|
|
|
|
|
|
This very special tour has but one departure for 2009, timed to place you high atop Mount Emei - a perfect vantage point to witness a once-in-a-lifetime experience: a Total Solar Eclipse!. High above the clouds, you'll greet the day as the sun edges above the horizon - and then completely dissolves as the earth slowly moves in front, blocking the sun at mid-morning!
Other, very special treats are presented during this All-INCLUSIVE tour of China, including one of this nation's most beautiful cities: Hangzhou. The world traveler, Marco Polo, called Hangzhou "The City of Heaven; the most beautiful and magnificent in the world." See if you agree! You'll also spend time in the magnificent Huangshan Mountains - the entire group of peaks so impressive they're a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
And there's more. Beijing - China's capital city and site of the 2008 Beijing Olympics offers its treasures, including the Great Wall of China, just north of the city. Xian's Terracotta Warriors are visited as are China's most remarkable, most lovable creatures: the Giant Pandas! Your tour ends in China's city of the future: Shanghai, where skyscrapers, shops and acrobats compete for your attention.
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...
Let’s Travel China Tours are All-Inclusive! |
|
|
|
|
|
Trip Length:
|
13 Nights/14 Days |
 |
| Begins
in:
|
Beijing |
| Ends in:
|
Shanghai |
| Departures:
|
No further 2008 departures scheduled |
|
|
|
|
Highlights:
|
Beijing, Shanghai, Great Wall,
Chengdu, Xian, Hangzhou,
Huangshan
|
| Trip prices:
|
|
|
| Beijing | 3 | Orientation, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Great Wall of China, Temple of Heaven, Peking Duck Dinner, Hutong neighborhood, Peking Opera | Xian | 2 | Terracotta Warriors, Xian City Wall, Lacquer Furniture Factory, Dumpling Dinner, Rural Primary School & Cave Farmhouse | Chengdu | 1 | Giant Panda Breeding Research Center, Chengdu Teahouse | Mount Emei | 1 | Giant Buddha, Overnight atop Mt. Emei,
2009 Total Solar Eclipse | Hangzhou | 2 | West Lake, Pingyin Temple, Six Harmonies Pagoda, Tea Plantation | Huangshan Mountains | 2 | Huangshan Mountains, Scenic trails, Mountain villages | Shanghai | 2 | The Bund, Pudong, Shanghai shopping, Shanghai Acrobats, Farewell Dinner, Shanghai Maglev |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We
wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.
~Hilaire Belloc
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel: |
Arrive Beijing
Motorcoach fransfer to hotel |
|
Cities:
|
Beijing |
|
Highlights:
|
Arrival in Beijing
Orientation |
|
Overnight:
|
Beijing Marriott City Wall |
|
Meals:
|
Dinner not included |
|
 |
- 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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Wonderful Experience.
|
|
"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."
|
|
- Ken K. Let's Travel China Tour Participant
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cities:
|
Beijing |
|
Highlights:
|
Forbidden City
Tiananmen Square
Hutong neighborhood
Peking Duck Dinner & Orientation
Peking Opera |
|
Overnight:
|
Beijing Marriott City Wall |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast, Lunch and Peking Duck Dinner |
|
 |
- 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 Let's Travel 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. Following dinner you'll be treated to an evening at the opera - the Peking Opera!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chinese
Firsts:
|
|
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!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cities:
|
Beijing |
|
Highlights:
|
Jade Factory
Great Wall of China
"Your Choice" Afternoon & Evening |
|
Overnight:
|
Beijing Marriott City Wall |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast and Lunch |
|
 |
- 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 Let's Travel China bypasses 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.
- Yesterday you saw "The Egg" - Beijing's National Opera House. Today you'll see "The Bird's Nest" - officially the National Stadium, and other event venues for the Beijing Games.
- What to do later in the afternoon and tonight? It's "Your Choice" - a Let's Travel China 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, in keeping with the Solar Eclipse theme of your tour, pay a visit to the 15th-century Beijing Ancient Observatory and Astronomy Museum - it's just up the street from your hotel!
- 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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel: |
Fly to Xian |
|
Cities:
|
Beijing, Xian |
|
Highlights:
|
Free morning
Pearl Factory
Temple of Heaven |
|
Overnight:
|
Howard Johnson Ginwa Plaza |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner |
|
 |
- 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 magnificant 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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Essential China:
|
|
"We had a wonderful time in China! It was everything we hoped for and more than we expected! Dino was such a wonderful guide...the buses, the bus drivers, the sites, the hotels, the tours, everything was excellent and well carried out...such a wonderful experience! We enjoyed being pampered!"
|
|
-J. Bryson. Let's Travel China Tour Participant
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cities:
|
Xian |
|
Highlights:
|
Terracotta Warriors
Xian City Wall
Lacquer Furniture Factory
Dumpling Dinner
Night Markets |
|
Overnight:
|
Howard Johnson Ginwa Plaza |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast, Lunch and Dumpling Dinner |
|
 |
- 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.
- Following lunch 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.
- 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!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Terracotta
Warriors:
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel: |
Fly to Chengdu |
|
Cities:
|
Xian
Chengdu |
|
Highlights:
|
Rural Primary School
"Cave Farmhouse"
Chengdu Teahouse |
|
Overnight:
|
Tibet Hotel - Chengdu |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast and Lunch |
|
 |
- This morning you'll travel outside of Xian to visit a rural primary school. Our Let's Travel China 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.
- Later, after lunch, you'll transfer to the airport for your flight to Chengdu, the capital city of the Sichuan Province.
- Dinner is "on your own" tonight. Your options are plentiful in this city but you may want to include a Teahouse in your plans. Chengdu is recogized by the Chinese for its excellent tea and teahouses - and in a country of 1.3 billion tea-drinkers, this is saying something!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel: |
Motorcoach to Leshan |
|
Cities:
|
Chengdu
Leshan
Mt. Emei |
|
Highlights:
|
Giant Panda Breeding Research Ctr.
Giant Buddha
Mt. Emei Cable Car |
|
Overnight:
|
Jinding Hotel |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast, Lunch and "Hot Pot" Dinner |
|
 |
- It was in Chengdu where the world's first paper currency was printed, but today the city is most famous for its Giant Panda Breeding Research Center, located just a few miles from town. There's no doubt that this will be yet another highlight of your tour because you'll not only see Pandas, you may even see Baby Pandas! This is not just a zoo, as offered on some tours, but an actual habitat and breeding center for this endangered species (and the just-as-cute Red Pandas live here, too). Your morning visit coincides with feeding time - the best time to see the Pandas as it's when they're most active.
- After lunch you'll board your motorcoach for the drive to Leshan, site of the Giant Buddha - the world's largest carved stone Buddha. From there you'll transfer to a pollution-free tour bus for your ride to Leidongping, where you'll transfer to a cable car for your scenic ride up Mt. Emei to the Golden Summit. It's here where you'll spend the night!
- (If you wish, an alternate mountaintop accommodation offers an overnight at a Buddhist monastery. For centuries, Chinese travelers - emperors, merchants and farmers alike - have shed their titles and wealth, if only for a short time, to pay homage and reverence to the simple, shared experience of monastic life.)
- Dinner tonight features a delicious, Sichuan-style favorite: "Hot-Pot"! It's a savory combination of spices that delivers a subtle "numbing" sensation to your lips - and a wonderful taste to your taste buds!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Red Pandas:
|
|
"The unexpected highlight was seeing the Red Panda, which is much smaller. It is more the size of a racoon, with a similar face, but without the ridge-back, and with a much nicer disposition. They were out having a good time, playing and eating and were quite entertaining and photogenic."
|
|
-R. Shea. Let's Travel China Tour Participant
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel: |
Fly to Hangzhou |
|
Cities:
|
Mt. Emei |
|
Highlights:
|
2009 Total Solar Eclipse! |
|
Overnight:
|
Gothe Hotel |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner |
|
 |
- Rise and shine! This is the day - July 22, 2009! From your vantage point atop Mt. Emei (and most likely, well above the clouds), you'll have prime viewing of the 2009 Total Solar Eclipse. You'll watch as the sun rises above the horizon - and continue watching as the earth moves to fully block out the sun - a complete solar eclipse!
- Following this once-in-a-lifetime experience you'll travel down the mountain and board your motorcoach for the drive back to Chengdu. Following an early dinner, you'll transfer to the airport for your 2-hour flight east to Hangzhou, checking into your hotel in the late evening.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"On Wednesday, 2009 July 22, a total eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half of Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in India and crosses through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China."
|
|
-NASA.gov
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cities:
|
Hangzhou |
|
Highlights:
|
Hangzhou
West Lake
Lingyin Temple
Tea Plantation |
|
Overnight:
|
Gothe Hotel |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner |
|
 |
- Marco Polo described Hangzhou as "The City of Heaven; the most beautiful and magnificent in the world." We think you may agree!
