Day 1: Arrival in Beijing
Welcome to Beijing! Your guides will accompany you from the airport to the hotel. The remainder of the day is for you to relax and overcome the jetlag of your intercontinental flight.
Day 2: Beijing
Today you will visit the Great Wall of China, the "8th world wonder". This 6000 km wall stretches from the Yellow Sea in the East to western China. Emperor Qin Shihuang in 221 BC is credited with building this symbol of Chinese nationality. In 1215 it was breached by Genghis Khan and his Mongolian army and again in 1644 by Manchu troops. You will also visit the Ming Tombs, the burial ground of thirteen Ming dynasties.
In the evening a welcome dinner will be held in a famous Beijing Roast Duck restaurant, introducing you to China's variety of cuisine.
Day 3: Beijing
A full day of sightseeing begins with the Imperial Palace ("Forbidden City"), Tian'anmen Square, and the Temple of Heaven. In the evening you will travel to Xian.
The Forbidden Palace was home to 24 Ming and Qing emperors of the Celestial Empire. Gated by 9.9 meter high walls, it consists of almost a thousand buildings, courtyards, and corridors in an area of 720.000 m². The last Emperor, Puyi, left the Forbidden City in 1924, after which it was opened to the public.
Tian'anmen Square sits south of the Forbidden City. It is the central square in Beijing and the location of the Mao Mausoleum.
The Temple of Heaven served Ming and Qing emperors as the sacred place to perform ceremonial rites on behalf of the Chinese nation.
Day 4: Xian
After breakfast your train will reach Xian, the capital of the Shaanxi province. The city has a 3100 year long history and is one of the oldest Chinese cities. In the morning you will visit the Terracotta warriors before traveling to the City Wall, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the Bell Tower, and the Great Mosque. In the evening a show will present you with music, songs, and costumes of the Tang Dynasty period. After a sumptuous meal of famous Jiaze dumplings, you will board the private train to Chengdu.
The Terracotta Warriors were built by Qin Qi, a ruler of legendary stature who began work on his own mausoleum in 250 BC, harnessing the labor of 750,000 conscripts. This army of lifesize warriors stand in infantry battle order. Arrayed in pits and made of local clay with no two faces alike, they depict bowmen, foot soldiers, cavalry, war chariots, and bronze weapons. Three of the four pits are open to the public and there are also exhibition halls.
Day 5: Chengdu
Today you will cross mountains to reach the province of Sichuan and its capital Chengdu. You will be able to enjoy beautiful scenery, watch farmers and villagers in the fields, and relax after a day of intensive sightseeing in Xian. In the afternoon the private train will reach Chengdu and you will be transferred to a hotel in the city center. Chengdu is famous for three highlights: its spicy cuisine, hundreds of traditional teahouses, and the Sichuan Opera.
In the afternoon you will attend a traditional teahouse and enjoy a tea ceremony. A speciality dinner will familiarize you with Sichuan cuisine specialities while a show entertains you.
Day 6: Chengdu and Leshan
In the morning you will visit the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base, home to several dozen pandas. Here seeing a panda is guaranteed, and the best time to see them is in the morning when they are fed and at their liveliest. Next you will visit Jinli Ancient Street to see examples of traditional architecture of the Ming and Qing dynasties. While having lunch onboard the private train, you will continue to Emei Shan, two hours south of Chengdu. Nearby is Emei Shan, the highest of Chinas's four holy Buddhist mountains, rising 3099 m above sea level. A half hour bus drive takes you to Leshan, where you board a boat on the Mingjiang River to the Giant Buddha statue. The statue is carved from rock at the Mingjiang River and it is 71 m high.
In the evening you will return to the private train in Emei station. Overnight you will continue south.
Day 7: Onboard
Today you will spend on the train, passing the famous mountain line of the Chengdu-Kunming Railway. This line opened in 1970 and offers sights of the South Chinas mountains. Almost 1100 km long, it has 991 bridges and 427 tunnels totaling 345 km in length. 41 of the 122 stations along the line are in tunnels or on bridges. During your travel, your experienced tour escorts will give lectures onboard the private train about Chinese culture, history, and daily life.
