---
title: "The Middle Goes Up"
description: "14 days from the Forbidden City to lakes at 3000 meters seeing both Chinas"
type: "tour"
route_id: "china-classics-highlands-14-days"
total_days: 14
price: 4670
highlights: ["Beijing", "Xi'an", "Chengdu", "Jiuzhaigou", "Shanghai"]
url: "https://www.lyriktrip.com/en-GB/tours/china-classics-highlands-14-days"
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---

# The Middle Goes Up

14 days from the Forbidden City to lakes at 3000 metres, seeing both Chinas

The classics, plus altitude. The Terracotta Warriors, pandas, high-speed trains and the Bund, with English-speaking guides city by city.

- Long walking days in Beijing and Xi'an. Days eight to eleven run at altitude: two nights at about 2,000 metres, and one day inside a valley that reaches about 3,100. The climbing day carries no sightseeing at all.

## Overview

Most first trips to China run Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Shanghai, and stop there. This one breaks in the middle and goes up. On day eight a train climbs from about 500 metres to about 2,000, and that day carries nothing else: no sights, no plan waiting at the other end. Two days later you come back down and the country turns into a city again. Beijing gives you an axis and a wall. Xi'an gives you an army, and a wall you ride around instead of look at. Chengdu gives you an afternoon nobody organises. Shanghai sends you home from the water. By the time you land in Shanghai, you'll defend that empty day to anyone who asks what you did with it.

— LyrikTrip travel designers

Every LyrikTrip journey begins with a conversation. Tell us your dates and who is coming. First reply within four hours; a clear price for your dates within one business day. On this route we will also tell you plainly where the shuttle pricing, the hotels and the departure window stand before you are asked for anything, because this route is not on sale yet and we would rather say that first than last.

## Summary

- Route ID: china-classics-highlands-14-days
- Duration: 14 days / 13 nights
- Starting price: $4,670
- Status: active
- Highlights: Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Jiuzhaigou, Shanghai
- Cover image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/bd962b23fc25.png

## Hero tags

- private
- From 1 guest
- Max: no fixed limit

## Highlight notes

- The classics, plus altitude. The Terracotta Warriors, pandas, high-speed trains and the Bund, with English-speaking guides in every city.
- 14 days from the Forbidden City to lakes at 3,000 metres. See both Chinas.

## Selling points

- Walk one axis through the Forbidden City, out the north gate, and straight up Jingshan Park to look back down on the roofs you just spent the morning under.
- Cycle along the top of the Xi'an City Wall instead of walking a section of it: the bicycle is included in the price, the wall is flat, and the city lies below you on both sides for the entire route.
- Spend an afternoon in the People's Park teahouse with a gaiwan, the lidded cup China brews in, refilled as long as you stay.
- Spend a whole day in one valley of water at 2,000 to 3,100 metres, and finish in the early afternoon rather than at closing time.
- See pandas in the mountain forest they come from, at the Jiawuhai Panda Centre up on the plateau, a day after you saw them in the research base outside Chengdu.
- End on the Bund after dark with your guide beside you: the old waterfront on one bank, the Pudong towers on the other, one city looking at itself across the water.
- Treat the ascent day as an ascent day: nothing scheduled on the way up, two nights at the same altitude before the valley day, and a full travel day again on the way back down.

## City highlights

- Beijing (3 days): Land, and do nothing
  - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3abJWXwD.webp
- Chengdu (1 days): Back down
  - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9JT2zDi2.webp
- Shanghai (3 days): Two Chengdus, then a plane
  - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/clNN4JCY.webp
- Xi'an (2 days): Three rooms of the same argument, then a train
  - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/kQ1RKbxU.webp
- Chengdu (2 days): Ride the wall, then move
  - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9JT2zDi2.webp
- Jiuzhaigou (3 days): The day that goes up
  - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/080ea132dcfb.jpg

## Experiences

The classics, plus altitude. The Terracotta Warriors, pandas, high-speed trains and the Bund, with English-speaking guides city by city.

