Itinerary

Day 01 Hometown / Beijing
Depart from Canada to Beijing.

Day 02 Beijing
Upon arrival in Beijing, meet your local guide and transfer to your hotel.  Rest of the day free.
Hotel:  4* Novotel Xingqiao or similar

Day 03 Beijing
Hotel breakfast.  Visit the Imperial Palace - the “Forbidden City” - the sequestered world of China’s final emperors.  After lunch, your tour takes you to the Temple of Heaven, established on the site that feng shui masters determined was the place where Heaven and Earth meet - this is where emperors presided over prayers and rituals for good weather and bountiful harvests.  (B/L/D)

Day 04 Beijing
Head to the outskirts of Beijing to marvel at the Great Wall, and - if you wish - to take the opportunity to scale its heights.  After lunch, visit one of the thirteen Ming Tombs laid out in a valley north of Beijing in strict accordance with the rules of feng shui.  This evening you will feast on a Peking Duck Dinner.  Afterwards you'll enjoy a fabulous Martial Arts Kung Fu Performance. (B/L/SD)

Day 05 Beijing
Hotel breakfast.  Take a morning stroll around Tian’anmen Square - this vast square and its periphery are home to some of the grandest monuments and government edifices in China.  After lunch, enjoy a coach ride to the Summer Palace - much as it was when the Empress Dowager Cixi retreated to this rolling, regal landscape of lake, pagodas, and pavilions to oversee imperial China's demise.  Enjoy a boat ride on Kunming Lake before heading back to Beijing.  Afternoon free at leisure or optionally join a very enjoyable bicycle rickshaw tour of a “Hutong” – one of Beijing’s traditional old neighbourhoods.  Lunch and dinner at own expense.  (B)

Day 06 Beijing / Yichang / Yangtze Cruise
Fly to Yichang.  Upon arrival enjoy a city orientation before boarding the 5-star MS Yangtze 1 to begin your Yangtze cruise.  Dinner on board.  (B/L/D)
Cruise ship:  5* MS Yangtze 1

Day 07 Yangtze River Cruise
An on-shore excursion will take you on a tour of the Three Gorges Dam site - the largest hydro-electric project in the world.  Reboard the MS Yangtze 1 to step up through the 5-stage ship locks and enter the first gorge - Xiling Gorge, the longest and what was historically the most hazardous of the Yangtze's three gorges.  Tonight, enjoy the Captain's Welcome Dinner, followed by a Singing and Dancing Performance.  (B/L/D)

Day 08 Yangtze River Cruise
Disembark the MS Yangtze 1 and board a local tender that will take you up the Shennong Stream.  Where the Shennong Stream begins to become shallow, you'll climb aboard a traditional wooden pea boat.  Local Tujia boatmen will haul your boat up the fast running Shennong Stream by ropes.  Return to the ship and set sail again, entering the second gorge - Wu Gorge - renowned for its odd, misty rock formations and its backdrop of soaring mountains.  Later in the afternoon the ship will enter the third gorge - Qutang Gorge, the shortest but the most dramatic of the Yangtze's three gorges.  (B/L/D)

Day 09 Yangtze River Cruise
This morning you'll arrive at Fengdu – the ghost city.  Your on-shore excursion will take you by lift chair (optional - use the steps if you're in shape) to the top of Mingshan Hill.  There you'll tour the unique temples that house life-sized figures of ghosts and devils.  Return to the ship from the Gates of Hell for a farewell dinner on board.  (B/L/D)

Day 10 Chongqing / Xi'an
Arrive Chongqing in the morning.  A Chongqing city orientation will include a visit to Erling Park and a tour of Chongqing Zoo - home to some celebrity panda bears.  Fly to Xi'an in the afternoon.  Upon arrival, meet your local guide and transfer to your hotel - where you'll also have dinner.  (B/L/D)
Hotel: 4* Tianyi Hotel or similar

Day 11 Xi’an
Full day in Xi’an.  Tour one of the most amazing archaeological finds of the 20th Century at the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum - the massive burial grounds of Emperor Qingshi Huangdi with its thousands of life-sized terra-cotta warriors and horses assembled to guard his afterlife.  After lunch, visit  the Big Wild Goose Pagoda  and Ancient City Wall.  Tonight, you will be treated to a traditional Xi’an special Dumpling Banquet and Tang Dynasty Show.  (B/L/SD)

Day 12 Xi’an / Guilin
This morning you'll visit Shaanxi Provincial Museum.  After lunch, take an afternoon fight to Guilin.  En route to your Guilin hotel, you'll stop to explore colourful Reed Flute Cave.  Hotel dinner.  (B/L/D)
Hotel: 4* Guihu Park or similar

Day 13 Guilin
Embark on a tranquil Li River cruise - your ship will wind its way among the graceful rounded limestone mountains that Guilin is famous for.  Disembark at Yangshuo - you'll have time to enjoy its busy market before heading back to Guilin by coach.  This evening you'll be treated to a Guilin Folk Dance and Music Show.  (B/L/D)

Day 14 Guilin / Shanghai
Stop at Guilin’s Fubo Hill on the way to catch your flight to Shanghai - you can work off some of last night's dinner by climbing the stairs for a fabulous view.  After dinner at a local Shanghai restaurant, enjoy an amazingly skilful acrobatic show.  (B/L/D)
Hotel: 4* Grand Mercure Hongqiao or similar

Day 15 Shanghai
Tour a silk factory.  Then visit Yu Yuan Garden in the heart of old Shanghai.  After a local cuisine lunch, promenade along "The Bund" - a terrific vantage point from which to view the grand colonial buildings along Zhongshan Donglu, the colourful traffic on the Huangpu River, and ultra-modern Pudong on the opposite shore.  If time permits, free time to shop on Nanjing Road.  Tonight, enjoy a farewell dinner.  (B/L/D)

Day 16 Shanghai / Hometown
After breakfast, bid farewell to China and board your plane for your return flight to Canada.

Bon Voyage!