- Attractions today include views of Hangzhou's gorgeous West Lake - a serene body of water which, like a mirror, reflects the mountains beyond. You'll also visit the historic Lingyin Temple ("Soul's Retreat Temple), home to an impressive, 65-foot camphor wood Buddha and the handsome, wood-and-brick, octagonal-shaped Six Harmonies Pagoda. Rising atop Yuelun Hill, the pagoda is an impressive sight.
- By now you've been in China over a week and have no doubt sampled a variety of Chinese teas. But today, you'll actually visit a working Tea Plantation and not only learn more about the delicate process of tea cultivation, but have the chance to select, pick, steep, and sample your own!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Rippling waters shimmering
on a sunny day;
Misty Mountains shrouded in rain;
Plain or gaily
decked out like Xizi;
West Lake is always alluring."
|
|
-Su Dongpo (960-1127)
Song Dynasty Poet
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel: |
Motorcoach to Huangshan Mtns. |
|
Cities:
|
Hangzhou
Huangshan Mountains |
|
Highlights:
|
Free morning
Huangshan Mountains |
|
Overnight:
|
Beihai Hotel |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner |
|
 |
- This morning affords time to take a morning stroll along the edge of West Lake. Overwater walkways allow you to criss-cross portions of the lake, taking in the surrounding scenery. (Marco Polo was right, wasn't he?)
- You'll board your motorcoach for a 4-hour, highly scenic drive to the Huangshan Mountains. Literally, the "Yellow Mountains," Huangshan is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You've likely already seen pictures of these mountains as they're the most photographed and most painted in all of China. The setting is magical with mountain mists passing silently overhead, and quaint villages below.
- Your home for the next two nights will be right here, at a top-rated hotel atop these beautiful peaks.
|
|
|
|
|
| ...
add on Hong Kong |
| You can add on two nights
in Hong Kong to any Let's Travel China Tour! |
| Click
here to email us or call us at 800-801-3188 to speak with a Tour Specialist. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cities:
|
Huangshan Mountains |
|
Highlights:
|
Huangshan Mountain Scenery |
|
Overnight:
|
Beihai Hotel |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner |
|
 |
- You've got the entire day here among the Huanghsan Mountains - the uniquely scenic muse for centuries of Chinese artists, writers, poets and philosophers.
- Options include mountain trail hikes, travel to "photo-op" vantage points, or the very simple - but no less memorable - pleasures of lazing along the terraces and soaking in the views.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Huangshan, known as 'the lovliest mountain of China,' was acclaimed through art and literature during a good part of Chinese history. Today it holds the same fascination for visitors, poets, painters and photographers who come on pilgrimage to the site, which is renowned for its magnificent scenery made up of many granite peaks and rocks emerging out of a sea of clouds."
|
|
-UNESCO.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel: |
Fly to Shanghai |
|
Cities:
|
Huangshan Mountains
Shanghai |
|
Highlights:
|
Free morning
Shanghai |
|
Overnight:
|
Hotel Pullman Shanghai Skyway |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner |
|
 |
- You've got a leisurely morning in the mountains. Sleep in, take in a late breakfast, or maybe enjoy a morning massage or stroll.
- Later in the day, after lunch, you'll depart your mountain retreat for the airport at Huangshan. Dinner is followed by your short, 1-hour evening flight to Shanghai, where you'll be transferred to your downtown hotel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cities:
|
Shanghai |
|
Highlights:
|
The Bund
Shanghai shopping
Shanghai Acrobats
Farewell Dinner |
|
Overnight:
|
Hotel Pullman Shanghai Skyway |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast, Lunch and Farewell Dinner |
|
 |
- Shanghai! Over less than two centuries (a blink of the eye in China's 6,000-year history) this one-time, relatively minor town has been transformed into the nation's principal city of commerce - now even out-stripping dynamic Hong Kong!
- A brief city tour of Shanghai's celebrated Bund and its charming Art Deco architecture also includes the equally impressive skysrapers of Pudong. These attractions are followed by some "Shanghai shopping time" at the picturesque Cheng Huang Temple marketplace.
- The evening includes a double-header of events: a performance of the famous Shanghai Acrobats and a deliciious Farewell Dinner hosted by your Tour Manager. Enjoy!
<.li> |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel: |
Depart Shanghai |
|
Cities:
|
Shanghai |
|
Highlights:
|
Shanghai Maglev Airport transfer |
|
Overnight:
|
N/A |
|
Meals:
|
Breakfast |
|
 |
- 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.
- "Fly" to the airport! Subject to your return flight schedule, today you'll travel to the airport 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 Maglev:
|
|
"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."
|
|
- Henry Blodget - Slate.
March 21, 2005
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Single Supplement:
Add $1425 to above prices
|
|
|
|
|
|