---
title: "What the Stone Becomes"
description: "15 days from sandstone pillars to poured concrete walking three ages of stone"
type: "tour"
route_id: "china-three-stones-15-days"
total_days: 15
price: 4380
highlights: ["Shanghai", "Zhangjiajie", "Guilin", "Yangshuo", "Shenzhen"]
url: "https://www.lyriktrip.com/tours/china-three-stones-15-days"
canonical_url: "https://www.lyriktrip.com/tours/china-three-stones-15-days"
locale: "en-US"
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# What the Stone Becomes

15 days from sandstone pillars to poured concrete walking three ages of stone

China without a cruise. Yu Garden, clifftop walkways, a Li River raft and the Huaqiangbei markets, with English-speaking guides city by city.

- Four demanding days out of fifteen: two on the Zhangjiajie clifftops, one in the Yulong River countryside, one on the pre-dawn steps at Xianggong Hill. The countryside ride has three modes, and one full day is given to travel alone.

## Overview

Most China routes are built from cities. This one is built from a material. In Zhangjiajie you stand on top of sandstone pillars that weather into towers; in Yangshuo you float through limestone that water has been dissolving into the same shapes from the inside; in Shenzhen the last stone is poured, and a skyline goes up inside one working lifetime. Shanghai opens the trip at the water where all of it ends up. One full day is given to nothing but the flight, and the middle of the route stays put long enough to stop counting days. By the second week you'll find that you read a skyline the way you read a cliff.

— LyrikTrip travel designers

Every LyrikTrip journey begins with a conversation. Tell us your dates, who is coming and how much walking your party wants. 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 Yangshuo base hotel and the day 8 morning stand, before you are asked for anything.

## Summary

- Route ID: china-three-stones-15-days
- Duration: 15 days / 14 nights
- Starting price: $4,380
- Status: active
- Highlights: Shanghai, Zhangjiajie, Guilin, Yangshuo, Shenzhen
- Cover image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/dQVVYxTC.webp

## Hero tags

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

## Highlight notes

- China without a cruise. Yu Garden, clifftop walkways, a Li River raft and the Huaqiangbei markets, with English-speaking guides city by city.
- 15 days from sandstone pillars to poured concrete. Walk three ages of stone.

## Selling points

- Stand on the Bund after dark with your guide beside you: the old waterfront on one bank, the Pudong towers on the other, and a first evening in China that asks nothing of you.
- Ride the Bailong Elevator up the cliff face at Yuanjiajie: you go from the valley floor to the pillar tops without a step, and arrive with your legs still fresh for the walkways up there.
- Walk the Golden Whip Stream the day after you look down on it: the same rock you photographed from the summit now stands over your head, and the scale of the place lands the second time.
- Drift the Xingping section of the Li River on a bamboo raft: the reach printed on the back of China's 20-yuan banknote, taken at the speed the water is going rather than at engine speed.
- Climb the stone steps to Xianggong Hill before first light: you watch the river bend below fill with light, and the peaks change color twice while you stand there.
- Walk Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen floor by floor with your guide: components low down, prototypes above them and finished machines at the top. The supply chain the rest of the world orders from turns into a building you can walk through.
- Run days nine through twelve from one town: the Yulong River, Xingping, the sunrise hill and the cave all reach from the same base, so the bags open once for that stretch.

## City highlights

- Shanghai (3 days): Land at the water
  - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/13x1KtnS.webp
- Zhangjiajie (3 days): Shanghai to Zhangjiajie
  - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/bTMJnShs.webp
- Guilin (1 days): Across the canyon, then south
  - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7zMR9Rs6.webp
- Yangshuo (5 days): Into the karst country
  - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/cIV0iRml.webp
- Shenzhen (3 days): Out of the hills
  - Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8AH70UD0.webp

## Experiences

China without a cruise. Yu Garden, clifftop walkways, a Li River raft and the Huaqiangbei markets, with English-speaking guides city by city.

