12-Day Journey Along the Silk Road

Your guide waits just past baggage claim at Beijing Capital International Airport or Beijing Daxing International Airport, holding a name board and helping with luggage. The drive into town doubles as a first briefing, with commentary on ring roads, hutong lanes and tower blocks sliding past the window. Check in at your four- or five-star downtown hotel, then keep the rest of the day loose. Sleep off the flight, or take a short walk to a nearby noodle shop for an early dinner at your own expense. No meals are included, so lunch and dinner are entirely your call. Your guide confirms tomorrow's start time and can hand over a local SIM card if you need one.

After the hotel buffet, your guide meets you in the lobby for a full day in the capital. Start at Tiananmen Square, walking the length of the granite expanse before crossing into the Forbidden City, where you follow the central axis through courtyards and throne halls for roughly two hours. Lunch is not included; your guide points you toward a dumpling house near the east gate. In the afternoon, drive northwest to the Summer Palace and stroll the lakeside corridor and hilltop pavilions. On the way back, pause for photos at the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, built for the 2008 Games. Dinner is on your own and the evening is free.

Meals: Breakfast

An early start takes you first to Sanyuanli Market, a local produce hall where you can buy fruit, nuts and bottled water for the day ahead. Then head north to Mutianyu, about 70 kilometres from the city, and ride the cable car up to the Mutianyu Great Wall. Walk a restored stretch between Ming guard towers, with the rampart stepping away along the ridgeline. Lunch is at a farmhouse restaurant below the wall, paid separately. Back in the city during the afternoon, visit the Confucius Temple and the adjoining Imperial College Museum, then wander Wudaoying Hutong for coffee and small shops. Dinner is your own arrangement and the evening is unscheduled.

Meals: Breakfast

Begin at the Temple of Heaven, arriving early enough to watch residents practise taichi among the cypress trees before touring the circular halls where emperors prayed for good harvests. Return to the hotel for your bags, then transfer to Beijing West Railway Station for the high-speed train to Xi'an, a run of about five hours at roughly 300 km/h. Lunch is a station snack or packed food at your own cost. Watch the plains give way to loess terraces as you travel. A Xi'an guide meets you at Xi'an North Station and drives you to a downtown hotel. Dinner is free, and the night-market streets nearby make an easy first taste of Shaanxi cooking.

Meals: Breakfast

The day belongs to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, an hour east of the city, where three excavation pits hold thousands of life-size soldiers drawn up in battle formation. Your guide explains the 1974 discovery and the conservation work still under way. Lunch nearby is at your own expense. Return to Xi'an and walk or cycle the City Wall, a 14-kilometre Ming rampart ringing the old town. Continue into the backstreets to see the Great Mosque, founded in the seventh century and built in Chinese courtyard style, then browse the Muslim Quarter for skewers and flatbread. Finish at the Bell Tower and Drum Tower Square as the lights come on.

Meals: Breakfast

Keep the morning free for a slow breakfast and a wander near the hotel; if your flight time allows, your guide can slot in the Shaanxi History Museum or the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, though the museum closes on Mondays. A short transfer takes you to the airport for the flight west to Dunhuang, about two and a half hours over Gansu's dry hills. Lunch is your own choice, either in Xi'an before departure or at the airport. On landing, a Dunhuang guide drives you into town with a brief orientation on the oasis and its trading past. Dinner is independent; the night market along Shazhou is a good place to begin.

Meals: Breakfast

Start at the Mogao Caves, where a short film at the visitor centre sets up the visit before you climb the cliff walkways to see painted murals and clay sculpture in caves cut between the fourth and fourteenth centuries. Tickets are timed and daily numbers are capped. Lunch is not included. In the afternoon, continue to Crescent Moon Lake, a spring-fed pool curled inside the Echoing Sand Dune, and take a camel ride along the ridge. Later, transfer to Liuyuan South Station for the bullet train to Turpan, roughly three hours across open desert. A Turpan guide meets you on arrival and takes you to the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast

Turpan sits in a basin below sea level, and the day opens at the Jiaohe Ruins, a mud-brick city abandoned centuries ago and cut into a plateau between two rivers. Walk the eroded streets and gate towers with your guide. Then visit a Karez Well, part of the underground canal network that carries snowmelt from the Tianshan ranges without evaporating in the heat. Lunch is at a local Uyghur restaurant, at your own cost. In the afternoon, see the Sugong Pagoda, the tallest ancient minaret in Xinjiang, and stop at Flaming Mountain, whose red sandstone ridges glow in the sun. Dinner is independent; evenings here turn pleasantly cool.

Meals: Breakfast

Leave Turpan after breakfast for the drive to Urumqi, roughly two and a half to three hours along the northern foothills of the Tianshan. Lunch is your own arrangement, perhaps at a hand-pulled noodle shop near the hotel. In the afternoon, tour the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum, whose galleries hold Bronze Age textiles, Buddhist murals and a renowned collection of Tarim Basin mummies; your guide supplies the context that English labels often lack. Later, browse the Urumqi Grand Bazaar and the neighbouring Er Dao Qiao Market for spices, dried fruit and craftwork. Dinner is free, and the bazaar food stalls stay busy well into the evening.

Meals: Breakfast

A leisurely breakfast, then check out and transfer to the airport for the flight to Shanghai, about four and a half hours east across the country. Lunch is served on board or bought at the airport, at your own expense. On landing at Pudong or Hongqiao, a Shanghai guide meets you and drives you into the city, pointing out the riverfront and the older concession streets along the way. Settle into your hotel, then spend the evening as you please. A short walk to The Bund for the illuminated skyline is the simplest introduction, and dinner in the surrounding blocks is easy to arrange.

Meals: Breakfast

Begin at the Shanghai Museum, where galleries of bronzes, ceramics, calligraphy and furniture trace the region's long history; it closes on Mondays, when a substitute collection is arranged. Lunch is at your own expense near People's Square. In the afternoon, walk Nanjing Road down to The Bund, then cross into the old town to see Yuyuan Garden with its rockeries, ponds and pavilions. Browse the surrounding Yu Garden Bazaar for snacks and souvenirs. If time remains, head for the Former French Concession and wander tree-lined Dongping Road or Sinan Road. Dinner is independent and the evening stays free.

Meals: Breakfast

After breakfast your guide meets you in the lobby and drives you to the airport for your international flight, allowing a comfortable margin for check-in and security. Which terminal depends on your carrier: Pudong handles most long-haul departures, while Hongqiao serves many domestic connections. Lunch and dinner are not included today, so plan to eat at the airport or on board. If your flight leaves late, ask the hotel about left luggage and take a final stroll along The Bund before you go. Your guide stays with you until you enter the terminal building.

Meals: Breakfast