【26 Days 25 Nights】Splendid China: A Premium In-Depth Journey Through Seven Cities — Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Zhangjiajie, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, Beijing

Day 3 Suzhou Full-Day Tour: Humble Administrator's Garden + Pingjiang Road + Qili Shantang

• Morning: Visit the World Cultural Heritage Humble Administrator's Garden, originally built during the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty. It is the head of the four major classical gardens in China and Suzhou's largest classical garden, divided into east, middle, and west sections. With water as its vein, pavilions, water pavilions, winding corridors, rockeries, and lotus ponds are staggered together. The Yuanxiang Hall, Xiangzhou, and Lotus Breeze Four-Face Pavilion in the central main scenic area feature exquisite layers, and borrowing the scenery of the Beisi Pagoda is a model of garden landscaping. Every step reveals a view, fully displaying Jiangnan garden-making aesthetics of "though man-made, it opens from nature". The brick carvings, wood carvings, and leakage window crafts inside the garden are exquisite, allowing an immersive understanding of the poetic foundation of Chinese literati landscape gardens.
• Afternoon: Stroll through the Pingjiang Road Historical District, Suzhou's best-preserved ancient street and alley. A millennial river channel passes through the street, and blue-stone slab roads, white walls with dark tiles, and river-hugging sculling boats form an original Jiangnan water town picture. Cultural and creative shops, Suzhou-style teahouses, Kunqu opera houses, and Suzhou-style snack shops line the streets, where you can walk slowly along the river channel and feel the slow-paced fireworks atmosphere of Gusu old city.
• Evening: Head to Qili Shantang, an ancient river street seven lis long initially built by Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty. Ming and Qing commercial shops, ancient stone bridges, and water-hugging residential houses run continuously. At night, red lanterns are lit successively along the river channel, and the reflections of ancient bridges float on the river surface, combining worldly snacks with ancient-style night views, completely presenting the Gusu night scene of "Shantang Dream Searching".
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Squirrel-shaped Mandarin fish, Suzhou-style noodle soup)
• Recommended Accommodation: Suzhou urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 4 Suzhou -- Tiger Hill, Xizhazhen in Wuzhen

• Morning: Take a bus to Tiger Hill, the number one scenic spot in Wuzhong with a 2,500-year history of Spring and Autumn relics. Legend has it that King Helu of Wu was buried here. Core sights include the thousand-year Tiger Hill Pagoda, Sword Pool, Thousand-Man Stone, and Hanhan Spring. The mountain rocks are rugged and ancient trees tower, and historical literati such as Su Shi and Bai Juyi both left poems and writings here, blending mountain forests with ancient architecture to possess both historical foundation and mountain forest tranquility.
• Afternoon: After lunch, take a tourist bus for 1 hour directly to the Wuzhen Xizha Scenic Area, spending a full day deeply touring the millennial ancient town that completely preserves the original water town layout. Different from the commercialization of Dongzha, Xizha features crisscrossing water systems and continuous wooden railing ancient bridges. Blue-printed fabric workshops, Zhaoming Academy, grass and wood color-dyeing workshop, old docks, and water-hugging homestays are scattered around. You can take a sculling boat to shuttle through water alleys and see white walls and black tiles on both banks reflected in green water. When night falls, lanterns along the river are all lit up, and river waves blend with lights, serving as the ceiling of Jiangnan water town night views. You can stroll deeply into the night to immerse yourself in the quiet romance of pillow-water households.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Dingsheng cake, bow-shaped zongzi)
• Recommended Accommodation: Suzhou urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Relaxed and casual

Day 5 Hangzhou Full-Day Tour: West Lake Cruise (45 minutes) + Lingyin Temple + Meijiawu Tea Tasting + "Most Memorable is Hangzhou" Live-Action Performance

• Morning: Take a bus for 1.2 hours to arrive in Hangzhou, and take a special car to the West Lake Pier to board the West Lake Cruise (45-minute route) to drift on West Lake, sailing into the core lake area and passing by Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, Su Causeway, Leifeng Pagoda, and Huxinting Pavilion. The lake surface ripples with blue waves, with clouds and mountains on three sides and a city on one side, integrating mountains, water, city, and forests. Closely view the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon stone pagoda featured on the back of the RMB banknote, and feel the West Lake poetry of "people swimming in a painting".
  Then head to Lingyin Temple, a thousand-year-old Tang Dynasty ancient temple nestled under Feilai Peak. Inside the temple, the Heavenly King Hall, Grand Hall, and Medicine Buddha Hall progress layer by layer with continuous incense. The cliff walls of Feilai Peak are covered with stone carving statues from the Five Dynasties to the Yuan Dynasty, with over three hundred cliff Buddha statues exhibiting various expressions, deep woods, and murmuring streams, blending Zen landscapes as a famous Jiangnan blessing sanctuary.
• Afternoon: Arrive at Meijiawu Tea Culture Village, the core origin of West Lake Longjing tea. Mountain-wide tea plantations are stacked layer upon layer, allowing you to walk into tea farmers' tea plantations to observe Longjing tea trees and experience traditional tea-roasting craftsmanship. Sit in tea mountain teahouses to taste freshly brewed pre-Qingming Longjing tea, listen to tea farmers explain the millennium tea culture of West Lake, and immerse yourself in the quiet scenery of Jiangnan tea country.
• Evening: Head to the West Lake live-action performance venue to watch the "Most Memorable is Hangzhou" water live-action performance. Built with a stage set up on the surface of West Lake, it integrates lighting, water mist, dance, folk music, and landscape realities, using the Ten Scenes of West Lake as the story context to interpret Jiangnan's millennium poetry and romantic national style. With light and shadow flowing on the water surface, the audiovisual experience is extremely shocking.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Dongpo pork, scallion-wrapped pancake)
• Recommended Accommodation: Hangzhou urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Relaxed and casual

Day 6 Shanghai → Zhangjiajie | High-Speed Rail Arrival

• Daytime: Today, our driver will transfer you to Shanghai High-Speed Railway Station to take a high-speed train to Zhangjiajie (about 6-8 hours). Upon arrival in Zhangjiajie, our staff will greet you at the high-speed rail station exit and escort you to the hotel in downtown Zhangjiajie for check-in. You can arrange the remaining time freely; if you are tired, you can rest in the hotel to store up energy, and if the time is still early, you can also wander around the surroundings, visit local food streets, experience Xiangxi foot baths, and look into the distance at the scenery of Tianmen Mountain.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Tujia three-pot, mugwort cake)
• Recommended Accommodation: Zhangjiajie urban hotel
• Activity Level: Relaxed and casual

Day 7 Wulingyuan Full-Day In-Depth Tour | Forest Park + Charming Xiangxi Evening Show

• Morning: Gather and depart from the downtown hotel around 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM, enter from the East Gate of the scenic area, and take Line B to tour the Shilihualang (Ten-Mile Gallery). "Ten miles of gallery with ten miles of scenery, ten miles of landscape accompanying your journey," you can take a sightseeing mini-train to appreciate the ten-mile gallery, Herbalist Gathering Medicine, Peak Lifting Tower, Index Finger Peak, Monkey Garden, Peach Garden, and other attractions. Afterward, take the sightseeing vehicle, passing through the Shuiraosimen (Water Winding Four Gates) at the downstream of Jinbian Stream, and take the Bailong Elevator upwards (a 335-meter high-altitude elevator reaching the top in 88 seconds) to overlook the panoramic view of the entire peak forest. Check in at the Yuanjiajie Scenic Area, tour the "Column of Heaven and Earth" floating mountain prototype of the movie "Avatar" (tour time 1.5 hours), exploring the Enchanting Platform, Divine Turtle Asking Heaven, Column of Heaven and Earth, Hundred-Yuan Banknote, and Number One Bridge under Heaven and other out-of-print sceneries. Encountering cloudy and rainy weather makes it even more misty and foggy, resembling an earthly fairyland! After the tour, rest and have lunch in the Yuanjiajie scenic area.
• Afternoon: Take the sightseeing vehicle to Yangjiajie to see the peak wall wonders, where you can view the Golden Phoenix Spreading Wings and Jigouzui, experiencing the natural great wall of hundreds of millions of years. Take the sightseeing vehicle to Tianzi Mountain (driving time about 25 minutes) to visit Yubi Peak, Fairy Scattering Flowers, Xihai Stone Forest, Dianjiangtai, Helong Park, climb Tianzige Pavilion, and view the panorama of the Tianzi Mountain scenic area. After the tour, take the sightseeing vehicle back to the East Gate to exit the scenic area, and take a special transfer to the Wulingyuan Charming Xiangxi Grand Theater to rest, dine, and wait for the evening folk performance.
• Evening: Enter the park early to stroll around Xibu Ancient Street, check out Tujia silver jewelry, Miao embroidery, and intangible cultural heritage handicraft shops, and enjoy the ancient street lantern night view. Watch the 80-minute indoor folk master show directed by Feng Xiaogang, which includes CCTV Spring Festival Gala program "Chasing Love", majestic Miao ethnic fire drums, moving Tujia crying marriage, intangible cultural heritage Maogusi dance, and mysterious Xiangxi corpse-driving chapters, fully demonstrating the millennium folk culture of the Tujia, Miao, and Bai ethnicities. After the indoor performance, watch the outdoor plaza live stunt performance, closely appreciating thrilling folk stunts such as climbing knife mountains, descending seas of fire, hard qigong, and flying knives, and participate in bonfire interactions and ethnic antiphonal singing to deeply and immersively experience the mysterious customs of Xiangxi. After all performances end, take a special vehicle back to the urban hotel.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Rock ear stewed native chicken, Tujia cured meat)
• Recommended Accommodation: Zhangjiajie urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 8 Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain + Grand Canyon + 72 wonder ower