Day 8: Dali and Lijiang
In the early morning the train will switch from the Chengdu-Kunming mainline to the newly opened line from Kunming to Dali. After breakfast you will arrive in the city of Dali, the "Jewel of the Southwest", situated on the Erhai Lake. It is home of the Bai, an ethnic minority which forms the Dali vis-à-vis the Han, Hui, Yi, and Tibetan ethnic groups. You will visit Dali's old town which offers great views of Bai-inspired architecture and the Temple of Three Pagodas. A boat cruise takes you on Lake Erhai for an unforgettable look at the Snow Mountains. In the village of Shaping you will visit the weekly local market, a grand meeting place for local people of various ethnic groups. Here you can enjoy a feeling of authentic Yunnan village life.
Day 9: Lijiang
Lijiang is situated in front of the 5600 m high Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. With more than 20 ethnic minorities living here, it is a multicultural and colorful city. Perched at the bottom of the Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it was difficult to access before the railway line from Kunming and Dali was opened in 2010. Lijiang's ancient city has preserved its charming antiquity, and in 1997 became a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. In the morning you will take a leisurely walk through the narrow lanes of the old city with its shops, cafes, and markets. In the afternoon an excursion takes you to the bottom of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain where one of the most impressive shows happens every afternoon: Lijiangs "Impressions". Over a thousand people of various ethnic minorities perform in their traditional costumes with dances and drummers.
Day 10: Lijiang and Shangri-La
Today a bus tour takes you into the Tibetan area (200 km, 5 hours). You will explore the Tiger Leaping Gorge between the Tiger Snow Mountain of Lijiang and the Haba Snow Mountain of Zhongdian to the north. After a day full of spectacular sites you will travel to Zhongdian, renamed Shangri-La in 2002. In 1933, the word Shangri-La was introduced by novelist James Hilton, who wrote in Lost Horizon of four Westerners stranded by plane crash in an idyllic mountain paradise in the Himalayas called Shangri-La. In this earthly Eden, peace and harmony prevailed. In 1997 the Yunnan province government declared Zhongdian to be the place described in Lost Horizon.
Day 11: Shangri-La
40% of the population of Shangri-La are Tibetans. You will visit the Tibetan Gedan Songzhanling Monastry, home of the Yellow Hat Monks. A performance of Tibetan music gives you an introduction to some aspects of Tibetan life.
Day 12: Shangri-La and Lijiang
Today your bus takes you from Shangri-La back to Lijiang. In the afternoon you will board your private train to Kunming.
Day 13: Kunming and Shilin
After breakfast you will arrive in Kunming, the capital of the province Yunnan, which borders Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. You will tour the Western Hills on the bank of Dianchi Lake, China's sixth largest freshwater supply. The densely forested area is home to a number of Buddhist and Daoist temples and represents a typical Chinese environment for meditation and recreation. After lunch you will travel to Shilin, two hours southeast of Kunming. There you will see an impressive forest of limestone rocks formed 270 million years ago. Walking through the Stone Forest, you will marvel at the natural masterpieces and intricate formations. Animals, plants, and even human figures can be found in the unique rock designs. Many beautiful legends originated around this magical place, passed along by the native people known as Sani, a branch of the Yi ethnic group. In the evening you will re-board the private train which to Nanning.
Day 14: Nanning
In the morning you will arrive in Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi Province, also known as the "Green City" because of its sub-tropical scenery, evergreen trees, and abundance of parks. Nanning is home to thirty ethnic minority groups with more than 1600 years of history and ethnic culture between them. A half day excursion will bring you to the village of Yilingyan. Its typical karst geomorphology is crowned as the Underground Palace. According to geologists, the grotto in Yilingyan Scenic Area was formed one million years ago. The stalagmites, stone curtains, and flowers are absolutely lifelike.
Day 15: Nanning and Hanoi
Today your private train will cross into Vietnam. The private train will leave Nanning after breakfast and arrive in Hanoi at dinner. All immigration formalities are comfortably handled onboard the train.
Day 16: Hanoi
The Vietnamese capital of Hanoi is a unique Asian city with tree-lined boulevards, French colonial architecture, peaceful lakes, and oriental pagodas dating back thousand of years. A full city tour takes you around Hanoi's most interesting sites, including the Ho Chi Minh Complex, Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, the Stilts House, the Presidential Palace, the One Pillar Pagoda, and the Old Quarter. Also on the tour is the Lake of the Restored Sword, the Ngoc Son Temple, the Temple of Literature, West Lake, the Tran Quoc Pagoda, the Quan Thanh Temple, and one of the city's museums, either the History Museum or the Ethnology Museum.
Day 17: Hanoi
Today is the final day of your tour. You will be transferred to the airport for your flight home.
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