We are bringing 40 students. Can the museums actually take us as one group?

That is the question holding this route closed. The Forbidden City, the National Museum of China and the Shanghai Museum all take group reservations, and we make those bookings rather than leaving them to a phone number that does not work abroad. What we do not yet have on file is each institution's ceiling for a single slot at 40 people, plus the morning slot at the panda base. We are checking those order by order, and we do not open bookings until they are on file. If a ceiling turns out to be lower than 40, the party enters in two slots instead of one, and we tell you how that day is staffed before you commit rather than at the door.

What do we get for the credit recognition, insurance and safety documentation?

Not yet what a sending institution needs, and we will not pretend otherwise. Five items are open. Two are the academic credit recognition and the three insurance policies institutions typically require. The other three are the safety plan, a single rooming standard across all four cities and compliant invoicing. Travel accident insurance is included on this route; the institutional package is not, and neither are the other four items. Until all five are settled we take no orders and no deposits. Tell us which of the five your institution treats as non-negotiable, and we will tell you where that one stands.

Why give the Terracotta Army a whole day?

Because the second half of the day is where the learning happens. In the first 90 minutes a group photographs the pits. After that the sorting method is in hand: armor for rank and hairstyle for role. Students start telling one figure from another and arguing about it. In the newer excavation areas they can also see where the original paint survived. A morning gets you the picture. A day gets you the reading. It is also why the route avoids the national holiday week, when crowds here peak.

Day nine is not named. What are we actually buying?

On day nine you are buying a fourth night in one Chengdu hotel, a guide and a vehicle for the full day, and a plan that is confirmed for your departure and written into your confirmation before you book. We keep it that way because the options for that day rest on ticket availability and English interpretation resources that we have not verified for this selling season, and we do not sell a day we cannot yet name. Whatever it turns out to be, it is named in writing before you commit and priced only once it is named. The rest of the 12 days is unaffected.

Do our students need visas?

Most groups on this route do not. UK, most European and Canadian passports enter visa-free for stays days; so do Australian and New Zealand ones. Before anyone pays we check your 12 days plus any extra days in China against that window. The current policy runs through December 31, 2026, so departures on or before December 20, 2026 finish inside it. US passports are different: the US is not on that list, and 12 days is longer than the 10-day visa-free transit policy allows, so US travelers hold a Chinese tourist or business visa, applied for in person the first time. We confirm visa status before any payment, and if the dates do not fit, we say so instead of selling.

How We Know | LyrikTrip

Overview

Most school trips through China show students the objects. This one pairs each object with the room where that object gets read. The Terracotta Army gets a whole day, then the provincial history collection in Xi'an the next morning. Mutianyu is a line drawn across a ridge before it is a photograph. The waterworks at Dujiangyan are still doing the job they were dug for in the 3rd century BC. Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai each hold a national or municipal collection, and the group walks into all three with the reservations already made. By Xi'an you will notice the students have stopped asking what something is and started asking how anyone knows.

— LyrikTrip travel designers

Every LyrikTrip journey begins with a conversation. Tell us your dates, how many students are coming and who travels with them. 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 credit recognition, the insurance policies and the reservation ceilings for 40 people stand, before you are asked for anything.

Why you'll love this trip

Four cities, one method. The Forbidden City, Mutianyu, panda mornings and three museum collections, with licensed English-speaking guides city by city.
12 days from a buried army to a canal still watering Chengdu. Understand the evidence.

Give the Terracotta Army a whole day instead of a morning: long enough that the class stops photographing and starts sorting generals from crossbowmen by armour and hair.
Walk one straight axis through the Forbidden City with the timed slot already booked in the group's name: forty of you go in at the same minute instead of standing in a reservation queue.
Stand on the ridge at Mutianyu while the guide reads the wall as a decision: where the beacon towers stand, what the pass below is for, why the sightlines run the way they do.
Watch the Dujiangyan waterworks split a river the way they were dug to in the 3rd century BC, and still send water to the fields around Chengdu today.
Get to the Chengdu panda base in the morning, the hours the animals are generally moving rather than asleep in the fork of a tree.
End on the Bund on the arrival evening with the guide and the group leader beside the whole party: one bank of the river a century older than the other, both lit at once.

