12 days 11 nights
Specific Tour
14 people
English
Quick answer
A 12-day private China tour covering Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin with Yangshuo, and Shanghai. It travels by high-speed train and two domestic flights at a moderate pace, with a private guide and driver in each city and 4-star hotels.
From US$1,680 per person for the whole tour, as an indicative price for a small private group in 4★ hotels. It changes with group size, hotel level and season, and is confirmed in your tailor-made quote.
| Day | Route and highlights | Overnight |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrive in Beijing | Beijing |
| 2 | Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and Jingshan Park | Beijing |
| 3 | The Great Wall at Mutianyu | Beijing |
| 4 | Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace | Beijing |
| 5 | High-speed train to Xi'an and the city wall | Xi'an |
| 6 | The Terracotta Army and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda | Xi'an |
| 7 | Xi'an to Guilin | Guilin |
| 8 | Li River cruise to Yangshuo | Yangshuo |
| 9 | Yangshuo countryside and the Yulong River | Yangshuo |
| 10 | Fly to Shanghai, Yu Garden and the Bund | Shanghai |
| 11 | Shanghai and the water town of Zhujiajiao | Shanghai |
| 12 | Depart Shanghai | — |
Private tour with your own English-speaking guide · 12 days / 11 nights · Beijing – Xi'an – Guilin – Yangshuo – Shanghai
This China private tour links the four places most travelers hope to see on a first visit, with enough time in each to enjoy them properly. You begin in Beijing with three full days for Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and a quieter stretch of the Great Wall at Mutianyu, reached by cable car. Your own guide handles tickets, queues and timing, so the days feel calm rather than rushed.
A high-speed train then carries you to Xi'an, the old capital at the start of the Silk Road, for the Terracotta Army, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and a bike ride or walk on the Ming city wall. From there you fly south to Guilin for the landscape everyone pictures when they think of China: a Li River cruise between limestone peaks and two nights in the countryside around Yangshuo.
The trip ends in Shanghai, where the colonial Bund faces the towers of Pudong across the Huangpu River. You will have time for the Yu Garden, the Shanghai Museum, the leafy lanes of the former French Concession and a half day in the canal town of Zhujiajiao before your flight home.
Moderate. Expect two to four hours of walking on most days, with steps at the Great Wall, Jingshan Park and the Forbidden City. Transfers use a high-speed train (about 4.5 hours) and two domestic flights; there are no long road drives. Suits families with children over 10 and active older travelers.
Eleven nights in 4-star hotels in central locations: a 4-star hotel in Beijing near Wangfujing, a 4-star hotel inside or near Xi'an's city wall, a 4-star hotel in Guilin, a 4-star countryside or riverside hotel in Yangshuo and a 4-star hotel in Shanghai. 5-star upgrades are available in every city.
April to May and September to October bring the most comfortable weather across all four cities, with clear skies in Beijing and green scenery in Guilin. Summer is hot and humid, with heavy rain around Guilin in June. Winter (December to February) is cold and dry in Beijing and Xi'an but quiet, with fewer visitors at the big sights. Avoid the national holiday weeks in early May and early October, when sites are very crowded.
Your guide and driver are yours alone for the whole trip, so the pace, the stops and the start time each morning follow you. The standard version has an English-speaking guide; guides who speak French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese or Vietnamese can be arranged on request.
More ideas: All private tours in China · Yunnan Discovery: Kunming, Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La in 10 Days · China's Great Landscapes: Zhangjiajie, Guilin and Yangshuo in 10 Days · China Essentials: Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai in 8 Days
Photos: Velatrix, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Pierre André Leclercq, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Ermell, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Fong Chen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Ideophagous, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Dllu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Classic China: Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin and Shanghai in 12 Days is a starting point. Our Hanoi travel designers adjust every day to your pace, interests and hotel style, then run the trip with your own guide and driver.
Your guide meets you at Beijing Capital or Daxing airport and travels with you by private car to your hotel. After a rest, take a gentle first walk around Wangfujing, one of the city's main shopping streets, and the lanes nearby. Your guide will talk you through the plan for the coming days, help you set up a local payment app if you wish, and suggest a restaurant for your first taste of Peking duck. An easy evening to adjust to the time difference.
Overnight: Beijing
Start at Tiananmen Square, the vast public space at the heart of Beijing, then pass through the Gate of Heavenly Peace into the Forbidden City. For almost 500 years this was the home of the Ming and Qing emperors, and your guide will lead you through its great halls, courtyards and the Imperial Garden at the northern end. After lunch, climb the short path up Jingshan Park for the classic view back over the palace roofs. Later, explore a hutong neighborhood around Shichahai by foot or rickshaw.
Overnight: Beijing · Meals: B, L
Drive about 90 minutes north of the city to Mutianyu, one of the best-restored and least crowded sections of the Great Wall. A cable car lifts you onto the ridge, where you can walk along the watchtowers at your own pace, with forested hills rolling away on both sides. Families can ride the toboggan back down. Have lunch in the village below, then return to Beijing with a stop at the Olympic Green to see the Bird's Nest stadium from outside. The evening is free.
