The 11-Day (Beijing, Zhangjiajie, Chongqing & Shanghai) China Group Tour: Imperial Wonders, Avatar Peaks & Urban Skylines

Itinerary Summary: Arrive in Beijing – Transfer to Hotel – Free Time

Hotel Star Rating: 4-Star Hotels

Meals Included: No Food

Your journey begins in Beijing. A private driver meets you at the airport and transfers you directly to a centrally located 4-star hotel. The rest of the day is yours — a chance to rest after the flight or to step out for a first taste of the city. Wangfujing Snack Street is a short walk from most central hotels, offering a chaotic but authentic introduction to Beijing's street-food scene. Skewers sizzle, candied hawthorns gleam, and the air carries the smell of grilled meat and spice. It's a low-key start before the real exploration begins.

Itinerary Summary: Mutianyu Great Wall – Bird‘s Nest (National Stadium) Exterior

Hotel Star Rating: 4-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Lunch

Your second day is devoted to the Great Wall. You'll be taken to the Mutianyu section, about 73 kilometres northeast of the city centre. Unlike the more crowded Badaling, Mutianyu offers a longer stretch of wall — 5.4 kilometres with 22 watchtowers — and noticeably fewer visitors. A round-trip cable car is included, making the ascent easier and giving you more time to walk along the wall itself. The views are your reward: stone and sky, ridges folding into the distance. On the return drive, you'll pass the Bird's Nest stadium for an exterior view — its steel lattice structure still striking, even years after the 2008 Olympics.

Itinerary Summary: Tian‘anmen Square – Forbidden City – Temple of Heaven

Hotel Star Rating: 4-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Lunch

The final day in Beijing begins at Tian'anmen Square, the vast public space that stands at the symbolic centre of the country. From there, you enter the Forbidden City — the sprawling palace complex that served as China's political heart for over 500 years during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Its 9,999 rooms are a deliberate nod to imperial numerology, and the scale is almost overwhelming. The afternoon is spent at the Temple of Heaven, where emperors once performed rituals for good harvests. The Hall of Prayer is a wooden masterpiece built without nails, and the Echo Wall still carries whispers across its curved surface, just as it did centuries ago.

Itinerary Summary: Flight to Zhangjiajie – Free Time

Hotel Star Rating: 4-Star Hotels

Meals Included: No Food

Morning flight to Zhangjiajie. You lift off from the city, and about two hours later you drop into the mountains. The approach gives you a preview — peaks punching through cloud, rivers coiled in the valleys. By the time you're on the ground, you know you're not in the flatlands anymore. Check in, drop your bags, and take the evening to do nothing in particular. There's no rush. The park will still be there in the morning.

tinerary Summary: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park – Bailong Elevator – Yuanjiajie – Tianzi Mountain

Hotel Star Rating: 4-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Lunch

This is the morning you take the Bailong Elevator up the cliff face — 326 metres in 90 seconds, and you can feel the altitude change in your ears. At the top, you step out into Yuanjiajie, where the sandstone pillars rise like skyscrapers made of rock. This is the landscape that inspired the floating mountains in Avatar, and it hits differently in person — taller, sharper, and more layered than any photo can show. The walkways thread between the pillars, and the air is cooler up here. From there, you move to Tianzi Mountain, where the view flips from close-up rock formations to an open sea of peaks stretching to the horizon. You don't need to be a photographer to want to stop and just stare. This is a day of big views and steady walking — good shoes are essential, and a power bank for your phone might come in handy.

Itinerary Summary: Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon – Glass Bridge – 7‑of‑5 Adventure Activities

Hotel Star Rating: 4-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Lunch

Today is not about looking at mountains from a distance — it's about being suspended over them. The Glass Bridge is the headline act: 430 metres long, 300 metres above the canyon floor. You walk across it, looking straight down through the glass at the river below. If that's not enough, you can pick five out of seven on-site activities: via ferrata (climbing along steel cables on the cliff), high-altitude zip‑lining, a glass slide that sends you down the canyon wall, or a canyon swing that drops you into the void. The "7‑of‑5" system means you choose what suits you — some are milder, some genuinely push it. It's a day for people who like edges.

Itinerary Summary: Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park – High‑Speed Train to Chongqing

Hotel Star Rating: 4-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Lunch

The world's longest cable car takes you up Tianmen Mountain — 7.5 kilometres of cable, climbing 1,279 metres, leaving the city below until it disappears. At the top, Tianmen Cave punches through the cliff, 131.5 metres high. You reach it by climbing the 999 steps — a staircase with a view at every step. Then the Guigudao cuts across the cliff face at 1,400 metres, a plank path built into the rock wall, with the valley opening up below. Afternoon train to Chongqing — about four hours.

Itinerary Summary: Kuixinglou – Yangtze River Cable Car (One‑Way) – Liziba Light Rail Station – Hongya Cave

Hotel Star Rating: 4-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Lunch

Chongqing is built on hills, which means you don't walk through it — you climb, descend, and cross it. Your day starts at Kuixinglou, a Qing‑era pavilion on a cliff edge that was once a temple to the god of literature. From its rooftop, the city unfolds in layers beneath you — old roofs, new towers, and the river cutting through. That same river is your next move. The Yangtze River Cable Car takes you across it — 1,166 metres, built in 1987 as the first of its kind, a four‑minute ride that was once the only way across before the bridges went up. Once you're on the other side, you go to Liziba — a monorail station built inside a residential tower, where trains glide through the sixth floor like it's a tunnel. It's not a gimmick; it's how the city solved a problem when there was no flat land left. Then you head downhill and end the day at Hongya Cave — 11 storeys of wooden stilt houses reconstructed in 2006 above the Jialing River, a replica of the old riverside village that once stood here. At night, the whole cliff glows and spills across the water, often compared to the bathhouse in Spirited Away. If it's a weekend or a holiday, there's a drone show over the river — your guide will time the visit so you don't miss it.

Itinerary Summary: Flight to Shanghai – Free Time

Hotel Star Rating: 4-Star Hotels

Meals Included: No Food

Your flight from Chongqing brings you to Shanghai. By the time you land, you've already swapped one river city for another, but the two couldn't be more different. Once you've checked in, the day is yours. If you have the energy, head to Nanjing Road, one of the world's busiest shopping streets, stretching 5.5 kilometres from the Bund to the city's western edge. It's not just shopping — it's a grid of side streets filled with restaurants and street food stalls where you can get a sense of Shanghai's pace without committing to a full itinerary. Otherwise, do nothing. There's a full day ahead.

Itinerary Summary: Yu Garden – Wukang Road – Nanjing Road – The Bund

Hotel Star Rating: 4-Star Hotels

Meals Included: Lunch

Today takes you through Shanghai‘s layers. Start at Yu Garden, a classic Ming‑dynasty garden tucked in the heart of the old city – ponds, pavilions, and rockeries in a compact space. Then head to Wukang Road, a leafy boulevard lined with Art Deco villas and plane trees – a favourite among walkers and photographers for its old‑world charm. Walk along Nanjing Road for a dose of Shanghai’s commercial energy. End the day at The Bund, where the neon‑lit skyscrapers of Pudong face the colonial‑era buildings of the former International Settlement. It‘s the city’s postcard view – and it never gets old.

Itinerary Summary: Departure from Shanghai – Airport Transfer

Hotel Star Rating: N/A

Meals Included: No Food

Your driver will pick you up from the hotel and take you to the airport for your departure flight. Eleven days, four cities, one route that started at the Great Wall and ended at the Bund. You‘ve traveled from imperial history to Avatar mountains to neon skylines – and that’s the point.