China: Beijing to Hong Kong via Xi'an, Chengdu and Yangshuo

1. Day 1: Arrive in Beijing

   Beijing Capital (PEK) or Daxing (PKX) airport to central Beijing

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Beijing
   Day 1 details

   We meet you at Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) or Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX) and drive you to a central hotel in Dongcheng, the old district east of the Forbidden City, about an hour from either airport. The afternoon is free to rest. If you want a first walk, the hutong lanes and the shopping street of Wangfujing are close by, and your guide leaves a simple map at the front desk. In the early evening the group meets for a briefing on the two weeks ahead: how the high-speed trains and the domestic flight work, how to pay with your phone in mainland China, why you carry your passport each day, and the early start for the Great Wall tomorrow. Then we walk to a local restaurant for a welcome dinner of northern dishes, dumplings, hand-cut noodles and stir-fries shared around one table. If your flight lands too late, we meet you at breakfast instead.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Beijing Capital (PEK) or Daxing (PKX) airport
   • Evening briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner at a local restaurant

   Free time: Afternoon free to rest

   Activity: Land by about 4 pm to join the briefing and dinner.

2. Day 2: The Great Wall at Mutianyu, then a hutong lunch

   Beijing to Mutianyu and back, then the hutongs around Shichahai

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Beijing
   Day 2 details

   We leave at 7 am, the one early start in Beijing, and drive about an hour and a half north-east to Mutianyu, a restored stretch of the Ming dynasty wall with watchtowers set close together along a forested ridge. Arriving as it opens means empty towers and low light across the hills. The cable car lifts you to the ridge, and you walk at your own pace for about two hours, tower to tower, on steep stepped sections. Come down by cable car, by the toboggan run, or on foot. Back in the city by about 1:30, we sit down to a late lunch in a family courtyard home in the hutongs near the Shichahai lakes: home cooking, and time to ask about life in the lanes. Your guide then walks you through the grey-brick alleys to the Drum and Bell Towers, which kept the city's time for centuries. The evening is free, with suggestions for dinner nearby.

   Included

   • The Great Wall at Mutianyu at opening, with your guide
   • Cable car up, and cable car or toboggan down
   • Lunch in a family courtyard home in the hutongs
   • Hutong walk to the Drum and Bell Towers

   Easier option: Ride the cable car both ways and stay on the gentler section by the top station.

   More active option: Walk up to the wall on the stepped path, about 40 minutes, then carry on to the steeper towers at the far end.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: Steep steps and slopes on the wall; wear shoes with grip and bring water.

   

3. Day 3: The Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven

   Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, Jingshan Park, then the Temple of Heaven

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Beijing
   Day 3 details

   Tickets for the Forbidden City are booked ahead in your name, so we cross Tiananmen Square and go in through the Meridian Gate as the palace opens at 8:30, before the main crowd. For almost five hundred years this was home to the Ming and Qing emperors. Your guide follows the central line of great halls, then turns into the quieter side courtyards and the imperial garden at the northern end. From the north gate we climb Jingshan Park, a hill raised from the earth dug out for the moat, for the view back over the sea of yellow roofs. Lunch is at a local restaurant near the park. In the afternoon our vehicle takes us south to the Temple of Heaven, where emperors prayed for good harvests: the round, triple-roofed Hall of Prayer, the Echo Wall and the Circular Mound Altar. A rest at the hotel, then Peking duck for dinner, carved at the table.

   Included

   • Tiananmen Square with your guide
   • The Forbidden City (Palace Museum) at opening
   • Jingshan Park viewpoint
   • The Temple of Heaven
   • Peking duck dinner

   Easier option: Skip the Jingshan climb, about 15 minutes of steps, and wait in the park below.

   Free time: Late afternoon free before dinner

   Activity: About 5 hours on foot, much of it on stone paving. The Forbidden City closes on Mondays, so day 3 never falls on one.

