Southern China: Shanghai to Hong Kong via Longji, Yangshuo and Xiamen

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Shanghai

   Shanghai Pudong (PVG) or Hongqiao (SHA) airport to central Shanghai, then the Bund

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Shanghai
   Détail du jour 1

   We meet you at Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) or Hongqiao (SHA) and drive you to a central hotel near the Bund or People's Square, about an hour from Pudong and less from Hongqiao, over the elevated roads that loop through the city. The afternoon is free to rest or walk Nanjing Road, the long shopping street that runs down to the river. In the early evening the group meets for a briefing on the ten days ahead: the two flights and the fast train, how to pay with your phone on the mainland, why you carry your passport, and the small overnight bag you pack for Longji. Then we walk to the Bund as the lights come on, the old banks and trading houses along the Huangpu River facing the towers of Pudong on the far bank. Dinner is a welcome meal of Shanghainese dishes, red-braised pork and smoked fish, at a local restaurant. If your flight lands late, we meet you at breakfast.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Shanghai Pudong (PVG) or Hongqiao (SHA) airport
   • Evening briefing with your guide
   • The Bund at dusk
   • Welcome dinner at a local restaurant

   Temps libre : Afternoon free to rest

   Activité : Land by about 4 pm to join the briefing, the Bund walk and dinner.

   

2. Jour 2 : Yu Garden, the old city and the French Concession

   Yu Garden and the old city, the Shanghai Museum, then the former French Concession

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Shanghai
   Détail du jour 2

   We walk into Yu Garden as it opens in the morning, before the crowds fill the bazaar around it. Laid out in the Ming dynasty for a city official's family, it is a maze of rockeries, carp ponds, moon gates and halls packed into a few acres of the old walled city. Your guide then takes the lanes of the old town, where some of the last shikumen stone-gated houses still stand. Lunch is xiaolongbao, soup dumplings, at a local restaurant, eaten with a spoon and a little vinegar. In the early afternoon we visit the Shanghai Museum on People's Square for its bronzes, ceramics and calligraphy, about an hour and a half with your guide. Then we cross into the former French Concession, plane-tree streets of villas, apartment blocks and lane houses, and end at Tianzifang or Xintiandi for a coffee. The evening is free; your guide suggests dinner, or the view from a Pudong tower.

   Compris

   • Yu Garden at opening, with your guide
   • Old city lanes walk
   • Xiaolongbao lunch
   • The Shanghai Museum
   • Walk through the former French Concession

   Activités en option

   • Shanghai acrobatics show
   • An observation deck in Pudong

   Option plus facile : Skip the French Concession walk and return to the hotel by taxi after the museum.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : About 5 hours on foot, mostly flat; the van covers the longer gaps.

3. Jour 3 : Fly to Guilin, up to the Longji terraces

   Shanghai airport to Guilin Liangjiang (KWL), then by road to Dazhai in the Longji terraces

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Longji (Dazhai)
   Détail du jour 3

   An early breakfast, then we drive to the airport for the flight to Guilin, about two and a half hours in the air; the train takes most of a day. Pudong or Hongqiao depends on the schedule, and your guide flies with you. From Guilin Liangjiang airport (KWL) we stop for a late lunch of Guilin rice noodles, the local staple, then drive north into the hills, about two and a half hours, the last stretch winding up a valley of Zhuang and Yao villages. Our main luggage leaves us here and goes by road to the Yangshuo hotel. At the village gate a short walk, or a porter for your small bag, brings us up to Dazhai, a Yao village of wooden houses in a bowl of rice terraces cut into the slopes over centuries. In the late afternoon we walk the lower terrace paths with your guide. Dinner is at the guesthouse: smoked pork, mountain greens and rice cooked in bamboo tubes.

   Compris

   • Transfer to the Shanghai airport
   • Flight from Shanghai to Guilin, with your guide
   • Guilin rice noodle lunch
   • Transfer from Guilin airport to Dazhai, with main luggage sent on to Yangshuo
   • Longji terrace entry
   • Late-afternoon walk on the lower terraces
   • Guesthouse dinner

   Option plus facile : Hire a village porter to carry your bag up from the gate, and rest at the guesthouse instead of the terrace walk.

   Temps libre : Evening free in the village

   Activité : One checked bag per guest is included on the flight. Pack a small overnight bag for Longji; the village has no cars.

   

4. Jour 4 : The Dazhai terraces in the early light, on to Yangshuo

   Dazhai terrace viewpoints, then by road via Guilin to Yangshuo

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Yangshuo
   Détail du jour 4

   The terraces are at their best early, with mist in the valley and the low sun picking out the walls, so we set out after an early breakfast. The cable car lifts us to the upper ridge, and from there we walk down past the main viewpoints and through Tiantouzhai, a hamlet perched at the top of the terraces, about three hours on stone steps and narrow paths between the paddies. Your guide explains how the Yao families built the walls and still farm them by hand, and when the planting, flooding and harvest come. Lunch is in the village. In the early afternoon we drive back down the valley and on via Guilin to Yangshuo, about three and a half hours with a break, and the karst begins on the way: peaks rising straight out of the rice fields. We check into a hotel near the river, where your suitcase is waiting, for three nights. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Dazhai cable car up to the ridge
   • Guided walk past the terrace viewpoints and through Tiantouzhai
   • Village lunch
   • Transfer to Yangshuo

   Option plus facile : Ride the cable car both ways and stay at the top viewpoint and its tea terrace while the group walks down.

