13-Day China Highlights Private Tour from Beijing: Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Yangtze River and Shanghai | Forbidden City | Great Wall | Terracotta Army | Reed Flute Cave | Yangtze River Cruise | The Bund

When your flight lands at Beijing Capital Airport or Beijing Daxing International Airport, your personal tour guide is ready to welcome you at the arrival hall exit, with your name board in hand. Then you will be escorted to your hotel. The rest of the day is for you to relax and recover from jet lag.

After breakfast at your hotel, the tour guide will accompany you to start the city exploration from Tiananmen Square, the political center of present China. 

Walking through the square, you will get into the splendid Forbidden City, which always amazes visitors from all over the world with its imposing pavilions, elegant ornaments, and lively historical stories. 

Afterwards, visit the imperial Summer Palace and enjoy a short cruise on Kunming Lake if the weather permits.

Take about a 2-hour drive to the less crowded Great Wall. Take the cable car up, do some hiking on it, and get down by cable car also. 

You can spend around 2 or 3 hours on the wall and then we will drive another hour to visit Changling Tomb - the largest and best preserved of the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty. 

Later in the afternoon, drive back to your hotel in the city.

Visit the Temple of Heaven, which once was a sacred place where the emperors prayed for a good harvest but nowadays a public park you can watch and join the locals to do morning exercises. 

Later on, visit Hutongs and see the traditional houses of old Beijing, and then take a high-speed train to Xi'an. Arrival after around 5 hours, get to the hotel with help from your local guide and driver.

Today will be your most memorable day in Xi'an as you will uncover the mystery of the underground army of Terracotta Warriors and be astonished by the thousands of vivid clay statues there in life-size. 

After that, have a short stop at Xi'an Art Ceramics Factory before getting back to the city to capture the urban landscapes by strolling the bustling Muslim Street.

Private transfer to the airport for a 2.5-hour flight to Guilin. 

Upon arrival, a local guide will welcome you and lead you to visit the Reed Flute Cave. In this surreal cave, you will see lots of stalactites & stalagmites illuminated by colorful lights and learn how they were formed.

Check out the hotel after breakfast, and drive about 50 minutes to Zhujiang Wharf for the Li River Cruise down to Yangshuo. 

While the boat floating on the river, you will immerse in the picturesque scenery formed by towering peaks, bamboo groves, and rice paddies. The whole cruise takes around 3.5 to 4.5 hours depending on the water level.

Disembark the cruise in Yangshuo, walk through the bustling West Street, and then be escorted to your hotel for checking in. After a short break at the hotel, enjoy a countryside tour either by bicycle or by drive.

After breakfast be transferred to the railway station for your high-speed train (about 5 hours) to Chongqing. 

On arrival, your local tour guide will pick you up and transfer you to the dock to embark on your Yangtze River cruise. The ship usually departs Chongqing at 9:00 PM.

Have a leisurely morning on the board to enjoy the scenery on both sides of the Yangtze River. 

In the afternoon, take part in the excursion to Shibaozhai, a historical red pavilion hanging on a solitary hill to serve as a path to the top of the hill where you can get a sweeping view of the surrounding area.

Enjoy another restful morning while the cruise continues. 

In the afternoon join the tour to Shennv Stream. Take a wooden flat-bottom boat to reach the depth of the valley, relish in the stunning scenery, and catch the chance to see the original life of locals.

Disembark at Maoping pier of Yichang. Join in the Shore excursion to the Three Gorges Dam Project Site and then transferred to tourist center in Yichang by a bus arranged by the cruise company. From there, you will be picked up by our guide and driver for a private transfer to the airport.

Upon your arrival in Shanghai, be met and transferred to your hotel.

Discover the city from the Shanghai Museum and trace back to the past from its thousands of collections, then to Yu Garden and the bustling Yuyan Market, a silk workshop and the Former French Concession. End today's tour with strolling on the Bund where you can get a microcosm of Old Shanghai dating back to the 1920s.

Today, you will be free until the tour guide picks you up and transfers you to the airport for the flight departing from Shanghai.