4. Day 4: High-speed train to Xi'an

   Beijing West station to Xi'an North by high-speed train, then the Muslim Quarter

   • By train
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Xi'an
   Day 4 details

   A slow morning. Breakfast without hurry, and an hour free for anyone who wants a taxi to the Lama Temple, Beijing's largest Tibetan Buddhist temple, or a last walk in the lanes. Late in the morning our vehicle takes the group and the luggage to Beijing West station, and your guide steers everyone through the ticket and security checks and onto the platform. The high-speed train to Xi'an takes about four and a half to five and a half hours, depending on the service, running south-west across the North China Plain into the yellow loess country of Shaanxi. Lunch is on board, your choice from the trolley or the station shops. We arrive in the late afternoon and check in at a hotel inside the Ming city wall. At dusk we walk past the lit Bell Tower into the Muslim Quarter, home of the Hui community for centuries, for a street-food dinner with your guide: lamb skewers, roujiamo flatbreads filled with stewed meat, and cold liangpi noodles.

   Included

   • Transfer to Beijing West station with your guide
   • Reserved seats on the high-speed train to Xi'an
   • Transfer from Xi'an North station to the hotel
   • Evening walk past the Bell Tower and a street-food dinner in the Muslim Quarter

   Free time: Morning free until about 11 am

   Activity: Lunch is on the train, your choice; the station and the train sell food.

5. Day 5: The Terracotta Warriors and the city wall by bike

   Xi'an to the Terracotta Warriors and back, then the Xi'an City Wall

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Xi'an
   Day 5 details

   We leave at 7:30 for the hour's drive east to the tomb complex of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China, and walk into Pit 1 as the site opens, before the coach groups. Farmers sinking a well uncovered the first fragments in 1974; today Pit 1 holds long trenches of life-size foot soldiers in battle order, no two faces alike. A licensed site guide joins your own guide for Pits 2 and 3 and the museum, where the two bronze chariots are displayed. Lunch is a sit-down bowl of broad, hand-pulled biangbiang noodles near the site, and we are back in the city by early afternoon to rest. Late in the afternoon, when the brick turns warm in the low sun, we climb onto the city wall at the South Gate and cycle the full circuit, about 13.7 km on a flat, wide top, past gate towers and corner bastions. The evening is free.

   Included

   • The Terracotta Warriors (Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum Site Museum) at opening, with a licensed site guide
   • Noodle lunch near the site
   • Xi'an City Wall entry and bike hire for the full circuit

   Easier option: Walk a section of the wall from the South Gate, or ride the electric cart around it.

   More active option: Ride the circuit twice, or walk to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in the free evening.

   Free time: Early afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The wall ride takes about 2 hours with stops.

   

6. Day 6: Over the Qinling Mountains to Chengdu

   Xi'an North to Chengdu East by high-speed train, then People's Park and the Kuanzhai Alleys

   • By train
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Chengdu
   Day 6 details

   The morning is free until about 10: walk to the Great Mosque, laid out like a Chinese temple with courtyards and pavilions rather than domes, or take a coffee up on the wall. Then our vehicle takes us to Xi'an North station for the high-speed train to Chengdu, about three and a half to four hours, through long tunnels under the Qinling Mountains, the traditional divide between northern and southern China, and down into the green Sichuan Basin. We reach Chengdu in mid-afternoon and drive to a central hotel. Your guide takes you straight to People's Park, where locals drink jasmine tea in bamboo chairs, play mahjong and dance in the open air, for a pot of tea of your own. We walk on through the Kuanzhai Alleys, restored Qing-era lanes of grey-brick courtyards now full of snack stalls. Dinner is Sichuan hotpot, with a mild broth beside the fiery one for anyone who wants it.

   Included

   • Transfer to Xi'an North station with your guide
   • Reserved seats on the high-speed train to Chengdu
   • Transfer from Chengdu East station to the hotel
   • Tea in a People's Park teahouse
   • Walk through the Kuanzhai Alleys
   • Sichuan hotpot dinner

   Free time: Morning free until about 10 am

   Activity: Lunch is on the train, your choice.

7. Day 7: Pandas at opening, a Sichuan cooking lesson

   Chengdu to the giant panda base and back, then Wenshu Monastery

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chengdu
   Day 7 details

   Giant pandas are most active in the cool of the morning, when keepers bring fresh bamboo, so we leave at 7 am for the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, about half an hour north of the centre, and walk in as it opens at 7:30. Tickets are booked ahead in your name. Paths wind through bamboo groves past the outdoor enclosures, where adults feed, climb and doze, and the nursery houses, where young pandas are often on view. Red pandas, smaller and fox-like, have their own wooded area. Your guide explains the base's breeding and research work as we go. By late morning the pandas settle down to sleep, and we drive back into the city for a Sichuan cooking lesson, mapo tofu and kung pao chicken, which becomes lunch. Afterwards there is a quiet hour at Wenshu Monastery, a working Buddhist temple with its own teahouse. The evening is free, with Sichuan opera and its face-changing as an option.

   Included

   • The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding at opening, with your guide
   • Sichuan cooking lesson and lunch
   • Wenshu Monastery

   Optional experiences

   • Sichuan opera with face-changing

   Easier option: The base has shuttle carts between the main areas, so you can ride instead of walking the hills.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot at the base on paved, gently sloping paths.

8. Day 8: Fly to Guilin, on to Yangshuo

   Chengdu airport (CTU or TFU) to Guilin Liangjiang (KWL), then by road to Yangshuo

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Yangshuo
   Day 8 details

   We leave the hotel after breakfast for the flight from Chengdu to Guilin, about an hour and a half in the air; the train takes most of a day, so the flight gives us the afternoon. Whether we fly from Shuangliu (CTU) or Tianfu (TFU) depends on the schedule, and your guide flies with you. From Guilin Liangjiang airport (KWL) it is about an hour and a quarter by road to Yangshuo, and the scenery starts on the way, with karst peaks rising straight out of rice fields and orange groves. We stop for a late lunch of Guilin rice noodles, the local staple, served with braised beef, peanuts, pickles and chili. In Yangshuo we stay three nights in a hotel close to the river and the old town. Late in the afternoon your guide walks you along the Li River bank and through the lanes behind West Street, then the evening is free, with the peaks lit after dark.

   Included

   • Transfer to the Chengdu airport
   • Flight from Chengdu to Guilin, with your guide
   • Transfer from Guilin airport to Yangshuo
   • Guilin rice noodle lunch
   • Evening walk along the Li River and through Yangshuo town

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: One checked bag per guest is included on the flight; we confirm the allowance with your tickets.

   

9. Day 9: Down the Li River by raft

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

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Yangshuo
   Day 9 details

   The Li River between Yangdi and Xingping is its finest stretch, with peaks crowding both banks, 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 to each. They are still called bamboo rafts, but today they are built from plastic pipes 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, a cliff face where locals pick out the shapes of horses, to the bend near Xingping pictured on the back of the 20 yuan banknote. We land at Xingping, walk its old street of Qing-era houses and sit down to lunch: beer fish, the Yangshuo speciality, river fish braised with tomato, chili and local beer. We are back in Yangshuo by about 2:30, and the afternoon and evening are yours.

   Included

   • Li River raft from Yangdi to Xingping
   • Xingping old street with your guide
   • Beer fish lunch in Xingping

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

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

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: 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.

   

10. Day 10: The Yulong valley by bike and bamboo raft

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

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Yangshuo
    Day 10 details

    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, 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 stone steps up 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 a rest 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.

    Included

    • 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

    Easier option: Skip the bikes and ride in our support van to Moon Hill, the raft and lunch.

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

    Free time: Early afternoon free

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

11. Day 11: High-speed train to Hong Kong

    Yangshuo to Guilin West station, the high-speed train to Hong Kong West Kowloon, then Tsim Sha Tsui

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Hong Kong
    Day 11 details

    A free morning in Yangshuo. Go out early to the viewpoint on Xianggong Hill for mist over the Li River bends, join a tai chi lesson by the river, or simply sleep in. Late in the morning we drive about an hour and a quarter to Guilin West station, or a shorter way to Yangshuo station when the timetable allows, for the high-speed train to Hong Kong West Kowloon, about three to three and a half hours depending on the service. Mainland exit checks and Hong Kong entry checks both happen inside West Kowloon station, so you step off the train, pass the two counters and walk out into Kowloon. After checking in at a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, we walk down to the harbour front for the Symphony of Lights at 8 pm, the nightly light show across the towers of Hong Kong Island, then on to the stalls and fortune tellers of the Temple Street night market. Dinner tonight is your choice.

    Included

    • Transfer to Guilin West (or Yangshuo) station with your guide
    • Reserved seats on the high-speed train to Hong Kong West Kowloon
    • Transfer to the hotel in Kowloon
    • Evening walk to the Symphony of Lights and the Temple Street night market

    Optional experiences

    • Sunrise at Xianggong Hill
    • Tai chi lesson in Yangshuo

    Free time: Morning free; dinner free

    Activity: Keep your passport to hand on the train: it is checked twice at West Kowloon.