- 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 aging 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
- Wukang Road: A Loose Walk (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
- Woodblock Watermark Printing (Shanghai): a printing tradition tied to Shanghai's long-established art and publishing heritage. You watch how outlines, colors, water and pressure pass through one carved block after another until the tones of a Chinese painting reappear on paper, then you pull a simple print yourself under an experienced instructor: the last of the four things you make in China. Included.
  - Subtitle: a printing tradition tied to Shanghai's long-established art and publishing heritage
  - Tags: Craft
  - Host: Shanghai, Shanghai Lens — Skyline and riverfront culture
  - Access: Included.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/17a04dad593e.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/15c02ba9fe49.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/0047c84193e3.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/979b2300e86c.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/181b8b5fead1.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/207eb222bffd.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/dc606be60826.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9e2bfc86a8b6.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8d84e80b604e.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1cb87eded7a4.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
- Yuanjiajie Avatar Mountains (Zhangjiajie): Yuanjiajie is famous for the pillar scenery that helped make Zhangjiajie internationally recognizable.
  - Subtitle: Avatar-like sandstone pillars
  - Tags: Mountain
  - Host: Zhangjiajie, Zhangjiajie Lens — Avatar peaks and skywalks
  - Access: A signature Zhangjiajie landscape moment with strong visual impact.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1f27e9d4a4d3.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8da9c8c96a66.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/d362b10a55c7.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1a23f12fa796.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6eb56556499f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/61d14357c9c5.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4a6033607dce.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/452d17874751.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6d433acb2400.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4aaa53a5b337.jpg
- Bailong Elevator (Zhangjiajie): Bailong Elevator provides a quick vertical transition through Zhangjiajie's dramatic cliff landscape.
  - Subtitle: A cliffside elevator in Zhangjiajie
  - Tags: Elevator
  - Host: Zhangjiajie, Zhangjiajie Lens — Avatar peaks and skywalks
  - Access: A distinctive engineering-and-scenery moment inside the park.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/65c92f55008a.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/784f65e53b65.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4bd0a84a6930.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b0f3f29707e4.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1a23f12fa796.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b5c36fc9e0b8.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/97e6678c30fe.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/dd19a44cd371.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/bde2e9f999d9.jpg
- Tianzi Mountain (Zhangjiajie): Tianzi Mountain is known for high viewpoints over Zhangjiajie's pillar-like sandstone formations.
  - Subtitle: A dramatic peak area in Zhangjiajie
  - Tags: Mountain
  - Host: Zhangjiajie, Zhangjiajie Lens — Avatar peaks and skywalks
  - Access: A key viewpoint for Zhangjiajie's vertical mountain scenery.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/d4100c0f45a2.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/46c487fda8da.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2ad097de6cfa.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1a23f12fa796.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6eb56556499f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/61d14357c9c5.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/13ef886fd0e8.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9d9fe7476e45.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/bde2e9f999d9.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6d3aab1eb3ef.jpg
- Golden Whip Stream (Zhangjiajie): a walk on the valley floor beside clear water, dense forest around you and sandstone cliffs straight overhead: the same pillars you saw from above, met at their feet. The path is level going and the length is cut to fit your day; the park from below is a quieter, closer park.
  - Subtitle: a walk on the valley floor beside clear water, dense forest around
  - Tags: Walk
  - Host: Zhangjiajie, Zhangjiajie Lens — Avatar peaks and skywalks
  - Access: The path is level going and the length is cut to fit your day; the park from below is a quieter, closer park.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6bd5ad7cd8d1.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/266dcd768842.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/65830461d08a.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6e4f580d4495.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7bb01923c0f0.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b88d23386b67.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3a2d514f0391.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/bd97ceeaaba6.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f35dc1ae3065.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/90d2f7592034.jpg
- Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge (Zhangjiajie): 430 meters of clear pane suspended about 300 meters above the gorge floor, the longest and highest of its kind when it opened in 2016. You cross at your own pace; a solid walkway runs beside it the whole way, and time allowing, boardwalks lead down into the gorge itself with a short boat ride out.
  - Subtitle: Clear pane above the gorge
  - Tags: Glass Bridge
  - Host: Zhangjiajie, Zhangjiajie Lens — Avatar peaks and skywalks
  - Access: A solid walkway runs beside the glass the whole way.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/fddaf5f5a165.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b47948a69083.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/150a576fd909.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f6dc4bb869f2.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/aaa7d820f194.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c05df7d4fbbc.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1607b5deca71.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/97e6678c30fe.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/38716b06bfc8.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c15d4e4de3c7.jpg
- Tujia Brocade (Zhangjiajie): Known locally as xilankapu, "the flowered bedcover": geometric symbols the Tujia have woven for generations, built thread by thread on a wooden loom. You watch a weaver work the pattern, hear what the motifs mean, and try a few rows yourself when the workshop's daily hours allow.
  - Subtitle: Try a few rows on a wooden loom
  - Tags: Craft
  - Host: Zhangjiajie, Zhangjiajie Lens — Avatar peaks and skywalks
  - Access: Hands-on weaving depends on the workshop's daily hours.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8298b74be623.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/de558924fc70.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6baa5e8ea251.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6615cf9639be.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/151225c8da88.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/53852fe3ad24.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/72871748e156.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/73488f51d149.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f5c10cf4cb96.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4950ad25b553.jpg
- Yulong River Cycling (Yangshuo): an afternoon ride at a relaxed pace through the countryside along the Yulong River, on the same day you arrive from Shanghai. The route passes rice fields, farming villages, riverside paths and limestone peaks: rural southern China at handlebar height, hours after you left one of its biggest cities.
  - Subtitle: an afternoon ride at a relaxed pace through the countryside along the
  - Tags: Active
  - Host: Yangshuo, Yangshuo Lens — Countryside and karst calm
  - Access: The route passes rice fields, farming villages, riverside paths and limestone peaks: rural southern China at handlebar height, hours after you left one of its biggest cities.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/02042b694496.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b09be4e9e978.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f08a7d5e0a6e.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/ed66fae24c5f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/60d1bfc0b970.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/d129588d0b34.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/5943b2f5538d.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f3ad04674ebb.jpg
- Riverside Afternoon Tea (Yangshuo): a table set beside the Li River in mid-afternoon, mountains and water on every side, included in the day. It sits deliberately between the morning's raft and the evening's soft light: the pause that turns a sightseeing day into a river day.
  - Subtitle: a table set beside the Li River in mid-afternoon, mountains and water
  - Tags: Slow
  - Host: Yangshuo, Yangshuo Lens — Countryside and karst calm
  - Access: It sits deliberately between the morning's raft and the evening's soft light: the pause that turns a sightseeing day into a river day.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/484bdca99f74.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6163ecd43212.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6c5367f53386.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/c01fb0411dbf.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/876ec4ec8b81.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/ffdbab928ef1.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/636bbab57542.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7eea69cfad11.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3fe4bfb22c5b.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f00b6b8a0bcd.jpg
- Xingping Ancient Town (yangshuo): an old river town of stone streets and shophouses, walked after sunrise while the town is still waking up, about ninety minutes. The stretch of the Li River printed on the back of China's 20-yuan banknote is the water beside this town, which is why the scene feels familiar to anyone who has spent a week paying for things in China. In the base price.
  - Subtitle: an old river town of stone streets and shophouses, walked after sunrise while the town is still waking up, about ninety minutes.
  - Tags: heritage
  - Host: Yangshuo, Yangshuo Lens — Countryside and karst calm
  - Access: In the base price.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/54824bed386e.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/0b4cfdbd6b6c.jpg
- Li River Bamboo Raft at Xingping (Yangshuo): the scenic stretch of the Li River around Xingping and Nine-Horse Fresco Hill, the hill named for the horse shapes read in its cliff face. You walk Xingping's old streets first, then board the raft; this reach of the river appears on the back of China's 20-yuan banknote.
  - Subtitle: the scenic stretch of the Li River around Xingping and Nine-Horse Fresco
  - Tags: Nature
  - Host: Yangshuo, Yangshuo Lens — Countryside and karst calm
  - Access: You walk Xingping's old streets first, then board the raft; this reach of the river appears on the back of China's 20-yuan banknote.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/ffdbab928ef1.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8808cbb6b428.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/111916249320.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f3ad04674ebb.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7eea69cfad11.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3fe4bfb22c5b.jpg
- Xianggong Hill at Sunrise (Yangshuo): A pre-dawn start and a short climb of stone steps to the platform photographers rank among the Li River's finest: the great bend below, layered peaks turning silver, then gold, as the light comes up. Mist changes the picture by the minute, which is the point.
  - Subtitle: Sunrise over the Li River bend
  - Tags: Photo
  - Host: Yangshuo, Yangshuo Lens — Countryside and karst calm
  - Access: Mist changes the picture by the minute.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/08e757afb5b7.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/16653fa18065.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4ede174ee009.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7760be33afee.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7d28774a7484.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f728d8c37b0a.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2d6fd62c3ee4.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2ee126c13fe9.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7159e7fa6afd.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/56823258cae1.jpg
- A karst cave near Yangshuo (yangshuo): about ninety minutes underground, in the inside version of everything you have been standing on all week: the same limestone, dissolved from within by water instead of weathered from outside. The site is confirmed against operating conditions on the day, so it is not named before sale. One cave visit is in the base price either way.
  - Subtitle: about ninety minutes underground, in the inside version of everything you have been standing on all week: the same limestone, dissolved from within by water instead of weathered from outside.
  - Tags: nature
  - Host: Yangshuo, Yangshuo Lens — Countryside and karst calm
  - Access: One cave visit is in the base price either way.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/e7611934c686.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/770848dbf30f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/352ad3486973.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6183245ac139.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/fb67961a6c68.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8ffa2276f88c.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/5d8a23614bcb.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/33ec72ba8bc1.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/a8820cbb03f0.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/5dbd4d69ae30.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/38de138ed00e.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6f37518c090e.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/876247bee5ea.jpg
- Huaqiangbei (Shenzhen): one of the world's best-known electronics districts. You walk floors and streets where components, prototypes and finished devices sell side by side, and the supply chain behind the world's gadgets stops being an abstraction: it has counters, prices and business cards. Your guide keeps the logic straight while you browse.
  - Subtitle: one of the world's best-known electronics districts
  - Tags: Tech
  - Host: Shenzhen, Shenzhen Lens — Drones and future mobility
  - Access: Your guide keeps the logic straight while you browse.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/f3ad2afbd3b2.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/200120e470fb.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/968fce5767a5.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/403ff3a81a73.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/b0f4ce04c70d.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/92c50a687090.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2c610df7011f.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/dd5d5cbe7e98.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2a799aaa4b8b.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4576ade7ac05.jpg
- Urban Planning Exhibition (Shenzhen): scale models, architectural displays and development plans that lay out how a small border town grew into a major metropolis within living memory. Twenty minutes here reframes everything else you see in the city.
  - Subtitle: scale models, architectural displays and development plans that lay out how a
  - Tags: City
  - Host: Shenzhen, Shenzhen Lens — Drones and future mobility
  - Access: Twenty minutes here reframes everything else you see in the city.
  - Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/0cb198f8a49d.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4ba54eb84471.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/009bf8a44425.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8c27862fb181.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/699fd01ecc67.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/e2a1a6331692.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/d05c249a3e39.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2ebecbe69dba.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/e0e571633d3d.jpg
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## Itinerary

### What the Stone Becomes - 15 days

Journey

#### Shanghai (3 days)

- Subtitle: Land at the water
- Recommendation: Your driver meets your flight, whatever time it lands. The first day asks nothing of anyone.
- Transport: Flight
- Transport mode: airplane

Airport pickup · Shanghai through the window · Evening

- Images: 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, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/525J26xE.webp
##### Day 1: Land at the water

- (transport) — your driver and vehicle are waiting for the flight number on your confirmation, and the run into the city is yours to sleep through.
- (sight) — elevated roads, then the plane trees and lit shopfronts of a city street; the country you flew to 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) Bellagio by MGM Shanghai on the Bund — Hotel stay in Shanghai.

##### Day 2: A garden, a collection, a waterfront

- (sight) — pavilions, ponds and a path that never runs straight, dropped inside the oldest quarter of the city. Stand at the rockery and look at how it was built: hauled stone, stacked by hand, made to read as a mountain range from six feet away.
- (sight) — bronzes, ceramics, painting and calligraphy in one building, from ritual vessels to brushwork. Entry runs on timed reservation and the booking system is limited in English, so the reservation arrangement for your order is written into your quote rather than left to the door.
- (sight) — the historic bank buildings hold one side of the river and the Pudong towers hold the other. Your guide stays with you from start to finish tonight, which is deliberate: the first evening is when strangers approach visitors here with an invitation to practice English or to a teahouse, and that approach is a known scam pattern.

##### Day 3: Paper and water

- (sight) — plane trees over both sides of the road, historic residences behind low walls, small shops at ground level. Walk the corner where the road forks and look up at the building on the point: the whole neighborhood is built on that angle.
- (sight) — an hour and a half at a bench with carved blocks, water-based ink and absorbent paper. The ink is thinned and the paper takes it in rather than holding it on the surface, which is why the finished print looks brushed rather than stamped.
- (transport) — you cross on the boat people take to work, standing at the rail with commuters and their scooters. Thirty minutes door to door, and the two banks trade places around you.

#### Zhangjiajie (3 days)

- Subtitle: Shanghai to Zhangjiajie
- Recommendation: A travel day, and only a travel day. The flight, then the ground link into the mountains, and nothing else on the page.
- Transport: High-speed rail
- Transport mode: train

Transfer and flight · The ground changing under the wing · Evening

- Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/bTMJnShs.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/14B6b2VP.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1uw3ShDO.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2t45crmz.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3g0JUsbQ.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3KNKbO1s.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4FYtDGPN.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/75b1yrkY.webp
##### Day 4: Shanghai to Zhangjiajie

- (transport) — hotel to airport, the domestic flight, then the ground link from Zhangjiajie airport into the Wulingyuan accommodation area. Both the flight and that ground link are in the base price, and the ground link is written as its own line on your quote rather than left for you to arrange.
- (sight) — the delta flattens out and then breaks up into ridge after ridge of green before the wheels are down. Window seats are worth asking for.
- (note) — check in and stop. Nothing is scheduled today, on purpose: this is one of the two days in fifteen that carries no program at all.
- (accommodation) Pullman Zhangjiajie — Hotel stay in Zhangjiajie.

##### Day 5: Up the cliff face

- (sight) — an outdoor lift up the outside of the cliff, glass on the valley side. You watch the valley floor drop away and the pillar tops come level with you inside a couple of minutes, which is a rearrangement of the landscape rather than a view of it.
- (sight) — walkways along the rim of the sandstone pillar forest, with the natural stone arch called the First Bridge Under Heaven partway around. Stand at the rail where the pillars run out into haze and count how far back you can still tell one from another.
- (sight) — queues at the elevator run long in peak periods, so the day carries margin and the two clifftop days can trade places if the lift is backed up in the morning.

##### Day 6: The same rock, from underneath

- (sight) — a high terrace over the densest stand of pillars in the massif, named for a Tujia leader who took the title Son of Heaven. The light moves fast up here, so the viewing area gets its own two and a half hours rather than a photo stop.
- (sight) — a clear stream on the valley floor with the cliffs closing over it. You walk beside the water with the pillars going up out of sight on both sides. Somewhere along here you'll notice you have stopped talking.
- (sight) — wild macaques on this section take food from open hands and open bags, and your guide states the on-site rules before the group sets off. The walk itself runs between about 60 and 180 minutes, cut to the group on the day.

#### Guilin (1 days)

- Subtitle: Across the canyon, then south
- Recommendation: A bridge in the morning and a loom before lunch. The afternoon train takes you out of the sandstone and into the limestone.
- Transport: Private vehicle
- Transport mode: car

Grand Canyon Glass Bridge · Tujia brocade weaving · High speed rail to Guilin

- Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/7zMR9Rs6.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3uGHEW2j.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4UilJCmH.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4VtYWWkT.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4Yfatbqd.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/5ElOR2GL.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/5Mke9ayW.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/6451wQWE.webp
##### Day 7: Across the canyon, then south

- (sight) — a 430-meter span across the canyon, with a solid floor path running beside the glass for its whole length. Walk the solid path if you would rather: it costs nothing extra, takes nothing off the price, and nobody on this route is asked to cross the glass.
- (sight) — an hour at a workshop where the brocade comes off a body-tensioned loom, in the villages this massif sits among. After two days on the rim, this is the same landscape told by the people who live at the bottom of it.
- (transport) — the afternoon train, one night in Guilin at the other end. Your seat class for this order is stated in writing in your quote.
- (accommodation) Shangri-La Hotel Guilin — Hotel stay in Guilin.

#### Yangshuo (5 days)

- Subtitle: Into the karst country
- Recommendation: A morning in Guilin, then the road into the town you work from for the rest of the week. The pace drops here on purpose.
- Transport: High-speed rail
- Transport mode: train

Guilin morning · Road to Yangshuo · Arriving with the afternoon left

- Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/cIV0iRml.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/3RSDiQUA.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/43ER0eM0.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4iXf7Jvh.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4LasL8DS.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/51gauczC.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/5Pv2GT5l.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/5zFw5FSH.webp
##### Day 8: Into the karst country

- (sight) — the plan for this morning is in final product review with our local partners. It is named in your written itinerary before you book, and we do not sell it to you in advance. Your guide, the vehicle and the morning itself are included either way.
- (transport) — a private vehicle in the afternoon, not the river boat. This route spends its one water slot on the Xingping raft on day ten, at water level rather than from a deck. Watch the right-hand window: the hills come in a wall, then a gap, then a wall again.
- (sight) — the road run is short, so you reach the town while the light is still on the peaks and the bags go up once for the whole stretch.
- (accommodation) Yangshuo Ancient Garden Boutique Hotel — Hotel stay in Yangshuo.

##### Day 9: Flat ground under vertical rock

- (sight) — rice fields, farmhouses and riverside lanes, with the peak forest standing over the whole plain. Bicycle, electric bike or vehicle: three modes chosen by your own strength that morning. Everyone stays with the group whichever one they take.
- (sight) — ninety minutes sitting by the water with karst on three sides. This is the one catered item in the base price on the whole route, and it is scheduled as a stop in its own right. Halfway through the pot you'll find nobody has asked what is next.

##### Day 10: Stone that got into the water

- (sight) — stone streets and river gates in the old town on the Li River, about ninety minutes on foot. It is small enough to walk out of in ten minutes, so arriving with time in hand is the whole design of the morning.
- (sight) — ninety minutes on the water past the reach known as Nine Horses Mural Hill, the stretch printed on the back of China's 20-yuan banknote. Sit low, with the water a hand's width below the deck, and watch the peaks arrive one at a time rather than as a panorama.
- (sight) — the same limestone you walked through this morning is what the river is taking apart, grain by grain, and the shapes on both banks are the leftovers of that. You'll feel the week slow down to the speed of the current.

##### Day 11: Before first light

- (sight) — a pre-dawn departure and a climb on stone steps to the platform above a wide bend of the Li River. The stepped path up is in the base price, and the evening before, the group's arrangements close by 21:00 so the party gets a full night.
- (sight) — guests who would rather sleep stay in and are not charged for the item. The morning is built for the people who want the light, not as a test for everyone else.
- (sight) — nothing is scheduled after the descent. Your guide is reachable, and the town is small enough to walk without a plan.

##### Day 12: The inside of it

- (sight) — the site is confirmed against operating conditions on the day, so it is not named before sale; one cave visit is in the base price either way. Inside, the shapes on the ceiling are the same process as the peaks outside, run in reverse and out of the weather.
- (sight) — it is cool and wet underground and the walkways stay damp, so closed shoes are the sensible choice and your guide says so the night before.
- (sight) — the cave is the only fixed item today, which leaves the last afternoon at this base free for the town, the river bank or the balcony.

