Private transfer: Upon arrival at Beijing Airport, you will be welcomed to China by your private English-speaking guide, and then transferred to your hotel.

Time at leisure in Beijing: After checking into your hotel, the rest of the day is free at leisure. You can relax at your hotel, or do some exploring around Beijing independently. Get lost in the hutongs, visit the Wangfujing Night Market to sample some exotic local delicacies, or wander around any of Beijing’s many picturesque parks and hidden temples. Further afield the ruins of the Ancient Summer Palace are a less visited alternative to some of the more mainstream sights, and the 798 Art District is unmissable for a look at the more modern side of this fast-growing country.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Shichahai Shadow Art Performance Hotel (Deluxe Room)

Private transfer: This morning, you will be met by your guide and driven to the East Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty, around 3 hours outside of Beijing. After spending some time exploring a few of the tombs, you will be taken to Huangyaguan Mountain, where you will be spending the night.

Great Wall trek: Today’s trekking will start off lightly, with around 2 hours walking on the Great Wall at Huangyaguan Mountain. Stretching from the Gobi desert to the Yellow Sea, the Great Wall of China is the largest man made structure on earth and is an amazing feat of engineering, labour and sacrifice. The original wall was begun 2,000 years ago when China was unified under Emperor Qin Shi Huang to keep out marauding nomads. The construction used hundreds of thousands of political prisoners and an estimated 180 million cubic metres of packed earth. The section around Huangyaguan has been mostly restored, and is a great place to warm up for your Great Wall adventure, before heading on to wilder sections in the days to come.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Huangya Shanzhuang Guesthouse (Standard Room)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Great Wall trek: This morning, you will be transferred to Jinshanling, around 2 hours away by car, where you will stay overnight in a guesthouse near the wall. The Great Wall at Jinshanling has been partially restored, but there are still many impressive sections left in their original state. You can spend around 2.5 hours walking on the east part of Jinshanling, which is mostly unrestored. The trek starts along some easy flat sections before some more challenging areas with steep uneven steps from where there is an excellent view of a collection of watchtowers and ramparts. 

This afternoon, you have the option to drive to Wohu Shan, or Crouching Tiger Mountain, for a further 2 hours' trek along the Great Wall over a dramatic mountain ridge. In the late afternoon you will meet up again with your driver and transfer back to your hotel near Jinshanling to relax.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Jinshanling Great Wall Hotel (Standard Room)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Great Wall trek: This morning, you will enter Jinshanling Great Wall Scenic Area again and set off on today’s walk to Gubeikou. The approximate walking time today is 5 hours. Gubeikou is completely unrestored, and some parts of this walk are along sections of the wall which are in serious states of disrepair. There is a military zone partway between Jinshanling and Gubeikou, so a section of the wall is off-limits to hikers. You will make a detour to walk alongside the wall for a time instead, before re-joining it a bit later on. After arriving in Gubeikou, you will be met by your driver and transferred to the Brickyard Inn at Mutianyu to check in. 

For those seeking a more adventurous experience, there is the option to spend a night camping on the Great Wall itself between Gubeikou and Jinshanling. Sleeping arrangements would be in a tent in one of the watchtowers. Please get in touch for more details.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Brickyard Inn (Standard Room)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Great Wall trek: This morning, your guide will pick you up from your hotel and transfer you to Jiankou Great Wall. Jiankou is a wild and completely unrestored section of the Wall, and the walking trails are treacherous in areas. The scenery in here is truly breathtaking and it is a favourite section for photographers. The trek up a small path to reach the wall at Jiankou takes around 1 hour. Afterwards, continue walking for another 4 hours along the wall to Mutianyu.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Brickyard Inn (Standard Room)

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch

Great Wall trek: This morning, you will be picked up from your hotel and transferred to Huanghuacheng Great Wall. This is a lesser visited section, and the scenery here is different to what you would have experienced on the previous days. Also known as the Water Great Wall, Huanghuacheng has a spectacular setting right by a lake, and the wall itself is half restored and half wild, with some sections immersed in water. After walking here for around 4 hours, you will be picked up by your driver and transferred back to your hotel in Beijing.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Shichahai Shadow Art Performance Hotel (Deluxe Room)

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch

Full day tour of Beijing including the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Temple of Heaven: The morning will start on Tiananmen Square, where you will be able to take in the panorama of the largest public square in the world. It is through here that you will enter the Forbidden City, the largest and most complete group of ancient buildings in China. Built in the 15th Century, the Imperial Palace was a forbidden area for 500 years before the revolution of 1911. It was home to two royal dynasties, the Ming and Qing emperors, and it is from this palace that the emperors governed China, stepping out of its confines extremely rarely. 