- Forbidden City (Beijing): The Forbidden City takes visitors into the ceremonial heart of China's Ming and Qing dynasties.
  - Subtitle: China's imperial palace at the heart of Beijing
  - Tags: Heritage
  - Host: Beijing, Beijing Lens — Imperial capital and Great Wall
  - Access: Core imperial Beijing access with palace courtyards and historic halls.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/03a0a4e882e0.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8a6cdb9ca2b9.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7f313a6dab74.jpg, https://dimg04.c-ctrip.com/images/0102h1200087d62rxDD6F.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/de8d1138706b.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/936bacaf5cc5.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/ff6c2e542310.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/05488de4902e.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/bab6e6596202.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/85f10b61d841.jpg
- Jingshan Park (Beijing): Jingshan Park offers one of the best classic views across the Forbidden City rooftops.
  - Subtitle: A hilltop view over imperial Beijing
  - Tags: Viewpoint
  - Host: Beijing, Beijing Lens — Imperial capital and Great Wall
  - Access: A short climb rewards travellers with a strong city overview.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/408fc381c4b4.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7f313a6dab74.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6a3ff539ffc8.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2c700baa4e73.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/00decb026e42.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/51ec43ea0513.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9604ef61c628.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7dc03e9310a1.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/964e96f11238.jpg
- Mutianyu Great Wall (Beijing): A well-restored Great Wall section with open views and easier walking conditions for first-time visitors.
  - Subtitle: A classic Great Wall section near Beijing
  - Tags: Great Wall
  - Host: Beijing, Beijing Lens — Imperial capital and Great Wall
  - Access: A refined Great Wall experience with flexible cable car or walking options.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f6c07b2f8772.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3a661e194c2f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1b0f83ddd1e5.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7207d6532c2f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/e88879531691.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/926d916b9408.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/91465599744f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/a720fb1678e6.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/608cdc21a04d.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9b968ec44131.jpg
- Tian'anmen Square (Beijing): Tian'anmen Square introduces the scale and symbolism of modern Chinese public space.
  - Subtitle: Beijing's monumental civic landmark
  - Tags: Landmark
  - Host: Beijing, Beijing Lens — Imperial capital and Great Wall
  - Access: A central orientation stop before or after the Forbidden City.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b6a275c3e50d.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/e544ca01550e.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b85b763e11cd.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/a724165b0cc6.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/410246e2d66a.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/600867e7a2ef.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/cd9c3a758365.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/86b6ca981b8d.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/50c2c4037905.jpg
- Temple of Heaven (Beijing): Temple of Heaven combines Ming dynasty ritual architecture with Beijing's lively park culture.
  - Subtitle: An imperial ritual site with local life
  - Tags: Culture
  - Host: Beijing, Beijing Lens — Imperial capital and Great Wall
  - Access: Pairs grand ceremonial architecture with everyday local morning activity.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/0d9ea5fe76e1.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/db9b46f1b9cf.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c545d9594e74.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/dc39cfe33b0d.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/359ba00d37d0.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b538bb2aa834.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6d40f9e82d6b.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/212c0e2ea8c8.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7bbec6cd7e80.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/cd8da061f42b.jpg
- National Museum of China (Beijing): the national collection on the east side of the square: bronzes, ceramics, Buddhist figures, calligraphy. Two hours here puts the objects behind the last nine days into one room, which is why it sits on the day you leave Beijing. Entry is by timed reservation and the system sits poorly with overseas mobile numbers, so your quote states in writing who books it and by when. Admission is in the base price; audio guides and guides hired inside are not.
  - Subtitle: the national collection on the east side of the square: bronzes, ceramics, Buddhist figures, calligraphy.
  - Tags: Museum
  - Host: Beijing, Beijing Lens — Imperial capital and Great Wall
  - Access: the national collection on the east side of the square: bronzes, ceramics, Buddhist figures, calligraphy. Two hours here puts the objects behind the last nine days into one room, which is why it sits on the day you leave Beijing. Entry is by timed reservation and the system sits poorly with overseas mobile numbers, so your quote states in writing who books it and by when. Admission is in the base price; audio guides and guides hired inside are not.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1cf05dc82e49.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/d076400ad86d.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/55ab6f174707.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/dcce08639678.jpg
- Terracotta Warriors (Xi'an): the excavation halls outside Xi'an holding the underground army of Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, and one of the country's most significant archaeological finds. You look down into the pits at ranked columns of soldiers: individual faces, armour by rank, formations still legible after two millennia of burial. Your guide teaches you to read them: which are officers, which are archers, what the formation was for. Why it rewards a slow visit: the scale reads in one glance, the craftsmanship only up close.
  - Subtitle: the excavation halls outside Xi'an holding the underground army of Qin Shi
  - Tags: Heritage
  - Host: Xi'an, Xi'an Lens — Warriors and ancient capital
  - Access: Essential Xi'an access to one of China's most renowned archaeological sites.
  - Images: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1528866310106-4459b39622ed?q=80&w=2064&auto=format&fit=crop&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&ixid=M3wxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8fA%3D%3D, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/70bc50b897e9.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/788c1d294602.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/d1bf545bf0ba.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8ff4c8890b77.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9b2f4e2d90b4.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/ed2c5f141848.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4cd4eb7405cc.jpg
- Muslim Quarter (Xi'an): Muslim Quarter introduces Xi'an through street food market lanes and Hui cultural texture.
  - Subtitle: A lively food and market neighbourhood
  - Tags: Food
  - Host: Xi'an, Xi'an Lens — Warriors and ancient capital
  - Access: A sensory, evening-friendly stop for food and local atmosphere.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b69f36d07d20.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4142b459d811.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/91de8b062d12.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/abc7efa677cc.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/68851d1cd2f1.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/d4e4d0b13c28.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/bfdc415e6889.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b715930b2bbc.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/264e5977b97f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1b231bf5e564.jpg
- Xi'an Ancient City Wall Cycling (Xi'an): Cycling the ancient wall offers travellers a relaxed way to see Xi'an's historic urban layout.
  - Subtitle: A ride along Xi'an's old city walls
  - Tags: Cycling
  - Host: Xi'an, Xi'an Lens — Warriors and ancient capital
  - Access: Active heritage experience on one of China's best-preserved city walls.
  - Images: https://ak-d.tripcdn.com/images/0353012000p9q9h7p45A9_C_1080_540_Q80.jpg_.webp?_fr=wc, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/daf832e303d0.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8f7c7a922b33.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f864b69ac4b1.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9c4dc5e6e575.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b69829f31585.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1170df991f6f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/ad143f00bca6.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/dabb4f7b21b8.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6c4bc5467067.jpg
- Chengdu Panda Base (Chengdu): the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, visited in the morning: that is when pandas eat, climb and are actually active. You watch them at close range and hear how breeding research and conservation work here.
  - Subtitle: the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, visited in the morning
  - Tags: Nature
  - Host: Chengdu, Chengdu Lens — Pandas and Sichuan culture
  - Access: You watch them at close range and hear how breeding research and conservation work here.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8e596b76ae58.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/201ef19af23f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c910f00284ac.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/fb8f2b170763.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f84d52332ce8.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3e8e1eba78b6.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/106d08f5e8be.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/df22c3d68f08.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/cdab22c7bcf5.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/bcdc08962f93.jpg
- People's Park Tea (Chengdu): the day's landing place: a chair in the park, a gaiwan, the lidded cup China brews in, and residents all around you chatting, playing cards and spending their evening the Chengdu way. Nothing else is scheduled after it; you stay as long as the tea keeps coming. Why it closes the Chengdu day: after pandas, tuk-tuks and opera, this is where the city shows you what it does with free time.
  - Subtitle: the day's landing place: a chair in the park, a gaiwan, the
  - Tags: City
  - Host: Chengdu, Chengdu Lens — Pandas and Sichuan culture
  - Access: Why it closes the Chengdu day: after pandas, tuk-tuks and opera, this is where the city shows you what it does with free time.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/77584e962219.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/34f6c86b2f9f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/a27d0f4e6224.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3b775398e844.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b33e34d550fa.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3cbc8f748897.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/aa9f96490a8c.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/bb9ce7deea94.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1ea505e390f1.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/221e3aa47210.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8f2cd09b7914.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2e09c831a6a1.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/62048183e783.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9d549716c30b.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/54b87e0ee67b.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/46bb3f1c4d8b.jpg
- Jiuzhaigou Valley (Jiuzhaigou): a set of valleys of lakes, terraced falls and forest between about 2,000 and 3,100 metres, on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. Your park admission is in the base price. The valley is toured by its own internal shuttle system, and that shuttle ticket is bought at the gate and is not in your price: the distances between the lake groups do not work on foot in one day. Which loop you ride is set by your guide on the day, by season and by how many people are in the park, and the visit closes in the early afternoon so the evening train is not a rush.
  - Subtitle: a set of valleys of lakes, terraced falls and forest between about 2,000 and 3,100 meters, on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau.
  - Tags: nature
  - Host: Jiuzhaigou, Jiuzhaigou Lens — Alpine lakes, forests and valley routes
  - Access: Which loop you ride is set by your guide on the day, by season and by how many people are in the park, and the visit closes in the early afternoon so the evening train is not a rush.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/63de8b7aaa01.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/03792ddc10e9.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/435366266ba2.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c03cbdf8452d.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c7ac72b9f085.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1d00508600b9.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/87b74426a19c.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7a63be5c4e13.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/e6a8e4eb6466.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/313cf911b837.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/0bb13d1f7101.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f0ace7ea1f3b.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c1c4f128ba7e.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/a3545954c0e3.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/920a938e28c6.jpg
- Jiawuhai Panda Centre (Jiuzhaigou): A conservation centre in the pandas' own mountains rather than a city enclosure. You watch the keepers' morning routines, walk a stretch of habitat corridor, and hear how this valley funds protection by living alongside its most famous residents: pandas at close quarters, on their terms.
  - Subtitle: Pandas in their own mountains
  - Tags: Nature
  - Host: Chengdu, Chengdu Lens — Pandas and Sichuan culture
  - Access: Pandas at close quarters, on their terms.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/926008bcde2a.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/080ea132dcfb.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/e650f27937d8.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b9b1a6764640.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f7b2f62f5669.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/15632b980fca.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/d917a5ddfaac.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/57d5048cbfb3.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/19288d4265d2.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3d3bea04b82a.jpg
- Kuanzhai Alley and Taikoo Li (Chengdu): a historic neighbourhood built around three parallel lanes, restored and now as much a shopping street as a quarter of old Chengdu; we say that plainly rather than sell it as the last of the old city. Next to it, Taikoo Li shows you what the same city spends its money on today. About two and a half hours on foot with your guide.
  - Subtitle: a historic neighbourhood built around three parallel lanes, restored and now as much a shopping street as a quarter of old Chengdu; we say that plainly rather than sell it as the last of the old city.
  - Tags: City
  - Host: Chengdu, Chengdu Lens — Pandas and Sichuan culture
  - Access: a historic neighbourhood built around three parallel lanes, restored and now as much a shopping street as a quarter of old Chengdu; we say that plainly rather than sell it as the last of the old city. Next to it, Taikoo Li shows you what the same city spends its money on today. About two and a half hours on foot with your guide.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/32a4dc46e28f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/61859314af60.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/cc98f04d1142.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/aa2e718f79ba.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/53c7fdc344a2.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/07f3ceea8440.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/813e0ad5e32f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3f12a2960f0c.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c3d25d0d0bc4.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7d46557f3072.jpg
- Community Opera Theatre (Chengdu): a neighbourhood Sichuan Opera troupe rather than a big commercial stage. You meet the people behind the performance and learn how roles, costumes, make-up and stage technique pass from one generation to the next; when the troupe's schedule allows, you watch the backstage preparations up close.
  - Subtitle: a neighbourhood Sichuan Opera troupe rather than a big commercial stage
  - Tags: Culture
  - Host: Chengdu, Chengdu Lens — Pandas and Sichuan culture
  - Access: You meet the people behind the performance and learn how roles, costumes, makeup and stage technique pass from one generation to the next; when the troupe's schedule allows, you watch the backstage preparations up close.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/984b6ea21914.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/afed5eb50d48.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/dbb9a4360aa6.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/390a59811536.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9504e34cb716.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7fb9607dad55.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c7adcea03a38.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c084683a4ac6.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7727dea96809.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/551fdba21a23.jpg
- Yu Garden & the Old City (Shanghai): pavilions, ponds, rockeries and covered corridors, laid out in the Ming dynasty as a private family garden: "Yu" means peace, chosen by the official who built it for his elderly father. A Chinese garden works like a scroll painting: you walk it one framed scene at a time. The lanes around it keep an earlier Shanghai of small shops and food stalls.
  - Subtitle: pavilions, ponds, rockeries and covered corridors, laid out in the Ming dynasty
  - Tags: Heritage
  - Host: Shanghai, Shanghai Lens — Skyline and riverfront culture
  - Access: The lanes around it keep an earlier Shanghai of small shops and food stalls.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/58b0b1f762b9.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3640847367f4.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/aa7e4b7f18cb.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c3f4af921585.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7bc088a35094.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b4ff42f10f39.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8ab6fa3c88e9.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/23b0b99117fe.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4c38a3352564.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/793d4d9ec24d.jpg
- Shanghai Museum (Shanghai): bronzes, ceramics, painting and calligraphy, arranged so you can walk one material through three thousand years. About two hours. Entry is by timed reservation with limited English in the booking system, so your quote states in writing who books it and by when, and which branch your visit uses. Admission is in the base price.
  - Subtitle: bronzes, ceramics, painting and calligraphy, arranged so you can walk one material through three thousand years.
  - Tags: Museum
  - Host: Shanghai, Shanghai Lens — Skyline and riverfront culture
  - Access: bronzes, ceramics, painting and calligraphy, arranged so you can walk one material through three thousand years. About two hours. Entry is by timed reservation with limited English in the booking system, so your quote states in writing who books it and by when, and which branch your visit uses. Admission is in the base price.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/553f9e5daffa.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/463009b942cf.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/09ed444fa597.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f449d01924e3.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1c391e422dd6.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3062838f53d8.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/5fe4f8f934ce.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1ff4b8a733b8.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1c6a0e2a66d2.jpg
- The Bund (Shanghai): The Bund frames Shanghai's historic banks and modern Pudong skyline in one clear view.
  - Subtitle: Shanghai's iconic riverfront skyline
  - Tags: Riverfront
  - Host: Shanghai, Shanghai Lens — Skyline and riverfront culture
  - Access: A signature Shanghai orientation stop for architecture and city contrast.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/59b1d2774a93.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/819f854bed70.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/494cee6c7aae.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/45251ad66040.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/eed1a59d8207.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/334c0bdef4be.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/a2a8d5aca0bf.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2e92d8293a47.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/eb8770c3dfbd.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/5d861058a1f8.jpg
- Former French Concession and Wukang Road (Shanghai): plane-tree streets, walled houses from the concession decades, and the independent shops that have taken over their ground floors. You walk it at street speed, and it is the loosest hour of the route — the low, relaxed counterweight to the skyline you looked at the night before: no ticket, no queue, no gate. About two hours on flat pavement. In the base price.
  - Subtitle: plane-tree streets, walled houses from the concession decades, and the independent shops in their ground floors — the loose, low-rise counterweight to the skyline. About two hours, no ticket, no queue, no gate.
  - Tags: City
  - Host: Shanghai, Shanghai Lens — Skyline and riverfront culture
  - Access: plane-tree streets, walled houses from the concession decades, and the independent shops that have taken over their ground floors. You walk it at street speed, and it is the loosest hour of the route: no ticket, no queue, no gate. About two hours.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/a469e3c35b36.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/ff2e7b6f2ffc.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/769ee0838cac.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/664544b5b738.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/be6f02f8c66f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b1c8a477961a.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/738425c31d43.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b5ee2850407d.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/dc30a72b34d4.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7e7256ca585e.jpg
- The Bund & the Huangpu Ferry (Shanghai): Shanghai's riverfront row of early-twentieth-century banking halls faces Pudong's towers across the water; the public ferry crosses between them, the same boats locals commute on, and mid-river is the one spot that holds both skylines at once. Walked at dusk on day two, and on arrival evening when time allows.
  - Subtitle: Shanghai's riverfront row of early-twentieth-century banking halls faces Pudong's towers across
  - Tags: City
  - Host: Shanghai, Shanghai Lens — Skyline and riverfront culture
  - Access: Walked at dusk on day two, and on arrival evening when time allows.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/e342e5515e52.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/94ac919c3f33.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b3b5bb6e77be.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c6c85a3776e5.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/32d19f0a4d35.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/a2a8d5aca0bf.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2bed2bf82423.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8b2b6a2b8939.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b74ea5dc32d6.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2b6fbcc1c8fa.jpg
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## Itinerary

