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The Great Wall, Beijing's Imperial Palaces of the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Terracotta Warriors at Xian, and the gardens of Suzhou – all are among the world's must-see UNESCO World Heritage sights. And they're all included on this 8-night China Tour.
Your 2009 ALL-INCLUSIVE "Essential China Tour " takes just over a week, yet it's packed with China's most popular destinations: Beijing, Xian, Suzhou and Shanghai. Every hotel in every city features deluxe accommodations and all gratuities, all travel within China, all transfers, all tour attractions, all taxes and most all of your meals and beverages are included, too!
To see dates and rates for this tour -Click Here-
To see day-by-day trip details for this tour -Click Here-
When comparing prices, please keep in mind...
Our Tours are All-Inclusive! |
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Trip Length:
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8 Nights/9 Days |
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| Begins
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Beijing |
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Shanghai |
| Departures:
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2010
Aug 01,08,15,22,29
Sep 05,12,19,26
Oct 03,10,17,24,31
Nov 07,14 |
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Highlights:
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Beijing, Shanghai, Great Wall,
Suzhou, Tongli, Xian
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| Trip prices:
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From $1910 per person |
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| Beijing | 3 Nights | Orientation, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Great Wall of China, Temple of Heaven, Peking Duck Dinner, Hutong neighborhood, Peking Opera | Xian | 2 Nights | Terracotta Warriors, Xian City Wall, Lacquer Furniture Factory, Dumpling Dinner, Rural Primary School, "Cave Farmhouse" | Suzhou | 2 Nights | Humble Administrator's Garden, New Suzhou Museum, Suzhou Silk Museum | Tongli | Day Tour | Tongli shops & markets | Shanghai | 1 Night | Bund & Pudong districts, Farewell Dinner, Acrobatic Show, Shanghai Maglev airport transfer (flight schedule permitting) |
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Travel: |
Arrive Beijing
Motorcoach transfer to hotel |
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Cities:
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Beijing |
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Highlights:
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Arrival in Beijing
Free time |
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Overnight:
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Beijing Marriott City Wall |
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Meals:
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Not Included |
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- Welcome to China! Following your flight arrival in Beijing you'll transfer to your hotel.
- The remainder of the day is at your leisure. You may choose to relax at the hotel but if your arrival schedule permits you may also opt for some local sightseeing or shopping.
- Due to the variable flight arrival times of tour guests, dinner is not included tonight. Your hotel, the 5-star Beijing Marriott City Wall (the largest Marriott Hotel outside of the United States) offers several excellent restaurants. Other restaurants are located within an easy walk of your hotel. We suggest you check with your Tour Manager or the hotel staff for their suggestions. If you have the time and inclination, the Beijing Ancient Observatory & Astronomical Museum is within an easy walk of the hotel.
- Your Tour Manager will contact you this first day to provide an overview of Day 2's planned activities.
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Trip of a Lifetime!
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"We had a wonderful time...things could not have gone more smoothly. The guides were great and the hotels were top rate. This was a trip of a lifetime for us."
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- The Kaeli family. Our China Tour Participants
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Cities:
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Beijing |
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Highlights:
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Forbidden City
Tiananmen Square
Hutong neighborhood
Beijing Duck Dinner |
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Overnight:
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Beijing Marriott City Wall |
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Meals:
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Breakfast, Lunch and Beijing Duck Dinner |
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- Tiananmen Square is your first main attraction on this, your first full day in Beijing. The square is the prime venue for both state-sponsored and unstaged events. It is vast – the largest such square in the world. From here you'll proceed to the Forbidden City.
- You'll have ample time to tour the 170-acre Forbidden City complex but still, you'll only be able to see a fraction of the site's nearly 9,000 rooms. The Forbidden City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site - one of the many featured on our China Tours.
- Your day includes a close-up view of Beijing's new National Opera House (the "Egg," as locals call it, due to its distinctive, ellipsoid shape). The interior of the massive titanium and glass structure is sub-divided into three sections: Opera Hall, Music Hall & Theater Hall, seating a total of 6,500 people. No less impressive are the venues that hosted the 2008 Beijing Olympics!
- No visit in Beijing is complete without a pedicab tour through one of Beijing's quaint Hutong neighborhoods. Here, canals, alleyways and narrow streets provide a rare glimpse of a Beijing scene missed by most tourists. Your tour may include a visit with a family at a traditional, "courtyard-style" quadrangle home or perhaps you'll drop in for a visit at nursery or pre-school.
- A special evening is planned: a delicious Peking Duck Dinner! This meal will also afford you more time to get to know your fellow travelers as well as provide a brief Orientation of your tour.
