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19 |
Trek |
DAYS |
Voir les photos
Holiday Overview
Holiday Overview
Highlights
- Forbidden City and Great Wall hiking
- Leisure time in Chengdu
- Tibetan, Naxi and Dongba Culture Experience
- The green mountains and clear waters of Guilin are the finest under heaven, capable of cleansing both body and soul
- Huangshan: World Cultural and Natural Heritage
Brief Itinerary
- DAY 01 ARRIVAL BEIJING
- DAY 02 BEIJING HIGHLIGHTS
- DAY 03 JIANKOU TO MUTIANYU GREAT WALL
- DAY 04 BEIJING - XI'AN
- DAY 05 XI'AN CITY TOUR
- DAY 06 XI'AN - CHENGDU
- DAY 07 CHENGDU - LESHAN - CHENGDU
- DAY 08 CHENGDU - DALI
- DAY 09 DALI / SHIBAO SHAN / SHAXI VILLAGE / LIJIANG
- DAY 10 CYCLING AND HORSEBACK RIDING TOUR IN LIJIANG
- DAY 11 LIJIANG / TIGER LEAPING GORGE - SHANGRI-LA
- DAY 12 SHANGRI-LA - LIJINAG
- DAY 13 LIJIANG - GUILIN - LONGJI
- DAY 14 LONGSHENG - GUILIN
- DAY 15 GUILIN - YANGSHUO
- DAY 16 YANGSHUO - GUILIN - SHANGHAI
- DAY 17 TUNXI / MOUNT HUANG / TUNXI
- DAY 18 TUNXI (HUANGSHAN) / SHANGHAI
- DAY 19 SHANGHAI DEPARTURE
Map & Itinerary
Map & Itinerary
Embark on a 19-day expedition that ventures beyond the typical tourist trail, offering a deep dive into China's diverse landscapes, ancient cultures, and hidden villages.
Your journey begins in Beijing with a challenging hike along the Great Wall at Jiankou, followed by a visit to the Forbidden City. You will then travel to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors and the Muslim Quarter.
The adventure continues in Chengdu with a visit to the Panda Base, followed by a trip to the Leshan Giant Buddha. You will fly to Dali and Lijiang in Yunnan, where you will cycle and ride horses through the countryside, trek in the Tiger Leaping Gorge, and visit the ancient towns of Shaxi and Shangri-La.
The trip continues to Guilin and Yangshuo, featuring a Li River cruise and a visit to the Longsheng Rice Terraces. Finally, you will explore the misty peaks of Mount Huang and the ancient villages of Hongcun and Tunxi before concluding your journey in Shanghai.
Holiday Itinerary
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ARRIVAL BEIJING
Arrival Beijing airport, you will be met at Beijing International Airport by our guide and transferred to a hotel in central Beijing. Today, you will have an opportunity to rest and recover from the long flight.
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Accommodation Dongfang Hotel
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BEIJING HIGHLIGHTS
This morning, we will first go to visit Summer Palace. Summer Palace located in a northwestern suburb of Beijing; it is an immense park containing some Chinese traditional architecture and arts. It was built and served as a royal garden during the Qing Dynasty. It exhibits the quintessence of the Chinese classical landscape gardening. The halls, the pavilions, the corridors, the pagodas, the bridges and the water were elaborately arranged. The long Corridor is one of the most exquisite structures in the garden. It is over 700 meters long and decorated with thousands of Chinese traditional paintings.
In the afternoon, we will continue to visit Tian’anmen Square, the largest public square in the world, then follow in the footsteps of emperors, court ministers and eunuchs and head south to the magnificent and colorful Forbidden City. Forbidden City Beijing, also called Imperial Palace Museum, is located in the very heart of Beijing. It remained the residence of the emperors for nearly five hundred years, from the 15th century to the early 20th century, and was the actual and symbolic seat of imperial power. Popularly known as the Forbidden City, it was built in the Ming Dynasty between the 4th and the 18th years of the Yongle period (1406 - 1420 AD). Many of the buildings of the Palace have been repaired and rebuilt, but their basic form and layout remain in their original state. Hike to Jingshan Park, where gives a nice panoramic view of the Forbidden City at the top of Coal Hill.
