The most favorable tour to get to know China! Visit all the significant places of interest of the ambitious country. The tour gives you the opportunity to discover China between tradition and modern comforts, repose and restlessness, crowded cities and rural areas. The Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, the Army of Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an, the charming karst landscape in Guilin and the pulsating metropolises of Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Itinerary:

Day 1: Beijing

Qianmen Hotel***(*)

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

Day 2: Beijng

B/L

Qianmen Hotel***(*)

Visit the Badaling Great Wall in the morning. Visit the Summer Palace (Yi He Yuan), which is full of history and stories, after lunch. It is an imperial garden where the Chinese gardening is perfectly reflected. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. A suggestion for the evening: Peking Opera.

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 another landmark of Beijing, 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 a 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.

Day 4: Xi'an

B/L

Jianguo Hotel****

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. 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. The excavation is located close to the subsurface grave of the first emperor of China. In the afternoon, 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.

Visit the Bell and Drum Tower square and the Muslim Old Town with numerous small shops and restaurants in the morning. There you visit the Great Mosque, which is built in the typical Chinese temple architectural style. Then you will go by plane to Shanghai, the largest city in China. Arrival in Shanghai and greeting by the tour guide, transfer to the hotel. Stroll up the Nanjing Road, the busiest shopping street of Shanghai in the afternoon. And the Bund, the legendary street along the Huangpu River with its European colonial architecture of the 1930's.

Visit the Yu Garden (Yu Yuan) and the Tea House in the morning. There you experience the religious life in the Jade Buddha Temple, where a 2m Buddha statue (Yu Fo Si), made of one single piece of rare white Burmese jade is housed. And then fly to Guilin. Transfer to the hotel.

Go for a cruise on the Li River. The river meanders through a landscape full of cone shaped rocks, stone pinnacles and bamboo groves. Arrival in Yangshuo and enjoy yourself there. The rest of the day is at your disposal. You can make a trip by bicycle or electrical minibus to enjoy the picturesque landscape and the beautiful scenery of villages, fields and mountains.

Suggestion for the evening: Impression Liu Sanjie, directed by the famous Chinese film director Zhang Yimou. He will be the leading director of the opening and closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The evening performance is a wonderful presentation of local dance and singing.

Day 8: Yangshuo/Guilin/Guangzhou

B/L

Landmark Hotel****

Return to Guilin in the morning. Visit the famous Reed Flute Cave (Ludiyan) and the city's landmark - the elephant trunk mountain (Xiangbi Shan). In the afternoon, fly to Guangzhou. Transfer to the hotel.

Go to the Southern Yue Tomb Museum (Nanyuewang Mu) by minibus in the morning. You can see more than 500 rare artifacts from 200 years BC on display. Then you go to the ChenClan Academy (Chen Jia Ci), the Temple of the Chen family. Afterwards you visit the Hualin Temple, that is not crowded. It was set up by Bodidharma. He is the Indian founder of Zen Buddhism in China (Ch'an) in late 5th century AD. The temple is the first Zen Buddhist temple in China.

Day 10:Guangzhou / Hong Kong

B

Kimberly Hotel****

Take a Pearl River (Zhujiang) Cruise ship to Hong Kong in the morning (approx. 2 hours). Transfer to the hotel. Make a city tour on the Hong Kong Island in the afternoon. You will visit the most important places of interest there (approx. 4 hours).

Have breakfast. Transfer to the airport and fly back home.

End of the travel.

B: Breakfast     L: Lunch     D: Dinner

Number of participants	Peak season	Single room extra charge	Shoulder season	Single room extra charge	book
2-5 pers.	1505 USD	335 USD	1440 USD	290 USD

The hotels:
Beijing Qianmen Hotel***(*)
Xi'an Jianguo Hotel****
Shanghai Pacific Luck Hotel***
Guilin Osmanthus Hotel***(*)
Yangshuo West Street Guesthouse **
Guangzhou Landmark Hotel ****
Hongkong Kimberley 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 fee
-- 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 prices do not apply to the Spring Festival, the May Day Holiday (30th    April. –7th May.), the National Day Holiday (30th Sep.–7th Oct.), during the    period of the Formula  1 racings ssin Shanghai (25th Sep.–5th Oct. 2006),    and the Guangzhou     Trade Fair    (14th – 30th Apr. 2006 and 14th – 30 th    Oct. 2006).
-- If you need some more information, please contact us.