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Shenzhen Arrivals · Shanghai Departures
14 Days & 13 Nights — Private · Custom Itinerary
Full touring days with a private vehicle at every stop, one domestic flight and three high-speed rail legs. Three nights each in Chengdu, Xi'an and Beijing, so the middle of the trip unpacks once per city. The Great Wall day carries nothing else.
Most China plans open at the Great Wall and work forward. This one runs the other way. You land in Shenzhen, a city that did not look like this forty years ago, and then walk backwards: Chengdu's slow afternoons, a waterworks from the third century BC that still moves water, Tang-dynasty Xi'an, the Ming and Qing palace in Beijing. Shanghai puts you back into today at the end. Three nights each in the three middle cities, so you unpack once per city. The order is the argument: by the time you reach the oldest thing on the route, you already know what it was for. You'll notice somewhere around Xi'an that you have stopped calling any of it old.
— LyrikTrip travel designers
Every LyrikTrip journey begins with a conversation. Tell us your dates, who is coming and which city you would fly from. 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 four intercity legs, the fourth-quarter outdoor arrangements and the hotel list stand, before you are asked for anything.
Your driver meets your flight, whatever time it lands. Nothing is asked of you today.
The market first, because everything after this is older. Understand the newest thing in China on the day you have the least context for it.
One exhibition in the morning, one flight after lunch. The last modern day for a while.
Be at the panda base at the hour the pandas are awake. Then stop moving for the rest of the day.
Out of Chengdu for the day and back the same evening. This is the day the route's argument arrives.
A morning on the most restored street in Chengdu, an afternoon crossing to the Tang dynasty by rail.
One site, one day, no second stop. Learn to read rank off a stranger who has been standing there for twenty-two centuries.
The whole old town from above in the afternoon, the same town from inside it after dark.
One pagoda in the morning, five hundred miles of plain in the afternoon.
Walk the palace in a single line, then climb the hill that shows you the line.
A long drive out, a long stretch of wall, a long drive back. Today has only one thing in it on purpose.
Two Beijing mornings' worth of things in one morning, on purpose, because the train leaves after lunch.
A garden older than the city around it, a museum that closes the loops, and a river with both answers on it.
The last morning has nothing you have to see in it. That is the design.
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A few things on this route follow the calendar, the season or a supplier's confirmation. Here they are, told straight.
Fewer than fourteen days?
The five cities come apart cleanly. Beijing, Xi'an and Chengdu each stand on their own, the Shenzhen opening can go, and the Dujiangyan day return is the first thing we would cut rather than compress. Tell us your dates and who is coming, and we cut days rather than cut the pace.
Private China Route Concierge
“A bilingual planning desk for tailor-made China journeys.”
Our China team tailors the pacing, hotels and local hosts to suit each route style.
Step 01
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
Your specialist builds the itinerary from scratch — routes, hosts, hotels, and experiences you won't find anywhere else.
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Bespoke, never off-the-shelf
Step 03
When the plan feels right, a 10% deposit holds your entire trip. Balance due 30 days before departure.
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Deposit to secure everything
Step 04
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.
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