Transfer to enjoy a delicious Peking duck dinner - the capital's most famous dish. Once imperial cuisine, now the legendary duck dish is served at restaurants around the world.
Free in the evening.
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Accommodation Dongfang Hotel
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Meals B
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JIANKOU TO MUTIANYU GREAT WALL
After breakfast, check out the hotel, Your last day in Beijing will on the Great Wall which is great for photography! We will drive 1.5-2hrs to a small village called Jiankou. The Jiankou section of the Wall is known to be one of most beautiful part of the Wild Wall near Beijing, loved by photographers. After a half-hour climb upwards, through a gentle wooded area, we will clamber out onto a portion of the Wall not visited by tourists. The hike itself is quiet and beautiful - in about four hours of passing deserted sections of the Wall in its original state, we will get to the well-known restored section of the Wall - Mutianyu. What a difference between the tourist section and the original Wild Wall we have just seen! At the end of the trek, transfer back to Beijing downtown.
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Accommodation Dongfang Hotel
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Meals B
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BEIJING - XI’AN
After breakfast, enjoy a guided tour of Art District 798.
Art District 798 is located in the Dashanzi area. At the beginning of 2002 artists and cultural organizations began to divide, rent out and re-make the factory spaces gradually developing them into galleries, art centers, artists’ studios, design companies and restaurants.
After lunch, transfer to Beijing West Railway station, take a high speed train to Xi’an. Upon arrival, transfer to the hotel in center Xi’an. Free in the evening.
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Accommodation Forest City Hotel Xi’an
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Meals B
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XI’AN CITY TOUR
After breakfast, we will drive to visit the magnificent Qin Terra-cotta Army, one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in the world: a life-size clay soldier poised for battle. Qin's tomb was built in about 2500 years ago and was filled with more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots and 520 horses as well as models of palaces, pavilions, fine vessels, precious stones and rarities. UNESCO listed it in 1987 as one of the world cultural heritages. In the afternoon, drive back to Xian city.
Continue to visit the Ancient City Wall, which represents one of the oldest and best preserved Chinese city walls. Bicycle or sightseeing car will be arranged on the wall to go around.
Continue to visit the Great Mosque, and Muslim Quarter.
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Accommodation Forest City Hotel Xi’an
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Meals B
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XI’AN - CHENGDU
In the morning, take a high speed train to Chengdu. Located in the heart of eastern Sichuan, Chengdu is the capital of this southwestern province. Geographic and political remoteness have always contributed to the free-spirited nature of the Sichuan people, and the modern cosmopolitan nature of Chengdu reflects this. Chengdu’s identity as a fast-growing metropolis, gateway city to Tibet, and source for some of Sichuan’s most delicious cuisine, makes it one of the most interesting cities to visit in China.
Upon arrival, we will first have local Hot Pot for lunch, and visit Wenshu Temple in the afternoon, where you can spend some time sitting in its tea house to enjoy a cup of tea and absorb the special atmosphere of Chengdu.
After dinner, attend the Sichuan Opera—a dazzling show performed with local instruments, hand shadows, candle storytelling, fire spitting, and face changing. Wandering around the local market and bar street Jinli, take local delicacies yourselves and enjoy the leisure life with local people.
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Accommodation Holiday Inn Chengdu
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Meals B
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CHENGDU - LESHAN - CHENGDU
In the morning, we will go to the Chengdu Research center of Panda Breeding to have a real chance to get intimate interaction with lovely panda. It has been created and imitated the natural habitat in order that they might have the best possible environment for rearing and breeding. We will spend the whole morning visiting different panda rooms. Here, we can explore the daily life of the cute pandas, eating bamboo at their active time (from 9 o’clock to 11 o’clock), and other rare and endangered wild animals including with black-necked cranes, white storks etc.
After lunch, take a 1.5hrs drive visit Leshan Giant Buddha, the looming Leshan Giant Buddha is a Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) relic that is the largest carved stone Buddha in the world at 71 meters. The Buddha, build in AD 713 by a Chinese monk named Haitong to calm the river waters, was crafted from a cliff face. It seems that so much stone from the carving process fell into the river below that it did indeed calm the area’s waters. While often crowded with tourists and battling the effects of pollution, Leshan is nevertheless an exquisite UNESCO world heritage site that is not to be missed for its impressive size and beautiful surrounding area.