Things to do

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Itinerary

Arrivals

Beijing · Day 1 - Day 3

Day 1 · Land, and do nothing

The group arrives and the day asks nothing of anyone. London waits until tomorrow.

Airport pickup The vehicle and driver wait for the flight number on the confirmation, and the run into the city is long enough to sleep through.

Beijing through the window Ring roads first, then poplars and lit shopfronts along a city street. The country the group flew to shows up before anyone has unpacked.

Evening Nothing is scheduled. The guide is reachable, and dinner near the hotel is recommended and booked by the guide if the group wants it, on the group's account.

Day 2 · One axis through the palace

The square first, then the gate, then five centuries in a straight line. This is the day the scale of the place lands.

Tiananmen Square The party crosses the ceremonial centre of modern China on foot towards the palace gate. Security screening comes first and takes its own half hour to an hour, so it sits in the day's budget separately; the guide walks 40 people to the nearest screening entrance rather than the far one.

The Forbidden City The timed group slot is booked ahead by us, so the party walks 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, then out through the north gate. 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.

Pace The palace is large and guests often find it tiring, so the route stops at the seats we know about and the garden at the end is unhurried.

Day 3 · A line drawn along a ridge

The wall before the photograph: what it was for, and who it was watching. Today ends where lunch is cooked.

Drive out to Mutianyu The run north out of the city takes a good part of the morning, which is why nothing else is on today; the vehicle stays with the group all day.

On the wall A restored stretch of the Mutianyu Great Wall, with watchtowers running away along the ridge in both directions. The guide reads it as a decision rather than a monument: where the beacon towers stand, what the pass below is for, how far a signal had to travel. Look along the ridge with the towers stepping down it: that is the fifteen seconds worth filming.

Farmhouse lunch Northern home cooking at a farmhouse near the foot of the wall, made with what grows nearby. Lunch is arranged today rather than left to chance, because the wall is an hour from anywhere.

High-speed rail

Xi'an · Day 4 - Day 5

Day 4 · The reading room, then the train

The national collection in the morning, the grammar of heaven and earth after it, then Beijing hands the group to Xi'an.

National Museum of China The group reservation is made by us, so the party goes in at its slot. Bronzes, ceramics, sculpture, calligraphy: the objects the week has been walking past, put behind glass where they can be looked at closely.

Temple of Heaven Three groups of buildings, the Hall of Prayer, the Imperial Vault and the circular mound. Stand on the round terrace and count the shapes: round belongs to heaven, square belongs to earth, and the whole site is built out of that one sentence.

High-speed rail to Xi'an The leg is arranged so it follows the two Beijing stops rather than cutting into them. Watch the window as the North China plain runs flat for hours and then the loess country starts. The class of seat for each order is stated in writing in the quote.

Day 5 · A whole day with eight thousand people

One site, one day, no hour where anyone has to choose what to look at. This is the day the trip is named after.

The Terracotta Army An estimated eight thousand figures, standing in the pits where they were found, guarding the tomb of the first emperor of a unified China. The guide gives the party the sorting method early: armour for rank and hairstyle for role. By the second pit a general, a crossbowman and an infantryman have stopped looking alike. Somewhere after the first hour you will notice the phones have gone down and the arguing has started.

The paint In the newer excavation areas, patches of the original colour survive on the fired clay. It is the detail that turns a hall of brown figures back into painted ones.

Shaanxi noodle lunch A local lunch on the site day. Hand-pulled noodles are the everyday form here: wide and hand-stretched, eaten with chilli and vinegar rather than a poured sauce.

High-speed rail

Chengdu · Day 6 - Day 9

Day 6 · Putting the pits back in order

A morning in the provincial history collection, then the train south. Yesterday's objects get a timeline this morning.

