14-Day China Grand Panorama: Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin, Shanghai & Suzhou

Arrive at Beijing airport or railway station and continue by private transfer to your hotel in the city. After check-in, settle in before the late-afternoon sightseeing begins.

Visit Jingshan Park in the late afternoon. A short climb leads to the hilltop viewpoint directly north of the Forbidden City, where Beijing’s central axis, palace roofs, and modern skyline unfold in one broad panorama. Stay for the changing evening light before returning to your hotel.

Begin at the Meridian Gate and follow the ceremonial axis through the Forbidden City's Outer Court. Explore the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Central Harmony, and Hall of Preserving Harmony, then continue into the Inner Court and Imperial Garden while your guide explains court ritual, architecture, and daily life inside the palace.

After lunch, walk through Beihai Park to Qionghua Island, the White Dagoba, and the Nine-Dragon Screen. Continue into the lanes around Shichahai and Houhai, where courtyard homes, small workshops, and the lakeside show a quieter neighbourhood side of central Beijing before a roast-duck dinner.

Leave Beijing early for Mutianyu and ride the cable car to the Great Wall. Walk between stone watchtowers and broad viewpoints across the mountain ridges, then descend and return to the city after lunch. The route keeps enough time on the wall for a genuine walk instead of a brief photo stop.

In the afternoon, explore the Temple of Heaven from the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests to the Echo Wall and Circular Mound Altar. End the day around Nanluoguxiang, where restored hutong lanes, snack shops, small restaurants, and neighbourhood courtyards provide a relaxed final evening in Beijing.

Leave Beijing and travel to Xi’an by high-speed train. On arrival, meet your private transfer and continue to a centrally located hotel. Take time to settle in before beginning a relaxed first exploration of the old-city centre.

Walk around Bell and Drum Tower Square as the monuments become illuminated, then continue toward the Muslim Quarter. The lanes here are known for busy food stalls, local pastries, noodles, grilled dishes, and small shops. This is free-exploration time, so you can browse and taste what interests you instead of following a fixed dining schedule.

Travel east of Xi’an to the Qin Shi Huang Imperial Tomb Museum. Explore the principal archaeological displays and see ranks of life-size warriors, horses, and chariots created for China’s first emperor. Learn how the figures differ in rank and expression, how the pits were discovered, and why excavation and conservation continue decades after the first finds.

After the museum visit, take part in a clay-warrior workshop. Shape a small figure by hand and keep the finished piece as a personal reminder of the day.

Continue to Huaqing Palace at the foot of Mount Li. Walk through landscaped courtyards and historic bathing-pool areas while hearing stories associated with the Tang court and the palace’s long imperial history. The quieter garden setting provides a contrast to the scale of the morning’s archaeological site before you return to Xi’an.

Start on Xi’an’s Ming-era city wall, one of the best places to understand the rectangular plan of the old capital. Walk a substantial section of the ramparts, pausing at gates and watchtowers for views over both the historic centre and the modern city. Pause for a simple tea break near the wall and watch the daily rhythm of the surrounding neighbourhood.

Continue to Yongxingfang, where regional food stalls and cultural displays introduce flavours from across Shaanxi. Sample local specialities during the visit, then watch a short shadow-puppetry presentation in the cultural area.

In the afternoon, visit Xi’an Museum for a broader view of the city’s development and the dynasties that made it an imperial capital. Then continue toward Daci’en Temple and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda area before nightfall. As the evening lights come on, walk through Great Tang Everbright City, a broad pedestrian district where illuminated architecture, public performances, and Tang-inspired displays create a lively finish to the day.

Travel to Guilin and meet the private transfer at the airport or railway station. Before leaving the city, pause near the Li River and Elephant Trunk Hill for a first view of the region's limestone peaks and waterfront landscape.

Continue by road to Yangshuo and the Li River countryside. After check-in, walk beside the river and settle into the slower pace of the karst valley. The evening remains centred on the landscape, with time to watch the light change across the water and surrounding peaks.