After visit, drive back to Chengdu.
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Accommodation Holiday Inn Chengdu
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Meals B
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CHENGDU - DALI
Take an early morning flight to Dai, Today our guide will lead you to visit Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple northwest of Dali, occupying a scenic location at the foot of Mt. Cang Shan facing Erhai Lake, built in the reign of Emperor Hongwu of Ming Dynasty, has a history of over 1,800 years. Known for its resilience, This architectural treasure. has survived several eras of severe earthquakes.
Then, we will go for a boat tour on Erhai Lake, watching queues of captive cormorants waiting on the edge of the boat for their turn to do the fishing. The whole lake area is full of interesting and beautiful sites. Lining its banks in the valley is the ancient city of Dali. You can watch the people live their daily lives in a traditional way. That is an interesting backdrop for the scenery. We'll head to Xizhou, an old quiet town which will give you a chance to experience the Bai minority's local market where traders and merchants gather to do the business.
Then extend your tour to the native's hand-made clothing process - tie-die cloth workshop, taste local snacks when your walk along the small streets. By visiting this small town, you gain a better understanding of the history of this ingenious people and an appreciation of a culture that has been important in Chinese history.
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Accommodation Landscape Hotel
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Meals B
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DALI / SHIBAO SHAN / SHAXI VILLAGE / LIJIANG
In the morning we will make a 1.5-hour drive to Shibao Shan, a stone treasure mountain, which is famous for its red rock formations called Danxia landscape and the Buddhist grottoes that feature unique stone-carving nestled into the pine-forested mountain. Shizhong(Stone Bell) Temple, one of the three largest scenic spots of Shibao Shan, where the bodhisattva Guanyin and other Buddhist images are carved into the rocky mountainside, are over 1300 years old and evidence of the spread of Mahayana Buddhism into Yunnan from Tibet. The Buddhist grottoes contributed to Mount Shibao being known as the ‘Mogao Caves (莫高窟) of Yunnan’, in reference to the famous Buddhist frescoes in the desert of Dunhuang(敦煌) in northwest Gansu province. Walking in the mountain there are dense forests and flowing streams, which makes a beautiful picture.
Then walking 2 hours down from the mountain to Shaxi village, a historical village at the foot of Shibao Shan, nested in a valley. Shaxi village, World Monuments Fund has listed it as one of the 100 most endangered sites in the world. This area was once a bustling trade station on the Southern Silk Road (Tea and Horse Caravan Road), that linked China and Tibet with Southeast Asia, so the ancient remains, frescoes, art and graffiti on the mountains show a mixture of cultural influences from other parts of the world.
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Accommodation Jinyueyuan Hotel
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Distance 8km
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Time 2-3hrs hiking
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CYCLING AND HORSEBACK RIDING TOUR IN LIJIANG
Today, you will start your cycling tour from Lijiang Old Town. Cycle to Baisha Old Town first, then stop to visit Baisha Murals. Painted over 1,000 years ago, the murals display the life stories of China’s main religions, including Confucianism, Taoism, and Tibetan Buddhism.
Then go on your cycling to Lashihai Lake. Lashihai Lake, a nature reserve rich in biodiversity. You will start your horse-riding around Lashihai Lake. With an area of 5,330 hectares, Lashihai Lake is about 9.3 km long from south to north and 8.2 km wide from east to west. It is the largest lake in Lijiang County. Surrounded by the mountains, the catchment of Lashihai is about 256.6 square meters.The Rivers of Meiquan and Keluokang are merged together into Lashihai. With good quality of water, which meets water quality requirement of Grade It is one of the reserved drinking water sources for the city of Lijiang. Drive back to Lijiang in the late afternoon.