#### Shenzhen (3 days)

- Subtitle: Out of the hills
- Recommendation: A free morning, then the train south. The landscape stops being scenery and starts being a supply chain.
- Transport: Flight
- Transport mode: airplane

Morning open · High speed rail to Shenzhen · Arrival into Shenzhen

- Images: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/8AH70UD0.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/h4WopDz7.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/j3OhqX9B.webp, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/0540e86e5dd0.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/09971fb8ed55.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/0cb198f8a49d.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/1dabf6d8d82e.jpg, https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4ba54eb84471.jpg
##### Day 13: Out of the hills

- (sight) — nothing is scheduled before the transfer, so the last morning here belongs to whoever wants one more walk along the river.
- (transport) — the ground link from your accommodation to the departure station is in the base price along with the rail segment, and the seat class for this order is stated in writing in your quote.
- (sight) — you come out of the station into a city that had no skyline within living memory, which is a strange thing to arrive at straight from the peak forest.
- (accommodation) Kempinski Hotel Shenzhen — Hotel stay in Shenzhen.

##### Day 14: The last stone is poured

- (sight) — your guide walks the building with you floor by floor. Loose components at the bottom, prototype boards above them, finished machines at the top, with the sourcing ecosystem read out as you climb. Two floors up you'll find you have stopped thinking of this as shopping.
- (sight) — one institution of this kind, admission included, about two hours. The models lay out how the ground under your feet turned into towers within a working lifetime.
- (sight) — sandstone weathered into towers, limestone dissolved into peaks, aggregate poured into a skyline. The first two took their time; this one is younger than most people looking at it.

##### Day 15: Home

- (sight) — nothing is scheduled and no optional item is sold for this morning on this selling season. If a late flight leaves the day open, tell us and we plan the gap around your check-out rather than around a schedule.
- (transport) — your driver takes the party to Shenzhen airport, timed to your flight with room to spare. The drop-off is in the base price.

## Daily plan

### Day 1 — Land at the water

Your driver meets your flight, whatever time it lands. The first day asks nothing of anyone.

- 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.
- Shanghai through the window: elevated roads, then the plane trees and lit shopfronts of a city street; the country you flew to 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: Shanghai
- Meals: None included today

### Day 2 — A garden, a collection, a waterfront

Stone stacked by hand in the morning, stone cast into towers at night. Today sets the question the next two weeks answer.

- Yu Garden and the old city: pavilions, ponds and a path that never runs straight, dropped inside the oldest quarter of the city. Stand at the rockery and look at how it was built: hauled stone, stacked by hand, made to read as a mountain range from six feet away.
- Shanghai Museum: bronzes, ceramics, painting and calligraphy in one building, from ritual vessels to brushwork. Entry runs on timed reservation and the booking system is limited in English, so the reservation arrangement for your order is written into your quote rather than left to the door.
- The Bund after dark: the historic bank buildings hold one side of the river and the Pudong towers hold the other. Your guide stays with you from start to finish tonight, which is deliberate: the first evening is when strangers approach visitors here with an invitation to practice English or to a teahouse, and that approach is a known scam pattern.
- Stay: Shanghai
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 3 — Paper and water

Streets at street level, then thirty minutes on a commuter boat. Today is Shanghai without a skyline in it.

- Former French Concession and Wukang Road: plane trees over both sides of the road, historic residences behind low walls, small shops at ground level. Walk the corner where the road forks and look up at the building on the point: the whole neighborhood is built on that angle.
- Woodblock watermark printing: an hour and a half at a bench with carved blocks, water-based ink and absorbent paper. The ink is thinned and the paper takes it in rather than holding it on the surface, which is why the finished print looks brushed rather than stamped.
- Huangpu River ferry: you cross on the boat people take to work, standing at the rail with commuters and their scooters. Thirty minutes door to door, and the two banks trade places around you.
- Stay: Shanghai
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 4 — Shanghai to Zhangjiajie

A travel day, and only a travel day. The flight, then the ground link into the mountains, and nothing else on the page.

- Transfer and flight: hotel to airport, the domestic flight, then the ground link from Zhangjiajie airport into the Wulingyuan accommodation area. Both the flight and that ground link are in the base price, and the ground link is written as its own line on your quote rather than left for you to arrange.
- The ground changing under the wing: the delta flattens out and then breaks up into ridge after ridge of green before the wheels are down. Window seats are worth asking for.
- Evening: check in and stop. Nothing is scheduled today, on purpose: this is one of the two days in fifteen that carries no program at all.
- Stay: Zhangjiajie
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 5 — Up the cliff face

A lift does the climbing and you spend the day on top. This is the day the trip finds its subject.

- The Bailong Elevator: an outdoor lift up the outside of the cliff, glass on the valley side. You watch the valley floor drop away and the pillar tops come level with you inside a couple of minutes, which is a rearrangement of the landscape rather than a view of it.
- Yuanjiajie: walkways along the rim of the sandstone pillar forest, with the natural stone arch called the First Bridge Under Heaven partway around. Stand at the rail where the pillars run out into haze and count how far back you can still tell one from another.
- Pace: queues at the elevator run long in peak periods, so the day carries margin and the two clifftop days can trade places if the lift is backed up in the morning.
- Stay: Zhangjiajie
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 6 — The same rock, from underneath

Yesterday you stood on top of it. Today you walk at the bottom of it, and the numbers stop meaning anything.

- Tianzi Mountain: a high terrace over the densest stand of pillars in the massif, named for a Tujia leader who took the title Son of Heaven. The light moves fast up here, so the viewing area gets its own two and a half hours rather than a photo stop.
- The Golden Whip Stream: a clear stream on the valley floor with the cliffs closing over it. You walk beside the water with the pillars going up out of sight on both sides. Somewhere along here you'll notice you have stopped talking.
- Macaques and the walked length: wild macaques on this section take food from open hands and open bags, and your guide states the on-site rules before the group sets off. The walk itself runs between about 60 and 180 minutes, cut to the group on the day.
- Stay: Zhangjiajie
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 7 — Across the canyon, then south

A bridge in the morning and a loom before lunch. The afternoon train takes you out of the sandstone and into the limestone.

- Grand Canyon Glass Bridge: a 430-meter span across the canyon, with a solid floor path running beside the glass for its whole length. Walk the solid path if you would rather: it costs nothing extra, takes nothing off the price, and nobody on this route is asked to cross the glass.
- Tujia brocade weaving: an hour at a workshop where the brocade comes off a body-tensioned loom, in the villages this massif sits among. After two days on the rim, this is the same landscape told by the people who live at the bottom of it.
- High speed rail to Guilin: the afternoon train, one night in Guilin at the other end. Your seat class for this order is stated in writing in your quote.
- Stay: Guilin
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 8 — Into the karst country

A morning in Guilin, then the road into the town you work from for the rest of the week. The pace drops here on purpose.

- Guilin morning: the plan for this morning is in final product review with our local partners. It is named in your written itinerary before you book, and we do not sell it to you in advance. Your guide, the vehicle and the morning itself are included either way.
- Road to Yangshuo: a private vehicle in the afternoon, not the river boat. This route spends its one water slot on the Xingping raft on day ten, at water level rather than from a deck. Watch the right-hand window: the hills come in a wall, then a gap, then a wall again.
- Arriving with the afternoon left: the road run is short, so you reach the town while the light is still on the peaks and the bags go up once for the whole stretch.
- Stay: Yangshuo
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 9 — Flat ground under vertical rock

The countryside first, the river bank second. Today is the one day the trip eats where it stops.

- Yulong River countryside ride: rice fields, farmhouses and riverside lanes, with the peak forest standing over the whole plain. Bicycle, electric bike or vehicle: three modes chosen by your own strength that morning. Everyone stays with the group whichever one they take.
- Riverside afternoon tea: ninety minutes sitting by the water with karst on three sides. This is the one catered item in the base price on the whole route, and it is scheduled as a stop in its own right. Halfway through the pot you'll find nobody has asked what is next.
- Stay: Yangshuo
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote, plus the riverside afternoon tea

### Day 10 — Stone that got into the water

A river town on foot, then ninety minutes at the speed of the current. This is the low-load day of the second week.

- Xingping Ancient Town: stone streets and river gates in the old town on the Li River, about ninety minutes on foot. It is small enough to walk out of in ten minutes, so arriving with time in hand is the whole design of the morning.
- Li River bamboo raft, Xingping section: ninety minutes on the water past the reach known as Nine Horses Mural Hill, the stretch printed on the back of China's 20-yuan banknote. Sit low, with the water a hand's width below the deck, and watch the peaks arrive one at a time rather than as a panorama.
- What the water is doing: the same limestone you walked through this morning is what the river is taking apart, grain by grain, and the shapes on both banks are the leftovers of that. You'll feel the week slow down to the speed of the current.
- Stay: Yangshuo
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 11 — Before first light

Up in the dark, down before the day starts. The afternoon is yours and it is meant to be.

- Xianggong Hill sunrise: a pre-dawn departure and a climb on stone steps to the platform above a wide bend of the Li River. The stepped path up is in the base price, and the evening before, the group's arrangements close by 21:00 so the party gets a full night.
- Not compulsory: guests who would rather sleep stay in and are not charged for the item. The morning is built for the people who want the light, not as a test for everyone else.
- Afternoon open: nothing is scheduled after the descent. Your guide is reachable, and the town is small enough to walk without a plan.
- Stay: Yangshuo
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 12 — The inside of it

Ninety minutes underground, and the last version of the same rock. Today closes the karst argument.

- One karst cave in the Yangshuo area: the site is confirmed against operating conditions on the day, so it is not named before sale; one cave visit is in the base price either way. Inside, the shapes on the ceiling are the same process as the peaks outside, run in reverse and out of the weather.
- What to wear: it is cool and wet underground and the walkways stay damp, so closed shoes are the sensible choice and your guide says so the night before.
- The rest of the day: the cave is the only fixed item today, which leaves the last afternoon at this base free for the town, the river bank or the balcony.
- Stay: Yangshuo
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 13 — Out of the hills

A free morning, then the train south. The landscape stops being scenery and starts being a supply chain.

- Morning open: nothing is scheduled before the transfer, so the last morning here belongs to whoever wants one more walk along the river.
- High speed rail to Shenzhen: the ground link from your accommodation to the departure station is in the base price along with the rail segment, and the seat class for this order is stated in writing in your quote.
- Arrival into Shenzhen: you come out of the station into a city that had no skyline within living memory, which is a strange thing to arrive at straight from the peak forest.
- Stay: Shenzhen
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 14 — The last stone is poured

A market building in the morning, a city model in the afternoon. Today the trip explains itself.

- Huaqiangbei: your guide walks the building with you floor by floor. Loose components at the bottom, prototype boards above them, finished machines at the top, with the sourcing ecosystem read out as you climb. Two floors up you'll find you have stopped thinking of this as shopping.
- Urban planning exhibition hall or industrial museum: one institution of this kind, admission included, about two hours. The models lay out how the ground under your feet turned into towers within a working lifetime.
- Three ages, one material: sandstone weathered into towers, limestone dissolved into peaks, aggregate poured into a skyline. The first two took their time; this one is younger than most people looking at it.
- Stay: Shenzhen
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

### Day 15 — Home

Breakfast, then the airport. The plan ends the way it started, with a driver and no hurry.

- Morning open: nothing is scheduled and no optional item is sold for this morning on this selling season. If a late flight leaves the day open, tell us and we plan the gap around your check-out rather than around a schedule.
- Airport drop-off: your driver takes the party to Shenzhen airport, timed to your flight with room to spare. The drop-off is in the base price.
- Stay: Trip ends
- Meals: Hotel breakfast as stated in your quote

## 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

### Yangshuo Mountain Retreat

- City: yangshuo
- Description: A peaceful riverside retreat for travellers who want Yangshuo's karst scenery to feel close, quiet and unhurried.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/2R0KYRQ9.webp

### Pullman Zhangjiajie Hotel

- City: Zhangjiajie
- Description: Pullman Zhangjiajie, in Wulingyuan District, offers easy access to the UNESCO-listed Wulingyuan Scenic Area plus taxi pickup.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/9PAgozjd.webp

### 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 Guilin Hotel

- City: Guilin
- Description: Sheraton Guilin Hotel is located by the Li River, offering comfortable rooms and easy access to Guilin’s attractions.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/kjMQHeJN.webp

### Futian Shangri-La, Shenzhen

- City: Shenzhen
- Description: Located in Futian CBD, close to major landmarks and metro lines. Featuring 500+ elegant rooms and suites with exclusive Horizon Club services.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/lNzYq6FP.webp

### Yangshuo Elite Garden

- City: Yangshuo
- Description: Located in central Yangshuo near West Street and the Li River, Yangshuo Elite Garden Hotel is a comfortable four-star hotel offering convenient access to the area’s main attractions.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/31Rz8fCF.webp

### Zhangjiajie Rezen One S Hotel

- City: Zhangjiajie
- Description: An upscale city hotel offering comfortable accommodation, dining, and meeting facilities, making it an ideal base for travelers exploring Zhangjiajie’s scenic attractions.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/e9wULwWK.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 Center.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/ciHY2Qvs.webp

### China Southern Airlines Pearl Hotel Guilin

- City: Guilin
- Description: China Southern Airlines Pearl Hotel Guilin is near Guilin Railway Station, offering comfortable stays and convenient facilities for business and leisure travelers.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/hcF3JHeA.webp

### The Langham, Shenzhen

- City: Shenzhen
- Description: The Langham, Shenzhen is a luxury hotel in Futian CBD, featuring elegant rooms, fine dining, and premium facilities.
- Image: https://cdn.lyriktrip.com/s/4S1F07e6.webp

## Included / Excluded

### What's Included

- Hotels: 14 nights at your chosen room tier: Shanghai 3 · Zhangjiajie 3 · Guilin 1 · Yangshuo and Shenzhen 7. Hotels named in your written confirmation; breakfast basis stated in writing in your quote
- Airport transfers: Shanghai airport pickup on day one; Shenzhen airport drop-off on day fifteen
- Intercity transport: Domestic flight Shanghai to Zhangjiajie (day 4) · high speed rail Zhangjiajie to Guilin (day 7) · private road transfer Guilin to Yangshuo (day 8) · high speed rail Yangshuo to Shenzhen (day 13), including the ground link from your accommodation to the departure station. Cabin and seat class for your order are stated in writing in your quote
- Zhangjiajie ground link: The ground link between Zhangjiajie airport and the Wulingyuan accommodation area, both directions, written as its own line on every quote and never left to you to arrange
- City vehicle: Air-conditioned private vehicle for all listed touring in all five places
- Guide: Licensed English-speaking guide on every touring day, including the whole Bund evening in Shanghai from start to finish
- Tickets & experiences, Shanghai: Yu Garden and the old city · Shanghai Museum admission (timed reservation arrangement stated in your quote) · the Bund and Pudong night view, guide accompanied · former French Concession and Wukang Road walking section · the woodblock watermark printing workshop session · the Huangpu River ferry crossing
- Tickets & experiences, Zhangjiajie: Yuanjiajie scenic area admission · the Bailong Elevator ride · Tianzi Mountain viewing area · the Golden Whip Stream walking section · Grand Canyon Glass Bridge admission · the Tujia brocade weaving workshop visit
- Tickets & experiences, Yangshuo: The Yulong River countryside ride, three modes by your own strength · one riverside afternoon tea · Xingping Ancient Town · the Li River bamboo raft on the Xingping section · Xianggong Hill sunrise viewing including the stepped path up · one selected karst cave in the Yangshuo area
- Tickets & experiences, Shenzhen: Huaqiangbei walked with your guide, who reads the sourcing ecosystem floor by floor · one Shenzhen urban planning exhibition hall or industrial museum, admission included
- Meals: One catered item in the base price: the riverside afternoon tea on day 9. Hotel breakfasts follow the terms in the Hotels line above. No lunch and no dinner is in the base price on any of the 15 days
- Insurance: Travel accident insurance: the scheme and sum insured are being finalized, so your quote states in writing whether your order carries it and at what sum insured

### Not Included

- International flights: Flights into Shanghai and out of Shenzhen
- Visas: Visa fees and processing for guests who need a Chinese visa. Most guests on this route enter visa-free
- Meals: All lunches and dinners across the 15 days, other than the day 9 afternoon tea. Your guide recommends and books them; the bill is your own
- In-park items beyond those listed: Paid items inside the Grand Canyon area other than the bridge ticket. The Wulingyuan in-park shuttle and the Tianzi Mountain cableway are being finalized with the scenic area operator, so each quote states in writing whether they sit inside that order's base price
- Guest's own insurance: Trip cancellation, medical and baggage insurance taken out by you
- Optional add-ons: None on this selling season. The day 15 morning item in Shenzhen is not offered, because its supply is not secured
- Personal: Gratuities, single or extra-room difference, personal spending. Anything bought at Huaqiangbei or at any market on the route is personal spending