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Chinese
Firsts:
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Wheelbarrow,
papermaking, “India” ink, moveable-type printing, compass,
ship rudder, gunpowder, cannon & fireworks, gun, decimal system,
crossbow, cast iron, iron plow, porcelain, silk, umbrellas, kites,
stirrup, harness, spaghetti, hand-held fan, seismometer, abacus,
cargo ship, high-fired stoneware, brandy, whiskey, chess, and fish-farming!
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Cities:
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Beijing |
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Highlights:
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Jade Factory
Great Wall of China
"Your Choice" afternoon
Beijing Opera |
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Overnight:
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Beijing Marriott City Wall |
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Meals:
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Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner |
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- Jade has been crafted by Chinese artisans for over 6,000 years. This morning, following breakfast at the hotel, you'll travel to a Jade Factory where this beautiful stone is carved, polished - and available for purchase.
- Your tour continues on to what many travelers to China view as their most memorable sight: the Great Wall of China! Your memories of the wall will be even more special because we bypass the attraction's more heavily congested tourist access. Instead, we favor the less-crowded, less-commercialized town of Mutianyu where the Great Wall locale is most dramatic. For your convenience, a scenic gondola ride (included in your tour price) provides easy access to the wall.
- Following lunch near the Great Wall, you'll return to Beijing.
- What to do this afternoon? It's "Your Choice" - our exclusive! Your Tour Manager will provide details of the various restaurant, shopping, and sight-seeing options. You're welcomed to venture out on your own or relax at your hotel - it's "Your Choice."
- Shopping & Restaurants: Head for the popular Wangfujing district - an easy 20-minute subway ride from your hotel.
- Attractions: Maybe you'd like to visit the Yonghe Gong (Lama Temple) erected in 1694. Or perhaps you'd prefer a stroll through the popular Shi Sha Hai neighborhood? Again, it's Your Choice!
- The Arts: Beijing is a city of culture and the arts. For starters, try Beijing 798 Space - a trendy, "Soho-esque" neighborhood of contemporary art and culture.
- Following dinner you'll be treated to an evening at the opera - the Peking Opera!
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Essential China:
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"I enjoyed my Essential China Tour immensely...Now that I'm at home it is hard to believe that I have actually seen and walked in places which up to now I have only read about or seen on my TV screen. Everything was first class: accommodation, food, local guides and drivers....I hope to re-visit China in the future. If that opportunity should arise I will certainly book through you."
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-S. Snape. Our China Tour Participant
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Travel: |
Fly to Xian |
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Cities:
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Beijing |
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Highlights:
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Free morning
Pearl Factory
Temple of Heaven
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Overnight:
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Howard Johnson Ginwa Plaza |
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Meals:
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Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner |
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- Got in a bit late last night? Not to worry. This morning you can sleep in! Your tour group won't be leaving the hotel until mid-morning. But maybe you'd prefer to use your free time to sightsee. There's time to take in a visit to the Summer Palace, built by the mid-18th-century Emperor Qianlong. Or perhaps a stroll through the city's impressive Beijing Capital City Museum is more to your liking?
- After lunch you'll travel to Bai Gong Fang - an excellent cultured pearl production and retail center.
- Your day's next attraction is the Temple of Heaven - one of the most magnificent temples in all of China. Interestingly, not a single nail was used in the construction of this 125-foot-tall structure. Here, emperors came to pray to their ancestors for guidance and to the heavens for favorable weather and bountiful harvests. The temple park is busy with local retirees playing board games and playing traditional musical instruments; kids flying kites, adult exercisers performing Tai Chi and twirling flags. Join in if you'd like!
- From the temple you'll travel directly to the airport for your late-afternoon flight to Xian, capital of the Shaanxi Province. Upon arrival you'll transfer to your downtown hotel.
- After dinner there's time to see the sights of the neighborhood. At night, the city wall is brilliantly lit, providing a colorful backdrop to the shops and street scene just steps from your hotel.
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The
Great Wall Myth:
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Is the Great Wall of China the only manmade object viewable from space?
No. Although the wall is sometimes barely visible at very low Earth
orbit, highways, bridges, airports and dams are far easier to spot.
In fact, even China’s first astronaut, Yang Liwei, circling
the Earth in 2004, confirmed he couldn’t see the Great Wall.
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Cities:
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Xian |
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Highlights:
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Terracotta Warriors
Rural Primary School
"Cave Farmhouse"
Dumpling Dinner
Night Markets |
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Overnight:
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Howard Johnson Ginwa Plaza |
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Meals:
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Breakfast, Lunch and Dumpling Dinner |
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- One of the most magical memories of China may well occur this morning with your tour of the Terracotta Warriors excavation site. Here, an entire subterranean Army stands ready to defend the tomb of China's first emperor – Qin Shi Huangdi. Discovered in 1974, the site ranks with King Tut's tomb as one of the 20th century's greatest archeological finds.