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Accommodation Jinyueyuan Hotel
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Distance 65km
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Meals B
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Time 4-4.5 hours cycling
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LIJIANG / TIGER LEAPING GORGE - SHANGRI-LA
After breakfast, transfer to Tiger leaping gorge is a canyon on the Yangtze River – locally called the Golden Sands River – located60 kmnorth of Lijiang City. This gorge is formed by two mountains—theJadeDragonSnowMountainand the Haba Snow mountain, with the river flowing in between called theGoldenSandRiver. This gorge is about3700mfrom the top of the mountain to the water surface, and about15 kmin length. It is said that once, in order to escape from the chasing of a hunter, the tiger has to leaping from this side to the other side of the river, the rock that the tiger used now is become the core of this gorge—the ‘tiger leaping stone’ also called the ‘upper tiger leaping gorge’, which is only 30 meters in between the two sides of the river. There we will do a short hike race to exercise the student team consciousness, after lunch, visit the upper tiger leaping gorge.
Then drive to Shangri-la. Upon arrival in Shangri La, you will have entered the Tibetan cultural area and a landscape of barley fields and yaks scattered in the valleys. If time is enough, walk around Dukezong Ancient Town, an important town of the Ancient Tea-horse Trade Caravan from Yunnan to Tibet and India. You can see the Thang-ga painting in academy. Thang-ga is a unique style of painting developed in the 7th century in the Tibetan area. Thang-ga is a Tibetan word which refers to the scroll painting mounted with colorful satins and fabrics.
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Accommodation Tree Space
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Meals B
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SHANGRI-LA - LIJINAG
Today we’ll spend our day doing more sightseeing around Old Town of Shangri-la and getting further adjusted to the high elevation.
This area is rich with Tibetan-style architecture and dates back 1300 years! We’ll eat breakfast and drive to Songzanlin Monestary, 5km north of the old town center. The Songzanlin Monestary (constructed in 1679) is the largest Tibetan Monestary in Yunnan and is nicknamed the “Lesser Potala” due to its resemblance to the magnificent structure in Lhasa. We’ll visit for 2 hours until lunch at a local restaurant.
After lunch we’ll go to visit Napa Lake about 6km away. The Napa Lake Nature Reserve is the country’s largest grassland and most scene area of the plateau. We’ll have time to walk around and take everything in, enjoy the Tibetan culture and take lots of photographs before riding back to Old Town.
Drive back to Lijiang in late afternoon.
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Accommodation Jinyueyuan Hotel
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Meals B
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LIJIANG - GUILIN - LONGJI
Free in the morning, then picked up by our local guide and driver, transfer to the airport, take flight to Guilin.
Meet your guide and driver either at Guilin Liangjiang Airport in early afternoon, take 1.5~2hrs drive to witness one of the most beautiful terraces in China, Longji Terraces and have an excursion there for ethnic minority culture.
As soon as you get to the entrance of Longji, change the local shuttle bus for another 30 minutes uphill to Longji Ancient Zhuang Village, then start your hiking to Pingan Zhuang Village where your hotel is located. This hike route is quite non-touristy, during which you will enjoy the picturesque and peaceful rural life, and view the rice terraces from different angles and take a look at how farmers do their farm work. The hiking distance is around 4 kilometers with some small ups and downs, the ascent is about 60 meters, and you may need one hour to cover it. After check in the hotel in Pingan Village, if time permits, we can hike on the cobbled paths built among terraces to catch the best landscape.
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Accommodation Ping’an Hotel
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Meals B
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LONGSHENG - GUILIN
After breakfast, start to do a 2 hours hike from Ping'an via the rice terraces to a local Zhuang village, transfer to your van or bus. Then drive 2 hours to Guilin, visit: Reed Flute Cave (the most famous limestone cave in this area and good example of this Karst Formation), Yao Mountain (the highest in Guilin, by chair lift, for a great bird's eye view of the surroundings on the summit), the biggest organic tea farm at the foot of Yao Mountain. In the evening, follow your guide and take a 1.5 hours' leisure walk along the city's ancient water system – this ancient water system was built by the locals 800 years ago and was served as moat before.
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Accommodation Hampton by Hilton Guilin Xiufeng
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Distance 5km
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Meals B
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Time 2hrs hiking
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GUILIN - YANGSHUO
After breakfast, meet your guide at your hotel lobby and drive 50-60 minutes to the Mopanshan Pier for a 4-hour's cruise on Li River, with lunch aboard. You will enjoy the beautiful mountains, verdant fields, farms and villages with water buffalos, cows wondering around on both sides of the river bank. Get off at Yangshuo - famous for its spectacular view of hills and rivers.
