13 Days Beijing Lhasa Shanghai Tour with Yangtze Cruise

The prelude of your exciting China tour starts when you meet our professional local guide at Beijing Airport after reclaiming your luggage and clearing the customs. The guide will accompany you in a comfortable vehicle to the hotel and help you with the check-in procedure. The rest of the day is left for you to have a good rest or to become familiar with our capital city by yourself. 

Today your tour officially starts. First you will meet your group members at the hotel lobby and have a short meeting with the guide. Then head to the first stop today, the impressive Tian'anmen Square, which is the biggest urban city square in the world. Nowadays, many constructions of great historical importance have been built on and around it.  From there you will enter the "Imperial Palace" known as the Forbidden City to explore its many fascinating halls and pavilions.

Here, you will not only get to know how the emperor handled political affairs and lived their lives, but also appreciate numerous ancient art treasures. In the afternoon, you will go to the Temple of Heaven, the place where the emperors worshipped the heaven for good harvests. As the dwelling of the God of Heaven, it covers an area even larger than the dwelling of the emperor, Forbidden City. To round off a memorable start to your travel, we will arrange a lively and dramatic Chinese Kung Fu Show at the Red Theater.

This morning you will be taken to Badaling where you will experience at first hand the wonder of the Great Wall. Standing on the wall and looking at it stretching up and down into boundless distance is an exciting experience and will leave you a life-long memory. To celebrate and commemorate this moment, we specially provide red wine for a group-toasting on the Great Wall. After lunch, we will drive you back to the city center, while on the way back to downtown, you will have a short stay at the Bird's Nest (Olympic National Stadium), the major venue for 2008 Olympic Games, and take photos with the huge nest.

In the afternoon, visit China's largest imperial garden, the Summer Palace, which is renowned for the perfect combination of natural landscape and gardening design. You can see beautiful scenery of lakes, mountains, islands and trees, as well as traditional Chinese garden construction of long corridors, pavilions, bridges and halls.  Departure transfer to Beijing West Station to take Train No.T27 starting at 9:30pm for Lhasa. The Beijing Lhasa Railway extends about 3753km across the heartland of the Middle Kingdom and the Tibetan Plateau. It will take you 43 hrs 32 min. and across the 5200 meter high mountain pass amidst the grand vistas of surreal mountain range and uniquely shaped Tibetan Landscape. It would be an unforgettable expedition across full bosomed clear streams cascading down beautiful mountain ranges, sharing kisses with glistering dew drops, an amorous ride with nature.

Lanzhou 1:04pm The Lanzhou Train Station is located in a narrow valley. The Yellow River passes through the city. It is one of the largest cities in the northeast. And there is an famous attraction around Lanzhou - the Bingling Temple Caves.  Xining 3:50pm Xining is the capital of Qinghai province, and an important stopover for a visit to China's largest inland lake, Qinghaihu, a bird watchers paradise. It is a good starting pointing to come into Tibet from here. 

When you arrive in Lhasa either by train or flight, your guide will greet you and take you to your hotel .An route to view the Yarlung Tsangpo River/ Bhamaputra river (the Longest and largest river in Tibet) and Lhasa river.

After arriving in Lhasa ,you can take a rest and acclimatize to plateau environment. If you feel to go out, then you can go to the Potala square, where you will enjoy the fountain with different colors and get amazing photos of the Potala and around.

After breakfast, we go to the Potala Palace, a golden feather upon the roof of the world, which Tibetans proudly claim to be the prime miracle since the creation of this world. It is visible from any distance, with the golden roof shinning in the sun, spend one hour wondering around the inside of this magnificent building exploring the rooms previously used by the Dalai Lama and the many Buddhist icons within.

In the afternoon we go inside of the Jokhang. The Jokhang, like most of the larger temple structures have numerous individual temples within it dedicated to specific enlightened beings, protectors, high lamas, or saints. Images, both sculpted and painted, are everywhere. Every inch of wall and ceiling is brightly painted with images of clouds, beings, mandalas, or decorative patterns. Colorful silk banners, three stories high, hang in various places. Color, pattern, and images crowd in around you. The central image inside the building is a 30-foot high gilded image of Maitreya Buddha. Then stroll around the back alleys of the Barkhor area of Old Lhasa. The streets smelled of yak butter and incense while hordes of pilgrims shuffled along the main Kora (circumambulations) around Jokhang Temple. If someone just walked at a normal pace, one kora would take about 15-20 minutes.

In the morning have a tour for Drepung, the ever largest monastery with more than 10 thousand monks, Buddhist debates often occur there. Seen from afar, its grand, white construction gives the monastery the appearance of a heap of rice. As such, it was given its name which, in the Tibetan language, means Monastery of Collecting-Rice. Learn about the lives of Tibetan monks there.

The afternoon is spent touring Sera Monastery, have a little hike for the beautiful valley scenery nearby and picnic there, in the afternoon, visit Sera monastery, which was created in 1419 and has always been an important Buddhist seminary. As rose are planted everywhere in the monastery, it is also called “the court of wild rose”. Today still 200 lamas live in there. Catch the famous debate session of the monks before returning back to Lhasa.

Free time at your disposal this morning, explore the bustling markets of the Barkhor to buy some souvenirs for your families and friends. After lunch, departure transfer to the airport and fly to Chongqing. After arrival in Chongqing, your local guide will transfer you to the Cruise pier, and board the ship from 17:00 to 20:00. Your lifetime Yangtze River Cruise starts in Chongqing at around 22:00. Note: the boarding time changes based on the cruise ships, season, water level, weather, etc.

After breakfast, the river guide will give you a brief introduction of the cruise and the schedule. Then you will disembark and visit Shibaozhai, which is famous for its fanciful architecture and many interesting legends. With the reputation of 'Pearl on the River', Shibaozhai has received 220,000 visitors from home and abroad every year since opened to the public in 1979. Now it has become the 'little Penglai' for visitors to overlook the views of Yangtze River. The Captain's Welcome Party will be held tonight.

The highlight part of the Yangtze cruise is coming today. You will appreciate the unique scenery of the Three Gorges. As you sail on, there is the famous Shennong Stream on the border between the Wu Gorge and the Xiling Gorge, where you will disembark and take an interesting sampan adventure. Sitting on the special local wooden boat, you will travel along the zigzagging watercourses and enjoy the grotesque rocks and picturesque scenery along the banks, accompanied by the folk songs from the trackers. The Shennong Stream adventure will last about 3 to 4 hours. Then sailing into the Xiling Gorge, which is the longest gorge among the three and renowned for the numerous shoals, swift currents and grotesque peaks. The cruise ship will pass the Five Level Ship Lock of the Three Gorges Dam in the evening.

Today your Yangtze River trip will end with an excursion to the Three Gorges Dam, which is the major construction of the Three Gorges Project, the world largest irrigation project. When embark again, it's time to say goodbye to your memorable Yangtze cruise tour. After lunch, visit the Yichang Museum if time permits. Then you will head for Shanghai by flight. Upon your arrival, our guide will meet you at the airport and transfer you to downtown hotel.

The rest of the day is free on your own exploration. Your hotel is not far from the famous Xin Tian Di area. Xin Tian Di, where the new meets the old and East meets West, is a famous place for shopping, dining and nightlife in Shanghai. When evening comes, the Xintiandi area becomes a shining star in the city center. You could enjoy its unique construction, have dinner at the outdoor tables, or do some shopping in the fashion shops. The various styles of night bars can absolutely satisfy and enrich your night life.

In the morning, visit Shanghai Museum. It is a large museum exhibiting the ancient art while featuring bronze ware, chinaware, calligraphy and painting. Then, travel to the Yuyuan Garden, which is a famous classic garden of south region. The beautiful scenery and quiet atmosphere here make it a peaceful place in bustling Shanghai. In the afternoon, we will transfer you to the Bund area for a short cruise on the Huangpu River. Standing on the cruise ship, you will see many western-style buildings from Shanghai's colonial days in Puxi area. While on Pudong side, rows of skyscrapers will come into view. The utterly different buildings are the best records of the development of the city. You will explore the Bund area and then visit an old street in Shanghai. 

Our guide will pick you up from the hotel and send you to the airport so that you can board the flight back home after this pleasant tour. Alternatively, should you wish to stay on rather than return home right away, you could contact us and choose our other City Packages as an extension to your memorable adventure!