### The Middle Goes Up - 10 days

Journey

#### Beijing (3 days)

- Subtitle: Land, and do nothing
- Recommendation: Your driver meets your flight, whatever time it lands. Nothing is asked of you today.
- Transport: High-speed rail
- Transport mode: train

Airport pickup · Beijing through the window · Evening

- Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3abJWXwD.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/14h8ZnOb.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/17bdSgjF.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1bDq9gT4.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1cZHxWkg.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1vwu9mIQ.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1X29GyUB.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1xVI7jTc.webp
##### Day 1: Land, and do nothing

- (transport) — your driver and vehicle are waiting for the flight number on your confirmation, and the journey into the city is yours to sleep through.
- (sight) — ring roads first, then poplars and lit shopfronts along an ordinary city street. The country you flew this far for shows up before you have unpacked anything.
- (note) — nothing is scheduled. Your guide is reachable, and dinner near the hotel is recommended and booked for you if you want it, on your account.
- (accommodation) Novotel Beijing Peace — Hotel stay in Beijing.

##### Day 2: One axis, then the hill behind it

- (sight) — Your timed slot is booked ahead by us, so you walk in on schedule. Inside, one axis: the ceremonial halls where the court conducted its business, the living quarters behind them, and the imperial garden at the end. Stand in the middle of the main courtyard and look back through the gates you entered by: they line up, one inside another, all the way out to the square.
- (sight) — the palace's back gate opens onto a hill built from the earth dug out of the moats, and the climb to the pavilion on top takes about twenty minutes. From the rail you look straight back down the way you came: golden roofs in ranks, and the city's central axis running out through them to the north and to the south. It takes a second up there to work out that the small courtyards below are the ones you were standing in an hour ago.
- (sight) — This source is a single translation unit. Even if it contains many lines, list items, paragraphs, or sub-sections, translate the entire source as one string. Do not produce one translation per line or per list item — the whole source becomes exactly one output string.

##### Day 3: A wall with the country on both sides

- (transport) — the run north takes a good part of the morning, which is why nothing else is on today; the vehicle stays with you all day.
- (sight) — This source is a SINGLE translation unit. Even if it contains many lines, list items, paragraphs, or sub-sections, translate the ENTIRE source as ONE string. Do NOT produce one translation per line.
- (sight) — you walk between watchtowers along the ridge, and your guide reads the wall aloud: what a beacon tower did, where the pass below sits, why the sightlines run the way they do. Look along the ridge with the towers stepping down it one after another: that is the fifteen seconds' worth of filming.

#### Xi'an (2 days)

- Subtitle: Three rooms of the same argument, then a train
- Recommendation: A square, a temple and a museum in one morning, in that order for a reason. The afternoon belongs to the railway.
- Transport: High-speed rail
- Transport mode: train

Tian'anmen Square · Temple of Heaven · National Museum of China · Afternoon train to Xi'an

- Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/kQ1RKbxU.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2IrwPATt.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2SYFFac8.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2z6MDkku.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/34qxDxFA.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3DF4Fowd.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3G0oTlIq.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/56RpQD9k.webp
##### Day 4: Three rooms of the same argument, then a train

- (sight) — you cross the ceremonial centre of modern China on foot. Everyone is screened to enter and the queue takes its own half hour to an hour, so it sits in the day's budget separately; your guide walks you to the nearest screening entrance rather than the long way around.
- (sight) — three buildings on one line, where the emperor came twice a year to ask for the harvest. Your guide gives you the code at the first terrace and then lets you find it yourself: round is heaven, square is earth, and after that you cannot stop reading the shapes. Come through the park gate rather than the front: the neighbourhood is out doing its morning here.
- (sight) — on the east side of the square, and the one place on this route where bronzes, ceramics, sculpture and calligraphy stand in a single chronological line. Your booking has been made by us. This is the visit that shines on the day: your guide times it to fit the time remaining before the train rather than rushing to catch it.
- (transport) — about five hours on China's high-speed railway, with station transfers at both ends in your own vehicle. The north flattens out and then starts to fold; you arrive in a city with a wall around its middle.
- (accommodation) Somerset Xindicheng Xi'an — Hotel stay in Xian.