In the afternoon, we arrange a Chinese cooking class, which lasts for about 3 hours. It begins with going to the local food market to buy ingredients for your cooking class. Then cook 2 or 3 popular Chinese dishes under the guidance of an English-speaking tutor, and the taste fruits of your labor at the end.
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Accommodation New West Street Hotel Yangshuo
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Meals BL
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YANGSHUO - GUILIN - SHANGHAI
After breakfast, take a short drive to Xionggongshan Hill. When you climb up to the top of Xianggongshan Hill for about 20 minutes, overlook and find the hills standing orderly, clear Lijiang River meandering through the hills. The light, clouds, sunrise, pink clouds here attracts numerous photographers and photography enthusiasts. Therefore, it is one of the best place to enjoy the best view of Li River. It is even better and less costly than taking the Lijiang River Cruise.
After visit, drive 1.5hur to Guilin railway station, take a high speed train to Huangshan via Shangrao
Train information:Guilin-Shangrao G1504 12:28pm-18:52pm
Shangrao-Huangshan G2386 19:44pm-20:25pm
Pick up by our local guide and driver in Huangshan, drive to the hotel and have a rest.Picked up by our local guide in Hong Kong, transfer to the hotel and have a rest.
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Accommodation Tunxi Guesthouse
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Meals BL
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TUNXI / MOUNT HUANG / TUNXI
Today after breakfast, your guide and driver will pick you up at your hotel, then drive about 80 kilometers (1.5 hours) to the foot of Mount Huang (Yellow Mountain), the UNESCO World Heritage Sites and one of the most beautiful mountains in China. Hike the mountain and catch the first cable car up to avoid the crowds, Hike approx. 4 hours accompany by our guide, then cable car down to the bottom. Back to the hotel, picked up Madeleine, transfer to visit Hong Ancient village
For Per: In the morning, go to take a cableway to upper beautiful sightseeing area of Huang Mountain – North Sea Scenic Area which is famous for marvelous precipitous peaks, beautiful giant pine trees and far-reaching vision. The guide will accompany you to do a 4hour hike which covers the highlights of the Yellow Mountain, such as North Sea and West Sea area, where you can appreciate the breathtaking scenery and photograph the seas of clouds, peculiar-shaped rocks, verdant Pine trees, and rolling mountains, and then, take the cable car to go down the mountain.
Back to the hotel, your driver is ready at the mountain foot to transfer you to the ancient village of Hongcun that will impress you with the ink-painting beauty and peace. Have lunch at the local restaurant.
Hongcun Ancient Village is a famous UESCO World Heritage Site. You can enjoy the ancient Hui Style architecture, one type of traditional Chinese architecture and the breathtaking landscape. Hongcun is a wonderful place to visit, originated during Song Dynasty (960-1276), praised as the most beautiful village in China. It is famous as the ancient village in the Chinese painting. Quite different from other traditional ancient villages in China, the layout, landscape, architectural form, decoration, and construction techniques all retain the original features Hongcun.
Drive to Tunxi in the late afternoon. If the time permits, go for a relaxing stroll on the 900-year-old Tunxi Ancient Street to appreciate authentic old Huizhou-style architectures.
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Accommodation Tunxi Guesthouse
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Meals B
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TUNXI (HUANGSHAN) / SHANGHAI
Transfer to the railway station in the morning, take a high speed train to Shanghai, upon arrival, pick up by our local guide in Xi’an, transfer to the hotel and have a rest. Free in the rest of the day.-
Accommodation Kingtown Hotel Shanghai Hongkou
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Meals B
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SHANGHAI DEPARTURE
Transfer to the airport on your own, take a flight back home.-
Meals B
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Price Policy
Tour Price Policy
Additional details
1. Before you pay deposit to book the tour, we haven’t made any reservation yet. The train, flight tickets and the hotel may different from the itinerary listed.
2. The visiting order of the scenic spots in the itinerary may change according to the traffic condition and other unforeseen things.
