8-Day China Group Tour: Beijing, Xi’an & Shanghai Highlights with Ancient History and Modern Cities

Itinerary Summary: Arrive in Beijing – Airport Pick-up – Hotel Check-in – Free Time

Hotel Star Rating: 3-Star Hotels

Meals Included: No Food

Your driver meets you at Beijing airport and takes you to your hotel in the city centre. Once you‘ve checked in, the rest of the day is yours to spend however you like.

If you’re not too tired, step outside and explore the neighbourhood. The hutongs — Beijing‘s ancient alleyways — are right on your doorstep. These narrow lanes are lined with grey‑brick courtyard houses, tiny convenience stores, and family‑run restaurants that have been feeding locals for decades. It’s a good place to try Peking duck without the tourist price tag, or simply order a bowl of noodles from a street‑side stall and watch the city move at its own pace.

Itinerary Summary: Tian’anmen Square – Forbidden City – Jingshan Park – Summer Palace

Hotel Star Rating: 3-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Breakfast&Lunch

Your first full day in Beijing starts at Tian‘anmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world, capable of holding a million people. From there, you walk into the Forbidden City — the walled palace complex that was home to China’s emperors for over 500 years during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It‘s not a single building; it’s a city within a city, with nearly 1,000 structures and more than 9,000 rooms. Your guide leads you through the main halls, explaining the rituals, politics, and daily life that once filled these courtyards.

Next, a short walk takes you to Jingshan Park, an artificial hill made from soil excavated during the Forbidden City‘s construction. The climb is brief, but the view from the top — looking south over the palace’s golden roofs — is the best you‘ll get of the entire layout.

In the afternoon, you head to the western edge of the city to visit the Summer Palace, a sprawling imperial garden built around Kunming Lake. It was a retreat for Qing-dynasty emperors escaping the summer heat. The Long Corridor, a covered walkway decorated with thousands of paintings, and the Marble Boat, a lavish pavilion built to resemble a ship, are the main landmarks here. The scale of the place is hard to grasp from the guidebook — you need to walk it to feel it.

Itinerary Summary: Mutianyu Great Wall – Bird‘s Nest & Water Cube (Exterior)

Hotel Star Rating: 3-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Breakfast&Lunch

Today is dedicated to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, about 73 kilometres northeast of the city. It’s less crowded than the more famous Badaling and offers a longer stretch of wall to walk — 5.4 kilometres with 22 watchtowers. A round-trip cable car takes you most of the way up, so you can save your energy for walking the wall itself, not climbing to it.

The wall here follows the ridge line, offering unobstructed views in both directions. You can head east for a steeper, more dramatic route, or west for a quieter stretch where the wall winds through forest. The stonework is still the original Ming-dynasty construction, worn smooth by centuries of weather and footsteps — uneven in places, and exactly what you came to see.

On the return trip, the coach passes by the Bird‘s Nest and Water Cube, the two main stadiums from the 2008 Olympics. There’s a brief stop for photos before heading back into the city.

Itinerary Summary: High-Speed Train to Xi’an – Giant Wild Goose Pagoda – Muslim Quarter

Hotel Star Rating: 3-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Breakfast

After breakfast, you transfer to the railway station for the high-speed train to Xi‘an. The journey takes about four to six hours, depending on the service. As the train moves southwest, the landscape shifts — from North China’s flat farmland to the loess plateau.

Upon arrival, your driver meets you at the station and takes you to your hotel. In the afternoon, you visit the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, a seven-storey brick pagoda built in 652 AD to house Buddhist scriptures brought back from India by the monk Xuanzang. It‘s one of the few Tang-dynasty structures still standing in Xi’an.

From there, you walk into the Muslim Quarter — a dense network of narrow alleyways that has been home to Xi‘an’s Hui Muslim community for centuries. The streets are lined with food stalls selling lamb skewers, flatbread, and local snacks. This is where the city‘s food culture is most alive.