##### Day 5: Eight thousand faces, then a street that eats

- (sight) — an estimated eight thousand figures, found in 1974 by farmers digging a well. Your guide teaches you to read rank before you look: armour, hairstyle, stance, and suddenly the rows are a general, crossbowmen, foot soldiers rather than a crowd. In the more recently excavated area, some figures still hold traces of their original paint. Stand at the end of Pit 1 and look down the length of it. You'll lower your voice without deciding to.
- (sight) — The site sits about an hour east of Xi'an, and the afternoon is left open on purpose so the evening is not a rush.
- (sight) — two towers at the centre of the old grid, one that rang the day open and one that closed it, and behind them the lanes where the city's Hui community has cooked and traded for centuries. Your guide walks the evening with you and tells you what each stall is making before you commit to it. Food here is bought by the piece, on your own account.

#### Chengdu (2 days)

- Subtitle: Ride the wall, then move
- Recommendation: A flat 14 kilometers on top of a rampart, at whatever speed you like. Then the second train of the trip.
- Transport: High-speed rail
- Transport mode: train

Xi'an City Wall by bicycle · Room to spare · Afternoon train to Chengdu

- Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9JT2zDi2.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/18sksaPz.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1BPFDek8.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2iDGv07g.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2sL1auf0.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/37Mf4mO1.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4BqwVBVY.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4mDgLfna.webp
##### Day 6: Ride the wall, then move

- (sight) — you ride up onto one of the most complete surviving city walls in China and go around the top of it. Your bicycle is included in the price. On your left the old grid of roofs, on your right the towers of the new city; both are at your shoulder, neither is in your way. Turn back whenever you have had enough, or walk a section instead.
- (sight) — the ride is set in the morning so the afternoon train is not compressed, and the hotel holds your bags after check-out.
- (transport) — about four hours on the line that goes under the Qinling Mountains, the range that divides northern China from southern. You leave a dry city with a wall and arrive in a wet one with tea shops open at ten at night.
- (accommodation) Atour Hotel Chengdu Taikoo Li Chunxi Road Pedestrian Street — Hotel stay in Chengdu.

##### Day 7: Pandas in the morning, nowhere to be after lunch

- (sight) — you are there in the morning, the hours when the pandas are generally moving: eating, climbing down off things, dropping back to sleep in the fork of a tree. Flat shaded paths and about three hours to use as you like. Get to an enclosure fence early and wait: the animal comes over on its own schedule, not on yours.
- (sight) — bamboo chairs under the trees, a gaiwan each, the lidded cup China brews in, and a man with a long spouted kettle who refills it as long as you stay. Cards at the next table, an ear cleaner working with a tuning fork two tables over. About three hours are set aside, which is the point rather than an accident. An hour in, you'll notice you have stopped checking what time it is.

#### Jiuzhaigou (3 days)

- Subtitle: The day that goes up
- Recommendation: A train climbs from about 500 meters to about 2,000, and that is the entire day. Nothing is waiting for you at the top.
- Transport: High-speed rail
- Transport mode: train

Train to Jiuzhaigou · Arrival at about 2,000 meters · Why the day is empty

- Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/080ea132dcfb.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/63de8b7aaa01.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8bec7fe22dc2.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/cb4f92d947c7.jpg
##### Day 8: The day that goes up

- (transport) — around three and a half hours on the line that runs northwest out of the Sichuan basin. The window does the work: rice country, then gorges, then bare rock and the first prayer flags, then a plateau that stays wide and open the rest of the way.
- (sight) — your driver takes you to the hotel and the afternoon is yours to do nothing with. Thin air is worth taking seriously on the first day: walk slowly, drink more water than you want to, and let your body catch up.
- (sight) — this is the design, not a gap. We decline requests to add sightseeing here or to make the return journey in a single day, because the valley day tomorrow is what the altitude was spent on.
- (accommodation) Sheraton Jiuzhaigou Resort — Hotel stay in Jiuzhaigou.

##### Day 9: A whole day on the water

- (sight) — Your park admission is included in your price; the shuttle ticket is purchased at the gate at your own expense, and the whole valley is toured on that shuttle system, because the lake groupings are too far apart to walk in a day. Your guide selects the loop on the morning itself, by season and by how many people are in the park.
- (sight) — shallow, and clear enough that the trees that fell into it long ago are still visible lying on the bottom, whole. Stand on the boardwalk above the narrow end and look straight down instead of across.
- (sight) — wide rather than tall, a curtain of water coming off a terrace of travertine several hundred metres across. The sound arrives before the view does.
- (sight) — Everything today is walked at a leisurely pace with plenty of stops to sit down, and the visit concludes in the early afternoon so that no one is rushing for the last shuttle.

##### Day 10: Pandas: Where They're From

- (sight) — pandas up here in the kind of mountain forest the species comes from, rather than in a city enclosure. About three hours, and the contrast with the research base outside Chengdu is the reason both are on this route: one is where the science happens, this is where the animal belongs.
- (sight) — the rest of the day carries nothing, which is deliberate: it is your second night at about 2,000 metres and your last one before you go back down.
- (note) — The light goes off the ridge early up here and the temperature drops with it. Bring the layer you have been carrying since Beijing.

### The Middle Goes Up - 4 days

Journey

#### Chengdu (1 days)

- Subtitle: Back down
- Recommendation: The morning is free, the afternoon is the train, and by evening you are at 500 meters again.
- Transport: Flight
- Transport mode: airplane

A free morning · Afternoon train to Chengdu · Chengdu, one night

- Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9JT2zDi2.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/18sksaPz.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1BPFDek8.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2iDGv07g.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2sL1auf0.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/37Mf4mO1.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4BqwVBVY.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4mDgLfna.webp
##### Day 11: Back down

- (sight) — nothing is scheduled before the train. It is the same descent day the ascent day was, run in reverse and given the same room.
- (transport) — the same three and a half hours back through the gorges, with your driver at both ends. The plateau closes behind you and the basin opens up green and hazy.
- (sight) — this stop exists because the round trip requires it, and we do not dress it up as a stay. Check in, eat somewhere your guide points you to, sleep at 500 meters.

#### Shanghai (3 days)

- Subtitle: Two Chengdus, then a plane
- Recommendation: Old lanes and new glass in the morning, a painted face in the afternoon, the coast by night.
- Transport: Flight
- Transport mode: airplane

Kuanzhai Alley and Taikoo Li · Community Sichuan opera · Evening flight to Shanghai

- Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/clNN4JCY.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/13x1KtnS.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1Q9afrZn.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1Riqjj0n.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1VrlDwIi.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1vYpI6NZ.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3PEjxTGx.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4EbDdFHb.webp
##### Day 12: Two Chengdus, then a plane

- (sight) — three parallel lanes of grey brick courtyards, restored and full of teahouses and shops, and then the low glass blocks of a modern retail district built around a Song dynasty temple. Both are busy and commercial; you go for the two of them side by side, and for what is sold on the street.
- (sight) — a neighbourhood house rather than a hotel ballroom. You go backstage before it starts and watch the paint go on, then sit close enough to face changing to fail to catch it anyway: the mask becomes another mask in the time it takes the performer to swing his head.
- (transport) — about two and a half hours in the air, your own driver at both ends, and your Shanghai guide taking over at the hotel door. You went up a mountain on Monday and you land at sea level on Friday.
- (accommodation) Bellagio by MGM Shanghai on the Bund — Hotel stay in Shanghai.