3. Tourist insurance is a must before going, please provide us the confirmation of insurance company when sign up.
The price includes
1. Entrance Fees: to scenic spots as listed in the itinerary
2. All the activities fee mentioned in the itinerary: Hutong rickshaw in Beijing; Sichuan Opera show in Chengdu;
3. Private Transfers: Transfers between airports, hotels and scenic spots while sightseeing during the trip by private air conditioned vehicle with a driver.
4. Meals: All meals as indicated in the itinerary (B-breakfast, L-lunch, D-dinner), include Peking duck dinner in Beijing; Hot pot dinner in Chengdu.
5. Guide: As outlined in the itinerary an English-speaking guide and driver will be provided in each city, who will remain with you throughout your time in that city. A new guide and a new driver will meet you at each city on your tour, to provide you with the best local knowledge available
6. Hotel: hotel fees are based on two people sharing one room with king-size bed. All hotels as listed in the above itinerary serve daily western or Chinese breakfast
7. Internal flights
** Day 11/ Flight from Yichang to Shanghai (based on economy class);
8. Trains
** Day 04/ High speed train from Beijing to Xi’an (based on 2nd class);
** Day 06/ High speed train from Xi’an to Chengdu (based on 2nd class)
** Day 06/ High speed train from Chengdu to Chongqing (based on 2nd class)
9. Arrangements: the tour cost includes planning, handling, operational and communication charges
10. Travel Agency Liability insurance
The price does not include
1. International airfare or train tickets to enter or leave China
2. China entry visa fees
3. Excess baggage charges
4. The medicine for the sickness or accident while on the way
5. Personal expenses: expenses of a purely personal nature such as laundry, drinks, fax, telephone calls, optional activities, sightseeing or meals which are not included in the tour itinerary
6. Meals: any meals which are not specified in the tour itinerary
7. Single room supplement
8. Please notice that the price will be much higher during the festival of Labors’ Day, National Day, spring festival
9. Tips to tour guide and driver (recommended USD10-15/guest/day).
10. Tourist accident insurance. NB - you are strongly suggested to buy travel and health insurance before you start out from your home country.
Payment conditions
To confirm your reservation, you must pay a deposit of 30% of the total amount due via the payment link that your local agent will share. The balance is due 30 days prior to departure. The quoted exchange rate is valid for the next 7 days – if the deposit is not paid within this time, the quote will be re-calculated.
Terms and conditions for cancelation
i. Cancellation of the Tour by CAT (local agent):
CAT reserve the right to cancel the postpone tour at any time up to the date final payment is due under the following condition: in our opinion, health and/or safety factors related to conditions in China would make the tour inadvisable. And in this case, all money paid by the participants will be refunded. If the tour is postponed, CAT will offer all those who have signed up the opportunity to have the same tour for a later time, but the price may be changed according to the season. We will notify you of any change, and give you a reasonable period
of time to make your decision. Consumers may, but are under no obligation to, take the tour under these new terms. After final payment has been made, we may cancel the tour only if, in our opinion, health and/or safety factors related to conditions in China would make the tour inadvisable. Since cancellation in this case involves factors which may arise suddenly and are entirely outside our control, including but not limited to natural disasters, civil unrest and epidemic disease, we cannot guarantee a full refund in this case. This is because payment will already have been made to finalize the arrangements and reservation.
ii. Cancellation of the Tour by Consumer:
Any cancellation must be made by sending an email to the local agent. The cancellation fee varies according to how many days prior to departure the cancellation is made:
· More than 30 days prior to departure: 5% of the total holiday cost
· Between 30 and 22 days prior to departure : 25% of the total holiday cost
· Between 21 and 8 days prior to departure : 50% of the total holiday cost
· Between 7 and 3 days prior to departure : 75% of the total holiday cost
· Less than 3 days prior to departure and after the departure date: 100% of the total holiday cost
All cancellations must be in writing and will be effective upon receipt by CAT. No refund will be made to those participants who break the journey regardless of the portions of the package unused. If, owing to serious illness or injury, the participant withdraws from the tour, a refund will be subject to the consent of the local travel agent.
No refund will be made to those participants who have failed to secure valid travel documents such as passport or visas.