   Option plus active : Skip the cable car and climb from Dazhai to the ridge on foot, about an hour and a half of steep steps.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : Wear shoes with grip: the paths are stone steps, wet in the morning dew. The cable car may close in bad weather; your guide adjusts the walk on the day.

   

5. Jour 5 : Down the Li River by raft, cormorant fishing at dusk

   Yangshuo to Yangdi, a raft down the Li River to Xingping, back to Yangshuo, then the river at dusk

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Yangshuo
   Détail du jour 5

   The Li River between Yangdi and Xingping is its finest stretch, and the morning is the calmest time on the water. We drive about an hour to the pier at Yangdi and board rafts, two guests and a boatman each; they are still called bamboo rafts, but today they are plastic pipe with a small outboard motor, a canopy and seats. The ride downstream takes about an hour and a half to two hours, past Nine Horse Fresco Hill to the bend near Xingping on the back of the 20 yuan banknote. We land at Xingping, walk its old street and sit down to lunch: beer fish, river fish braised with tomato, chili and local beer. Back in Yangshuo by about 2:30, the afternoon is free. At dusk we go down to the river to watch a cormorant fisherman work his birds from a bamboo raft by lantern light, a craft now kept up by a few older fishermen.

   Compris

   • Li River raft from Yangdi to Xingping
   • Xingping old street with your guide
   • Beer fish lunch in Xingping
   • Cormorant fishing on the Li River at dusk

   Activités en option

   • Impression Liu Sanjie light show on the river

   Option plus facile : Stay in Xingping's old street with a tea while the others climb, then ride back with the group.

   Option plus active : Climb Laozhai Hill above Xingping, a steep stepped path of about half an hour each way, for the view over the river bends.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free; dinner free

   Activité : Rafting stops when the river runs high after heavy rain, mostly between May and August; if it does, we take the same stretch by riverbank path and road, and tell you on the day.

6. Jour 6 : The Yulong valley by bike and bamboo raft

   Yangshuo to the Yulong River and Moon Hill, then a market and a cooking class

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Yangshuo
   Détail du jour 6

   Today is the Yulong River, a quieter tributary that the Li River boats never reach. After breakfast we cycle out of town with a local cycling guide, about 20 km in all on flat country lanes and farm paths between rice fields, orange groves, karst peaks and small villages, at an easy pace with plenty of stops. We pause at Moon Hill, named for the half-moon arch through its summit, for anyone who wants to climb the steps to it. At the river we leave the bikes for hand-poled bamboo rafts, real bamboo this time, drifting downstream over small weirs for about an hour and a half. Lunch is at a farmhouse restaurant, then the early afternoon is free at the hotel. In the late afternoon a local cooking school walks the group through a Yangshuo food market, then teaches you to make stuffed vegetables, the town's speciality, and two or three other dishes, which become dinner.

   Compris

   • Guided countryside bike ride in the Yulong valley, bikes and helmets included
   • Moon Hill entry
   • Hand-poled bamboo raft on the Yulong River
   • Farmhouse lunch
   • Market visit and cooking class, with dinner

   Option plus facile : Skip the bikes and ride in our support van to Moon Hill, the raft and lunch.

   Option plus active : Climb Moon Hill to the arch, about 30 minutes of steep steps each way.

   Temps libre : Early afternoon free

   Activité : The ride is flat but mostly on country lanes; we fit bikes and helmets before we set out.

   

7. Jour 7 : Fly to Xiamen

   Yangshuo to Guilin Liangjiang (KWL), the flight to Xiamen Gaoqi (XMN), then Zhongshan Road

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Xiamen
   Détail du jour 7

   A free morning in Yangshuo. Go out early to the viewpoint on Xianggong Hill for mist over the river bends, join a tai chi lesson by the water, or simply sleep in. Late in the morning we drive about an hour and a quarter to Guilin airport for the flight east to Xiamen, about an hour and a half; there is no quick rail line across these mountains. Xiamen is a port city on an island in the Taiwan Strait, Minnan-speaking, with its own food and a long history of trade overseas. We check into a hotel on the island and rest, then walk with your guide along Zhongshan Road, a pedestrian street of arcaded shophouses from the 1920s, and into the lanes behind it. Dinner is Minnan food at a local restaurant: oyster omelette, sea-worm jelly for the brave, peanut soup and fresh fish from the strait. Bed early tonight: tomorrow starts at 7:30.

   Compris

   • Transfer to Guilin airport
   • Flight from Guilin to Xiamen, with your guide
   • Transfer to the hotel in Xiamen
   • Evening walk on Zhongshan Road
   • Minnan dinner at a local restaurant

   Activités en option

   • Sunrise at Xianggong Hill
   • Tai chi lesson in Yangshuo

   Temps libre : Morning free

   Activité : Lunch is at the airport or on the move, your choice.

