15 Days Best China Tibet tour from Shanghai with Ancient Water Town Exploration

Welcome to Shanghai! Upon your arrival, your tour guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is for you to have a good rest or explore the surroundings on your own.

Stay overnight in Shanghai.

Today, you will explore this classic and modern city of Shanghai. We will start with the fascinating Yu Garden, the original private residence of a senior Government administration in the Ming Dynasty. Neighboring to the Yu Garden, there is a lively market called Yuyuan Bazaar, where you can shop some specialties. Then we will move to Shanghai World Financial Center, the supertall skyscraper equipped with the highest sightseeing platform in the world.

In the afternoon, we will head to the renowned pedestrian street of Nanjing Road to take a nice stroll. You can enjoy the local snacks or shop some handicrafts and souvenirs, while appreciating those distinctive architecture. After that, we will enjoy another stroll along the Bund, where you will get amazed by the spectacular view of Huangpu River and dazzling light from buildings of Pudong.

Stay overnight in Shanghai.

In the morning, we will drive for about 1.5 hours to get to Tongli Water Town, which is an ancient town with over 1,000 years. You can have a leisure walk in the town and visit the popular sites, such as Tuisi Yuan, Pearl Pagoda, Triple Bridge and so on.

After a short trip in Tongli, we will move on to Suzhou. Upon arrival, you will firstly visit the Lingering Garden, where you can enjoy a classical beauty of the traditional Chinese gardens in this region. Then you will visit No.1 Silk Factory to learn more about the silk making process.

Stay overnight in Suzhou

After breakfast, you will take a high speed t rain to Hangzhou from Suzhou. The first stop for today’s tour is West Lake, the landmark of Hangzhou city. You can enjoy a leisure cruise in West Lake to appreciate the natural beauty with the ancient pagodas, brideges and temples.

Then, you will visit Lingyin Temple. With about 1700 years' history, the old temple hidden in the forest creates a calm atmosphere for you. You can slow your step and experience the peace of Buddhism. Not far from Lingyin Temple is the Feilai Peak, from which you can see many ancient Buddhist carvings.

The last stop of this day is Meijia Dock Dragon Well Tea Village, where you can enjoy a cup of Dragon Well Tea and learn more about Chinese tea culture and tea making process from the China National Tea Museum.

Stay overnight in Hangzhou. 

Today, you will visit the Six Harmonies Pagoda. Standing at the side of Qiantang River, the Six Harmonies Pagoda was built in 970 in Song Dynasty, and it is a masterpiece of ancient Chinese architecture. After visiting this site, you will take a flight from Hangzhou to Chengdu, the hometown of Giant Pandas.

Upon arrival, you will be picked up and transferred to the hotel in Chengdu. You can have a good rest at your hotel and explore this land of abundance as you like.

Stay overnight in Chengdu

In the morning, drive to Chengdu Research Base of Giant Breeding, the home to giant pandas, where you will catch pandas' feeding time. They are at their most active, both Adults and Babies. There's a wealth of information and a panda museum in this 230-hectare park 10 km (6 miles) north of Chengdu. It takes about 2.5 hours to visit this site.

Then, you will visit some other highlights of Chengdu, including the Wenshu Temple, Renmin Park and Jinli Street. As the best-preserved Buddhist temple in Chengdu, Wenshu Temple is famous for its exquisite gardens and halls. Renmin Park is a beautiful city park often filled with locals, and you can enjoy a cup of tea to experience the slow life of Chengdu there. In the end of today, you will walk along the Jinli Old Street to fully appreciate Sichuan’s customs and folk arts.

Stay overnight in Chengdu.

The whole day is free for you to explore around the city until you take the flight from Chengdu to Lhasa.

Upon your arrival, your tour guide will hold a board with your name on it at the exit to welcome you. A private car will take you to the reserved hotel. You may view the Yarlung Tsangpo River (the longest and largest river in Tibet) and Lhasa River on their way to Lhasa.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

Tips: If this is your first visit to Tibet, you will need to acclimatize to the increased elevation, to prevent altitude sickness. This is best done by resting in the hotel and minimizing any physical exertion.

Today, you’ll pay a visit to the famous Potala Palace, the world cultural heritage. You can explore its audience halls, the jeweled and Golden burial chortens (stupa Tombs) of past Dalai Lamas, and a tremendous number of Buddhist frescoes, Thangkas, combinations of mandala, etc.

