China Tour from New York

On the departure date, please make your own way to the airport and catch your flight to Beijing. For your reference, currently, there is a direct flight leaving New York for Beijing on both Sundays and Thursdays (CA982 0100/0530+, 16h 30m). You can also book other connecting flights if the airfare is more favorable. Our professional travel consultant will confirm the schedule with you in advance.

Your 9 Days China Tours from New York USA is ready to start on arrival at Beijing airport. You will be greeted by our guide outside customs. And then your driver will transfer you to the hotel for a good rest.

Accommodation: Hotel New Otani Chang Fu Gong

We will unveil your Beijing tour in Tiananmen Square, the world’s largest city square to find many monumental landmarks such as the solemn Monument to the People's Heroes and the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. Stroll northwards and enter the Forbidden City, the palace complex for Chinese emperors built in the Ming Dynasty (1644 - 1911). It’s the world's largest of its kind and where a number of precious cultural relics are on display. Interestingly, in such a busy metropolis, there is no subway system under the vast imperial grounds. But it’s no mystery: the City was built on a foundation measured as deep as 17 meters (56 feet)! The digging work would apparently have an impact on it. Also, since the City sits on the holy central axis of Beijing where there are also many other historic sites, the ground here cannot be dug. An exclusive trip to the Treasure Gallery will also be arranged.

Around noon time, we will treat you to a hearty a la carte welcome lunch, to taste authentic Chinese food including the renowned Peking Roast Duck. Afterwards, visit the Yonghe Palace and the Temple of Heaven. Tonight, a live Beijing Opera Show in Liyuan Theatre is in store and we will leave enough time for you to watch artists putting on heavy makeup.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte welcome lunch

This morning, let’s visit the 600-year-old Mutianyu Great Wall. Like a scroll painting stretching endlessly along a rolling mountain ridge, this section is the most beautiful and thus one of the most popular sections of the Great Wall of China. A round-trip cable car will take you up and down. This part of the tour is surely the highlight of your tour in China. It is also advised that you eat a substantial meal in the morning or prepare some snacks for today's lunch, as the food sold around the scenic area may not be to your taste.

In the afternoon, drive back downtown. Have a photo stop before Olympic National Stadium (Bird's Nest) to capture its splendid appearance. Afterwards, you will take a rickshaw tour to explore the centuries-old Hutong alleys and visit a local family.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

In the morning, you will visit the Panda House in Beijing Zoo and then spend some serene time at the imperial retreat of Summer Palace, which encompasses a graceful Longevity Hill and an immense Kunming Lake. The lake, fascinating as it is in fine weathers, might bring disaster to the Forbidden City in rainy days in case of flooding. And that’s why there is a sitting bronze ox statue by it, commissioned by Emperor Qianlong (1711 – 1799) to alarm people of high water level during ancient times. Oxen have been an important agricultural production tool in China for thousands of years, so it’s natural for Chinese farmers to have deep feelings for them. The gold-plated bronze ox, cast in 1755, is the largest of its kind that has survived to this day, revealing China's ancient bronze-casting craftsmanship and water conservancy culture. In the years of heavy rain in the past, the area around Kunming Lake would be flooded, and in order to prevent the east dam, 10 meters higher than the foundation of the Forbidden City, from breaching and damaging it, the statue was thus put to observe the lake’s water level. Able to tell people how much higher the water level was than the wall of the palace, it did a great job preventing the palace from being soaked.

After lunch, you will be escorted to catch the flight for Xi'an. On arrival, you will be picked up and transferred to the hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Crowne Plaza Xi'an

In the morning, head for the Terracotta Army Museum, which is home to over 9,000 lifelike terracotta warriors and horses, funeral objects of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 – 210 BC) excavated from his grand-scale mausoleum. A number of unearthed relics from the Qin Empire (221 - 207 BC) are also on display in the museum.

► Greet the discoverer of the Army and make a mini pottery solider of your own
We will next visit the home of Mr. Yang Zhifa, the discoverer of the first terracotta warrior, and listen to his story about the discovery. His home has been honored by many important figures from around the globe, including the former US president Bill Clinton, who visited China in 1998, former prime minister of Norway, former presidents of Mexico and Greek, and president of the International Council on Monuments and Sites. Mr. Yang has signed his name for hundreds of thousands of tourists at home and from abroad, making him the Chinese with the most signatures for tourists. He can also be found in the same amount of photos! After the visit, we will perfect this trip by taking you to a workshop, where you get to make a mini terracotta warrior of your own under professional instructions.

The next attraction we will visit is the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The evening is reserved for entertainment with an excellent Tang Dynasty Show in a theater over a special dumpling dinner.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Dumpling dinner

Friendly Tips:
Since the theater is usually not open in Jan, Feb, Mar and Dec, we will not arrange the show and dumpling dinner if today falls in these periods.

After breakfast, we will proceed to Xi'an City Wall Park and take a leisurely stroll at the foot of the well-preserved City Wall. It is also a good place to observe local daily life. If interested, why not join the locals to play Tai Chi, the most popular form of Chinese Kung Fu. Then, follow our guide to climb the famous and historic City Wall, which offers beautiful city views. You can also rent a bike and go cycling at your own expense along the walkways atop the Wall. Next, explore the lively Muslim Quarter and try some local food.

After lunch, transfer to the airport for your flight to Shanghai. On arrival, you will be chauffeured to the hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Radisson Blu Hotel Shanghai New World

This morning, visit Shanghai Museum to appreciate cultural relics spanning dynasties of ancient China, including artistic bronzeware, chinaware, calligraphy and paintings. Then, accompanied by our guide, you will get a stroll through the beautiful Yu Garden, which prides itself on luxuriant plants, delicate pavilions, and bridges, reflected by a pond. There is a Chinese saying that “North China has the Forbidden City, while South China has Yu Garden”. Yu Garden, a representative classical garden of South China with a typical implicit beauty, is the extreme opposite of the grand Forbidden City. See it for yourself! Visit its traditional bazaar afterwards.

A farewell a la carte lunch (valued at CNY150.00 per person and included in our price) will be served at an elegant restaurant. After that, enjoy a panorama of the city at Duo Yun Bookstore on the 52nd floor of Shanghai Tower, China’s highest tower. Then, go down to the thriving Bund area and take a one-hour cruise tour on the Huangpu River. Enjoy some free time on the Bund before being escorted to your hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast, A la carte farewell lunch

Today marks the end of your China tour from New York City. After checking out, please reach the airport for your homeward flight on your own. International flights are not covered. It is available to take flight MU587 1130/1425 back to New York, operated on Mondays and Tuesdays and taking about 14h 55m from Pudong Airport (PVG) (47 kilometers/29 mi, at least 1 hour by taxi) to JFK Airport. If today falls on other days, you can book a connecting flight. We wish you a nice journey home!

Meals: Western buffet breakfast