##### Day 13: The city that faces itself

- (sight) — pavilions, rockery, ponds and a path that never runs straight, dropped inside the oldest quarter of the city. A Ming dynasty official built it for his father, which is why the scale is domestic. Flat the whole way; the lanes outside the wall are where the neighbourhood still shops.
- (sight) — your booking is confirmed by us. The collection is arranged by material rather than by dynasty, so you can stand in one room and watch three thousand years of one craft change in front of you. After eleven days of buildings, this is where the objects finally get their own room.
- (sight) — The old banking houses hold one bank of the Huangpu River, the Pudong towers hold the other, a century apart and looking straight at each other across the water. Your guide is with you the whole evening, which also settles the strangers who approach visitors here about English practice or a tea ceremony. Stand at the rail with the old buildings behind you and the towers in front: the fourteen days close up into one picture.

##### Day 14: Plane trees, a ferry, home

- (transport) — plane tree streets and 1920s and 1930s houses with small independent shops on their ground floors, ending at the flatiron-shaped block of flats the whole street points towards. Flat, unhurried, and the one part of Shanghai that is not about the skyline.
- (transport) — This source is a SINGLE translation unit. Even if it contains many lines, list items, paragraphs, or sub-sections, translate the ENTIRE source as ONE string. Do NOT produce one translation per line or list item — the whole source becomes exactly one output string.
- (transport) — your driver takes you to the airport with room to spare rather than to the minute. The morning is sized to your flight time, and if your flight is early, both stops move to day thirteen.

## Daily plan

### Day 1 — Land, and do nothing

Your driver meets your flight, whatever time it lands. Nothing is asked of you today.

- Airport pickup: your driver and vehicle are waiting for the flight number on your confirmation, and the run into the city is yours to sleep through.
- Beijing through the window: ring roads first, then poplars and lit shopfronts along an ordinary city street. The country you flew this far for shows up before you have unpacked anything.
- Evening: Nothing is scheduled. Your guide is reachable, and dinner near the hotel is recommended and booked for you if you want it, on your account.
- Stay: Beijing
- Meals: None included today

### Day 2 — One axis, then the hill behind it

Five centuries in one straight line, walked at ground level. Then you go up and see the whole thing at once.

- The Forbidden City: your timed slot is booked ahead by us, so you walk in on schedule. Inside, one axis: the ceremonial halls where the court did its business, the living quarters behind them, the imperial garden at the end. Stand in the middle of the main courtyard and look back through the gates you came in by: they line up, one inside another, all the way out to the square.
- Out of the north gate to Jingshan Park: the palace's back gate opens onto a hill built from the earth dug out of the moats, and the climb to the pavilion on top takes about twenty minutes. From the rail you look straight back down the way you came: golden roofs in ranks, and the city's central axis running out through them to the north and to the south. It takes a second up there to work out that the small courtyards below are the ones you were standing in an hour ago.
- Pace: the palace is large and guests often find it tiring, so the route stops at the seats we know about, and this day is never set on a Monday, when the palace is closed. If your dates would put it there, this day and the Great Wall day swap places.
- Stay: Beijing
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 3 — A wall with the country on both sides

North out of the city for most of the morning, for a ridge you can walk along. Today is one thing, done properly.

- Drive out to Mutianyu: the run north takes a good part of the morning, which is why nothing else is on today; the vehicle stays with you all day.
- Up to the wall: The cable car, the open chairlift and the toboggan are sold at the gate and paid on site, and the stepped path is the alternative. Your guide tells you which line is moving before you choose. Admission and the walk on top are already yours.
- The restored section: you walk between watchtowers along the ridge, and your guide reads the wall out loud: what a beacon tower did, where the pass below sits, why the sightlines run the way they do. Look along the ridge with the towers stepping down it one after another: that is the fifteen seconds worth filming.
- Stay: Beijing
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 4 — Three rooms of the same argument, then a train

A square, a temple and a museum in one morning, in that order for a reason. The afternoon belongs to the railway.

- Tiananmen Square: you cross the ceremonial centre of modern China on foot. Everyone is screened to enter and the queue takes its own half hour to an hour, so it sits in the day's budget separately; your guide walks you to the nearest screening entrance rather than the long way around.
- Temple of Heaven: three buildings on one line, where the emperor came twice a year to ask for the harvest. Your guide gives you the code at the first terrace and then lets you find it yourself: round is heaven, square is earth, and after that you cannot stop reading the shapes. Come through the park gate rather than the front: the neighbourhood is out doing its morning here.
- National Museum of China: on the east side of the square, and the one place on this route where bronzes, ceramics, sculpture and calligraphy stand in a single chronological line. Your reservation is booked by us. This is the visit that flexes on the day: your guide sizes it to the time left before the train rather than cutting the train fine.
- Afternoon train to Xi'an: about five hours on China's high-speed railway, with station transfers at both ends in your own vehicle. The north flattens out and then starts to fold; you arrive in a city with a wall around its middle.
- Stay: Xi'an
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 5 — Eight thousand faces, then a street that eats

The army in the morning, while the pits are still quiet. The old centre after dark, while it is working.

- Terracotta Warriors: an estimated eight thousand figures, found in 1974 by farmers digging a well. Your guide teaches you to read rank before you look: armour, hairstyle, stance, and suddenly the rows are a general, crossbowmen, foot soldiers rather than a crowd. In the more recently excavated area, some figures still hold traces of their original paint. Stand at the end of Pit 1 and look down the length of it. You'll lower your voice without deciding to.
- Back into the city: the site sits about an hour east of Xi'an, and the afternoon is left open on purpose so the evening is not a rush.
- Bell Tower, Drum Tower and the Muslim Quarter: two towers at the centre of the old grid, one that rang the day open and one that closed it, and behind them the lanes where the city's Hui community has cooked and traded for centuries. Your guide walks the evening with you and tells you what each stall is making before you commit to it. Food here is bought by the piece, on your own account.
- Stay: Xi'an
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 6 — Ride the wall, then move

A flat 14 kilometres on top of a rampart, at whatever speed you like. Then the second train of the trip.

- Xi'an City Wall by bicycle: you ride up onto one of the most complete surviving city walls in China and go around the top of it. Your bicycle is included in the price. On your left the old grid of roofs, on your right the towers of the new city; both are at your shoulder, neither is in your way. Turn back whenever you have had enough, or walk a section instead.
- Room to spare: the ride is set in the morning so the afternoon train is not compressed, and the hotel holds your bags after check out.
- Afternoon train to Chengdu: about four hours on the line that runs beneath the Qinling mountains, the range that divides northern China from the south. You leave a dry city with a wall and arrive in a wet one with tea shops open at ten at night.
- Stay: Chengdu
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 7 — Pandas in the morning, nowhere to be after lunch

The one animal everyone came to see, at the hour it is awake. Then an afternoon with no next thing.

- Chengdu Panda Base: you are there in the morning, the hours when the pandas are generally moving: eating, climbing down off things, dropping back to sleep in the fork of a tree. Flat shaded paths and about three hours to use as you like. Get to an enclosure fence early and wait: the animal comes over on its own schedule, not on yours.
- Teahouse sitting in People's Park: bamboo chairs under the trees, a gaiwan each, the lidded cup China brews in, and a man with a long spouted kettle who refills it as long as you stay. Cards at the next table, an ear cleaner working with a tuning fork two tables over. About three hours are set aside, which is the point rather than an accident. An hour in, you'll notice you have stopped checking what time it is.
- Stay: Chengdu
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 8 — The day that goes up

A train climbs from about 500 metres to about 2,000, and that is the entire day. Nothing is waiting for you at the top.

- Train to Jiuzhaigou: around three and a half hours on the line that runs northwest out of the Sichuan basin. The window does the work: rice country, then gorges, then bare rock and the first prayer flags, then a plateau that stays wide and open the rest of the way.
- Arrival at about 2,000 metres: your driver takes you to the hotel and the afternoon is yours to do nothing with. Thin air is worth taking seriously on the first day: walk slowly, drink more water than you want to, and let your body catch up.
- Why the day is empty: this is the design, not a gap. We decline requests to add sightseeing here or to make the round trip in a single day, because the valley day tomorrow is what the altitude was spent on.
- Stay: Jiuzhaigou
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 9 — A whole day on the water

Lake after lake between about 2,000 and 3,100 metres, at the pace the shuttle sets. You finish early on purpose.