Then tourists will head to the holiest temple in Tibet, the Jokhang Temple, built during Songtsen Gampo's reign by princess Wencheng of Tang dynasty, 647 A.D. Here you can observe sincere pilgrims making prostration in front of Jokhang Temple. While entering the temple, you can see the holiest statue of Buddha. Around the monastery is the famous Barkhor Street, where you can do the kora with pilgrims and locals. And then we’ll go to explore the old market and you may have the chance to see the traditional jewelry trading between people from different part of Tibet.

Finally, you'll taste Tibetan tea with locals in the tea house and enjoy a welcome dinner at night.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

Optional:
After finishing the sightseeing, if time allows, you may go with tour guide to visit Tibetan handicraft art or Tibetan Traditional Medicine center. Besides, you can also choose to upgrade your tour to enjoy Tibetan Culture Show in the evening (fr. 60USD).

Today, you will visit two of the three prestigious Gelugpa monasteries in Lhasa, the Drepung and the Sera. Founded by Jamyang Choeje in 1416, Drepung Monastery is the largest monastery in Tibet. Situated at the foot of Gambo Utse Mountain, Drepung was once home to more than 10000 monks. Here you can see the biggest monastery kitchen inside and then pay a visit to the Buddhist Sculpture Carving near Drepung.

After having lunch, you'll continue to visit the Sera Monastery, which was founded in 1419 by Tsongkapa's disciple Jamchen Choeje. The highlight is the monk debate held in the courtyard at around 3-5 in the afternoon. Besides, you can also see the colorful Rock Painting of Buddha and the three sand Mandalas and then visit the Tibetan scripture printing house.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

The guide will transfer you to the airport for your onward flight to Xi’an. After around 3 hours’ flying, you will land in Xi’an and be picked up by the local guide. Then the guide will take you to the reserved hotel. The rest of the day is for you to have a good rest.

Stay overnight in Xi'an.

In the morning, you will visit the Museum of Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses, a must-see when in Xi'an. Around 8,000 ancient, life-sized figures were created to accompany the first Emperor of China to the afterlife and were part of his mausoleum. Each figure has a unique facial structure and expression as if they had been made from living people. The warriors were buried with the Emperor in 208BC and were not discovered until 1974.

After the warriors, you will head over to the Ancient City Wall of Xi'an for a leisure bicycle tour. The wall around the inner part of the city was built in the 14th century and is 14km long. It is an amazing example of ancient defensive structures. Then you will travel to the Muslim Quarter, the largest area of Muslim business in the city. It is the perfect place to buy souvenirs of Xi'an and China, with a wide range of local snacks and handicrafts.

Stay overnight in Xi'an.

Today, you will continue exploring this fascinating city of Xi’an. First, you will visit one of the most popular sites in Xi'an, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Built in 652, the pagoda is a repository of Buddhist figures and scriptures brought to Xi'an from India by, Xuanzang, the first abbot of Daci'en Temple.

Afterwards, you will head to Shanxi History Museum, where you can take in the glory and ancient history of China. The museum holds artifacts that date back as far as the Paleolithic era, up to the more recent Qing Dynasty. The museum is packed with thousands of exhibits from all periods of history, and is a busy, popular attraction.

Finally, the guide will take you to the railway station for your high-speed train to Beijing. On arrival, you will be picked up and transferred to your hotel.

Stay overnight in Beijing.

Today you will first visit the historic Tiananmen Square, which is the largest city square in the world and the spiritual heart of China, and then the magnificent Forbidden City which located in the center of Beijing and used to be the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties with a history of around 600 years.

In the afternoon, you will visit the fine Summer Palace. Summer Palace was an imperial summer resort of the Qing Dynasty. It is the most splendid classical garden in China.

Stay overnight in Beijing.

Today you will visit the majestic Mutianyu Great Wall. You will be taken on a group tour to the Great Wall, the most famous symbol of China and one of the world’s most remarkable architectural wonders. Then, tourists will visit Ming Tombs, the burial site of the emperor Wangli, the 13th emperor of the Ming Dynasty who ruled for 48 years until his death in 1620.

After that, you will be transferred back to the hotel in downtown area. On the way, you will witness the remarkable Bird's Nest and Water Cube from the outside. Both designed as the main stadiums of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, they now become the popular landmarks of Beijing.

Stay overnight in Beijing.

In the morning, you will get to visit the world-renowned Temple of Heaven, an imperial temple complex that was often visited by Ming and Qing Emperors for the annual prayer ceremonies for a good harvest. The ceremonies would be held twice a year in the temple, where the emperor and his retinue would camp within the complex and pray to heaven for good harvests, kept out of sight of the common people.

Later, you will be transferred to Beijing International Airport for your flight home.