• Morning: Transfer to Tianmen Mountain, known as the "Number One Divine Mountain in Xiangxi". Its main peak, Yunmeng Fairy Summit, is 1,517.9 meters above sea level and features the world's longest high-altitude passenger ropeway (total length 7,455 meters) leading directly from the city center to the summit, overlooking the 99-bend Tongtian Avenue winding mountain highway with roads winding like silver snakes around sheer cliffs. On the summit's western route, check in at the internet-famous cliff glass plank road and the 1,600-meter Guigu plank road, which hang on cliffs 1,400 meters high with bottomless abysses underfoot, walking on clouds when sea of clouds billows, thrilling yet aesthetic. Hike to the natural mountain-piercing karst cave, Tianmen Cave, a huge mountain cave 131.5 meters high straddling the mountain body, where you can climb 999 blessing heavenly ladders to reach the cave entrance. During the rainy season, the natural wonder of "Tianmen Spitting Mist" frequently appears, with mountain mists rushing out from the cave entrance, full of immortal charm. Mountain-crossing escalators, Tianmen Temple, and the Yunmeng Fairy Summit panoramic observation deck are fully covered with smooth movement and no backtracking.
• Afternoon: Take a dedicated vehicle to the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, featuring a hundred-million-year-old karst canyon landform. The core landmark, Yuntianbu Glass Bridge, spans 300 meters above the canyon, with a fully transparent glass bridge deck looking down at ten thousand hectares of forest and valleys, making the cloud walk thrilling and shocking. Deeply hike along the canyon trail, featuring cascading waterfalls, clear pools and streams, and opposing sheer cliffs along the way, making every step a landscape painting scroll, where the quiet canyon forms a sharp contrast with the majestic peak forests of Tianmen Mountain, balancing high-altitude excitement with canyon tenderness.
• Evening: Arrive at the Tujia 72 wonder tower for exterior check-in. The entire building complex is built against the mountain with staggered Tujia stilt houses. At night, ten thousand lanterns light up, making the Tujia residential building complex magnificent and spectacular, creating a full atmosphere for distant viewing and photography, and experiencing the architectural aesthetics of Xiangxi ethnic minorities.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Blood tofu duck, drum skin beef hot pot)
• Recommended Accommodation: Zhangjiajie urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 9 Zhangjiajie Niche Cave Terrain Exploration

• Daytime: After breakfast, transfer to the primitive niche secret spot Heifeng Cave, a natural karst cave without large-scale commercial development. It is a giant underground karst maze overall, with winding and tortuous main cave passages extending hundreds of meters deep, maintaining constant temperature year-round with murmuring underground streams and various shaped giant stalactites, stalagmites, and stone pillars formed by hundreds of millions of years of dripping water deposition. With dim light inside the cave, walking through it feels like breaking into a geocore secret realm, paired with natural light filtering through rock wall cracks to form unique light and shadow layers. You can lightly hike through multi-layered cave branches to experience underground canyons and rock crevice secrets, avoiding mainstream tourist crowds with niche primitive geological landscapes suitable for tourists who love adventure and photography. Return to the urban hotel by dedicated vehicle after the tour.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Chinese giant salamander, sugar-oil粑粑)
• Recommended Accommodation: Zhangjiajie urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Relaxed and casual

Day 10 Xiangxi Niche Outdoor Hiking Route

• Daytime: It is recommended to pick up from the downtown hotel around 8:00 AM, then take a bus to Zhangjiajie Binglang Valley (admission ticket included, tour time about 4-5 hours), exploring Zhangjiajie's primitive niche outdoor adventure secret spot. It boasts a billion-year-old primitive karst landform, integrating cave exploration, canyon hiking, crevice stream tracking, and light rock-climbing experiences, making it one of Zhangjiajie's rare primitive natural adventure resorts. First, check in at the internet-famous iconic landscape, Binglang Hole Karst Cave, a transparent and exquisite natural through-cave standing against the mountain, walking through the cave entrance to face the cliff valley directly with a unique time-space travel atmosphere, making it a must-visit internet-famous landmark. Then delve deep into the Gates of Hell Labyrinth Cave, where cave passages are winding, deep, and quiet, hiding underground streams and natural strange stones, immersing in exploring the magical geocore karst landform
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Tujia blood tofu, kudzu powder)
• Recommended Accommodation: Zhangjiajie urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Relaxed and casual