Overnight: Beijing · Meals: B, L
Go early to the Temple of Heaven, where emperors prayed for good harvests. In the surrounding park, local residents gather each morning for tai chi, dancing and card games, and you are welcome to watch or join in. In the afternoon, visit the Summer Palace, a royal retreat of lakes, bridges and pavilions. Walk the painted Long Corridor beside Kunming Lake and, weather permitting, take a short boat ride across the water. Return to your hotel for a free evening.
Overnight: Beijing · Meals: B, L
Transfer to Beijing West station for the high-speed train to Xi'an, a comfortable ride of about four and a half hours through the farmland of northern China. Your Xi'an guide meets you on arrival. In the late afternoon, go up onto the Ming-era city wall, the most complete in China, and walk or cycle part of its 14-kilometer loop as the light softens over the rooftops. In the evening, explore the food stalls of the Muslim Quarter near the Drum Tower.
Overnight: Xi'an · Meals: B
Drive about an hour east of the city to the site of the Terracotta Army, discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974. Thousands of life-size clay soldiers, archers and horses stand in battle formation to guard the tomb of China's first emperor, and no two faces are the same. Your guide explains how the figures were made and how the excavation continues today. Return to Xi'an for the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, built in the 7th century to house Buddhist texts brought back from India.
Overnight: Xi'an · Meals: B, L
Spend a relaxed morning in Xi'an. Visit the Great Mosque, a quiet courtyard complex built in Chinese temple style, or the Shaanxi History Museum, whose collection traces the city's long role as a capital. Then transfer to the airport for the flight to Guilin, about two hours. Your Guilin guide meets you on arrival. If time allows, take an evening walk around the city's central lakes, where the Sun and Moon pagodas are lit up after dark.
Overnight: Guilin · Meals: B
Board a boat at the pier south of Guilin for the cruise down the Li River to Yangshuo, about four hours. The river winds between steep karst peaks, bamboo groves and small villages, and passes the scene printed on the 20-yuan banknote. Lunch is served on board. Your driver meets you in Yangshuo and takes you to your hotel in the countryside outside town. In the evening, stroll West Street and the riverside in Yangshuo town.
Overnight: Yangshuo · Meals: B, L
Spend the day in the farmland around Yangshuo, where rice fields and orchards sit at the foot of the peaks. Take a bamboo raft along the slow, clear Yulong River, guided by a local boatman, then walk or cycle on quiet lanes through villages such as Jiuxian. In the late afternoon, climb a short trail to a viewpoint for sunset over the karst, or simply relax at your hotel. This is the slowest day of the trip, good for rest between cities.
Overnight: Yangshuo · Meals: B, L
Drive back to Guilin airport for the flight to Shanghai, about two hours. Your Shanghai guide meets you and takes you to the old town for the Yu Garden, a classical garden of rockeries, ponds and pavilions laid out in the 16th century, and the busy bazaar around it. As evening falls, walk along the Bund, the riverfront lined with grand 1920s banks and trading houses, and watch the towers of Pudong light up across the Huangpu River.
Overnight: Shanghai · Meals: B
In the morning, visit the Shanghai Museum on People's Square for its collections of bronzes, ceramics and calligraphy, then walk the plane-tree-lined streets of the former French Concession and the lanes of Tianzifang. In the afternoon, drive about an hour west to Zhujiajiao, an old canal town of stone bridges and wooden houses, and take a short boat ride along the waterways. Return to Shanghai for a farewell evening of your choice.
Overnight: Shanghai · Meals: B, L
Enjoy a last breakfast and some free time to shop or revisit a favorite corner of the city, depending on your flight time. Your guide and driver then take you to Pudong or Hongqiao airport for your onward journey. If you would like to continue to Vietnam, Japan or South Korea, there are frequent direct flights from Shanghai and we can plan the next stage of your trip for you.
Meals: B
Yes. The pace is moderate, with no long road drives and a slow day in Yangshuo halfway through. The Great Wall at Mutianyu has a cable car, so you can walk as much or as little as you like on top.
It depends on your passport. Several nationalities can now enter China visa-free for short stays, while others need a tourist visa before travel. We will check the current rules for your passport when you book.
They are quoted separately so we can match class and timing to your plans. We arrange the tickets for you, and your guide meets you at each station or airport.
Yes. This is a private tour with your own English-speaking guide. We also arrange private guides who speak French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese or Vietnamese: tell us when you enquire and we confirm your guide in the quote. Book early for the busiest seasons, such as spring and autumn.
Nothing is payable until you approve your written quote. We then ask for a 30% deposit to confirm, and the balance 45 days before arrival, by bank transfer or card. Bank details come with your booking confirmation; always confirm them with us by phone or WhatsApp (+84 812 247 572) before any transfer.
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