Shaanxi History Museum The provincial history collection of Shaanxi, the province that held the capital under the Qin, Han and Tang courts. The morning is spent putting yesterday's pits into a sequence rather than adding new sites to the list.

High-speed rail to Chengdu The line runs south across the Qinling mountains, in and out of tunnel after tunnel. Sit on the right and watch the gaps: the dry north on one side of the range, the wet basin on the other, inside a couple of hours.

Evening Check in and stop. Nothing is scheduled, and dinner near the hotel is recommended and booked by the guide if the group wants it, on the group's account.

Day 7 · The morning animals, the working monastery

The lightest day of the twelve, and the one the youngest travellers came for.

Chengdu Panda Base The party is there in the morning, the hours the pandas are generally moving: eating, coming down off things, dropping back to sleep in the fork of a tree. Flat shaded paths and about three hours. Get to the enclosure fence early and wait: the animal comes over on its own schedule.

Wenshu Monastery A monastery in use, not a restored site. Monks live here and services run while the group walks the courtyards, so the rule for the visit is the rule for any working building: keep to the paths and keep the voices down. At lunchtime the vegetarian canteen beside it has a line of local people out the door.

Rest day This is the light day of the twelve; both stops shorten if the group runs out of afternoon.

Day 8 · Evidence that never stopped working

A day return from Chengdu to a waterwork from the 3rd century BC. Today the class watches an old thing do its job.

Out to Dujiangyan A day return from Chengdu to the Dujiangyan irrigation works by intercity rail or private coach, with the mode stated in the written confirmation for each departure. The group sleeps in the same Chengdu hotel tonight, so nothing gets packed.

Where the river divides The works were built to divide the river rather than dam it, in the 3rd century BC, and they still feed the farmland of the Chengdu plain today. Stand at the dividing point and watch the water take the two channels; then look at the fields on the map and follow where that water is going. Standing over the split, you will feel the difference between a ruin and a machine that never stopped.

Back to Chengdu The return runs in the afternoon with the evening left open; dinner near the hotel is recommended and booked by the guide if the group wants it, on the group's account.

Day 9 · A fourth night in one city

The one day of the twelve whose content is set for each departure rather than sold in advance.

The day's plan The full-day plan for today is confirmed for each departure and named in the written confirmation before the group books. It is not part of the inclusions and nothing here is priced into a quote until it is named.

What is fixed today The guide, the vehicle and the same Chengdu hotel are with the group all day. This is the fourth night in one bed, and the bags stay where they were on day six.

Chengdu in the morning The street outside is awake early. Tea glasses on plastic stools, breakfast noodles being served in bowls, the traffic thickening under the trees.

Flight

Shanghai · Day 10 - Day 12

Day 10 · Two banks, one river

The flight takes place in the middle of the day. The evening is the one the whole party remembers Shanghai by.

Flight to Shanghai Hotel to airport, the flight, then airport to hotel. The vehicle runs both ends and the Shanghai guide takes over at the door. The flight number, time and cabin class for each order are written into the quote.

The Bund and the Pudong skyline after dark The historic waterfront buildings hold one bank of the Huangpu River and the Pudong towers hold the other, a century apart and lit at the same hour. This is the arrival evening, so the guide and the group leader stay with the whole party from the riverside back to the hotel: nobody is left to be approached alone by a stranger offering tea or English practice. Standing between the two skylines, you will feel the week fold into one picture.

Day 11 · The garden and the collection

A classical garden in the morning, the municipal collection in the afternoon. The last reading room of the trip.

Yu Garden and the old town lanes Pavilions, rockery, ponds and a path that never runs straight. It is set in the oldest quarter of the city, surrounded by old town lanes. Flat the whole way. Send the students ahead around the rockery and let them come back: the path is a loop and it always brings them back.