Day 11 Zhangjiajie → Chongqing: Direct High-Speed Rail

• Daytime: After hotel breakfast, the driver will transfer you to Zhangjiajie High-Speed Railway Station for Chongqing according to the train schedule. Upon arrival at Chongqing High-Speed Railway Station, a special transfer will pick you up, and our staff will greet you at the station exit and escort you to the hotel in downtown Chongqing for check-in. You can arrange the remaining time freely; if you are tired, you can rest in the hotel to store up energy, and if the time is early, you can also wander around the surroundings.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Chongqing noodles, grilled sweet potato skin)
• Recommended Accommodation: Chongqing urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Relaxed and casual

Day 12 Mountain City Internet-Famous Landmarks One-Day Tour: Ciqikou + Xiahaoli + Yangtze River Cableway + Liziba Light Rail

• Morning: Head to stroll around Ciqikou Ancient Town, a millennial Bayu ancient town leaning against mountains and rivers with winding bluestone ancient streets and well-preserved Ming and Qing old buildings. Chongqing specialty snacks such as Chen Maohua, ancient town hot pot, sour and spicy noodles, and mountain city small tangyuan gather along the street, accompanied by old teahouses, Sichuan opera stages, intangible cultural heritage bamboo weaving, and Shu embroidery shops, retaining the old Chongqing dock market fireworks where you can climb high to overlook the Jialing River scenery.
  Then take a dedicated car for 20 minutes to Xiahaoli Old Street, a retro, literary, and niche old street in Chongqing featuring stepped residences built against the mountain, old stilt houses, mottled Chinese parasol trees, retro graffiti, and literary cafes scattered around as a popular film and television shooting location, completely preserving the original street styles of old Chongqing with a retro photogenic atmosphere.
• Afternoon: Take a dedicated transfer to the Yangtze River Cableway North Station to ride the Yangtze River Cableway, known as the "Air Corridor over the Wanli Yangtze River". Built in 1987 as a cross-river aerial cable car and former commuting tool for Chongqing people, it is now a city landmark. The cable car cabin crosses the Yangtze River with surging river water beneath your feet, bringing the Yuzhong Peninsula, Nanshan, and Jiangbei buildings into full view, experiencing the stereoscopic urban pattern of the mountain city combining mountains and water from a high altitude in all directions, viewing stacked mountain city buildings by day and enjoying sunset river views by evening.
  Later, check in at the Liziba Light Rail Building-Piercing Observation Deck, the world's unique monorail building-piercing wonder where Rail Transit Line 2 passes directly through the 6th-8th floors of a residential building. Trains whistle through the buildings, and the observation platform views the light rail at eye level as an iconic landscape of the 8D magical city, free for check-in photos to experience Chongqing's unique urban architectural design.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Chongqing hot pot, iced jelly)
• Recommended Accommodation: Chongqing urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 13 Urban Popular Science + Two Rivers Night Tour --- Kuixing Building + Chongqing Science and Technology Museum + Two Rivers Night Cruise to View Hongyadong

• Daytime: Head to check in at the Kuixing Building internet-famous observation deck, where a double-layer overpass connects two high-rise buildings, and the suspended overpass faces the high-rise building cluster of the Yuzhong Peninsula directly, overlooking the stepped streets and alleys of the old city as a niche high-altitude city check-in angle to closely feel the high-and-low staggered architectural texture of the mountain city.
  Then tour the Chongqing Science and Technology Museum, a riverside landmark in Jiangbei District and a large-scale popular science exhibition hall equipped with complete aerospace, mechanics, life science, and transportation technology exhibition halls and rich interactive experience equipment, combining popular science with leisure sightseeing. The riverside footpath outside the museum offers distant views of the Jialing River and the Yuzhong architectural cluster.
• Evening: Arrive at Chaotianmen Pier to board a ship and start the Two Rivers Night Cruise. The cruise ship shuttles through the converging waters of the Yangtze River and Jialing River, passing through Chaotianmen, Qiansimen Bridge, Grand Theater, Hongyadong, and Nanbin Road. From a water perspective, appreciate the peak of Chongqing's night view — Hongyadong, an 11-story Bayu stilt building built against the mountain. Under the night sky, warm yellow lights are stacked layer upon layer, resembling the fantastical bathhouse in "Spirited Away", with river lights, bridge neon lights, and city buildings reflecting each other, fully and immersively appreciating the brilliant river night scenery of the mountain city.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Sour and spicy noodles, glutinous rice balls)
• Recommended Accommodation: Chongqing urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 14 Chongqing → Chengdu | Direct High-Speed Rail

