Great Wall, Pandas And The Three Gorges – 14 Days

Start at Tiananmen Square, the vast public space at the centre of the capital, overlooked by the Gate of Heavenly Peace with its famous portrait. Your guide explains how the square and the buildings around it reflect China’s modern history.

Enter the Forbidden City, home to twenty-four emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Follow the central axis through the great halls of state, where coronations and imperial audiences took place, then turn off into the side courtyards, quieter spaces of gardens, living quarters and treasure halls.

After lunch at a local restaurant, the rest of the afternoon is at leisure. You might return to a corner of the palace that caught your eye, or rest before the evening.

Drive into the hills north of the city to Mutianyu, one of the best-preserved sections of the Great Wall, rebuilt under the Ming dynasty. Ride the cable car up to the ridge and walk between the watchtowers, with the wall rising and falling over forested slopes as far as you can see.

Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant near the wall before driving back to the city.

Dinner tonight is Peking roast duck, carved at the table and eaten wrapped in thin pancakes with spring onion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce. It is a dish that has been served in Beijing since imperial times and remains a highlight of any visit.

Visit the Temple of Heaven, a UNESCO World Heritage site where Ming and Qing emperors performed rites to pray for good harvests. Its circular Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, roofed in blue tiles, is one of the most graceful buildings in China, and the park around it is full of locals exercising, singing and playing music.

Transfer to the station for the high-speed train to Xi’an, about four and a half hours across the plains of northern China. Your Xi’an guide meets you on arrival and takes you to your hotel.

The evening is at leisure in Xi’an, once called Chang’an and capital of China for many dynasties.

Drive out to the Terracotta Warriors, buried more than two thousand years ago to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China. Walk around the great pits where thousands of life-size soldiers stand in formation, each with its own face and hairstyle. Your guide explains how they were found by farmers in the 1970s.

Return to the city for lunch at a local restaurant.

Explore Muslim Street, the heart of the Hui community, with its stalls of lamb skewers, sesame flatbreads and dried fruit. Step through the gate into the Great Mosque, a calm complex of courtyards where Chinese pavilions and Islamic calligraphy sit together in an unusual and beautiful blend.

Spend the morning with a local family. Visit a neighbourhood market together to pick out fresh ingredients, then return to their home to learn how to make dumplings or hand-made noodles, the staples of Shaanxi cooking. It is a relaxed and personal way to see everyday life in the city.

Sit down to share the meal you have prepared with your hosts. Your hosts will be happy to answer questions about family life, work and how the city has changed in their lifetime.

Take the high-speed train to Chengdu, crossing the Qinling Mountains, a journey of about three to four hours. Your Chengdu guide meets you and takes you to your hotel. The evening is at leisure in this famously easy-going city.

Head out early to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, when the pandas are most active and feeding on fresh bamboo. Walk through the leafy enclosures to see adults, youngsters and, in season, the nursery, and learn about the work being done to protect this rare animal.

Lunch is Sichuan hot pot, a bubbling pot of chilli and numbing Sichuan pepper broth in which you cook meat, vegetables and tofu at the table.

Unwind at River Viewing Tower Park, known for its many varieties of bamboo and its link to the Tang dynasty poet Xue Tao, and enjoy a tea tasting in the garden. End the day on Jinli Street, a restored old street of snack stalls, crafts and red lanterns.

The morning is at leisure in Chengdu. Join locals in a teahouse, or revisit a favourite neighbourhood. Chengdu’s teahouses are famous for their bamboo chairs, slow conversation and the ear cleaners who wander between tables.

Take the high-speed train to Chongqing, around one to one and a half hours. Your guide meets you and takes you to the pier, where you board your river cruise ship. The cruise is shared with other guests.

Settle into your cabin and enjoy dinner on board as the lights of Chongqing, a city built on steep hills where two great rivers meet, slide past the windows.

Wake to the slow movement of the river and the green hills along its banks. After breakfast on board, join a shore excursion to the 816 Underground Project, a vast man-made cavern system dug into a mountain in the 1960s as a secret nuclear facility. In some schedules, the White Crane Ridge Underwater Museum is visited instead, where ancient carvings on a rock ridge recorded water levels for centuries.

Back on board, enjoy lunch and the programme of activities shared with other guests, which may include talks, tai chi or a cooking demonstration. Spend time on deck watching the river traffic and the towns along the banks.

Dinner is served on board as the ship continues downstream.

Sail through Qutang Gorge, the shortest and most dramatic of the Three Gorges, where cliffs close in on both sides. Then continue into Wu Gorge, known for its graceful peaks often wrapped in mist.

Transfer to a smaller boat to explore Shennong Stream, a narrow side river of clear water and sheer cliffs. At Tracker’s Village, learn about the men who once hauled boats upstream with ropes, and enjoy a picnic lunch. Here the water runs so clear that you can see the pebbles on the riverbed, and the cliffs rise close enough to touch.

Rejoin the ship to sail through Xiling Gorge, historically the longest of the three. Dinner is served on board as the ship approaches the dam, and the evening is yours to enjoy the river views.

Visit the Three Gorges Dam, one of the largest hydroelectric projects in the world. From the viewing platform you can take in the scale of the structure and the ship locks that lift vessels past it.

Leave the ship at Yichang and take a short drive around the city before transferring to the airport. Yichang sits where the river leaves the gorges and opens onto the plains, and your guide will point out how the dam has shaped the city.

Take a flight to Shanghai. Your guide meets you on arrival and takes you to your hotel. The evening is at leisure. After the slow rhythm of the river, Shanghai’s skyline is a striking contrast.

Begin on the Bund, the elegant riverfront lined with banks and hotels from the early twentieth century, facing the skyscrapers of Pudong across the Huangpu River. Then walk to Yu Garden, a classical garden first laid out in the Ming dynasty, with rockeries, ponds and carved halls.

Lunch is at a local restaurant.

Spend the afternoon on foot in the former French Concession. Start in Fuxing Park, where locals dance and play cards under the plane trees, then explore Bugaoli, a lane of shikumen stone-gate houses, and stroll along Sipailou Road through an older part of the city. Your guide shares stories of the people who lived and worked here.

Drive out to Zhujiajiao, a historic water town on the edge of Shanghai, laced with canals and crossed by stone bridges. Board a wooden boat for a gentle ride along the waterways, past whitewashed houses with dark tiled roofs. Zhujiajiao grew rich on the river trade of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and many of its merchant houses still stand along the water.

Lunch is at a local restaurant in the town. Try the local zongzi, sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, or braised pork knuckle, both specialities of the town.

Wander the old street, browsing shops of local snacks, crafts and tea, before returning to Shanghai. The evening is at leisure, perhaps for a last look at the lights of the Bund.

Enjoy a final breakfast and some time at leisure.

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