12-Day Odyssey of the Yangtze

Your flight lands at Beijing Capital International Airport or Beijing Daxing International Airport, and a guide holding a name board waits just beyond baggage claim. A private car carries you to a four- or five-star hotel inside the city ring road, a drive of 45 minutes or so depending on traffic, with the guide sketching the week ahead and naming landmarks as they pass. No sightseeing is scheduled, so the afternoon belongs to you: unpack, shake off the time difference, or take a short walk around the neighbourhood. Lunch and dinner are at your own expense, and hotel restaurants or nearby noodle shops both work well. Turn in early; tomorrow begins with a full day in the capital.

After the hotel buffet, your guide meets you in the lobby and walks you the length of Tiananmen Square, past the flagpoles and the portrait at the gate, before crossing into the Forbidden City. Two hours of courtyards, throne halls and side gardens follow, with commentary on how the emperors governed from behind these walls. Lunch is not included; the guide points out a dumpling house near the north exit and helps with ordering. The afternoon shifts northwest to the Summer Palace, where you follow the lake path and the painted gallery below Longevity Hill. On the way back, stop for photos at the Bird's Nest and Water Cube on the Olympic Green. Dinner is your own, and the evening is free.

Meals: Breakfast

The day starts early at Mutianyu, roughly 70 kilometres north of the city, where a cable car lifts you onto a ridge of the Mutianyu Great Wall. Walk a restored section between Ming watchtowers, the rampart threading along forested hills, and ride the toboggan down if you fancy it, paid locally. Lunch is at your own expense, either at a farmhouse restaurant below the wall or back in town. The afternoon turns to quieter sights: the Confucius Temple and the adjoining Imperial College Museum, where stone steles record centuries of examination candidates. Wander the surrounding hutongs afterwards and stop for coffee in a courtyard cafe. Dinner is not included, and the evening is yours.

Meals: Breakfast

Begin at the Temple of Heaven, arriving before nine to catch residents dancing and practising taichi under the cypress trees, then tour the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and test the Echo Wall. Back at the hotel for luggage, then transfer to Beijing West Railway Station, where your guide handles check-in. Lunch is a station snack or something packed, at your own cost. The high-speed train to Xi'an runs about five hours at close to 300 km/h, crossing the North China Plain and the loess country beyond it. A Xi'an guide meets you at Xi'an North Station and drives you to a downtown hotel. Dinner is not included, and the food streets around the Bell Tower make an easy first evening.

Meals: Breakfast

Leave early for the Terracotta Army, an hour east of the city, and tour pits one, two and three with a guide who explains the excavation, the painstaking restoration and the ranks of infantry, archers and chariots standing in formation. Lunch is not included; a village restaurant near the site serves good Shaanxi noodles. Back in Xi'an, circle the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and its temple courtyards, then head into the old quarter for the Great Mosque, a Ming-era maze of timber halls hidden behind a plain wall. Continue to the Muslim Quarter for grilled skewers and flatbread, and finish at the Bell Tower and Drum Tower Square as the lights come on. Dinner is your own; a Tang-dynasty show can be booked.

Meals: Breakfast

Check out after breakfast and head for the Xi'an Ancient City Wall, the most complete fortification of its kind in China, a 14-kilometre rectangle wrapped around the old capital. Walk a stretch on foot or rent a bicycle at the South Gate and ride the full circuit in about ninety minutes. Lunch is not included; the lanes inside the wall hold plenty of bakeries and noodle shops. Around midday, transfer to Xi'an North Station for the high-speed train to Chongqing, a run of roughly five hours through the Qinling tunnels. A local guide meets you on arrival and drives you into the city, explaining its hills and rivers on the way. Check in, then eat dinner independently, perhaps at a hotpot table nearby.

Meals: Breakfast

A full day in Chongqing before boarding. Start at Ciqikou Ancient Town, where stone lanes climb past teahouses, spice stalls and workshops selling embroidery and chilli paste. Lunch is not included; try a small bowl of Chongqing noodles in the old town. In the afternoon, walk Jiefangbei and the angular plazas around Kuixinglou, then ride the metro to Lizipa Station, where a train slides straight through a residential tower. As dusk falls, photograph the stacked wooden facades of Hongyadong glowing above the river. A short transfer brings you to the pier, and the ship weighs anchor at 21:30. The safety and river briefing is compulsory. Your cabin is a standard balcony twin with private shower; suites cost extra.

Meals: Breakfast

No early alarm today. Breakfast is a buffet in the dining room, followed by a morning talk on the river's history and a painting demonstration in the lounge, while the sun deck stays open for anyone who would rather watch cliffs drift past. Around midday the ship ties up for a shore excursion, either Fengdu Ghost City, a hillside of shrines and carved figures, or the red-pillared Shibaozhai Pagoda, depending on water levels and the cruise line. A set lunch is served on board afterwards. The rest of the afternoon is sailing time, with tea and fruit on the terrace. In the evening the Captain's Welcome Party brings the crew on stage for folk music and dancing, then a buffet dinner. Balcony cabins face the bank; upgrade to a suite for more room.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

The ship enters the gorges early, and the call comes over the loudspeaker to go up on deck for Qutang Gorge, its cliffs pinching to a narrow gate, then Wu Gorge, where twelve peaks rise through the mist. Breakfast is served before the second gorge. At Badong, go ashore for a wooden-sampan excursion up Shennong Stream, or Goddess Stream when water levels dictate, gliding past hanging coffins with a boatman poling at the stern. Lunch waits on board after re-embarkation. The afternoon brings the western stretch of Xiling Gorge and its bridge. Dinner is included, followed by a crew cabaret or a quiet hour on deck. This is the downstream sailing, Chongqing to Yichang; the upstream version covers the same sights in reverse.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Eat early, settle the onboard account and vacate the cabin by 08:00, with porters carrying bags to the gangway at Maoping Pier. A coach climbs to the Three Gorges Dam visitor area, where escalators and shuttles deliver you to overlooks above the lock chambers and the ship lift, and an exhibition hall explains the engineering and the resettlement programme. Lunch is your own, at the dam site or later near Yichang East Station. A shuttle returns you to the Yichang Three Gorges Tourism Center, where a guide takes over for the train to Shanghai, roughly seven hours. A Shanghai driver meets you at the station and transfers you to your hotel. The evening is free, and the Bund is a short taxi ride away.

Meals: Breakfast

Start at the Shanghai Museum on People's Square, where bronzes, ceramics and calligraphy fill galleries across four floors; the English audio guide is worth the small fee. Lunch is not included, and the food halls off Nanjing Road cover every taste. In the afternoon, walk The Bund for the colonial frontage facing Pudong's towers, then follow Nanjing Road west before turning into Yuyuan Garden, a Ming-era maze of rockeries, ponds and pavilions, with the Yu Garden Bazaars next door for snacks and souvenirs. Finish with a slow wander along Sinan Road and Dongping Road in the Former French Concession, where plane trees shade brick villas. Dinner is your own; a Huangpu night cruise can be arranged.

Meals: Breakfast

Breakfast at the hotel, then a guide and driver collect you for the run to Shanghai Pudong International Airport or Hongqiao International Airport, allowing three hours before an international departure and ninety minutes for a domestic connection. Check-in and baggage drop are your responsibility, though the driver helps with luggage to the terminal door. If your flight leaves late, ask the hotel about left luggage so you can spend a final morning shopping around Nanjing Road or revisiting The Bund. No lunch or dinner is included today. Your guide confirms the pickup time the evening before, and small-group travellers can request this departure transfer when booking. Safe travels.

Meals: Breakfast