow alleys of grey brick courtyard homes that once covered old Beijing. You hear the bicycle bells, see neighbours playing cards on the step and get a feel for how life is lived around a shared courtyard.

Back at your hotel in Beijing, the evening is at leisure.

Your driver takes you north out of Beijing into wooded hills, a drive of about two hours, to Mutianyu. This section of the Great Wall was rebuilt in the Ming dynasty and is known for its closely spaced watchtowers and views across forested ridges.

A cable car lifts you up to the wall itself, saving the steep climb. From there you walk at your own pace between the towers, stopping wherever the view opens up. The Great Wall as a whole is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and here you see why it became the symbol of China.

After lunch at a local restaurant near the wall, you head back to Beijing. The rest of the afternoon and evening are at leisure, a good moment for a foot massage or a stroll near your hotel.

Head to the Temple of Heaven, where the Ming and Qing emperors came to pray for good harvests. Its round Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, with a triple roof of blue tiles, is one of the finest pieces of classical Chinese architecture and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The park around the temple fills early with locals doing tai chi, dancing, singing and playing cards. If you like, join a tai chi group for a few minutes and follow the slow, flowing movements.

Your guide takes you to the station for the high-speed train to Xi’an, a journey of about four and a half to six hours through the plains of northern China. A new guide and driver meet you on arrival and take you to your hotel in Xi’an.

Drive east of Xi’an to the Terracotta Army, buried more than 2,000 years ago to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the emperor who first unified China. Farmers digging a well found the first figures in 1974, and today thousands of soldiers, horses and chariots stand in rows in their original pits. Your guide explains how each face and hairstyle was made individually.

After lunch, see the two bronze chariots and horses found near the emperor’s tomb, made in remarkable detail at about half life size. Then return to the city for a rest at your hotel in Xi’an.

Dinner is a Tang-style banquet followed by a show of music and dance inspired by the court of the Tang dynasty, when Xi’an, then called Chang’an, was one of the greatest cities in the world. The performance is shared with other guests.

Visit a local family at home. Together you walk through a neighbourhood market for ingredients, then learn to fold dumplings and stretch hand-pulled noodles, a staple of northwest China. Lunch is what you cook, shared around the family table.

In the old Muslim Quarter, visit the Gao family courtyard, a restored traditional mansion, for a short shadow puppet performance, an art form that UNESCO lists as intangible cultural heritage. Afterwards, try your hand at Chinese calligraphy with a teacher who shows you how to hold the brush and form simple characters.

Stay on in the Muslim Quarter as the lanes light up. This is the home of Xi’an’s Hui Muslim community, and the street food is famous: lamb skewers, flatbread soaked in mutton soup, persimmon cakes and sesame sweets. Dinner here is at leisure.

Fly from Xi’an to Guilin, about two hours, where your new guide and driver are waiting. The landscape changes completely: green, rounded karst peaks rise straight out of the city. Lunch is at a local restaurant, a good chance to try Guilin rice noodles, the city’s favourite dish.

After lunch, walk to Elephant Trunk Hill on the bank of the Li River, a rock formation shaped like an elephant drinking from the water and the best-known symbol of Guilin. Then follow the paths around Banyan Lake and Cedar Lake, two linked city lakes lined with old banyan trees and bridges.

Check in to your hotel in Guilin. The evening is at leisure, and the lakeside paths are pleasant for a walk after dark when the pagodas are lit.

A drive of about 40 minutes brings you to Zhujiang Pier to board your Li River cruise, shared with other guests. For about four hours you glide downstream between steep limestone peaks, bamboo groves and small villages, past fishermen on bamboo rafts and water buffalo cooling off in the shallows.

Lunch is served on board as the scenery slides by. Your guide points out the named hills along the way and the stretch of river printed on Chinese banknotes.

Arrive in Yangshuo, a small town surrounded by karst hills, and check in to your hotel in Yangshuo. Later, wander West Street, the old main street, now busy with cafes, craft shops and bars. As the light softens, the peaks around town turn blue and grey, and the riverside is a peaceful place for an evening walk.

The morning is at leisure in the Yangshuo countryside. Many travellers rent a bicycle and follow the quiet lanes between rice paddies, orchards and villages, with limestone peaks on every side. Your guide can suggest a route to suit your pace. Stop wherever you like for photos of farmers at work or a cool drink in a village shop.

Your driver takes you to Guilin airport for the flight to Hangzhou, about two hours. On arrival, a new guide and driver take you to your hotel in Hangzhou. The flight lifts you over the green hills of the south towards the rich farmland of the Yangtze delta.

The evening is at leisure in Hangzhou. Hangzhou has long been compared to paradise in a Chinese saying, and the lakeside is a pleasant place for a first stroll after dinner.

Begin at West Lake, celebrated by Chinese poets and painters for over a thousand years and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Walk part of its causeways, lined with willows, and look out over islands, pavilions and the hills that ring the water.

Drive into the wooded hills west of the lake to Lingyin Temple, the Temple of the Soul’s Retreat, one of the oldest and most important Buddhist temples in China, founded in the fourth century. Before reaching the halls, you pass the Feilai Feng cliffs, carved with hundreds of Buddhist figures.

After lunch, visit a traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy, with its carved wooden counters and drawers of dried herbs, where you learn how remedies are prepared. Finish on Hefang Street, a restored old street of tea houses, snack stalls and craft shops.

Your driver takes you to Wuzhen, about 80 kilometres north of Hangzhou, one of the best-preserved water towns of the Yangtze delta. Houses with dark tiled roofs sit right on the canals, and stone bridges link the two banks. The town grew rich on the silk and rice trade, and much of its old fabric survives.

After lunch, explore Xizha, the western scenic area of the town, with its workshops, old dye houses, small museums and quiet lanes. Then take a boat ride along the canals, the way goods and people moved here for centuries.

Stay in Wuzhen for the night. After the day visitors leave, the town grows calm and the lantern-lit waterways are at their most atmospheric, so the evening is at leisure for a slow walk.

Return to the hills around Hangzhou and the village of Meijiawu, where terraces of Longjing, or Dragon Well, green tea cover the slopes. Join a tea farmer to pick leaves by hand, then watch how they are pan-fried and taste a fresh cup. Spring is the main picking season, when the youngest leaves are the most prized.

Lunch is in the village, often with dishes cooked using local tea. Your guide explains the different grades of Longjing and how to brew green tea at a lower temperature than black tea, so you can enjoy it properly at home.

Your guide sees you onto the high-speed train to Shanghai, about one hour. A new guide and driver meet you and take you to your hotel in Shanghai. The evening is at leisure.

Start on the Bund, the riverside promenade lined with banks and trading houses from the early twentieth century, facing the towers of Pudong across the Huangpu River. Then visit Yu Garden, a classical garden from the Ming dynasty with rockeries, ponds, pavilions and a winding dragon wall, and stop at a silk workshop to see how silk is drawn from cocoons.

Lunch is dim sum at a traditional teahouse, with baskets of steamed buns and dumplings.

Spend the afternoon in the former French Concession, where plane trees shade the streets. Walk through Fuxing Park, laid out in the French style, then explore Bugaoli, a lane of shikumen or stone-gate houses, the townhouses that mixed Chinese and Western design, and finish on Sipailou Road in the old town.

Enjoy a last breakfast and the morning at leisure, depending on your flight.

Your guide and driver take you to the airport in good time for your flight home.