- Along the road you will vist a rural primary school. Our China Tour guests are afforded this rare opportunity to visit the classrooms and mingle with the students and faculty. This visit promises to be a special highlight of your tour!
- Your day in the countryside also includes a stop at farmhouse cave dwellings - rural homes built deep into the sides of earthen caves.
- Many historians maintain that the Tang Dynasty (AD 618 – 907) represented a "Golden Age" of Chinese civilization. It was - and remains - one of the tastiest, too. This evening's Dumpling Dinner is testament to that fact!
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Terracotta
Warriors:
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Known
for their creative reproductions (everything from "antique"
Ming Dynasty vases to Madonna CDs, enterprising Chinese have even
arranged illegal "knock-off" exhibitions of their own
Terracotta Warriors. Unauthorized reproductions - sometimes excellent,
sometimes shoddy - have cropped up at "exhibitions" in
China, without any reference to the word "replica." Local
authorities are doing their best to crack down on these fraudulent
exhibitions.
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Travel: |
Fly to Shanghai
Motorcoach to Suzhou |
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Cities:
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Xian
Suzhou |
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Highlights:
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Xian City Wall |
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Overnight:
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Bamboo Grove Hotel Suzhou |
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Meals:
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Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner |
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- After breakfast you'll visit Xian's City Wall, still intact along its entire 9-mile rectangle around its former imperial palace. Over a span of some 4,000 years Xian has been the capital to 11 dynasties. Should you choose, bicycles are available for rent allowing you to travel along the top of the wall's perimeter for the finest views of this historic city.
- Time permitting, a stop a lacquer furniture factory is included in the day's activities.
- Later, after lunch, you'll transfer transfer to the airport for your short flight eastward to Shanghai. After arrival you'll enjoy a delicious dinner before continuing on to Suzhou.
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A Wonderful Experience.
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"I knew and expected the main historic sites to be impressive, (and they were) but I was surprised at the quality of the evening shows and the
diverse choices at our daily meals. The trip high-lights for me were: The visits to the rural school house, the tour of Suzhou's Tongli canal areas, the bike ride through the Hutong area, and walks through the many imperial gardens."
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- Ken K. Our China Tour Participant
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Cities:
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Suzhou |
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Highlights:
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Humble Administrator's Grdn.
New Suzhou Museum
Tongli
Suzhou Silk Museum
"Your Choice" Night on the Town |
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Overnight:
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Bamboo Grove Hotel Suzhou |
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Meals:
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Breakfast and Lunch |
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- Now a city of almost 6 million inhabitants, Suzhou, the "Venice of the East," is known for its canals and classical Chinese gardens. The completion of the Grand Canal sped trade throughout the region and enriched local silk merchants. The merchants built magnificent private gardens such as the Humble Administrator's Garden (included in your tour), now open to the public.
- Your tour includes admission to the New Suzhou Museum, designed by the world-famous architect, Ieaoh Ming Pei (I.M. Pei). The three-level structure houses Suzhou art treasures dating back over the centuries yet the building's design blends ancient Suzhou design elements with 21st century engineering and themes.
- Next, you'll travel to nearby Tongli, the "town that Suzhou used to look like." Far smaller and more quaint than Suzhou, Tongli's homes and gardens open onto meandering canals lined with shops and restaurants. Weather permitting, your afternoon includes lunch at a canal-side restaurant.
- On your return to Suzhou you'll stop in at the Suzhou Silk Museum which chronicles 6,000 years of silk manufacture and includes actual mulberry-munching silkworms spinning cocoons - as well as an array of silk products for purchase.
- The evening is yours! Our "Your Choice" option allows you to explore Suzhou on your own - an easy adventure given your hotel's perfect location next to restaurants, shops and picturesque canals. If you're looking for a Western-style "fast food fix," this is the place! TexMex, hamburgers, fried chicken, pizza – as well as Chinese, Thai, Japanese and other cuisine options are within steps of your hotel's front door.
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Silk:
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Chinese
silk hand-embroidered “paintings” can rival photography
in detail and realism – yet also convey impressionist moods
running from delicate to dramatic. Shoppers can choose from pre-finished
works or leave the artisan a photograph or painting for reproduction.
