Classic China · Beijing — Xi’an — Shanghai

The first journey,
done properly.

10 days / 9 nights From €3,800 per person Private, 2–6 travellers Best for: first-time visitors

The three cities that explain China — imperial Beijing, Tang-dynasty Xi’an and future-facing Shanghai — with the distances handled by high-speed rail, and each day paced for one great thing in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Ask us to tailor this route
The Great Wall at Mutianyu winding over empty green ridges

Day 3, just after the gates open — the early start is the whole trick.

Day by day

A sample route, not a script

Every departure is private, so think of this as a starting sketch we adjust around your pace and interests.

  1. Day 1

    Arrive Beijing

    Private airport welcome and transfer. No sightseeing today — a hutong courtyard dinner near your hotel, and an hour with your guide to set up mobile payments and the week ahead.

  2. Day 2

    Beijing — the Imperial axis

    The Forbidden City with a guide who tells it as history, not a list of halls; the view over the rooftops from Jingshan hill; an unhurried walk through a living hutong with a long-time resident.

  3. Day 3

    Beijing — the Great Wall

    Early departure for the Mutianyu section, arriving before the crowds. Afternoon back in the city: the Temple of Heaven in the hour locals use it, or the 798 art district if that’s more you.

  4. Day 4

    To Xi’an by high-speed rail

    Morning train west, first-class seats, station navigation handled. Evening walk in the Muslim Quarter — the city’s Silk Road heritage on a plate.

  5. Day 5

    Xi’an — the Terracotta Army

    The warriors with real time to look, then the Ming city wall by bike before dusk. Dinner: a dumpling house that locals queue for.

  6. Day 6

    To Shanghai

    Morning flight (or rail, if you prefer the ground-level view). Arrive in time for the Bund at dusk — the twenty-first century on one bank, the nineteenth on the other.

  7. Day 7

    Shanghai — yesterday and today

    Yu Garden and the old town before the tour buses; the French Concession’s plane-tree streets on foot; an architecture thread from Art Deco to the Lujiazui skyline.

  8. Day 8

    Shanghai — water and stone

    Half a day in Zhujiajiao water town while the morning mist is still on the canals. Evening optional: jazz at the Peace Hotel, a Shanghai institution since 1929.

  9. Day 9

    Shanghai, lived

    Tai chi in Fuxing Park with the morning regulars, a wet market with your guide, and a hands-on cooking class — or a free day by design. Your call.

  10. Day 10

    Depart

    Private transfer to the airport, timed generously. We stay reachable until you’re home.

Want to see the planning underneath? The same ten days, hour by hour, with every operational detail on the table — Classic China, worked out in full →
The golden rooftops of the Forbidden City seen from Jingshan hill
Day 2 — the Forbidden City told as history, not hall-counting, and the Jingshan rooftop view that gives it scale.

Photo: Picrazy2, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Terracotta warriors up close in Pit 1, Xi'an
Day 5 — real time to look. No two-hour lap, no factory showroom waiting in the afternoon.
Yu Garden's Ming-dynasty pavilion with the Shanghai Tower rising behind
Day 7 — Yu Garden in its opening hour, before the lanes fill. Two centuries in one frame.

Photo: Stefan Fussan, CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Lujiazui skyline lit up at dusk, seen across the river from the Bund
Day 6 — we time the day backwards from sunset, so you watch the lights come on from the Bund.

Photo: King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Indicative pricing

What a journey like this costs

PartyGuide price, per personIncludes
2 travellersfrom €3,800Boutique 4-star hotels, one room
4 travellersfrom €3,300Boutique 4-star hotels, two rooms
6 travellerson requestRooming to suit your party

Included

Nine nights’ boutique accommodation with breakfast · private English-speaking guide in each city · private car and driver for transfers and touring · first-class rail and domestic flight as described · all entrance tickets and reservations · daily support from our operations team · a working mobile payment setup and local SIM/eSIM advice.

Not included

International flights · lunches and dinners (your guide eats with you and orders for the table; we recommend budgeting €50–80 per person per day for very good meals) · travel insurance (required) · personal spending · gratuities, entirely at your discretion.

Prefer 5-star hotels, or 14 days? Upgrades and extensions are priced separately and transparently — typically cost plus a 20–25% handling fee, quoted before any commitment.

Make it yours

Tell us your dates, and who’s coming.

We reply within one working day with honest thoughts on routing, season and what we’d change for you.

[email protected] Compare with Chengdu & Sichuan