Itinerary Summary: Terracotta Warriors – Ancient City Wall – Bell Tower / Drum Tower

Hotel Star Rating: 3-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Breakfast&Lunch

The main event today is the Terracotta Warriors, about an hour’s drive east of Xi‘an. The site contains three main pits, with Pit 1 being the largest — thousands of life-sized soldiers arranged in battle formation, each with a unique face. They were buried alongside China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, to protect him in the afterlife. The discovery was made in 1974 by local farmers digging a well, and it remains one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century. Standing at the edge of Pit 1, looking out over the rows of soldiers, you get a sense of the scale — and the ambition — of the man who built them.

After lunch, you return to the city to visit the Ancient City Wall, one of the best-preserved fortifications in China. It runs for nearly 14 kilometres around the old town. You can walk along the top or rent a bicycle — the ride takes about an hour if you go the full way, but even a short stretch gives you a good view of both the restored historical buildings and the modern city beyond. The day finishes at the Bell Tower or Drum Tower, two landmarks that once marked the centre of Xi‘an and still serve as reference points for the old town layout.

Itinerary Summary: Xi’an to Shanghai – Airport/Train Station Pick-up – Hotel Check-in – Free Time

Hotel Star Rating: 3-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Breakfast

You leave Xi‘an today and head to Shanghai — either by flight (about two hours) or by high-speed train (six to nine and a half hours). Your booking will specify which option applies. Upon arrival, a driver meets you and takes you to your hotel. Once you’re checked in, the rest of the day is free.

If you have the energy, Shanghai is a city that rewards aimless wandering. A walk along the Bund is the obvious first stop — the riverfront promenade where colonial-era banks face the futuristic towers of Pudong. It‘s best at dusk, when the lights on both sides begin to flicker on. If you prefer something quieter, the former French Concession offers tree-lined streets, Art Deco apartment blocks, and small boutiques tucked into lane houses. For a quick taste of the city’s food culture, find a local xiaolongbao (soup dumpling) place nearby.

Itinerary Summary: Shanghai Tower – Shanghai Museum – Yu Garden & Bazaar – Nanjing Road – The Bund

Hotel Star Rating: 3-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Breakfast&Lunch

Your day begins with a vertical climb to the top of Shanghai Tower, China‘s tallest building at 632 metres. The elevator takes you to the 118th-floor observation deck in under a minute, and the view spreads out in all directions — the Huangpu River coiling through the city, Pudong’s towers clustered below, and the older neighbourhoods of Puxi stretching west. It‘s a perspective that helps you understand Shanghai’s scale before you explore it from ground level.

From there, you descend into the city‘s cultural history at the Shanghai Museum, housed in a distinctive building in People’s Square. Its collection of ancient bronzes, ceramics, and calligraphy is among the best in the country — a thorough introduction to China‘s material culture.

Next is Yu Garden, a Ming-dynasty garden built in 1559. It was designed as a private retreat for a government official’s family, and it demonstrates the classical Chinese garden principles of balance, surprise, and the controlled use of space. Zigzag bridges, rockeries, and pavilions are packed into a small footprint, and the garden still feels intimate despite its popularity. The adjacent Yuyuan Bazaar is a maze of stalls selling everything from tea to souvenirs — busy, colourful, and entirely commercial.

Afternoon takes you along Nanjing Road, the city‘s main shopping street, which runs for over five kilometres from the city centre to the waterfront. It’s often crowded and brightly lit, lined with both international brands and local department stores. By late afternoon, you reach The Bund, where the historic bank buildings face the modern towers of Pudong across the river. The contrast is the point.

Itinerary Summary: Departure from Shanghai – Airport See-off

Hotel Star Rating: N/A

Meals Included: Breakfast

Your driver picks you up from the hotel and takes you to the airport for your departure flight. Eight days, three cities — a route that travels from the imperial capital through the ancient dynastic centre to China‘s most forward-looking metropolis. The contrast between these cities is what tends to stay with people long after the trip ends.