Emperors, Warriors And The Harbour Lights – 10 Days

Start at Tiananmen Square, the immense public square at the symbolic heart of modern China, then walk through the Gate of Heavenly Peace into the Forbidden City. For nearly five centuries this was the home of the Ming and Qing emperors, a walled world of red halls, golden roofs and marble terraces that ordinary people could not enter. Today it is the Palace Museum and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and your guide brings its court rituals and palace intrigues to life.

Before leaving the palace grounds, pause at the Nine-Dragon Wall, a glazed tile screen where coiled dragons in yellow, blue and white guard an imperial gateway. Lunch follows at a local restaurant.

Climb into a rickshaw for a ride through the hutongs, the narrow alleys of traditional Beijing. You step inside a siheyuan, a courtyard home built around a central yard, and sit down with the family for tea while they share what everyday life looks like behind the grey walls.

Begin at the Temple of Heaven, where Ming and Qing emperors came to pray for good harvests. The round, triple-roofed Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is one of the finest pieces of classical Chinese architecture, and the surrounding park fills early with locals practising tai chi, playing cards and singing together.

Your private car takes you into the hills north of the city to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. A cable car lifts you up to the ramparts, where restored watchtowers march along forested ridges in both directions. Walk at your own pace between the towers; this stretch is quieter and greener than the busier sections closer to Beijing.

Return to the city with the evening at leisure. Beijing roast duck is the classic choice for dinner if you would like to try it.

After breakfast your driver takes you to the station for the high-speed train to Xi’an, a journey of roughly four and a half to six hours through farmland and small towns. Settle in with a book and watch northern China roll past the window.

Your guide meets you on arrival in Xi’an. Later, head up onto the Ancient City Wall, the most complete surviving city wall in China, rebuilt under the Ming dynasty on Tang foundations. Its broad walkway runs right around the old centre, and from the top you look down on gate towers, rooftops and the city spreading beyond.

Check in to your hotel in Xi’an, with the evening at leisure.

Drive out of the city to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, part of the UNESCO-listed mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, the emperor who first unified China more than two thousand years ago. In the great pits, rank after rank of life-size clay soldiers stand in formation, each with its own face, hairstyle and armour.

After lunch, see the Bronze Chariots, two intricate half-size chariots with horses and drivers cast in bronze, found close to the emperor’s tomb and among the most remarkable objects of the Qin period.

Back in town, wander the Muslim Quarter, home for centuries to the Hui community. Its lanes are lined with stalls selling persimmon cakes, lamb skewers and flatbread soaked in mutton soup, and the evening light makes it one of the liveliest corners of Xi’an.

Join a local family for a morning at home. Walk together to a neighbourhood wet market to choose fresh ingredients, then roll and fold dumplings in their kitchen, a hands-on way to learn about northern Chinese food and family life. Your hosts show you how to fold the edges into neat pleats, and the conversation in the kitchen often turns to food, festivals and how the city has changed.

Sit down to lunch around the family table and enjoy the dumplings you helped to make. It is a simple, generous meal and often the moment travellers remember most.

Your driver takes you to the airport for the flight to Shanghai, a little over two hours in the air. You are met on arrival and taken to your hotel in Shanghai, with the evening at leisure to take in the city lights.

Start on the Bund, the riverside promenade lined with banks and trading houses from Shanghai’s years as a treaty port, facing the towers of Pudong across the Huangpu River. Then step into Yu Garden, a classical Ming dynasty garden of rockeries, ponds and pavilions, and the busy Yuyuan Bazaar around it.

Visit a silk workshop to see how silkworm cocoons become thread and quilts, then stop for lunch at a local restaurant.

Stroll through the Former French Concession, where plane trees shade old villas, lane houses and small cafes. Finish at the Shanghai Museum, one of the finest collections of Chinese art in the country, with galleries of ancient bronzes, ceramics, calligraphy and jade.

Spend the morning however you like: revisit the Bund, browse the boutiques of Xintiandi or sit with a coffee in a lane house cafe. Your guide can suggest a route through the Former French Concession if you would like to see more of its quiet, tree-lined streets.

Your driver takes you to the airport for the flight to Hong Kong, roughly two and a half hours. Your guide meets you on arrival and takes you to your hotel in Hong Kong.

At leisure. Walk down to the harbour to see the skyline glow across Victoria Harbour. The Avenue of Stars on the Kowloon side and the promenade in Central both give fine views, and the night markets of Kowloon are close by if you feel like exploring.

Ride the Peak Tram up the steep slope to Victoria Peak for a sweeping view over the skyscrapers, the harbour and Kowloon beyond. Then drive round to Repulse Bay, a curving beach on the south side of the island backed by green hills.

Back in the city, visit Man Mo Temple, a nineteenth-century temple dedicated to the gods of literature and war, where giant incense coils hang from the ceiling. Ride the Mid-Levels Escalator, a long chain of covered outdoor escalators, through the hillside streets.

Explore Central Market, a restored modernist market building, and Tai Kwun, the former Central Police Station compound now reborn as a centre for heritage and the arts. Hop on a Ding Ding Tram, the old double-decker trams of Hong Kong Island, and finish with a crossing on the Star Ferry as the harbour lights come on.

Enjoy the time before your flight for shopping, a dim sum breakfast or one more walk along the waterfront.

Your driver takes you to Hong Kong airport for your onward flight.