8. Jour 8 : The Hakka earth houses of Tianluokeng

   Xiamen to the Tianluokeng tulou cluster and Taxia village in Nanjing County, then back to Xiamen

   • Environ 5.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Xiamen
   Détail du jour 8

   Today is a long one, and the only day over our four-hour driving limit: about two and three-quarter hours each way to the tulou, the fortified earth houses in the hills west of Xiamen. There is no hotel near them worth a one-night move, so we leave at 7:30, stop on the way, and reach Tianluokeng before the midday coaches. Five tulou stand here, one square and four round, the 'four dishes and a soup' seen from the hill above. Built by Hakka and Minnan clans from rammed earth and timber, each housed dozens of families around a shared courtyard, and some still do. A local guide takes us inside, then to Yuchang Lou, with its leaning wooden pillars, and the creekside village of Taxia. Lunch is Hakka home cooking inside a tulou. No tea-shop stop, though tea is grown all around. We are back in Xiamen by about 6, and the evening is free.

   Compris

   • The Tianluokeng tulou cluster with a local guide, entry included
   • Yuchang Lou
   • Taxia village
   • Hakka lunch inside a tulou

   Option plus facile : Stay at the Tianluokeng viewpoint and in the first tulou courtyard while the group walks on to Taxia; the van picks you up.

   Option plus active : Walk the lanes from Taxia up to the next tulou with your guide while the van follows.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : About 5.5 hours in the van over the day, in two halves, with stops each way; about 3 hours on foot at the sites, with uneven stone floors and steep wooden stairs inside the tulou.

9. Jour 9 : Gulangyu by the early ferry, the fast train to Hong Kong

   Xiamen to Gulangyu by ferry and back, Xiamen North station by high-speed train to Hong Kong West Kowloon, then Tsim Sha Tsui

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Hong Kong
   Détail du jour 9

   Gulangyu fills with day visitors by mid-morning, so we take one of the first ferries across, about twenty minutes. The small island was a foreign settlement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and it has no cars: lanes of consulates, churches and villas built by Chinese families returned from Southeast Asia, banyan trees and a piano museum. Your guide walks the quieter lanes and the Shuzhuang Garden by the sea. We are back on the Xiamen side before noon and drive to Xiamen North station, where lunch is your choice, for the high-speed train to Hong Kong West Kowloon, about four to four and a half hours. Mainland exit and Hong Kong entry checks both happen inside West Kowloon station. After checking in at a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, we walk to the harbour for the Symphony of Lights at 8 pm, then sit down to a Cantonese farewell dinner together.

   Compris

   • Ferry to Gulangyu and back, with island entry
   • Gulangyu walk with your guide, including Shuzhuang Garden
   • Transfer to Xiamen North station
   • Reserved seats on the high-speed train to Hong Kong West Kowloon
   • Transfer to the hotel in Kowloon
   • The Symphony of Lights from the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront
   • Farewell dinner

   Option plus facile : Sit out the longer island lanes in a cafe near the pier.

   Option plus active : Climb Sunlight Rock, the island's high point, for the view over Xiamen, about 20 minutes up.

   Activité : Keep your passport to hand: Gulangyu tickets are in your name, and it is checked twice at West Kowloon.

   

10. Jour 10 : The Star Ferry, then depart from Hong Kong

    Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour, then Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)

    • Environ 45 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 10

    A last morning in Hong Kong, with no early start. After breakfast your guide takes anyone who wants it across Victoria Harbour on the Star Ferry, which has carried passengers between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island since 1888, about ten minutes on the water, and back again, with time for a bowl of wonton noodles or a dim sum breakfast near the pier. If your flight is late, the Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak, the Hong Kong Museum of Art on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, or the Temple Street night market in the evening are all easy on your own. We drive you to Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) on Chek Lap Kok, about 35 km and 45 minutes from Tsim Sha Tsui, at a time that suits your flight, or see you onto the Airport Express train at Kowloon station. If you want more of Hong Kong, we add nights at the trip hotel. For international flights, allow three hours at the airport.

    Compris

    • Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour and back, with your guide
    • Drop-off at Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)

    Activités en option

    • Peak Tram to Victoria Peak

    Temps libre : Morning free after the ferry

    Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm to enjoy the morning, or add a night or two in Hong Kong.

Faune et météo : March to May and October to November bring mild days across the south. Spring is green and often misty in the karst, with some rain, and the Longji terraces are flooded and reflect the sky from about late April into May. Autumn is drier and clearer; the terraces turn gold at harvest from late September to about mid October, and by November they are cut and brown, with clear views. Summer is hot and wet: the Li River can run too high to raft after heavy rain, mostly May to August, and typhoons can reach Xiamen and Hong Kong from about June to October. We avoid Chinese New Year and the holiday weeks in early May and early October, when trains and sights are packed.

• Shanghai2 nuits
• Longji (Dazhai)1 nuit
• Yangshuo3 nuits
• Xiamen2 nuits
• Hong Kong1 nuit