China-Explorer's Classical and Modern China,Beijing-Xi'an-Shanghai ,7 days

Probably no travel route attracts more visitors than this fascinating one. Beijing is the heart and soul of China. It now holds the largest collection of ancient sites and relics in the nation. Xi'an is a city with several thousand years of history. It had been the capital of ancient China for eleven dynasties. It was the starting point of the Silk Road. As a famous cultural and trade center in the world, it played an important role in bridging the different cultures between the East and the West. Shanghai is the most prosperous economic and cultural center of modern China.

Itinerary:

Arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport, greetings by your tour guide and transfer to the hotel. The rest of the day is at your disposal.

Visit the Badaling Great Wall in the morning. Enjoy the beauty of the Summer Palace (Yi He Yuan) after lunch. It is an imperial garden where the Chinese gardening is perfectly reflected. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Visit the world-famous Tian'anmen Square in the morning. Enter the palace of the emperor, which the Chinese officials call the Palace Museum (better known as the Forbidden City) through the Tian’anmen Square Gate. The Forbidden City is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, too. It is a masterpiece of Chinese palace architecture and it demonstrates the integration of traditional architecture in ancient northern China into the art of palace building. After lunch, visit the Temple of Heaven, where the Ming and Qing Emperors worshiped the heaven and prayed for good harvests. It is also on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is an unique expression of the Chinese concept of the relationship between heaven and earth. Transfer to the train station in the afternoon. You will go to Xi'an by train in a first class sleeping wagon.

Arrival in Xi'an in the morning. Transfer to the hotel and breakfast. Visit the Army of TerraCotta Warriors. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The excavation is located close to the subsurface grave of the first emperor of China. There are thousands of life-size Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses watching over the Tomb of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (BC 221-210), especially two bronze models of horse carriage and warrior. After lunch, you go back to the city by minibus and visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Da Yan Ta) in the Dacien temple built in 652 A.D., which is considered as Xi'an’s landmark.

In the morning, visit the Bell and Drum Tower square and the Muslim Old Town with numerous small shops and restaurants. There you visit the Great Mosque, which is built in the typical Chinese temple architectural style. Moreover you see the Chinese Medicine Market, where the raw materials for the Chinese traditional medicine are sold. In the afternoon, you go by plane to Shanghai, the largest city in China. Arrival in Shanghai and greeting by the tour guide, transfer to the hotel.

Visit the Yu Garden and the Tea House in the morning. Then you experience the religious life in the Jade Buddha Temple, where a 2m Buddha statue, made of one single piece of rare white Burmese jade, is housed. After lunch, visit the Bund, a street along the Huangpu River with its European colonial architecture of the 1930's. And then you will go up to the world`s highest view platform, at the Jinmao Skyscraper, with 412 m the present third highest building in the world. You can enjoy a 360 degree breath-taking view of the city at the 88 th floor. Stroll up Nanjing Road, the busiest shopping street of Shanghai.

Transfer to the airport after breakfast and fly back home. (You can spend approx. $7 to go to the airport by the Transrapid).

End of the travel.

B: Breakfast L: Lunch D: Dinner

Tour No.: CMC
Classical and Modern China

For individual groups

Number of participants	Peak season	Single room extra charge	Shoulder season	Single room extra charge	book
2-5 pers.	725 USD	160 USD	675 USD	145 USD

If you are a group with more than 5 persons, you can get more favourable prices. Please note that the prices may vary due to exchange rate fluctuations (RMB to USD) slightly. The prices above were computed by the rates as 1 USD= 7.9 RMB.

Peak season: May, September and October
Shoulder season: March, April, June, July, August, November

The hotels:
Beijing Qianmen Hotel***(*)
Xi'an Jianguo Hotel****
Shanghai Pacific Luck Hotel***

Price includes:
-- All overnight accommodation in double rooms shared by two adults with breakfast
-- Meals as listed in the itinerary
-- All transfers and entrance tickets as listed in the itinerary
-- Inland flight tickets including all fees
-- Local English-speaking tour guides

Price does not include:
-- International flight tickets
-- Visa for China
-- Personal expenditures, tips etc.

Note:
-- All prices quoted above are in USD (please note the exchange rate     fluctuations).
-- Children less than 12 years old can be given discounts.
-- The hotels, trains and flights listed in the itinerary may be changed into the    ones of similar category if necessary.
-- The tour operator reserves the right to change hotels, flights, trains and     journeys into similar categories.
-- The prices do not apply to the Spring Festival, the May Day Holiday (30th     April.–7th May.), the National Day Holiday (30th Sep.–7th Oct.), and the     period of the Formula 1 racings in Shanghai (25th Sep.–5th Oct. 2006).
-- If you want to change the itinerary, please contact us