Continue to the Temple of Heaven. Located in the centre of Tiantan Gongyuan Park, this spectacular Ming temple has become regarded, and is widely used, as the symbol of Beijing. Dating from 1420, its wooden pillars support a curved ceiling without cement or nails to a height of 38 metres. The temple's intricate carving and bright colours illustrate the opulent Ming style. Also in the Temple complex is the Echo Wall - a circular structure composed of polished bricks on the inside. The temple and its surrounding altars, gates and park are a meeting place for the people of Beijing and it is possible to see the locals enjoying a game of chess or practicing the ancient art of Tai-Chi.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Shichahai Shadow Art Performance Hotel (Deluxe Room)

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch

Morning guided tour to the Summer Palace & hutongs: Travel to the outskirts of Beijing to the Imperial Summer Palace. The original Summer Palace was laid out in the 12th Century and over the centuries was used by the emperors as their summer escape from the humidity of Beijing and the Forbidden City. The Palace is set in huge gardens on the large Kunming Lake. You will be taken around the palaces of the complex, including Empress Dowager's retreat, and the gardens. Later return to downtown Beijing to take a cyclo tour of the fascinating Hutongs. Mostly built during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, hutongs are the narrow network of lanes created by closely built quadrangular homes in the city's inner areas. These are a fast disappearing sight as Beijing's city developers move in to modernise these areas.

Private transfer: This evening, your guide and driver will take you to the train station for the overnight journey to Xi'an. 

Overnight train: Z19 will depart Beijing at 20.41 and arrive in Xi’an the following morning at 08.15. A private 2 berth deluxe cabin (with ensuite bathroom) will be reserved for your exclusive use.

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch

Private transfer: On arrival in Xi’an, you will be met at the train station and transferred to your hotel to check in (subject to room availability) and relax for the rest of the morning.

Afternoon cycling tour of Xian's ancient City Walls & Small Goose Pagoda: After lunch, you will be taken to the City Walls for a gentle cycling tour. The Walls form a circumference of 14km and on each side is a gateway and watchtowers. Most sections of the wall have been restored or even rebuilt and it stands at 12 metres high, offering great views of the city. Afterwards, you will also visit the Small Wild Goose Pagoda which was built in the Tang Dynasty. After looking around the pagoda, visit the nearby museum which houses many important artefacts from the Tang Dynasty and has a model of how 7th Century Xian might have looked.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Grand Noble Hotel (Superior Room)

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch

Full day excursion to the Terracotta Warriors, Drum & Bell Towers, Great Mosque & Muslim Quarters: After breakfast, leave the city to visit the site of the Terracotta Warriors. In 1974 a peasant digging a well came upon what now stands as one of the main attractions in China and one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century. An army of thousands of life-sized warriors and their horses in battle formation, which were buried for 2,000 years, stand guard over the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The figures were buried with artefacts and weapons of the day and every figure differs in facial features and expressions. The dig is still in progress, as it is believed that the site is part of an even larger army still buried underground. 

You will then be taken to visit the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower and the historic Muslim Quarter of the city. In the centre of the walled city, the bell in the Bell Tower was sounded at dawn when the city gates were opened, and the drum in the nearby Drum Tower at dusk when the gates closed. The renovated Bell Tower dates from 1384, and was moved to its present site in 1582, where it is now encircled by downtown's shopping and commercial centre and stands 118 foot high. Afterwards, visit the beautiful mosque near the Drum Tower in Huajue Xiang. It is surrounded by the old houses and narrow lanes of Xian's Muslim, or Hui, community. Islam has been the most enduring of all faiths in Xian. It was first introduced by Arab merchants during the Tang Dynasty, and flourished during the Yuan (1279-1368). The Great Mosque survived the Cultural Revolution virtually unscathed and remains an outstanding Chinese re-interpretation of an Islamic place of worship. It was founded in 742 A.D, according to a stone tablet in the mosque, but nothing from this Tang period survives. The present layout dates from the 14th century.

Accommodation: Stay tonight at the Grand Noble Hotel (Superior Room)

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch