18 Days Leisurely Beijing, Guilin, Shanghai Tour

Day 1  Saturday 2-October-10     Meal(s) ()   Chicago /  Beijing

Transfer via: by air-your own arrangement (Late evening flight ETA 11:55 PM)

Program:  Arrive in Beijing, you will be met and transferred to your hotel in Beijing city.

Accommodation: Redwall Hotel***
Tel: 010-51098666, Fax: 010-51098999

Day 2  Sunday 3-October-10     Meal(s) (B)   Beijing

Program: After hotel breakfast, feel leisure in the morning, then enjoy the lunch on your own. Afterward begin the half day tour to the Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Beihai Park. 

-The Tian'anmen Square: The largest city square in the world.
-The Forbidden City: The largest imperial palace in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties with a history of around 600 years.
-Beihai Park: The Beihai Park in the center of Beijing has an area of more than 70 hectares with a water surface of 39 hectares. To its north is Shichahai Lake and to its east is Jingshan Park. The Palace Museum is to its southeast, a short distance.

Accommodation: Redwall Hotel***

Day 3  Monday 4-October-10     Meal(s) (B,L)   Beijing

Program:  After hotel breakfast, full day tour to explore the Mutianyu Great Wall (the cable car is available at your option), the Chang Ling, and the Sacred Way.

-Mutianyu Great Wall: This less-crowded section of the Great Wall is a pleasant drive 90km NE of Beijing. A cable car takes you to a good section (avoiding a very steep climb), where you can walk along the wall, through the watch towers and enjoy superb views as it snakes across the hills and mountains.
-Chang Ling: It's the biggest one, first one and best preserved one of the thirteen tombs of the emperors in the Ming Dynasty.
-Sacred Way: The way guarded on both sides with stone statues by which the ancient emperors went to hold a memorial ceremony for the ancestors

Accommodation: Redwall Hotel***

-Hutongs: The old narrow paths where common people lived. All the Hutongs crisscross with each other, dotted with the Kindergarten, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the Tea House, and the lake, House of Gong Infante and local people's houses among them.
-The Summer Palace: The largest and best-preserved royal garden in China with a history of over 800 years.
-The Temple of Heaven: The place where the ancient emperors used to pray for the God's bless of the whole nation.

Accommodation: Redwall Hotel***

Day 5  Wednesday 6-October-10     Meal(s) (B,L)   Beijing

Program:  After hotel breakfast, you will be transferred to the Chuandixia Village with about 2 hours on the way. Arriving at this village, you can drop in one or two homes to get to know their houses and local people's daily life escorted by your guide.

-Chuandixia Village: located in the west area of Mengtougou District, about 90 kilometers away from downtown Beijing. It's been well preserved place with over 600 Ming and Qing dynasty-style houses housed by 70 families. All of things show their original appearance.

Accommodation: Redwall Hotel***
 

 

Day 6  Thursday 7-October-10     Meal(s) (B,L)   Beijing

 

Program:  In the morning, you will be transferred to have the half day tour to visit the Beijing Botanical Garden. Then feel at your leisure Time for the rest of day.

-The Beijing Botanical Garden was established in 1955. It covers a large area of 564,000 square metres. The gardens include a dozen exhibition districts and halls, such as the tree garden, a perennial bulb garden, a rose garden, a peony garden, a traditional Chinese medical herb garden, a wild fruit resources district, an environment protection plant district, a water and vine plant district, an endangered plant district, and exhibition greenhouses for tropical and subtropical plants.

Accommodation: Redwall Hotel***

 

Day 7  Friday 8-October-10     Meal(s) (B)   Beijing  /  Guilin

 

Transfer via: by overnight train-soft sleeper arranged by us (Morning train K21 ETD 8:58 AM)
Program: In the morning, you will be transferred to the railroad station for your overnight train to Guilin.

Accommodation: On the train

 

Day 8  Saturday 9-October-10     Meal(s) ()       Guilin

 

Program:  Arrive in Guilin at around 12:26 PM, be met and transferred to hotel, feel free at the rest of the day.

Accommodation: EVA INN, Guilin****
Tel: 0773--2830666, Fax: 0773-2800282

Day 9  Sunday 10-October-10     Meal(s) (B,L)   Guilin

Program:  After hotel breakfast, full day tour to visit the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces, Yao Ethnic Tribes, then be transferred back to your hotel in Guilin City.

-Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces: Longji, as known as the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces, is located in Longsheng County, the mountainous region on the northeastern part of Guilin. They were first built in the Yuan dynasty (about 800 years ago) and completed in the Qin dynasty by Zhuang people.

Accommodation: EVA INN, Guilin****

 

 

 

Day 10  Monday 11-October-10     Meal(s) (B,L)   Guilin

Program:  After hotel breakfast, full day tour to visit the Li River Cruise (lunch on boat), and West Street, the Big Banyan, the Moon Hill. Stay overnight at Yangshuo ancient town.

-Li River Cruise: Depart from your hotel in the morning. Be transferred to the Zhujiang Pier (about 1 hour drive) for a 4.5 hours wonderful cruise. You will enjoy the picturesque mountains, peaceful green fields, farms and villages with water buffalos, cows wondering around on both sides of the river bank. Disembark at the one-thousand-year-old town Yangshuo in the afternoon.
-West Street: West Street is the oldest street in Yangshuo with a history of more than 1,400 years. Situated at the center of Yangshuo County, West Street has become, since the 1980's, a window of eastern and western culture and the biggest 'foreign language center' in China.
-Big Banyan: 6 kilometers away from the County of Yangshuo, you will find a prominent and towering tree: the Big Banyan Tree. It has survived wind and rain over centuries since it was planted during the Sui Dynasty (581-618).
-Moon Hill: about 50 minutes' bike riding from Yangshuo, there lies the Moon Hill. Named for the crescent shaped cave running through the moon, Moon Hill is one of the highlights in Yangshuo.

Accommodation: Aiyuan Hotel, Yangshuo***
Tel: 0773-8811966, Fax: 0773-8811916

 

Day 11  Tuesday 12-October-10     Meal(s) (B,L)   Guilin

 

Program:  After hotel breakfast, cycling around the countryside of the Yangshuo ancient town to meet the ordinary folks. Then enjoy your cooking class with the local people.

Accommodation: Aiyuan Hotel, Yangshuo***

 

Day 12  Wednesday 13-October-10     Meal(s) (B.L)   Guilin  /  Shanghai

 

Transfer via: by overnight train-soft sleeper arranged by us (Late afternoon train K860 ETD 5:02 PM)
Program:  After hotel breakfast, be transferred to Guilin City to visit the Reed Flute Cave, Seven Star Park. And then be transferred to the railroad station for your overnight train to Shanghai.

-Reed Flute Cave: Known as "the Palace of Natural Arts" where you can see beautiful stalactites & stalagmites, learn how they are formed.
-Seven Star Park: The biggest park in Guilin, where you can see the Camel Hill, Bonsai Garden, Qixia Buddhism Temple, Flower Bridge and more sites if you are energetic enough to climb some hills.

Accommodation: On the train
 

 

Day 13  Thursday 14-October-10     Meal(s) (B,L)   Shanghai

 

Program:  Arrive in Shanghai at around 15:46, be met and transferred to hotel, enjoy the night view of Shanghai around the area of the Bund (Waitan), Nanjing Road.

-The Bund (Waitan): It is one of the most recognizable architectural symbols of Shanghai. It is here where the first British company opened an office in 1846.
-Nanjing Road: It is one of the most important commercial and tourist streets in Shanghai, which streches from Waitan to Yanan Xilu.

Accommodation: Oasis Tower Hotel Shanghai***

 

Day 14  Friday 15-October-10     Meal(s) (B,L)   Shanghai

 

Program:  After hotel breakfast, full day tour to Yu Garden, Jade Buddha Temple, Shanghai Old Street, Shanghai French Concession.

-Yu Garden: It's reputed to be the most beautiful garden south of the Yangtze River. Built beside the Temple of the City God and covering only fives acres, it follows the Suzhou garden design of a world in microcosm
-Jade Buddha Temple: The Jade Buddha Temple is one of the few temples in downtown Shanghai. If you're lucky, you can watch the monks serving a ceremony in a side room.
-Shanghai Old Street: Known as Fangband Road, "Shanghai Old Street" with a total of 825 metres, is adjacent to the Yuyuan Garden Bazaar Area and runs in an east-west direction from Zhonghua Road to Henan Road South, with both ends marked by decorated archways
-Shanghai French Concession: The Shanghai French Concession is a district in the city and was the foreign concession of France in Shanghai. Covering what are today Xuhui District and Luwan District and occupying the centre.

Accommodation: Oasis Tower Hotel Shanghai***

 

Day 15  Saturday 16-October-10     Meal(s) (B,L)   Shanghai

 

Program: After hotel breakfast, full day tour to Shanghai Museum, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Zhujiajiao.

-Shanghai Museum: The biggest museum in China, with a collection of over 120,000 pieces of Chinese art & cultural relics. It is especially famous for its treasures of bronzes, ceramics, paintings and calligraphy.
-Oriental Pearl TV Tower: The highest TV Tower in Asia. With 468 meter high it stands in Pudong Park in the new and developing Lujiazui district on the banks of the Huangpu River.
-Zhujiajiao is a typical ancient water town in the south of the Yangtze River. There you can see the well-preserved Ming and Qing architecture, ancient stone bridges, ancient streets, etc.

Accommodation: Oasis Tower Hotel Shanghai***

 

Day 16  Sunday 17-October-10     Meal(s) (B)   Shanghai

 

Program:  Free at your leisure Time.

Accommodation: Oasis Tower Hotel Shanghai***

 

Day 17  Monday 18-October-10     Meal(s) (B)   Shanghai

 

Program: Free at your leisure Time.

Accommodation: Oasis Tower Hotel Shanghai***

 

Day 18  Tuesday 19-October-10     Meal(s) (B)   Shanghai  /  Hong Kong

 

Transfer via: by air-your own arrangement (Afternoon flight ETD 1:00 PM)
Program:  Feel at the leisure until be transferred to the airport for your departure flight to Hong Kong International Airport.

Service Ends!

 

Day 4  Tuesday 5-October-10     Meal(s) (B,L)   Beijing
 

Program:  After hotel breakfast, full day tour to visit the Hutongs in rickshaw, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven.