15 Days China Golden Triangle & Yunnan Tour

Day 1Arrive in Beijing

Welcome to Beijing! Our private English-speaking tour guide & driver will pick you up in time at Beijing airport and transfer you to your hotel in downtown Beijing. A paper board with the sign of YangtzeTour.com and your name will be held high by the guide at exit of the airport. The rest of day is free at your own leisure.

Day 2Beijing ( B, L )

After breakfast, our tour guide will pick you up at your hotel and drive to visit Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City in the morning. Tiananmen Square is the largest city square in the world and of great historical significance, where you could see the symbol of China – the ancient majestic Tiananmen Tower. Nearby the Square is the Forbidden City, which is the largest and best-preserved ancient imperial palaces group with 500 years history in the world.

After lunch at a Chinese-style restaurant, you will be transferred to visit Temple of Heaven, which is the largest ancient imperial worship architecture group in the world where the ancient Emperors held the grand sacrificial and prayed for peace and harvest. After today’s sightseeing, transferred back to your hotel.

After dinner, you are arranged to see the Kung Fu Show at Red Theatre or Liyuan Theatre. The show is great and breathtaking.

Day 3Beijing ( B, L, D )

After breakfast at your hotel, our tour guide will pick you up at your hotel and drive to visit Ming Tombs and its Sacred Way. Ming Tomes is the imperial mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty, where 13 emperors and their wives were buried. As the major road to the Ming Tomb, the Sacred Way was believed to be the route leading to heaven in ancient times.

After a Chinese lunch, head to Mutianyu Great Wall; less crowed with the most spectacular views. The wall is the most beautiful section of the all five sections of the Great Wall in Beijing. The day’s sightseeing will come to an end after taking pictures at the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube.

In the evening, you are arranged to have a Peking Roast Duck dinner in a Beijing featured Restaurant. Then transferred back to your hotel.

Day 4Beijing – Xian ( B )

After breakfast, you will be transferred to visit Summer Palace, which is the largest and most beautiful Chinese imperial garden. It is regarded as a museum of gardens in China. In the Summer Palace, there are many pavilions, vividly painted corridors, temples, among lakes and surrounded by hills.

In the afternoon, our tour guide will escort you to the airport and take flight to Xian. In Xian airport, our English-speaking tour guide & driver will meat you and transfer to the hotel in downtown Xian.

Day 5Xian ( B, L, D )

After breakfast at your hotel, our guide will pick you up and drive to the Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses, which is your lifetime viewing of extraordinary 2200-year-old history. These 6000 life-size painted Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses individually sculpted from real life models and arranged in battle formation and they have been protecting the mausoleum of the first emperor in Chinese history – emperor Qinshihuang.

After lunch at a local restaurant, you will be transferred to visit Xian Ancient City Wall, which is a symbol of great significance of the famous historic cultural city of Xian. Then head to visit Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which is a symbol of the old Xian and a well-preserved ancient building and a holy place for Buddhists. Tonight, you will feast your eye on the famous Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show after you enjoy the local Dumpling Dinner.

Day 6Xian – Kunming ( B )

After breakfast at the hotel, you will be transferred to visit the Great Mosque, which is the biggest and most preserved complete Chinese existent mosque. It is a good place to get a glimpse of Muslim’s life.

In the afternoon, our tour guide will escort you to take a flight to Kunming. In Kunming airport, our English-speaking tour guide & driver will pick you up and transfer to your hotel in downtown Kunming.

Day 7Kunming ( B, L )

After breakfast at hotel, you will be transferred to visit the Stone Forest, which is a typical model of China’s Karst landforms. Walking through the Stone Forest, you will be astonished by the extraordinary workmanship of nature. Stones in the figure of plants, animals and even humans can be found here, some elegant, some rugged. Viewed from a distance, it resembles a forest.

After lunch, you will be driven back to visit the Golden Horse and Phoenix Archway, which is the landmark of Kunming. Then you head to take a leisurely stroll along the Green Lake, a charming area of teahouses and small boutiques selling handicrafts and beautiful local paintings.