- Into the valley: Your park admission is included in the price; the shuttle ticket is purchased at the gate at your own expense, and the entire valley is toured using the shuttle system, as the lake groups are too far apart to walk between in a day. Your guide selects the loop on the morning itself, depending on the season and the number of visitors in the park.
- Five Flower Lake: shallow, and clear enough that the trees which fell into it long ago are still visible lying on the bottom, whole. Stand on the boardwalk above the narrow end and look straight down rather than across.
- Nuorilang Falls: wide rather than tall, a curtain of water coming off a terrace of travertine several hundred metres across. The sound arrives before the view does.
- Pace at altitude: everything today is walked slowly and sat down often, and the visit closes in the early afternoon so that nobody is chasing the last shuttle.
- Stay: Jiuzhaigou
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 10 — Pandas in their natural habitat

The same animal you met outside Chengdu, three days later and 1,500 metres higher. Today is the light one.

- Jiawuhai Panda Centre: pandas up here in the kind of mountain forest the species comes from, rather than in a city enclosure. About three hours, and the contrast with the research base outside Chengdu is the reason both are on this route: one is where the science happens, this is where the animal belongs.
- A second day at altitude: the rest of the day is left free, which is deliberate: it is your second night at around 2,000 metres and your last one before you descend.
- The valley in the evening: the light goes off the ridge early up here and the temperature drops with it. Bring the layer you have been carrying since Beijing.
- Stay: Jiuzhaigou
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 11 — Back down

The morning is free, the afternoon is the train, and by evening you are at 500 metres again.

- A free morning: nothing is scheduled before the train. It is the same descent day as the ascent day, run in reverse and given the same room.
- Afternoon train to Chengdu: the same three and a half hours back through the gorges, with your driver at both ends. The plateau closes behind you and the basin opens up green and hazy.
- Chengdu, one night: this stop exists because the round trip requires it, and we do not dress it up as a stay. Check in, eat somewhere your guide points you to, sleep at 500 meters.
- Stay: Chengdu
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 12 — Two Chengdus, then a plane

Old lanes and new glass in the morning, a painted face in the afternoon, the coast by night.

- Kuanzhai Alley and Taikoo Li: three parallel lanes of grey brick courtyards, restored and full of teahouses and shops, and then the low glass blocks of a modern retail district built around a Song dynasty temple. Both are busy and commercial; you go for the two of them side by side, and for what is sold on the street.
- Community Sichuan opera: a neighbourhood house rather than a hotel ballroom. You go backstage before it starts and watch the paint go on, then sit close enough to face changing to fail to catch it anyway: the mask becomes another mask in the time it takes the performer to swing his head.
- Evening flight to Shanghai: about two and a half hours in the air, your own driver at both ends, and your Shanghai guide taking over at the hotel door. You went up a mountain on Monday and you land at sea level on Friday.
- Stay: Shanghai
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 13 — The city that faces itself

A garden, a museum and a waterfront, in the order that makes the last one land.

- Yu Garden and the old city: Pavilions, rockeries, ponds and a path that never runs straight, set within the city's oldest quarter. A Ming dynasty official built it for his father, which is why the scale is domestic. Flat the whole way; the lanes outside the wall are where the neighbourhood still shops.
- Shanghai Museum: your reservation is booked by us. The collection is arranged by material rather than by dynasty, so you can stand in one room and watch three thousand years of one craft change in front of you. After eleven days of buildings, this is where the objects finally get their own room.
- The Bund after dark: the old banking houses hold one bank of the Huangpu River, the Pudong towers hold the other, a century apart and looking straight at each other across the water. Your guide is with you the whole evening, which also settles the strangers who approach visitors here about English practice or a tea ceremony. Stand at the rail with the old buildings behind you and the towers in front: the fourteen days close up into one picture.
- Stay: Shanghai
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

### Day 14 — Plane trees, a ferry, home

The slowest two hours of the trip, then a river crossing, then the airport.

- Former French Concession and Wukang Road: plane tree streets and 1920s and 1930s houses with small independent shops in their ground floors, ending at the flatiron shaped apartment building the whole street points at. Flat, unhurried, and the one part of Shanghai that is not about the skyline.
- Huangpu River ferry: you cross the river on the boat people take to get to work, standing at the rail with commuters and their scooters, not on a sightseeing deck. Half an hour end to end, and it is the last thing on the plan for a reason: the trip started on a paved axis and it finishes on moving water.
- Airport drop-off: your driver takes you to the airport with room to spare rather than to the minute. The morning is sized to your flight time, and if your flight is early, both stops move to day thirteen.
- Stay: Trip ends
- Meals: Breakfast at the hotel

## Hotels

### Shanghai Royal Garden Hotel (Shanghai International Resort)

- City: Shanghai
- Description: Shanghai Royal Garden Hotel: a luxury garden hotel near Pudong Airport and Disneyland, with free shuttle service to both.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/a07e8f886100.jpg

### Beijing Marriott Hotel Northeast

- City: Beijing
- Description: International luxury hotel in Beijing, ideal for business trips and city breaks.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/bWOFYezP.jpg

### Pullman Shanghai Zhongganghui Hotel

- City: Shanghai
- Description: Pullman Shanghai Zhongganghui Hotel, in Dapuqiao near Tianzifang, steps from Metro Line 9 and the Expo site.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/5xOD9FRB.webp

### Sheraton Xi'an North City Hotel

- City: Xi'an
- Description: Sheraton Xi'an North City: five-star luxury five minutes from the Daming Palace, with an indoor pool and wellness centre.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/k01OUBYw.jpg

### Hilton Chengdu Chenghua

- City: Chengdu
- Description: A practical Chengdu base for travellers who want easy city access, relaxed days out, and a comfortable return after sightseeing.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3pup59R7.webp

### Noble Guest Hotel

- City: Jiuzhaigou
- Description: A culturally inspired hotel near the entrance to Jiuzhaigou National Park, offering convenient access and a comfortable stay for travellers exploring the scenic valley.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2yXqkW1G.webp

### DoubleTree by Hilton Beijing East Third Ring Road

- City: Beijing
- Description: International upscale hotel in Beijing, suitable for business and leisure stays.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/kkFJOiOe.webp

### Atour S Hotel Shanghai Hongqiao Centre Aegean

- City: Shanghai
- Description: Atour S Hotel in Hongqiao: steps from Aegean Place and Metro Line 10, six km from the National Exhibition and Convention Centre.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/ciHY2Qvs.webp

### Shangri-La Hotel

- City: Xi'an
- Description: Shangri-La Hotel Xi'an: five-star luxury near the Terracotta Warriors, 35 minutes from the airport.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/ldYT8r2G.webp

### The Temple House

- City: Chengdu
- Description: Boutique luxury hotel set within a restored Qing-dynasty courtyard near Taikoo Li, boasting one of Chengdu's most striking design statements.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2Dh9ApbX.webp

### Hotel Indigo Jiuzhai, an IHG Hotel

- City: Jiuzhaigou
- Description: A boutique luxury resort inspired by Tibetan and Qiang culture, offering stylish accommodation and immersive local experiences near Jiuzhaigou National Park.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2pdwFxkQ.webp

