Great Wall Trails And Sandstone Peaks – 11 Days

Begin at Tiananmen Square, the enormous public space at the centre of modern Beijing, and pass beneath the Gate of Heavenly Peace into the Forbidden City. This was the seat of the Ming and Qing emperors for nearly five hundred years, a walled complex of halls, courtyards and gates laid out on a strict north to south axis. Now the Palace Museum and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is the largest surviving group of ancient wooden buildings in China, and your guide helps you read the symbols hidden in its roofs and colours.

Leave by the northern gate and stop for lunch at a local restaurant.

Climb the man-made hill of Jingshan Park, just across the road from the palace. From the pavilion at the top, the Forbidden City spreads out below you as a sea of yellow tiled roofs, with the modern city stretching to the horizon on every side.

Leave Beijing early with your driver for Jinshanling, a section of the Great Wall in the mountains north-east of the city. Much of the wall here dates from the Ming dynasty and runs along steep ridges, with watchtowers spaced closely along the crest.

Spend around three to four hours hiking with your guide, climbing and descending between towers. Parts are restored and parts left closer to their original state, so you see the Wall both as it was built and as time has worn it. Lunch is at a local restaurant near the wall.

Drive back to Beijing in the afternoon, with the evening at leisure to rest tired legs.

Visit the Temple of Heaven, the complex where the Ming and Qing emperors offered prayers for good harvests. Its Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, round with three tiers of deep blue roof, is one of the great masterpieces of Chinese architecture, and the park around it is full of local people doing tai chi, dancing and playing music.

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. Your guide meets you on arrival and takes you to your hotel in Xi’an, with the evening at leisure.

Drive out to the Terracotta Army, part of the UNESCO-listed burial complex of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor to unify China. Thousands of life-size clay soldiers, archers and horses stand in battle formation in the excavated pits, each figure with its own features. Your guide explains how farmers digging a well uncovered them in the 1970s.

Lunch is at a local restaurant before you return to the city.

Explore the Muslim Quarter, where the Hui community has lived for centuries at the eastern end of the old Silk Road. Visit one of the neighbourhood’s mosques, built in the style of a Chinese temple with courtyards and wooden pavilions, then follow your nose through lanes of bakeries, butchers and food stalls.

Climb onto the Xi’an City Wall, the most complete ancient city wall in China, rebuilt during the Ming dynasty. Walk along its broad top or hire a bicycle to cover more ground, looking down on gate towers and the old city inside.

Drive out to the Hanyang Tomb, the burial site of the Han emperor Jing and his empress. An underground museum lets you walk over glass floors above the excavated pits, filled with small clay figures, animals and everyday objects made for the afterlife. Lunch follows at a local restaurant.

Fly to Zhangjiajie, roughly two hours in the air. You are met on arrival and driven to your hotel in Zhangjiajie, close to the mountains you explore tomorrow.

Enter Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, part of the Wulingyuan Scenic Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its thousands of quartz-sandstone pillars. Ride the Bailong Elevator, a glass lift built onto the side of a cliff, up to the top of the plateau.

Walk the trails of the Yuanjiajie area, where the pillars inspired the floating mountains of the film Avatar, and stop for lunch at a local restaurant inside the park.

Continue to Tianzi Mountain, where the views open out over a vast field of stone peaks rising from the valleys. Getting around the park uses the scenic train, cable car and park shuttle buses, which your guide arranges along the way. Return to your hotel for the evening.

Walk the path along Golden Whip Stream, a flat and peaceful trail that follows a clear stream through the valley floor. Sandstone pillars rise above you on both sides, and the forest is cool and quiet in the morning. Look out for macaques in the trees and for rock formations with fanciful local names, which your guide points out along the way.

Lunch is at a local restaurant.

Drive to Baofeng Lake, a lake set high among steep, forested cliffs. A short climb brings you to the water’s edge, where you board a boat for a cruise across the lake, shared with other guests, as peaks reflect in the still green water. Folk singers sometimes call out from small boats moored along the shore, a local tradition of the Tujia people of the region. Return to your hotel for a quiet evening.

Ride the long Tianmen Mountain cable car from the edge of town up to the summit, one of the longest passenger cable cars in the world. At the top, walk the cliffside paths and glass walkways that cling to the rock face high above the valley.

Make your way to Tianmen Cave, a huge natural arch through the mountain, reached by a staircase of 999 steps. Standing in the arch looking out over the winding road below is one of the most memorable views of the trip.

Your driver takes you to the airport for the flight to Shanghai, roughly two hours. You are met on arrival and taken to your hotel in Shanghai.

Start on the Bund, the promenade of grand banks and trading houses built along the Huangpu River during Shanghai’s years as a treaty port. Across the water the skyline of Pudong rises in steel and glass. Then visit Yu Garden, a classical Ming dynasty garden of rockeries, ponds and pavilions.

Lunch is at a local restaurant.

Wander the Former French Concession, where tree-lined avenues pass old villas and lane houses now filled with cafes and small shops. Finish at Shanghai Tower in Pudong, the tallest building in China, and look out over the whole city from its observation deck.

Enjoy the morning at leisure, depending on your flight time.

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