Grand Tour - China

hidden

Spring: Land in Beijing on 3/31/2024

Summer: Land in Beijing on 6/16/2024

Winter: Land in Beijing on 12/22/2024

When you land in Beijing, after you’ve made your way through Customs & Immigration and retrieved your bags, our local Heritage Tour guides will be ready and waiting for you in the terminal!

Depending on travel group size, your party may be picked up with several other parties, but once all have arrived safely, we will hop on our private vehicle to make our way to the hotel.

Tonight, celebrate your arrival in the heart of China and start getting to know your guide and fellow travelers! Try not to celebrate too late though…jetlag can be mean.

Hotel: Metro Park Lido

Meals not included today

“One is not a hero until they have conquered the Great Wall.” 

Meals included: breakfast, lunch, dinner

A LOT of walking today, again. Wear comfy shoes and stay hydrated.

Tian’anmen Square

With the portrait of Mao Zedong hanging squarely over the entrance of this sprawling 440,000 sq. m. building, walking around Tian’anmen Square is quite the experience. The rectangular arrangement of the square echoes the layout of The Forbidden City, which we’ll visit directly after, but most of its styling and structures are Soviet-inspired. So much to say here, but suffice to say that you can’t visit Beijing without at least laying eyes on this Square and putting a place to the name.

The Forbidden City

2020 marked the 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City. Transliterated, China’s name for itself (中国) means, “The Middle/Central Kingdom”.  Situated in the heart of this symbolic Center lies the Forbidden City, a foreboding and beautiful ancient palace fortress. Within these walls, 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties ruled from their guarded home. Talk about social distancing, amirite?

Hutong

Tucked within Beijing’s towering metropolis, the hutong are a slice of old Beijing that feels frozen in time. We’ll be ushered on rickshaws through Beijing’s hutong; centuries-old, tree-lined alleyways that are the soul of this sprawling city. For movie nerds like us, the nostalgia-filled hutong often inspire several rewatches of Wang Xiaoshuai’s Beijing Bicycle. (If you haven’t seen it, add it to your pre-Heritage Tour watch list.)

This is a fan favorite afternoon adventure and we think you’ll really love it. Best part? Stuffing our stomachs with a homemade lunch, hosted by a multi-generational family living within the hutong.

Meals included: breakfast, lunch

Bullet Train to Xi’An

Experience China’s famous maglev bullet trains as we take a 5-hour ride southwest to Xi’An. Fitted with WiFi, snack carts, rotating chairs, and boiling water dispensers for instant noodles, this is our favorite way to travel as we take in China’s scenery.

Dumpling Dinner

Once we get settled in hotel #2 (Grand Noble Hotel), we’re heading out to learn how to make dumplings! Xi’An is firstly China’s noodle capital, but their dumpling houses aren’t too shabby either. Put on your chef’s hat and get ready for some serious cooking and serious eating. Mm mm mm… deliciously, delightfully, delectable dumpling dinner.

Meals included: breakfast, dinner

Xi’An Ancient Wall

Once the long-reigning capital of ancient China (for over 2000 years!), Xi’An is one of the few cities in China whose imposing old city walls still stand! For the fitness fiends who haven’t found the Great Wall and Forbidden City stimulating enough, you can walk the entirety of the wall in under 4 hours or jog/bike it in 2 hours and imagine yourself to be a weather-worn and hardened modern-day sentry of the old city. I wonder what the Ming Dynasty rulers and guards would have thought if they knew we’d be riding our bikes on their city walls just 700 years later…

Terra Cotta Warriors

As one of the most famous archaeological discoveries in modern history, these subterranean life-size warriors number in the mind-boggling thousands, silently standing guard over the soul of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (Qin Shi Huang Di), and China’s first unifier, for more than 2,000 years. You have to see it to believe it and even still, it’s hard to take it all in. Three huge “pits” are now open to the public to gaze upon the thousands of singularly unique soldiers. It’s hot, it’s crowded, and it’s so incredibly worth the hype. We’re history buffs, but even if you’re not, these stone armies are the strangest and most impressive window into China’s ancient past. Pick your favorite. We named our guy Bernard and his horse is Johnny Cash.

Lotus Garden

Xi’An’s Lotus Garden was rebuilt in the style of the imperial gardens of the Tang Dynasty (400 years after that emperor asked to share his tomb with an army of stony warriors). It is the first large-scale imperial garden cultural theme park in China to display the style of the prosperous Tang Dynasty and a beautiful park to have a peaceful evening stroll.

Meals included: breakfast, lunch

Xi’An Museum & Small Wild Goose Pagoda

Before our bullet train to Chengdu, we’ll get to visit Xi’An Museum to learn more about the ancient capital’s history and impact. Just next door to the museum is the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its significance in the Silk Road. It is the sister pagoda to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda and provides a more tranquil stroll than its larger sibling.

Bullet Train to Chengdu

Another bullet train, this time 4 hours even further southwest, through lush landscapes down to Chengdu, the Land of Giant Pandas!