Shanghai Museum The group reservation is made by us, because the museum's booking system offers limited English. Bronzes, ceramics, painting and calligraphy again, this time held by a different city. Seeing both collections is the point of seeing either.

Pace Two stops in a full day, with the walking between them short and the afternoon unhurried.

Day 12 · Plane trees, then the airport

The quietest morning of the twelve, then home. The last streets are the ones people live on.

The former French Concession along Wukang Road Plane trees closing over the street, historic residences behind low walls, small independent shops at ground level. After two nights of towers across the water, this is the same city at walking speed. Stand at the corner where the road forks and look up: the light comes through the leaves in pieces.

Airport drop-off The vehicle takes the group to the airport, timed to the flight with room to spare. If a late flight leaves the day open, tell us and we plan the gap around the check-out time rather than around a schedule.

Departures

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Hotels

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Included / Excluded

What's Included

Intercity transportThree intercity legs: Beijing to Xi'an by high-speed rail on day four, Xi'an to Chengdu by high-speed rail on day six, Chengdu to Shanghai by air on day ten. The class of seat or cabin for each order is stated in writing in the quote
Day return to DujiangyanThe day-eight round trip from Chengdu to the Dujiangyan irrigation works, by intercity rail or private coach, with the mode stated in the written confirmation for each departure
Vehicle and transfersAir-conditioned private vehicle for all listed sightseeing in all four cities, plus station and airport transfers; airport pickup on day one and drop-off on day twelve. Vehicle size is determined by the confirmed number of travellers.
Hotels11 nights at the level the group chooses, four-star, five-star or quality boutique, breakfast included: Beijing 3 · Xi'an 2 · Chengdu 4 · Shanghai 2
GuideLicensed English-speaking guide on every touring day in each city. On the Shanghai arrival evening, the guide and the group leader stay with the whole party on the Bund until the return to the hotel
Tickets and experiences, BeijingTian'anmen Square · the Forbidden City with the timed group reservation booked by us · Mutianyu Great Wall, ticket plus the cable car or open chairlift on the way up · the Temple of Heaven · the National Museum of China with the group reservation booked by us. December departures: see Special Notes on the winter operation of the lift
Tickets and experiences, Xi'anThe Terracotta Army, a full day on site · the Shaanxi History Museum
Tickets and experiences, Chengdu and DujiangyanThe Chengdu panda base in the morning · Wenshu Monastery · the Dujiangyan irrigation works
Tickets and experiences, ShanghaiThe Bund and the Pudong skyline in the evening, guide and group leader accompanied · Yu Garden with the old town lanes · the Shanghai Museum with the group reservation booked by us · the former French Concession walk along Wukang Road
Meals11 hotel breakfasts, days two through twelve, plus two arranged lunches: the farmhouse lunch below the Great Wall on day three and the Shaanxi noodle lunch on day five. The pricing basis of those two lunches is being finalised, so each quote states in writing whether each of them sits within that order's base price
InsuranceTravel accident insurance. The insurance package that a sending institution requires of a student group is separate: see Special Notes

Not Included

International flightsFlights into Beijing and out of Shanghai
VisasVisa fees and processing for travellers who need a Chinese visa, including all US travellers on this route
MealsBeyond the 11 breakfasts and the two arranged lunches: lunches and dinners are recommended and booked by the guide, on the group's account
Day nine in ChengduThe content of day nine is confirmed for each departure and named in the written confirmation; it is not a default inclusion
Institutional documentationAcademic credit recognition, safety plans, invoicing formats and the insurance package a sending institution requires: see Special Notes
Optional add-onsNone on this route at present. Any add-on requested is priced separately when it is chosen and is never added into the base plan
PersonalGratuities, single or extra-room supplement including the leader's room supplement, personal spending