## Included / Excluded

### What's Included

- Private vehicle: Air conditioned private vehicle with driver for all listed touring in all five cities; airport pickup on day one and drop off on day fourteen; station and airport transfers at both ends of every intercity segment, the Jiuzhaigou round trip included; fuel, tolls, parking and the driver's service allowance
- Guide: Licensed English-speaking guide on every listed touring day in each city, including the Muslim Quarter evening in Xi'an and the Bund evening in Shanghai
- Hotels: 13 nights at the level you choose, four star, five star, boutique or quality local accommodation, breakfast included: Beijing 3 · Xi'an 2 · Chengdu 2 · Jiuzhaigou 2 · Chengdu 1 · Shanghai 3
- Tickets & experiences, Beijing: Tian'anmen Square, with screening time allowed for in that day's plan · the Forbidden City, with the timed reservation booked by us · Jingshan Park, entered from the palace north gate · Mutianyu Great Wall, admission and the walk along the restored watchtower section · Temple of Heaven · the National Museum of China, with the reservation booked by us
- Tickets & experiences, Xi'an: The Terracotta Warriors · Xi'an City Wall cycling, bicycle rental included, or walking a section instead if you prefer · Bell Tower, Drum Tower and the Muslim Quarter in the evening, guide accompanied
- Tickets & experiences, Chengdu: The panda base on a morning visit · gaiwan tea sitting at People's Park, for as long as you like · Kuanzhai Alley and Taikoo Li · the community Sichuan opera theater, with a backstage visit and face changing close up
- Tickets & experiences, Jiuzhaigou: Jiuzhaigou Valley admission, with the loop set by your guide on the day and the visit closing in the early afternoon · the Jiawuhai Panda Center
- Tickets & experiences, Shanghai: Yu Garden and the old city · the Shanghai Museum, with the reservation booked by us · the Bund and the Pudong skyline in the evening, guide accompanied · the former French Concession and Wukang Road · the Huangpu River ferry
- Reservations: The Forbidden City, the National Museum of China and the Shanghai Museum each require a timed reservation, and their booking systems are difficult to use from an overseas phone number. We book all three, on the lead time each venue requires.
- Meals: 13 hotel breakfasts, one on each of days two through fourteen
- Other: Bottled water on scheduled touring days; travel accident insurance for the duration of the journey

### Not Included

- International flights: Flights into Beijing and out of Shanghai
- Intercity transport, five segments: The four high-speed rail segments and the one domestic flight: Beijing to Xi'an · Xi'an to Chengdu · Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou · Jiuzhaigou to Chengdu · Chengdu to Shanghai. The station and airport transfers at both ends of each segment are included, as above. Whether these five are folded into the base price is a commercial decision still open, and until it is made your quote prices them separately.
- In-park transport: The Jiuzhaigou park shuttle, the Mutianyu cable car or chairlift, and the Mutianyu toboggan descent. All three are bought on site at your own cost
- Visas: Visa fees and processing for guests who require a Chinese visa, including every US guest on this route
- Lunches and dinners: Every lunch and every dinner on all fourteen days, the two days in the Jiuzhaigou area included. Your guide recommends and books, on your account
- Sightseeing not listed above: Any attraction, venue, performance or workshop not named in the included lists, and anything added locally
- Spending inside venues: Food, drinks, souvenirs and paid services inside any venue, including tea or ear cleaning ordered beyond the included tea sitting, photography services at either panda site, and anything bought inside the Jiuzhaigou area
- Altitude-related medical care: Oxygen supply, altitude medication, altitude-related treatment. Evacuation and any insurance top-up for high altitude travel
- Extra nights: Any night before day one or after day fourteen. Guests who prefer to land a day early are quoted for that night and the matching airport pickup separately
- Personal: Gratuities for guides and drivers, single or extra room difference. Laundry, minibar and personal shopping

### Special Notes

A few things on this route follow the calendar, the season, an altitude profile or a supplier's confirmation. Here they are, told straight.

- Bookings are not open yet: the remaining items have to be settled first, and none of them is close enough to sell on. A price for the Jiuzhaigou park shuttle. A decision on whether the five intercity segments sit inside the base price, and the class of travel for each. At least one contracted hotel per stop. A confirmed departure window against the plateau season. And a re-review of the route itself, which is still open. Until those items are closed we take no orders and no deposits. Tell us your dates and we will write to you on the day it opens.
- Departure dates this quarter: no departure whose travel days touch October 1 to 7, the national holiday week, when the Jiuzhaigou area and the Terracotta Warriors site carry their heaviest visitor numbers of the year and the valley runs a visitor cap. November and December departures are held closed until the winter arrangement for the Jiuzhaigou section is settled: the valley's window closes from November through March, and days eight to eleven are the whole reason this route differs from the same trip without a plateau section, so we will not assume a substitute. For October to December 2026 that leaves one open window: October 8 to October 31.
- Mondays: Dates are set so that day two never falls on a Monday, when the Forbidden City is closed. If your dates would place it there, day two and the Great Wall day swap places.
- Altitude: This is a planned sequence, not an incident of the route. Day eight climbs from about 500 metres to about 2,000 and carries no sightseeing at all; day nine runs inside the valley between about 2,000 and 3,100; day eleven returns to about 500. Both nights at altitude are spent at about 2,000 metres. Requests to compress the round trip into one day, or to add sightseeing to the ascent day, are declined on this route. Your quote states the altitude range in writing before you pay, and guests with heart or lung conditions or a previous altitude reaction should take medical advice before booking. Altitude related medical care, oxygen, evacuation and insurance top up are not included.
- The two plateau rail segments: the day eight and day eleven trains are booked as one pair, and an order is confirmed only when both are held. Both are checked against the operating timetable for your actual dates before the order is confirmed.
- In-park transport: The Jiuzhaigou park shuttle, the Mutianyu cable car or chairlift, and the Mutianyu toboggan are purchased on site and are not included in your base price. The valley is toured using that shuttle system, so please plan accordingly. We are pricing all three with our partners; if any of them is included in the base price, your quote will state this in writing.
- Security screening at the square: everyone is screened to enter Tian'anmen Square. The queue takes half an hour to an hour and it is budgeted separately, on top of your time on the square, so the rest of that day and the afternoon train still land on time.
- Visa window: the 30 day visa free policy currently runs through December 31, 2026. Because this is a 14 day plan, departures on or before December 17, 2026 finish inside that window; later departures are quoted only after the official renewal is announced.
- US passports: the US is not on the 30 day visa free list, and the 10 day visa free transit policy fails this route twice over, once on length and once on area, because the Jiuzhaigou section lies outside the region that policy allows a traveler to enter. Every US guest on this route holds a valid Chinese tourist or business visa, the ten year multiple entry visa included. Fees and processing are the guest's own, processing time has to be allowed for, and we confirm visa status before any payment. Guests already in China on the transit policy cannot join this trip, and we say so rather than look for a way around it.
- Confirmation and changes: The confirmation time commitment and the change and refund terms are being settled with our on-the-ground partner. Until they are, each quote states in writing its own confirmation deadline and its change and refund conditions. Note what a date change touches on this route: four rail segments, one domestic flight, hotel inventory, and the plateau season window, all at once.

## Is Fourteen Days Your Length?

Fewer than fourteen days?

### Fewer than fourteen days?

The route comes apart at the plateau. Take the plateau section out and what is left is the classic Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Shanghai run at ten days, with the same pace in each city. Take the cities down instead and the plateau stays. What we will not do is keep the plateau and cut its travel days, because that is the part that makes it safe and slow. Tell us your dates and who is coming.

## Good to Know

- Group: Private, just your party. From 1 guest. No fixed maximum party size.
- Pace: Five stops in 14 days: Beijing 3 nights, Xi'an 2, Chengdu 2, Jiuzhaigou 2, one more Chengdu night on the way back, Shanghai 3. Four high speed rail segments and one domestic flight. Two of the fourteen days are travel days with nothing else on them
- Effort: Long walking days in Beijing and Xi'an, the Great Wall day among them. Days eight to eleven run at altitude, two nights at about 2,000 metres and one valley day between about 2,000 and 3,100. The ascent day carries no sightseeing.
- Ports: Arrive in Beijing, depart from Shanghai; airport pickup on day one and drop-off on day fourteen
- Visas: UK, French, German, Dutch, Belgian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Nordic, Central European, Irish, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand passports enter visa free for days, checked order by order against your dates. US passports need a Chinese tourist or business visa for this route
- Language: Licensed English-speaking local guides throughout, city by city
- Meals: 13 hotel breakfasts. No lunch and no dinner is included on any day, the two Jiuzhaigou days included; your guide recommends and books, on your account
- Payment: When this route opens for booking: From 1 guest. A 10% deposit (minimum $399) locks your dates. The balance is due 14 days before departure. "Or similar" never means a quiet downgrade
- Season: Selling season October to December 2026, with one open window in it: October 8 to October 31. No departures touching October 1 to 7; November and December are held closed while the Jiuzhaigou section's winter arrangement is settled

## Your Private Concierge

- Name: Jason Hu
- Title: Private China Route Concierge
- Tagline: A bilingual planning desk for tailor-made China journeys.
- Bio: Our China team tailors the pacing, hotels and local hosts to suit each route style.
- Avatar image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c0TBypRh.png

### Stats

- 20+ Years
- 300+ Trips designed
- 24/7 On-trip care

### The Conversation

Every LyrikTrip journey begins with a conversation. Tell us your dates and who's coming — and if this length isn't right for you, we'll say so and shape a shorter arc. First reply within four hours; a clear price for your dates within one business day.