Day 8Kunming – Dali ( B, L )

In the morning, our tour guide will escort you to the airport and take a flight to Dali. In Dali, our tour guide will meet you and transfer to visit the Erhai Lake Park, which is the best place to enjoy the beautiful Erhai Lake scenery. The shape of the lake looks like an ear, so named it. Then you head to visit the Three Pagoda Temple in Chongshen Monastery, which is a typical historical symbol of Yunnan with a history of over 1,800 years. Three Pagodas are made of three ancient independent pagodas forming a symmetrical triangle. Afterwards, you will visit the Dali Old Town, where you will see limpid streams passing through the town and local people wearing their ethnic costumes.

Day 9Lijiang ( B, L )

After breakfast, you will be transferred to explore the Baisha Naxi Village, which is famous for the Murals and the old town built about 600 years age. Then you head to visit Baisha Murals, which combing the Han, Tibet and Naxi culture together, are a wonderful art form of minorities in west Yunnan, and vividly unfold the life of the minority people to us.

In the afternoon, you will visit the Yuhu Village, where the Former Residence of Joseph Rock who was an Austria-American Botanist and explorer lived from 1922 to 1949. Joseph Rock became the first foreign scholar to introduce Lijiang ethnic culture to the western world.

Day 10Lijiang – Shangri-La ( B, L )

After breakfast, you will drive to Shangri-La. On the way, you will visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is the deepest gorge in the world. The gorge boasts of dangerous mountain with high peaks, steep cliffs, jagged rocks and winded gigantic old creepers, and the dangerous water with a high drop, fast water current, numerous rocks, dangerous shoals and cascading waterfalls.

In the afternoon, you will arrive at Shangri-La, the former Zhongdian. You will have entered the Tibetan cultural area and a landscape of barley fields and yaks scattered in the valleys. Afterwards, you will be transferred to the hotel in Shangri-La.

Day 11Shangri-La ( B, L )

After breakfast, you will be transferred to visit Ganden Sumtseling Monastery (Songzanlin Monaster), which is the largest Tibetan monastery in Yunnan. The monastery has another alias – “the little Potala Palace”, so named because the whole monastery is in the traditional style with mysterious atmosphere. Then you head to visit the Bitahai Lake, which looks like a trumpet shell. In the color of azure with snowy mountains and trees reflecting in it, the gorgeous lake is a wonderland to appreciate the beauty of nature. Afterwards, you move on to Shudu Lake, around there lush and the wild animals are various.

Day 12Shangri-La – Kunming ( B, L )

After breakfast, you will be escorted to the airport to take a flight to Kunming. Our tour guide & driver meet you and transfer to visit the Golden Temple, which is a well-known Taoist temple of Yunnan. Then you head to visit Daguan Park, where stands the Longest Couplets in the world which consists of 180 Chinese characters. Afterwards, you will visit the Flowers and Birds Market, which is a comprehensive public spot for leisure.

Day 13Kunming - Shanghai ( B )

After breakfast at the hotel, our tour guide will escort you to take a flight to Shanghai. In Shanghai airport, our English-speaking tour guide & driver will pick you up and transfer to your hotel in downtown Shanghai.

Day 14Shanghai ( B, L )

After breakfast, our tour guide will pick you up and drive to visit Yuyuan Garden. Yuyuan is the famous classical garden in Shanghai, built in 1577. The pavilions, halls, rockeries, ponds and cloisters all have unique characteristics. 

After lunch at a nice local restaurant with the authentic Chinese food, you will take one hour cruising on Huangpu River. Then you visit the west side of the river that has many skyscrapers and the Bund that has many outstanding foreign buildings of the early 20th century. Then back to your hotel.

Day 15Depart from Shanghai ( B )

After breakfast at your hotel, you will drive to Pudong New District – Lujiazui, where there the futuristic, avant-garde building: Oriental Pearl Tower, Jinmao Building, Bank of China Tower, etc. You will have time to take the 88-storey Observation Deck of Jinmao Tower where you will have a spectacular view of the whole city.

In the afternoon, your private guide and driver will escort you to the airport in Shanghai for departure on your own. Your pleasant China trip ends.