Special Notes

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

Bookings are not open yet — Five things have to be real first. Two of them are documents a sending institution signs off: the academic credit recognition and the three insurance policies it requires. The other three are the safety plan, a single rooming standard across all four cities and compliant invoicing. Those five are the terms a school trip is won or lost on, and none is settled. Until they are, we take no orders and no deposits. Tell us your dates and we will write to you on the day it opens.
Capacity for a party of 40 40 — The per-slot group reservation ceiling at the Forbidden City, the National Museum of China and the Shanghai Museum, and the morning slot at the panda base, are checked with each institution order by order. Bookings stay closed until those ceilings are on file.
The day-by-day is in final product review — three intercity legs and one day return each take part of a touring day, and the balance between them and the 12 days is with our product side. If that reading changes the plan, the change is written into the itinerary before anyone books.
Day nine — The content of day nine is confirmed for each departure, named in the written confirmation, and priced only once it is named. It is not sold in advance. The fourth Chengdu night, the guide and the vehicle hold either way.
December departures and the Mutianyu lift — October and November departures include the cable car or the open chairlift on the way up. The winter operating notice for December has not yet been issued, so for December departures the way up is stated per order in the written confirmation.
Departure dates — no departures between October 1 and October 7, the national holiday week, when crowds at the Terracotta Army peak and group reservation slots for 40 people are hardest to secure. Dates are also set so that day two never falls on a Monday, when the Forbidden City closes; if the requested dates would put it there, days two and three swap places.
Security screening at the square — everyone is screened to enter Tian'anmen Square. For a party of 40 the queue takes half an hour to an hour, and it is budgeted separately, on top of the time on the square, so the palace reservation still lands on time.
The Bund on the arrival evening — The riverside draws approaches to visitors, tea invitations and English-practice offers among them, and the group arrives that evening straight from the airport. The guide and the group leader stay with the whole party from the riverside back to the hotel; no student is left to walk back alone.
Visa window — the 30-day visa-free policy currently runs through December 31, 2026. Because this is a 12-day plan, departures on or before December 20, 2026 finish inside that window; later departure dates are quoted only after the official renewal is announced.
US passports — the US is not on the 30-day visa-free list, and 12 days is longer than the 10-day visa-free transit policy allows, so every US traveller on this route holds a Chinese tourist or business visa, including a ten-year multiple-entry one. First-time applicants attend a consulate appointment in person, so allow several weeks. We confirm visa status before any payment. Travellers already in China under the 10-day transit policy cannot join this trip: 12 days is longer than that policy permits, and we say so rather than work around it.
Confirmation and changes — The confirmation-time commitment and the change and refund terms are being finalised with our ground partners. Until they are settled, each quote states in writing its own confirmation deadline and its change and refund conditions. One internal flight, two rail legs and three museum reservations sit in these 12 days, so a date change touches all three inventories at once.

Is Twelve Days Your Length?

Fewer than 12 days?

The four cities come apart cleanly: Beijing and Xi'an stand on their own as a shorter evidence pairing, and the Chengdu stretch can shorten. Tell us your dates and how many students are coming, and we cut days rather than cut the day at the Terracotta Army.

Good to Know

Group: Private, just your party. From 1 guest. No fixed maximum party size.
Pace: Four cities in 12 days: Beijing 3 nights, Xi'an 2, Chengdu 4, Shanghai 2, with one day return from Chengdu to the Dujiangyan irrigation works
Effort: Moderate walking days with some stairs. The longest day on foot is the Forbidden City morning; the one climb, at Mutianyu, is served by a cable car or open chairlift on the way up
Ports: Beijing in, Shanghai out; airport pickup on day one and drop-off on day twelve
Visas: UK, most European and Canadian passports enter visa-free for stays days; so do Australian and New Zealand ones. Checked order by order against your dates. US passports need a Chinese visa for this route
Language: Licensed English-speaking local guides throughout, city by city
Reservations: The Forbidden City, the National Museum of China and the Shanghai Museum are booked by us as group reservations, under the names on your confirmation.
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 window October to December 2026. No departures October 1 to 7; December departures have the way up at Mutianyu stated per order

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Why you'll love this trip