Start before sunrise for the climb to Xianggong Mountain, where the Li River bends through layered karst peaks below the viewpoint. After descending, continue to the Yulong River for a bamboo-raft journey through fields, villages, and low limestone hills reflected in the water.

Lunch and afternoon tea are arranged in the riverside countryside before returning toward the Li River. After dark, meet a local fishing family and learn how cormorant fishing once worked on these waters, observing the boat, lamps, and techniques as a cultural demonstration rather than a commercial fishing trip.

Travel into the mountains to Longji, where terraced fields follow the contours of steep slopes in broad curving bands. Walk through the viewpoints at a measured pace and learn how generations of farmers built irrigation channels, retained soil, and adapted rice cultivation to the mountain landscape.

Continue to Jinzhu Zhuang Village for an introduction to local wooden architecture, weaving, food traditions, and community life. Time with village residents focuses on the practical relationship between the terraces and the settlement before the day ends among the mountain scenery.

Join a local craftsperson for a close look at traditional Zhuang stilt houses and the mortise-and-tenon joinery that supports them. Continue on foot between villages, following a forest and terrace path while learning how timber, slope, water, and farming shaped the buildings and settlement pattern.

The walk finishes near the Nine Dragons and Five Tigers viewpoint, where the terraces spread across several ridges. Return to Guilin after the village visit and prepare for the confirmed domestic connection to Shanghai the following day.

Travel from Guilin to Shanghai on the confirmed domestic connection and meet the private transfer on arrival. After checking in and taking a short rest, begin on the west bank of the Huangpu River as the Bund's historic façades and Pudong's towers light up across the water.

Continue along Nanjing East Road and finish in Xintiandi, where restored shikumen lanes meet contemporary shops, galleries, and restaurants. This first evening provides a clear introduction to Shanghai's contrast between inherited neighbourhood forms and a modern global skyline.

Begin at the Shanghai History Museum, where reconstructed shopfronts, vintage transport, photographs, and everyday objects trace the city’s change from a river settlement into an international metropolis.

Continue to Yu Garden, moving through rockeries, ponds, pavilions, and narrow passages designed to reveal a different composition at every turn. Outside the garden, explore the City God Temple area, where Taoist traditions sit alongside a lively market district. Browse traditional crafts and pause to taste Nanxiang soup dumplings and pear-syrup sweets.

After lunch, move into the former French Concession for a walking exploration of Wukang Road and Anfu Road. Look for Art Deco and Neoclassical details, shaded villa streets, and former residences associated with figures from modern Chinese history. Small galleries, bookshops, and cafés make it easy to pause and experience the neighbourhood rather than simply drive through it.

Return to the Bund in daylight to examine the waterfront’s mixture of Classical, Renaissance, Gothic, Baroque, and other European-influenced façades. From the promenade, compare the historic west bank with the contemporary Pudong skyline opposite.

Board a public ferry across the Huangpu River and continue to the Pudong Art Museum. Exhibitions change through the year, so the visit focuses on the current programme and the museum’s riverside architecture. Finish with a walk along Binjiang Road, where the Bund can be seen from the eastern bank as boats move along the river and the city lights begin to appear.

Travel from Shanghai to Suzhou by high-speed train and begin at Suzhou Museum, designed by I. M. Pei. Its architecture, courtyards, and collections introduce the artistic traditions of the Wu region before a short walk leads to the Humble Administrator's Garden.

Spend the afternoon among the garden's pavilions, rockeries, ponds, and carefully framed views, then continue to Pingjiang Road beside the canal. Around sunset, walk at Jinji Lake before finishing among Shantang Street's stone bridges, old houses, craft shops, and evening lanterns.

Begin the final morning at Lion Grove Garden, known for its labyrinth of limestone rockeries, narrow passages, and changing views across compact courtyards. The visit provides a final example of how Suzhou garden designers created the impression of mountains and distance within a limited urban space.

After the garden visit, return to Shanghai by high-speed train. A private transfer continues to the airport or railway station according to the confirmed onward schedule, with the timing planned to protect enough time for check-in and departure formalities.