• Daytime: After hotel breakfast, the driver will transfer you to Chongqing High-Speed Railway Station for Chengdu according to the train schedule. Upon arrival at Chengdu High-Speed Railway Station, a special transfer will pick you up, and our staff will greet you at the station exit and escort you to the hotel in downtown Chengdu for check-in. You can arrange the remaining time freely; if you are tired, you can rest in the hotel to store up energy, and if the time is early, you can also wander around the surroundings.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Cold skewers, sweet water noodles)
• Recommended Accommodation: Chengdu urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 15 Chengdu Urban Humanistic Tour

• Morning: Take a dedicated car for 30 minutes to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the world's largest scientific research, protection, and breeding center for giant pandas. The park simulates the pandas' primitive bamboo forest habitat, divided into young panda villas, adult panda activity areas, and panda delivery rooms. Early morning is the active peak for pandas foraging, tree climbing, and playing, allowing close viewing of soft cute cubs and adult giant pandas. Equipped with a golden monkey pavilion and panda science pavilion, it enables in-depth understanding of national treasure breeding and protection science knowledge, making it a must-visit cute pet landmark when coming to Sichuan.
• Afternoon: Arrive at People's Park, the core landmark of Chengdu's local slow life, where the century-old Heming Teahouse sits inside the park. Bamboo chairs and tables are spread out along the artificial lake, allowing you to experience gaiwan tea, ear-cleaning, and Sichuan opera face-changing, while local elderly people drink tea, play cards, and chat, fully experiencing Chengdu's "comfortable and leisurely" worldly slow-life atmosphere.
• Evening: Take a car to Jinli Ancient Street, a Three Kingdoms culture imitation commercial street adjacent to the Wuhou Shrine, with staggered dark-tile Western Sichuan residences, red lanterns hanging along the street, and Three Kingdoms culture reliefs, ancient stages, and intangible cultural heritage craft shops scattered around. The street gathers Sichuan-flavored snacks such as Three Cannons, sugar-oil fruit, and Dan Dan noodles, and at night lights shine brightly, blending ancient-style worldly fireworks for an immersive experience of Three Kingdoms Shu folk customs and culture.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Mapo tofu, Maoxuewang)
• Recommended Accommodation: Chengdu urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 16 Chengdu → Songpan Ancient Town + Zhongchagou

• Morning: Take a plateau tourist bus for 6.5 hours to Aba, Western Sichuan, stopping at a service area for a break on the way. Upon arrival, stroll through Songpan Ancient Town (Songzhou Ancient Town), initially built in the Tang Dynasty as a millennium border ancient town completely preserving the Ming Dynasty city wall, where Tibetan, Qiang, Hui, and Han multi-ethnic groups gather and integrate. Inside the town, thangka shops, Tibetan silver handicrafts, and yak meat specialty shops line the streets, and climbing the city wall allows you to overlook the plateau river valley and distant rolling snow mountains, feeling the profound history of the ancient Silk Road and diverse ethnic cultural features.
• Afternoon: Arrive at Zhongchagou, known as the "Back Garden of Jiuzhaigou", a 10-kilometer primitive Tibetan village canyon with the valley entrance at an altitude of 2,189 meters and the mountain top reaching 4,000-meter snow mountains, intertwining primitive forests, alpine meadows, and stream river valleys, scattered with primitive Tibetan villages, Tibetan watchtowers, prayer flags, and mani piles everywhere. You can stroll through the fields of the Tibetan village, experience Tibetan family folk customs, look into the distance at snow mountains and forests, avoid the crowds of Jiuzhaigou, and exclusively enjoy peaceful plateau pastoral scenery. Stay at a hotel along the Songpan route in the evening.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Qingke barley cake, hand-grabbed mutton)
• Accommodation: Chengdu urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 17 Jiuzhaigou Full-Day In-Depth Tour

• Daytime: After breakfast, arrive at the World Natural Heritage Jiuzhaigou, located in the Minshan Mountain range at the transition from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the Sichuan Basin. The cold karst landform creates three major Y-shaped valley branches, with hundreds of glacial barrier lakes (Haizi) displaying color-layered waters. Emerald lakes, stacked waterfalls, colorful forests, snow peaks, Tibetan customs, and blue ice are known as the Six Wonders of Jiuzhaigou. Shuzheng Valley features Shuzheng Qunhai and Nuorilang Waterfall (China's widest calcified waterfall); Zechawa Valley reaches Changhai and Wucai Chi (Five-Color Pond), where lake water presents layered gradients of sapphire blue and emerald green; Rize Valley views Wuhua Hai (Five-Flower Lake), Pearl Shoal, and Mirror Lake, with water surfaces reflecting snow mountains and colorful forests like mirrors. The off-season itinerary includes scenic area sightseeing cable cars for transportation throughout, reducing long-distance hiking and allowing a flat and smooth tour of plateau water scenes. Each of the four seasons has distinct scenery with spring flowers, summer blue water, autumn colorful forests, and winter blue ice, making it an earthly fairy tale world. Sightseeing buses in the scenic area run in a circular shuttle connecting various observation decks, and after the tour, a bus returns to Songpan.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Butter tea, yak meat soup hot pot)
• Accommodation: Chengdu urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Relaxed and casual

Day 18 Huanglong Scenic Area Half-Day Tour + Return to Chengdu

• Daytime: Tour arrangement: In the morning, take a bus for 40 minutes to arrive at the "Fairyland on Earth" Huanglong Scenic and Historic Interest Area, a world-class calcified colorful pool landform where over 3,600 stacked colorful pools under the snow mountains are distributed along the valley. Pool water presents gradient colors of pale yellow, lake blue, and emerald green through mineral refraction, with calcified terraced fields stretching for 3.6 kilometers paired with snow mountains, canyons, and primitive forests, forming a scarce and globally unique landscape. Peak-season tours include an uphill cable car for transportation to easily reach the core Five-Color Pond observation deck, overlooking the panorama of the entire calcified terraced fields and successively visiting core points such as Zhengyan Chi, Jinsha Pudishi, and Xishen Dong. After the tour, return to Chengdu, arriving in the urban area in the evening for free rest.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Fragrant leaf vegetables, grilled lamb chops)
• Accommodation: Chengdu urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 19 Chengdu → Xi'an| High-Speed Rail Arrival

• Daytime: After hotel breakfast, the driver will transfer you to Chengdu High-Speed Railway Station for Xi'an according to the train schedule. Upon arrival at Xi'an High-Speed Railway Station, a special transfer will pick you up, and our staff will greet you at the exit and escort you to the hotel in downtown Xi'an for check-in. You can arrange the remaining time freely; if you are tired, you can rest in the hotel to store up energy, and if the time is early, you can also wander around the surroundings.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Roujiamo, Zenggao)
• Accommodation: Xi'an urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Relaxed and casual

Day 20 Xi'an One-Day Tour: Ming City Wall + Bell and Drum Towers + Muslim Quarter

• Morning: A dedicated car will take a short trip to the Xi'an Ming City Wall, China's largest and best-preserved ancient city wall from the Ming Dynasty, built on the site of the Tang Dynasty imperial city and dating back over 600 years. The city wall surrounds downtown Xi'an, with a moat, arrow towers, watchtowers, and corner towers fully matched. You can stroll along the blue brick pavement of the city wall, with antique old city streets on one side and modern Xi'an high-rise buildings on the other, creating an extremely strong atmosphere of ancient and modern sharing the same frame, or ride a bicycle around the wall to experience the urban texture of the thirteen dynasties ancient capital in all directions.
  Walking for 5 minutes leads to the Bell and Drum Tower Square, where the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, two ancient buildings from the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, look at each other from a distance, with double-eaved Xieshan roofs and gilded bronze tiles being magnificent and grand. When lights are lit in the evening, the ancient buildings become colorful and brilliant, serving as the core landmark of Xi'an city, with the square housing a large number of intangible cultural heritage cultural and creative products and Shaanxi-flavored snack shops.
• Afternoon: Walk into the Muslim Quarter, a millennium food culture street district of Xi'an and a Hui-gathered worldly street alley, fully covering Northwest specialty snacks such as beef and mutton paomo, roujiamo, zenggao, liangpi, and pomegranate juice, with mosque ancient architecture hidden deep in the streets and alleys, blending folk fireworks with Islamic ancient buildings for an immersive experience of Chang'an worldly food culture.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Biangbiang noodles, beef and mutton paomo)
• Accommodation: Xi'an urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 20 Xi'an One-Day Tour: Ming City Wall + Bell and Drum Towers + Muslim Quarter

• Morning: A dedicated car will take a short trip to the Xi'an Ming City Wall, China's largest and best-preserved ancient city wall from the Ming Dynasty, built on the site of the Tang Dynasty imperial city and dating back over 600 years. The city wall surrounds downtown Xi'an, with a moat, arrow towers, watchtowers, and corner towers fully matched. You can stroll along the blue brick pavement of the city wall, with antique old city streets on one side and modern Xi'an high-rise buildings on the other, creating an extremely strong atmosphere of ancient and modern sharing the same frame, or ride a bicycle around the wall to experience the urban texture of the thirteen dynasties ancient capital in all directions.
  Walking for 5 minutes leads to the Bell and Drum Tower Square, where the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, two ancient buildings from the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, look at each other from a distance, with double-eaved Xieshan roofs and gilded bronze tiles being magnificent and grand. When lights are lit in the evening, the ancient buildings become colorful and brilliant, serving as the core landmark of Xi'an city, with the square housing a large number of intangible cultural heritage cultural and creative products and Shaanxi-flavored snack shops.
• Afternoon: Walk into the Muslim Quarter, a millennium food culture street district of Xi'an and a Hui-gathered worldly street alley, fully covering Northwest specialty snacks such as beef and mutton paomo, roujiamo, zenggao, liangpi, and pomegranate juice, with mosque ancient architecture hidden deep in the streets and alleys, blending folk fireworks with Islamic ancient buildings for an immersive experience of Chang'an worldly food culture.
  (2 images: 3.20.1.1.jpg, 3.20.1.2.jpg)
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Biangbiang noodles, beef and mutton paomo)
• Accommodation: Xi'an urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 21 Lintong Qin and Han Historical Sites One-Day Tour: Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum Site Museum (Terracotta Army) + Huaqing Palace

• Morning: Head to Lintong to deeply tour the Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum Site Museum (Terracotta Army), the eighth wonder of the world and a World Cultural Heritage site, which is the burial military array site of the First Emperor of Qin. Pit 1 is grand and complete, with thousands of pottery figurines neatly lined up, each with unique facial features, hairstyles, armor, and expressions, where artisan fingerprints and carving details are clearly preserved. Pit 2 displays a mixed military array of cavalry, archers, and chariots; Pit 3 is the ancient military headquarters command center. A professional guide will explain the history of Qin military industry, funeral customs, and military arrays throughout, allowing you to closely feel the majestic momentum of the Great Qin Empire from two thousand years ago.
• Afternoon: Take a dedicated car for 10 minutes to arrive at Huaqing Palace (Huaqing Pool), the imperial detached palace and imperial garden of the Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties, boasting the number one imperial spring Lishan Hot Spring. The Tang Imperial Bath Museum preserves the exclusive hot spring bath pools of Concubine Yang and Emperor Xuanzong; inside the scenic area, Jiulong Lake and Furong Lake feature staggered mountain and water pavilions, and Tang Dynasty imperial palaces such as Feishuang Hall and Changsheng Hall are completely replicated. At the same time, it is the site of the Xi'an Incident, with historical relics of the Five-Room Building preserved. Leaning against Mount Lishan, "Lishan Sunset Glow" is one of the Eight Views of Guanshan, combining the triple heritage of landscapes, imperial history, and modern allusions. Return to downtown Xi'an by dedicated car after the tour.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Liangpi, Saozi noodles)
• Accommodation: Xi'an urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 22 Xi'an → Beijing| High-Speed Rail Arrival

• Daytime: After hotel breakfast, the driver will transfer you to Xi'an High-Speed Railway Station for Beijing according to the train schedule. Upon arrival at Beijing High-Speed Railway Station, a special transfer will pick you up, and our staff will greet you at the exit and escort you to the hotel in downtown Beijing for check-in. You can arrange the remaining time freely; if you are tired, you can rest in the hotel to store up energy, and if the time is early, you can also wander around the surroundings.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Luzhu Huoshao, copper hot pot mutton)
• Accommodation: Beijing urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 23 Beijing In-Depth One-Day Tour: Tiananmen Square + Forbidden City + Houhai Hutong + Temple of Heaven

• Morning: Head to Tiananmen Square, the world's largest urban center square, housing Tiananmen Rostrum, Monument to the People's Heroes, Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, Great Hall of the People, and National Museum of China. Tiananmen Rostrum on the central axis features grand and solemn red walls and yellow tiles, witnessing countless major historical events in modern and contemporary times, allowing you to closely view the national emblem and red flag and feel the capital's solemn and dignified urban field.
  Walk through the square to enter the Forbidden City (Palace Museum), the world's largest and best-preserved Ming and Qing imperial palace architectural complex, touring the three outer court main halls along the central axis successively: Hall of Supreme Harmony (Golden Throne Hall), Hall of Central Harmony, and Hall of Preserving Harmony, with white marble thousand-dragon spitting water bases, ten auspicious beasts on eaves, thrones, bronze cranes, and bronze turtles maximizing imperial regulations. In the inner court, the Hall of Heavenly Purity, Hall of Union, and Palace of Earthly Tranquility serve as imperial bedchambers, along with the Eastern and Western Six Palaces as residences for imperial concubines, with red walls, yellow tiles, scarlet doors, and golden nails fully displaying imperial majesty. Professional guides explain historical allusions of Ming and Qing emperors' daily life, court, and harem.
• Afternoon & Evening: Take a car to the Temple of Heaven Park, the Ming and Qing imperial heaven-worshiping architectural complex and World Cultural Heritage site, with the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, Circular Mound Altar, and Echo Wall as core landmarks. The blue glazed tile hall is magnificent and exquisite, with ancient heaven-worship ritual architectural layouts ingeniously designed, and acoustic and astronomical designs hiding ancient craftsman wisdom, surrounded by towering ancient cypress trees in a quiet and solemn atmosphere.
  In the evening, a dedicated car will transfer you to the Houhai area to start the Houhai Hutong Hiking, an old Beijing primitive hutong area where the shimmering water surface of Shichahai, gray-tiled quadrangle courtyards, century-old weeping willows, specialty bars, and cultural-creative shops line the streets. Strolling deep into the hutongs allows you to feel old Beijing's worldly fireworks and slow life.
  In the evening, you can optionally choose to watch capital characteristic performances: thrilling acrobatics, Shaolin Kung Fu stage play, Golden Mask Dynasty national-style court performance (performance fees at own expense), with dedicated cars responsible for round-trip theater transfers.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Beijing roast duck, zhajiangmian)
• Accommodation: Beijing urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 24 Great Wall One-Day Tour: Mutianyu Great Wall + 798 Art District

• Daytime: Take a car to the Mutianyu Great Wall, enjoying the reputation that "Mutianyu enjoys unique beauty among the Great Wall", being the best-preserved and most scenic section of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. Among overlapping mountains, the Great Wall winds up and down with dense and orderly watchtowers. You can take a cable car directly to the 14th watchtower, hike westward to the 20th commanding height, with broad horizons along the way offering panoramic views of mountain forests and the dragon-like Great Wall, featuring fewer people and beautiful scenery to avoid the crowds of Badaling, and immersively experiencing the magnificent and vast world wonder scenery of the Great Wall.
  After the tour, return to the urban area to check in at the 798 Art District, a literary and cultural-creative park transformed from old factory buildings, dotted with industrial-style factory buildings, graffiti walls, sculpture installations, galleries, independent art museums, and designer shops, fusing avant-garde art, retro industry, and trendy cultural creativity for literary check-ins, photo-taking, and wandering, experiencing Beijing's modern artistic atmosphere.
• Dining: Local specialty foods (Lvdagun, Zhazi roasted meat)
• Accommodation: Beijing urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 25 Beijing Humanistic Modern Panorama Tour: Lama Temple + Summer Palace + Bird's Nest + Water Cube

• Morning: A dedicated car will take you to Beijing's famous Tibetan Lama Temple, where red walls, white towers, Tibetan-style halls, and prayer-flag ancient cypresses blend together as a rare complete Tibetan Buddhist architectural complex in the north, experiencing ancient building aesthetics of multi-ethnic integration. Along the way, check in at the Panda Cultural and Creative House to purchase Beijing's exclusive national treasure panda peripheral souvenirs.
  Then deeply tour the Summer Palace, China's largest surviving imperial garden and imperial garden museum, taking Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake as its main bodies, with tens of thousands of non-repeating ancient paintings along the 728-meter-long painted corridor, climbing to the top of Foxiang Pavilion to overlook the entire garden lake and mountain, and touring Seventeen-Bridge Arch, Marble Boat, Suzhou Street, and Wenchang Gallery successively, perfectly combining lake and mountain scenery with pavilions and terraces as the peak standard of Qing emperor summer resort and governance gardens, with every step revealing a view.
• Evening: Head to the Olympic Park for outdoor sightseeing, exteriorly viewing the 2008 Olympic landmarks Bird's Nest (National Stadium) and Water Cube (National Swimming Center), whose modern streamline giant buildings possess great design sense, rich light and shadow layers at dusk for photo check-ins, and experiencing Beijing's modern urban landmark style.
• Recommended Dining: Local specialty foods (Mending meat pie, pea flour cake)
• Accommodation: Beijing urban hotel
• Itinerary Intensity: Moderate exercise

Day 26 Leave Beijing: Airport/Station Transfer Service

• Daytime: After breakfast, we will conclude this exciting journey, and our staff will transfer you to the airport or train station for your next destination. If you wish to extend this trip to explore more Chinese destinations such as Tibet, Yunnan, Guilin, Harbin, etc., you can also contact us to arrange it for you. Finally, heartfelt thanks for choosing Dianda Travel to explore China with us. We look forward to welcoming you again sometime in the future. Have a safe trip!