Imperial Cities To Mountain Valleys – 15 Days

Enter the Forbidden City, the vast walled palace from which the Ming and Qing emperors ruled China for almost five hundred years. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it unfolds as a sequence of courtyards, marble terraces and halls roofed in imperial yellow tiles. Your guide brings the rooms to life with stories of ceremony, intrigue and the daily rhythm of court life.

Climb the small hill in Jingshan Park, just north of the palace, for the classic view back over the golden roofs of the Forbidden City stretching away to the south. Then sit down to lunch at a local restaurant.

Wander the hutongs of Xicheng District, the narrow lanes of grey-brick courtyard homes that once made up most of old Beijing. You see neighbours chatting in doorways, small shops and quiet corners that feel a world away from the main roads.

Take your seats for a Peking Opera performance, shared with other guests, and watch this centuries-old art form of painted faces, acrobatic movement and soaring song.

Arrive at the Temple of Heaven while the park is full of locals practising tai chi, dancing, singing and playing cards under the old cypress trees. This UNESCO-listed complex is where Ming and Qing emperors prayed for good harvests, and its round, triple-roofed Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is one of the most recognisable buildings in China.

Your driver takes you north out of the city into wooded hills for lunch at a local restaurant near the Wall.

Walk the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, a beautifully restored stretch that follows a mountain ridge between closely spaced watchtowers. It is greener and usually calmer than the sections closest to the city, and the views roll out across forested slopes in every direction. Walk as far as you like before your driver returns you to Beijing.

Visit the Summer Palace, the imperial retreat on the north-western edge of Beijing and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kunming Lake fills most of the grounds, framed by Longevity Hill, pavilions and bridges, and the Long Corridor runs along the shore beneath thousands of painted panels. It is easy to see why the Qing court escaped here from the summer heat.

Transfer to the station and board a high-speed train to Xi’an, a journey of roughly five and a half hours through the plains of northern China.

Your guide in Xi’an meets you on arrival and takes you to your hotel in Xi’an. The evening is at leisure.

Drive out to the Terracotta Army, the thousands of life-size clay soldiers buried to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor to unify China. Discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974 and now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the warriors stand in battle formation in vast pits, each face modelled with its own features.

Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant before heading back towards the city.

Hire a bicycle and ride along the top of Xi’an’s Ancient City Wall, one of the best preserved city walls in China. The broad rampart circles the old centre, and from the saddle you look down on rooftops, temples and the busy streets on either side.

Spend the morning with a local family in Xi’an, learning to fold dumplings and pull noodles in the way northern Chinese households have done for generations. If you like, your guide can first take you to a neighbourhood market to see the produce and spices that go into the meal.

Sit down together to eat what you have made, a relaxed and personal way to understand everyday life in the city.

Board a high-speed train to Chengdu, a journey of about four hours that crosses the Qinling Mountains into the Sichuan Basin. Your guide in Chengdu meets you on arrival and takes you to your hotel in Chengdu.

Head to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where pandas are most active at the start of the day. The base works on breeding and conservation, and its bamboo-shaded enclosures let you watch adults feeding and young pandas tumbling about.

Lunch is at a local restaurant, a good chance to try the bold, numbing flavours of Sichuan cooking.

Slow down in People’s Park, where locals sip jasmine tea in bamboo chairs, play mahjong and have their ears cleaned by roving specialists. Join them for a cup and watch the city at play. Later, stroll Kuanzhai Alley, a set of restored Qing-era lanes lined with courtyard houses, snack stalls and small shops.

Take the high-speed train to Chongqing, a journey of around two hours. Built on steep hills where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet, Chongqing stacks its roads, homes and rail lines on top of one another.

Watch a monorail train glide straight through a residential tower at Liziba Station, one of the city’s most talked-about sights. Then explore Eling Second Factory, a former printing works turned creative space with cafes, galleries and views across the river.

Gather around a bubbling pot of Chongqing hotpot at a local restaurant, cooking meat and vegetables in a broth bright with chillies and Sichuan pepper. Afterwards, see Hongya Cave lit up at night, a stilted complex of shops and restaurants built into the cliff above the Jialing River.

Walk through Baixiangju, a residential area where stairways and bridges link buildings across different levels of the hillside, and see the Kuixing Building, where you can enter on the ground floor and step out onto the street from what seems to be a much higher storey. Finish at Jiefangbei, the Liberation Monument at the heart of the busy shopping district.

Have lunch at a local restaurant before transferring to the station.

Board the high-speed train to Zhangjiajie, a journey of around two and a half to three hours. Your guide meets you on arrival and takes you to your hotel in Zhangjiajie.

Enter Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, part of the Wulingyuan Scenic Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for thousands of sandstone pillars rising out of the forest. Ride the Bailong Elevator, a glass lift built onto the cliff face, up to Yuanjiajie, where viewing paths wind between the stone towers and misty drops.

Have lunch at a local restaurant inside the scenic area.

Continue by park shuttle bus to Tianzi Mountain, where viewpoints look across a sea of peaks that change mood with the light and cloud. Later, take the small sightseeing train through the Ten-Mile Gallery, a valley lined with rock formations that locals have named after animals, people and legends.

Follow the path along Golden Whip Stream, an easy, mostly level walk through a deep valley beside clear water, with sandstone pillars towering on both sides. The path follows the stream for several kilometres, so you can walk at an easy pace, stopping wherever a reflection or a rock formation catches your eye. Listen for birdsong and watch for monkeys in the trees.

Have lunch at a local restaurant in the park.

Head up to Huangshi Village, a high plateau with a loop of viewing platforms looking over some of the park’s most dramatic pillars and ravines. Take your time on the terraces as the light shifts across the pillars and the mist drifts in and out of the ravines. Your guide points out the formations locals have named over the years, then your driver returns you to your hotel in Zhangjiajie.

Board the train to Shangrao in Jiangxi Province, a journey of about six hours. Settle in with a book and watch the hills and farmland of central China pass by.

Your driver meets you at Shangrao and continues by private car to Wangxian Valley, a village of traditional houses and walkways built into the side of a steep gorge, with waterfalls running down between them.

Once darkness falls, the whole valley is lit up in warm golden light, and the stacked buildings seem to glow against the cliffs. Walk the terraces and enjoy the night views before returning to your hotel in Wangxian Valley.

The morning is at leisure. See the valley in daylight, when the mountain walls and waterfalls show their full shape, or simply enjoy a slow breakfast with a view.

Your driver takes you back to Shangrao, where you board a high-speed train to Shanghai, a journey of about three hours.

Your guide in Shanghai meets you on arrival and accompanies you to your hotel in Shanghai.

Stroll the Bund, the riverside promenade lined with grand banks and trading houses from the early twentieth century, and look across the Huangpu River at the towers of Pudong. Then visit Yuyuan Garden, a classical garden from the Ming dynasty, with rockeries, ponds and pavilions tucked behind tiled walls in the old town.

Lunch is at a local restaurant.

Try your hand at flying a drone at a DJI indoor drone centre, then take a ride in an autonomous vehicle, a glimpse of the technology now shaping Chinese cities. Finish at Shanghai Museum East, the newer branch of the Shanghai Museum in Pudong, home to an outstanding collection of Chinese bronzes, ceramics, paintings and more.

Enjoy a final breakfast at your hotel. Your guide and driver take you to the airport in good time for your departure flight.