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Travel: |
Motorcoach to Shanghai |
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Cities:
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Suzhou
Shanghai |
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Highlights:
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Grand Canal Market
Shanghai tour & shopping
Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe
Farewell Dinner |
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Overnight:
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Hotel Pullman Shanghai Skyway |
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Meals:
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Breakfast, Lunch and Farewell Dinner |
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- This morning, after breakfast, you'll travel to a bustling, authentic local Market where fresh produce, noodles, fish, poultry and meat are sold, as well as curios and souvenirs.
- In the late morning you'll travel eastward by motorcoach to Shanghai, mainland China's most vibrant, cosmopolitan city. Shanghai was a minor county seat until the British arrived in the mid-19th century, lured by the potential wealth of untapped trade markets. Your tour includes a brief visit to the Bund, a gem of Art Deco buildings dating from this colonial period. Across the river soars Pudong, Shanghai's skyscraper skyline of postcard fame.
- You'll have a shopping stop, of course, at the Chenghuang Temple, where the bargains are waiting! "Silk" (or rayon)? "Jade" (or plastic)? You be the judge!.
- This evening, before dinner, you'll be treated to a brilliant performance of the world-famous Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe!
- Your last night in China includes a delightful Farewell Dinner
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Suzhou:
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"By
the 14th century Suzhou had established itself as China's leading silk
producer, and aristocrats, pleasure-seekers, famous scholars, actors and
painters were attracted to the city, constructing villas and gardens for
themselves."
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-Lonely Planet. 2005
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Travel: |
Departure from Shanghai |
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Cities:
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Shanghai |
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Highlights:
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Shanghai Maglev train airport transfer (if applicable)
Farewells! |
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Overnight:
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N/A |
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Meals:
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Breakfast |
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- Depending on your flight plans, you may have time for some last-minute shopping in nearby shops and markets. Your Tour Manager can offer money-saving suggestions.
- If your flight schedule permits your transportation to Shanghai's international airport will include travel aboard the world's fastest commercial train: the Shanghai Maglev! Speeding at up to 430 kph (almost 270 mph) it'll make easy work of your airport transfer.
Shanghai is hosting the World Expo 2010 from May thorugh October (May 1 - Oct. 31, 2010). It is a scheduled World Expo in the tradition of international fairs and expositions. The theme of the exposition will be "Better City – Better Life" and signifies Shanghai's new status in the 21st century as a major economic and cultural center. We will offer packages that include extended stays in Shanghai as well as admission tickets to the Expo. |
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Shanghai Maglev:
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"The doors shut, and the train accelerates like a skyscraper elevator, silently, smoothly, and rapidly, and by the time the last car leaves the station you already seem to be going 50 miles per hour. Four minutes of gravity-simulator-style acceleration later...you reach the peak speed of 270 miles per hour for the tiny 20-mile run."
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- Henry Blodget - Slate.
March 21, 2005
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| Single Supplement:
Add $690 to above prices
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3rd Guest (age 9 to 12) Land + Air:
70% of Land Only price, plus applicable Air cost
3rd Guest (age 9 to 12) Land Only: 70% of Land Only price
3rd Guest (age 12+) Land + Air:
85% of Land Only price, plus applicable Air cost
3rd Guest (age 12+) Land Only: 85% of Land Only price
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*Land + Air: Land + Air prices include all tour features as noted below in “All-Inclusive Pricing” as well as Roundtrip International Air Travel from Los Angeles (or selected departure city, where applicable and available) to/from China. In all cases prices are subject to change without notice due to airline seat availability.
*Land Only: Land Only prices include all tour features as noted below in “All-Inclusive Pricing.” Please note that Land Only prices include all travel within China as noted in the tour's Trip Itinerary.
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All prices listed above are quoted in
USD, per person, and based on double occupancy. Single Supplement prices are shown above.
Prices are subject to change without notice and are capacity controlled.
"ALL-INCLUSIVE Pricing" includes: Tour Gratuities for guide services (Tour Manager, City Guides, Drivers, and Baggage Handling); Accommodations; Meals as noted in Trip Details; Admission fees to attractions as noted in Trip Details; Air, Train & Motorcoach travel within China as noted in Trip Details; Airport Transfers in Beijing on arrival and Shanghai on departure (provided transfers dates coincide with tour “Departs On” or “Returns On” dates or if transfer dates coincide with pre-tour or post-tour hotel extension purchased through us); Tour Guide services; Air Taxes and Fees.
Not Included: Above prices do not include Excess Baggage Fees; Travel Passports or Visas; Expenses of a personal nature; Airport Transfers in Beijing and Shanghai which do not coincide with tour “Departs On” or “Returns On” dates or pre-tour or post-tour hotel extensions purchased through Let’s Travel China. Airport Transfers not otherwise included are available for purchase at $40.00 per person per transfer.
Terms & Conditions: Click here to view
standard Terms & Conditions.
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