    

12. Day 12: The Star Ferry, dim sum and the Peak

    Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island, Central and Sheung Wan, then the Peak Tram to Victoria Peak

    • By boat
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Hong Kong
    Day 12 details

    We cross Victoria Harbour the old way, on the Star Ferry, which has carried passengers between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island since 1888, about ten minutes on the water. On the island your guide walks you through Central and Sheung Wan: the dried-seafood and herbal shops, Man Mo Temple, built in the 1840s and hazy with hanging incense coils, and Tai Kwun, the former Central Police Station compound reopened as an arts and heritage centre, with a ride on the long Mid-Levels escalator. Lunch is dim sum at a local restaurant: har gow, siu mai, char siu buns and rice-noodle rolls with tea. Then we ride the Peak Tram up the steep slope to Victoria Peak for the view over the harbour, the towers and the green hills behind. Your guide shows the trail down for anyone who wants to walk; everyone else takes the tram. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are free.

    Included

    • Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour
    • Walk through Central and Sheung Wan with your guide: Man Mo Temple, Tai Kwun and the Mid-Levels escalator
    • Dim sum lunch
    • Peak Tram to Victoria Peak

    Easier option: Take the Peak Tram both ways and head back to the hotel by MTR or taxi.

    More active option: Walk down from the Peak on the Old Peak Road path, about an hour of steep paved descent to Central.

    Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

    Activity: Hong Kong Island is hilly; the escalator and the tram take most of the climb.

    

13. Day 13: Lantau: the Big Buddha and Tai O

    Kowloon to Tung Chung, the Ngong Ping 360 cable car, the Tian Tan Buddha and Tai O, then back to Kowloon

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Hong Kong
    Day 13 details

    Lantau Island takes the day. We drive about forty minutes to Tung Chung and ride the Ngong Ping 360 cable car as it opens, about 25 minutes over the bay and the forested hills with the airport runways below. At the top stands the Tian Tan Buddha, a seated bronze Buddha 34 m high, reached by 268 steps, and beside it Po Lin Monastery, where lunch is a vegetarian meal in the monastery dining hall. In the early afternoon a local bus takes us down to Tai O, a fishing village of houses on stilts over tidal creeks, with shrimp paste and salted fish drying in the lanes. We are back in Kowloon by late afternoon for a rest, and in the evening the group meets for a farewell dinner of Cantonese dishes, roast goose, steamed fish and greens, the last meal of the trip together.

    Included

    • Ngong Ping 360 cable car, return
    • The Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery with your guide
    • Vegetarian lunch at Po Lin Monastery
    • Tai O fishing village
    • Farewell dinner

    Easier option: Stay at the foot of the Buddha's steps; the view up from the plaza is the classic one.

    Free time: Late afternoon free

    Activity: The cable car closes for a few weeks of maintenance most years and in high winds; on those days we take the road up to Ngong Ping instead.

14. Day 14: Depart from Hong Kong

    A free morning, then Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)

    • Drive about 45 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 14 details

    The last morning is yours, with no early start. Breakfast at the hotel, then time for a last walk along the harbour, one more crossing on the Star Ferry, or a bowl of wonton noodles before you leave. If your flight is late, your guide can point you to a market or a museum near the hotel, such as the Hong Kong Museum of Art on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront. 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 prefer. If you want more of Hong Kong, or a few days in Macau, we can add nights at the trip hotel before you fly home. For international flights, allow three hours at the airport.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)

    Free time: Morning free

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm to enjoy the free morning.

Wildlife and weather: April to May and September to November bring mild days in Beijing and Xi'an and the clearest skies on the Li River in autumn. Summer is hot and wet across the south: the Li River can run too high to raft after heavy rain, mostly May to August, and Hong Kong's typhoon season runs about June to October, when a storm signal can close the cable car and ferries for a day. Winter is cold and dry in Beijing, often below freezing at the Great Wall, and grey and cool in Yangshuo. Pandas are most active in the cool of the morning in every season. We avoid Chinese New Year and the holiday weeks in early May and early October, when trains and sights are packed.

• Beijing3 nights
• Xi'an2 nights
• Chengdu2 nights
• Yangshuo3 nights
• Hong Kong3 nights