*Rest Day*

Upon reaching Chengdu, we’re taking it easy. It’s been four days of non-stop adventuring and you deserve a breather. On the menu? Free time and a unique shopping opportunity at Jinli Ancient Street after a scrumptious Sichuan dim sum lunch. Enjoy tea at a local park and experience local Chengdu life. If you know how to play Mahjong, you’re going to fit right in!

Check into hotel #3: Tianfu Sunshine Hotel

Sichuan Opera

Okay, so maybe not a full rest day, but you can’t miss a chance to catch a Sichuan opera performance! Sichuan opera is the birthplace of China’s famous mask-changing art, a secret skill passed down from master to disciple and used to shape characters in the art of Sichuan opera. Face changing’s slight-of-hand artistry follows each significant character to reveal their inner thoughts and feelings. Come for the cultural experience and stay for the magic.

Meals included: breakfast, lunch

Chengdu Panda Reserve

The Giant Panda Mecca. Prepare yourselves to be thoroughly heartwarmed and bewildered by these animated stuffed animals. Why are they so cute? How are they alive? Are they self-aware? Chengdu Panda Reserve will answer all of these questions and more.

Optional: Half-day volunteer program at Chengdu Panda Reserve which includes making “panda cakes” (made of bamboo, not of pandas…) and feeding pandas.  Cost is approximately $180/person.

— After ample panda time and a tasty Sichuan lunch together, we’re headed to the airport for Guilin! —

Hotel #4: Guilin Bravo Hotel

Meals included: breakfast, lunch

Jinli Ancient Street

We’re taking it a bit slower today and get to spend some time shopping and tasting local street fair at Jinli Ancient Street! Jinli Street is known as the First Street of the Shu Kingdom and tourists love to visit its flagstone streets and traditional, Qing Dynasty Sichuan-style buildings. The hustle and bustle of this ancient street is the stuff video blog dreams are made of. Don’t miss the shadow puppet vendors or the traditional paper cutters!

We’ll have a chance to try traditional Sichuan Dim Sum for lunch today as well! Sooo delicious!

Tea at the Park

After lunch, we’ll have a chance to walk around a local park and enjoy some tea. Catch us at the mahjong tables 😉 Stretch those limbs out before we hop on our plane to our next stop.

— After a tireless day of shopping and relaxation, we’re headed to the airport for Guilin! —

Hotel #4: Guilin Bravo Hotel

Meals included: breakfast, lunch

Elephant Trunk Hill

Elephant Trunk Hill (象鼻山) is basically Guilin’s mascot. This humble hill holds notoriety akin to that of Yosemite’s Half Dome in the U.S. and something about this special landmark is so peaceful and calming. Just a lil guy drinking out of the Li River, reminding everyone to hydrate or diedrate. He’s a true hero and one that has made his way into China’s most famous poems and songs.

— We’ll get to try some traditional Guilin Rice Noodles for lunch, one of our personal favorites! —

Tea Factory

Whether it’s due to the startling nature of Guangxi’s landscape or the calming flow of the Li River, the tea culture in Guilin is quite strong. Guilin produces several kinds of local specialties (or, should we say, “special teas?”), including monk fruit tea, longji tea, maojian green tea, osmanthus flower tea, and Li River silver needle white tea. For anyone shopping for tea-loving friends, this might be a great place to find a gift that will last them at least 5 years because they forgot it was in the cabinet, but it’s sealed air-tight and already dried so it’s probably still good right? Yes.

Meals included: breakfast, lunch, dinner

Li River Cruise

The Li River runs through the one of the most breathtaking landscapes of China. Its banks are surprising hills, steep cliffs, and fantastic caves all lined with bamboo and osmanthus trees, and every new bend hits you with the sudden urge to paint and wax poetic. This is China’s most famous cruise for a reason. *The river is very still, so motion-averse travelers shouldn’t be too affected, but plan accordingly.*

Free Time & Shopping

We have a short break between disembarking the Li River Cruise and donning our chef’s coats for dinner. What better way to while away the time than some souvenir scouting for your favorite aunts and nephews?

Cooking Class & Farewell Dinner

It’s time to put those Chopped marathon rewatch lessons to good use because we’re eating what we’re making tonight! This hands-on, fully committed Chinese cooking class is a chaotic, fun time and a fantastic chance to learn how to cook authentic Chinese dishes the right way. Apologies in advance if you bite on an eggshell.

It’s hard to say goodbye with a mouthful of food, so we’re going to stuff ourselves silly and try our best to hold off the goodbyes for as long as possible. Don’t you dare cry. If you cry, we’ll cry. We’re empathetic criers. We also hate goodbyes. Get yourself another serving of noodles.

Meals included: breakfast, lunch, dinner

Departure Day

Spring: Depart on 4/10/2024

Summer: Depart on 6/26/2024

Winter: Depart on 1/1/2025

Time to go 🙁 We will take our final bullet train from Guilin to Guangzhou. (2-3 hour ride, southwest through some of our favorite landscapes)

*Important Note*
Our trip fee covers departing from Guilin to Guangzhou. However, if your party needs to fly to a different departure city (Shanghai or Beijing, for instance), or you are headed to another province for a Birth City Tour, we will make appropriate arrangements for you and the ticket fee difference will be conveyed upon booking.