China Icons, Beijing, Xi'an & Shanghai

Arrive at Beijing Capital or Daxing, one to one and a half hours by road and transfer privately to your base. Time today to walk a hutong neighbourhood and eat where the queue is local.

• Private transfer via Beijing Capital or Daxing
• Walk a hutong neighbourhood and eat where the queue is local
• Time to settle in before dinner

The palace complex along its central axis with a guide, the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the imperial gardens, then Jingshan hill for the view back across the roofs. Passport required for entry.

• Forbidden City with reserved entry
• Tiananmen Square
• Jingshan Park viewpoint

A day at Mutianyu or Jinshanling, restored and steep, with cable car options and a stretch walked away from the busiest towers. Jinshanling is further but far quieter.

• Mutianyu or Jinshanling Great Wall
• Cable car or chairlift
• Walk between watchtowers

Take the high-speed train from Beijing, around four and a half hours. On arrival, walk the Muslim Quarter's food street and the Bell Tower square.

• Take the high-speed train from Beijing, around four and a half hours
• Walk the Muslim Quarter's food street and the Bell Tower square
• Timings reconfirmed locally the day before

The three excavation pits of the Qin emperor's guard, discovered by farmers in 1974, with a guide who explains the archaeology rather than just the scale.

• Terracotta Warriors pits 1-3
• Bronze chariot exhibition
• Qin tomb mound

Cycling the intact Ming city walls, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, and the Great Mosque hidden inside the Muslim Quarter's lanes.

• Cycle the city walls
• Big Wild Goose Pagoda
• Great Mosque and food street

Arrive by high-speed train into Hongqiao or fly into Pudong. On arrival, walk the Bund with Pudong lit across the river.

• Arrive by high-speed train into Hongqiao or fly into Pudong
• Walk the Bund with Pudong lit across the river
• Timings reconfirmed locally the day before

The colonial-era waterfront, the Yuyuan classical garden and bazaar, and the lanes of the old town, ending with the river ferry across to Pudong.

• The Bund architecture walk
• Yuyuan Garden
• Huangpu river crossing

Plane-tree streets and shikumen lanes of the former French Concession, the Shanghai Museum's bronzes and ceramics, and a tower observation deck.

• French Concession walk
• Shanghai Museum
• Shanghai Tower observation deck

A last riverside walk before the transfer out. Private transfer to Pudong or Hongqiao airports in good time for your onward flight.

• A last riverside walk before the transfer out
• Late check-out arranged where the hotel allows it
• Private departure transfer