- CTA: Start the conversation

### Step 01: Tell us what excites you

Not your dates and budget — your curiosity. Where have you always wanted to go? What do you want to feel? We start there.

- 24h: First concept delivered

### Step 02: We design it around you

Your specialist builds the itinerary from scratch — routes, hosts, hotels, and experiences you won't find anywhere else.

- 100%: Bespoke, never off-the-shelf

### Step 03: Lock it in with 10%

When the plan feels right, a 10% deposit holds your entire trip. Balance due 30 days before departure.

- 10%: Deposit to secure everything

### Step 04: Travel. We handle the rest.

Your Trip Pack arrives before you fly. On the road, your concierge is one message away — for the expected and everything you didn't plan for.

- 24/7: Support throughout your journey

- Free cancellation up to 30 days
- English-speaking concierge
- Secure payment via Stripe

- CTA: Talk to Us

## Guest Reviews

- Overall rating: 4.9
- Total reviews: 523
- Count label: from 523 verified reviews

4.9 / 5

### Platforms

- google: 4.9 (312 reviews)
- tripadvisor: 5.0 (211 reviews)

- Filter tabs: All, Google, TripAdvisor
- Emily Carter (🇺🇸 Seattle, USA · 5★ · May 2026 · google): Perfect for couples - My partner and I had an amazing time in China. Everything was arranged for us — transfers, hotels, guides. No stress at all.
- Claire Brooks (🇬🇧 London, UK · 5★ · Apr 2026 · tripadvisor): Great for families - Traveled with my two kids and had zero issues. The team made sure the pace wasn't too rushed and included things the kids would enjoy. Communication was easy throughout. Will definitely use them again for our next Asia trip.
- Laura Bennett (🇨🇦 Toronto, Canada · 5★ · Mar 2026 · google): Alisa made the whole experience easy - Alisa was our point of contact throughout and she was brilliant — patient, knowledgeable, and always quick to reply. The trip itself was wonderful. Beijing and Guilin were highlights.
- Mark Henderson (🇺🇸 Denver, USA · 4★ · Feb 2026 · tripadvisor): Good service, minor hiccup but sorted quickly - Really good service. There was a small mix-up with one of our restaurant bookings but it got sorted quickly. The rest of the trip was seamless.
- Rebecca Miller (🇺🇸 Boston, USA · 5★ · Jan 2026 · google): Really listened to what we wanted - Really helpful team. They listened to what we wanted and delivered. Beijing and Xi'an were incredible.

## China Ready

We've solved the hard parts. Here's everything a first-time Western traveller needs to know before arriving.

### VPN & Internet Access

- Badge: Do this before you fly
- What's blocked: Google, Gmail, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and most Western news sites are inaccessible in China without a VPN.
- Download before you leave: It's nearly impossible to download a VPN once inside China. Install and test at home. Recommended: Astrill (most reliable), Mullvad, ExpressVPN — subscribe to at least two in case one stops working.
- Hotel Wi-Fi tip: Some hotels block VPN connections on their Wi-Fi. Use your phone's mobile data as a hotspot if the VPN drops.
- Good news: WhatsApp works perfectly through a VPN, so your messaging stays unchanged. Apple iMessage and Signal also work.

### Paying in China

- Badge: Your concierge sets this up on Day 1
- China is cashless: Alipay and WeChat Pay are used for almost everything — restaurants, taxis, markets, tickets. Cash is rarely accepted in cities.
- International cards now work: Foreign Visa/Mastercard can now link directly to Alipay (set up in minutes, $5,000 single transaction limit). Your concierge walks you through the setup on your first morning.
- Carry some cash: We recommend ¥500–800 RMB in cash for the rare vendor that won't accept digital payment, and for small towns.
- Booking this trip: Your deposit and balance are charged via Stripe — the same trusted platform used by Airbnb and Booking.com. USD billing, no surprise conversion fees.

### Visa & Entry

- Badge: We handle the paperwork
- Do you need a visa?: Most US, UK, EU, Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand passport holders need a tourist (L) visa for stays over 10 days. We provide a visa invitation letter with every booking — it significantly speeds up approval.
- 240-hour visa-free transit: Citizens of 55+ countries (including USA, UK, most of EU, AUS, NZ, Canada) can enter China visa-free for up to 10 days if transiting through eligible ports. This covers our 12-day itinerary only if you have a confirmed onward flight.
- Processing time: Apply 4–6 weeks before departure. Standard processing: 4–7 business days. Express (3 days) and same-day options available at most Chinese consulates.
- What we provide: Visa invitation letter, hotel confirmation for all nights, suggested itinerary document — everything the consulate needs, formatted correctly.

### Safety & Practical Tips

- Badge: Our responsibility, always
- Is China safe?: China consistently ranks among the safest countries for foreign tourists. Violent crime against visitors is extremely rare. Cities have extensive CCTV coverage and a visible police presence.
- Emergency numbers: Police: 110. Ambulance: 120. Your concierge is your first call for any non-emergency situation — she has local contacts for every city on the itinerary.
- Health & medications: Bring a full supply of any prescription medication. International pharmacies exist in major cities but may not carry your brand. Travel insurance is required — we can recommend policies that cover China specifically.
- Language: English fluency outside hotels and tourist sites is limited. Your guides all speak English. We provide a printed pocket card with essential Chinese phrases and emergency contacts for every traveller.

## Before You Book

Everything worth knowing before you book.

### Is the altitude going to be a problem?

The high part of this route tops out at about 3,100 meters during the day and you sleep at about 2,000, which is lower than most people expect from a plateau trip and well below the height at which altitude sickness becomes common. The plan does the rest: the ascent day carries no sightseeing at all, the valley day is walked slowly with the visit closing in the early afternoon, and the descent gets its own full day. What we cannot promise is how any individual body responds, so your quote states the altitude range in writing before you pay, and if you have a heart or lung condition or have reacted to altitude before, take medical advice first. Altitude medical care, oxygen and evacuation are not included in this route's price or its insurance.

### Can I go in November or December?

Not this route, not this season. The Jiuzhaigou window closes from November through March, and the road and rail conditions up there in those months are not established for this plan, so we hold November and December closed rather than quietly swap the plateau for something else. For October to December 2026 the open window is October 8 to October 31, with the national holiday week at the start of the month excluded as well. If your dates are fixed in November or December, say so early and we will point you at a route that actually works then instead of selling you this one.

### What do I have to pay for on the day?

Three things you will actually use, and we would rather list them than let you find out at a gate. The Jiuzhaigou park shuttle, which is how the whole valley is toured. The cable car or chairlift up at Mutianyu, and the toboggan back down. All three are bought on site at present, because we have no landed price for them yet and we do not put an item in your base price before we can price it. Everything else on the included list is paid for. We are working the pricing with our partners, and if any of the three moves into the base price, your quote says so in writing before you pay.

### Fourteen days and two of them are just trains. Is that a waste?

It is the trade this route is built on, and we would make it again. Getting to the valley and back takes a travel day each way, and the ascent day is left empty on purpose so that your body has a night at 2,000 meters before the valley day rather than arriving and walking straight into it. Compressing that into a single day is the one change we decline on this route. What those two days buy you is the third one: a full day of lakes at altitude, finished early, walked slowly, with nobody chasing a train.

### Do we need a visa?

Most guests on this route do not. UK, French, German, Dutch, Belgian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Nordic, Central European, Irish, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand passports enter visa free for stays days, and we check your 14 days plus any other days in China against that window before you pay. The current policy runs through December 31, 2026, so departures on or before December 17, 2026 finish inside it. US passports are different: the US is not on that list, and the 10 day transit policy does not work here either, on length and on area both, because the Jiuzhaigou section sits outside the region it allows. US guests hold a Chinese tourist or business visa, applied for in person the first time, so allow several weeks. We confirm visa status before any payment, and if the dates do not fit, we say so instead of selling.