### Special Notes

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

- Bookings are not open yet: two things have to be real first. One, a bookable base hotel in Yangshuo for the consecutive nights that stretch runs on. Two, the day 8 morning in Guilin settled and named. Until both are done we take no orders and no deposits. Tell us your dates and we will write to you on the day it opens.
- December departures: two seasonal facts sit against December here. The Zhangjiajie product is a set of installations rather than viewpoints: cableways, an outdoor elevator, cliff walkways and a bridge. All four classes stop for high wind, ice or annual maintenance. The Li River also enters its low water season, and the Xingping raft section is often out of service. We hold no operating evidence either way for the coming season, so December departures are not opened for sale until our ground partners confirm the operating and maintenance calendar in writing. No order and no deposit before that confirmation. October and November departures are not held by this rule.
- Departure dates: no departures October 1 to 7, the national holiday week. That week is the peak of domestic travel: the Bailong Elevator queue at Wulingyuan runs long, and holiday crowds on the Li River and the Bund take the main items out of use.
- Visa window: the 30-day visa-free policy currently runs through December 31, 2026. Because this is a 15-day plan, departures on or before December 17, 2026 finish inside that window, so no departures after that date are arranged on this selling season. Later dates are quoted only after the official renewal is announced.
- US passports: this route is not sold to US passport holders, for two separate reasons, each sufficient on its own. At 15 days the plan runs past the stay window of the ten-day visa-free transit policy, so that policy is not open to it. Shenzhen is the exit airport and has no direct service to the United States, so the departure leg does not hold up. We state this before any payment and we do not work around it.
- The glass bridge is never compulsory: a solid floor path runs beside the glass span for its whole length. Walking the solid path costs nothing extra and takes nothing off the price. This route is not sold on the strength of the glass span.
- Shanghai Museum reservation: admission is in the base price. Who books the timed slot, by when, and the fallback route when no slot is available are being finalized, so every quote states the reservation arrangement for that order in writing. We do not promise a specific entry slot before that is settled.
- Macaques on the Golden Whip Stream: wild macaques on this section take food from open hands and open bags. Your guide states the on-site rules before the group sets off, and food stays in closed bags on that walk.
- Weather alternatives in Zhangjiajie: when weather or an equipment stoppage puts the group on an alternative route, every cost on that route is borne by us and never charged to you on the spot. That includes admission, cableway and transfer. Where the alternative costs less than the original item, the difference is not refunded.
- The night split at the end: 14 nights in total, with 7 of them across Yangshuo and Shenzhen. The split of those last 7 is being settled in the routing, and every quote states the per-city night count for that order in writing. No order is taken without it in writing.
- Confirmation and changes: the confirmation-time commitment and the change and refund terms are being finalized with our ground partners. Until they are settled, each quote states in writing its own confirmation deadline and its change and refund conditions. This route holds one domestic flight and two rail segments, so a date change touches air and rail inventory as well as hotel inventory.

## Is Fifteen Days Your Length?

Fewer than fifteen days?

### Fewer than fifteen days?

The five places come apart cleanly: Shanghai and Zhangjiajie stand on their own, and the Yangshuo stretch can shorten from the back. Tell us your dates and who is coming, and we cut days rather than cut the pace.

## Good to Know

- Group: Private, just your party. From 1 guest. No fixed maximum party size.
- Pace: Five places in 15 days. Shanghai 3 nights, Zhangjiajie 3 and Guilin 1, plus 7 across Yangshuo and Shenzhen. One full day is given to the transfer alone and day 10 is a low-load day. Open time: the afternoon of day 11, the morning of day 13 and the morning of day 15
- Effort: The four highest-load days are day 5 Yuanjiajie, day 6 Tianzi Mountain, day 9 the Yulong River and day 11 Xianggong Hill. The Yulong River ride has three modes so that taking the vehicle still keeps you with the group, and the Golden Whip Stream walk runs anywhere from about 60 to 180 minutes
- Ports: Shanghai in, Shenzhen out; airport pickup on day one and drop-off on day fifteen
- Visas: Most European passports enter visa-free for stays days; UK, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand ones the same. Checked order by order against your dates. This route is not sold to US passport holders
- Language: Licensed English-speaking guides throughout, city by city
- Water: One water item on the route: the Li River bamboo raft on day 10, a half-day item. This route holds no cruise and no boat night
- 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; no departures after December 17; December departures open only after our ground partners confirm the seasonal operating calendar

## 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 tunes pacing, hotels and local hosts around 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 traveler 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 traveler.

## Before You Book

Everything worth knowing before you book.

### Fifteen days and no river cruise. What holds this together?

One material, in three states. Zhangjiajie is sandstone weathered into towers you stand on top of; Yangshuo is limestone the river is dissolving from the inside, which you see from the water on day 10 and from underground on day 12; Shenzhen is the poured version, a skyline that went up within a working lifetime. Shanghai opens at the water where all of it drains to. The cruise was left out on purpose: three nights on a boat would have filled the calendar and taken the trip off its subject.

### I don't like heights. Is the glass bridge a problem?

No, and you do not have to negotiate it with anyone. A solid floor path runs beside the glass section for its whole length, so you can cross on solid ground from end to end. It costs nothing extra and takes nothing off your price. The Bailong Elevator on day 5 has glass on the valley side too, and it takes about two minutes; if that is also not for you, tell your guide and the walk-up route is arranged instead.

### We're looking at December. Can we book?

Not yet, and here is why. In December the Zhangjiajie installations stop for high wind, ice or annual maintenance. That is the cableways, the outdoor elevator, the cliff walkways and the bridge. The Li River enters low water at the same time, so the Xingping raft is often out of service. We hold no operating evidence for the coming season, so we do not open December for sale and we take no deposit for it. What you can do now: give us your dates and we will confirm the seasonal calendar with our ground partners and write to you with a straight answer, either a December departure that works or the nearest October or November dates, which are not held by this rule.

### How much walking is in this?

Four of the fifteen days carry real effort: two on the Zhangjiajie clifftops, the Yulong River day, and the pre-dawn steps at Xianggong Hill. Everything else is paced under that. The climb to the pillar tops is done by an outdoor lift rather than on foot. The Yulong River section has three modes chosen on the morning: bicycle, electric bike or vehicle, and taking the vehicle keeps you with the group. The Golden Whip Stream walk is cut to the group's pace anywhere from about 60 to 180 minutes. The Xianggong Hill sunrise is stone steps in the dark, and guests who stay in are not charged for it.

### Do we need a visa?

Most guests on this route do not. Most European passports enter visa-free for stays days; UK, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand ones the same. We check your 15 days plus any extra 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 a different matter: this route is not sold to US passport holders at all, because 15 days runs past the ten-day visa-free transit stay window and Shenzhen has no direct service to the United States. We say that before any payment rather than working around it.