9-Day China Tour: Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing & Shanghai

Arrive in Beijing, the starting city of this 9-day China tour through Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Shanghai. Your guide greets you at the airport and transfers you by private vehicle to your hotel. Check in and rest after the international flight, using free time to adjust to the time difference before Mutianyu Great Wall and Forbidden City sightseeing on the following days.

Travel about 80 kilometers northeast of Beijing to the Mutianyu Great Wall, a section known for closely spaced watchtowers among forested hills, with stone slab walls and brick battlements on both sides. Walk the ramparts at a comfortable pace suited to the group. After a late lunch at a local restaurant, return to the city center and rest at your Beijing hotel ahead of Forbidden City sightseeing and the flight to Chengdu tomorrow.

After breakfast visit Tiananmen Square, then enter the Forbidden City, the Ming and Qing imperial palace complex with thousands of rooms once used by 24 emperors. Walk the main halls and courtyards, then continue to Jingshan Park for a hilltop view south over the palace roofs and north toward Beihai, Shichahai, and the Drum Tower area. Later transfer to the airport for your domestic flight from Beijing to Chengdu and check in at your Chengdu hotel.

Visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, home to more than 100 pandas, and walk bamboo-lined paths to see animals of different ages feeding and resting, including the cub area when open. Continue to Wenshu Monastery in downtown Chengdu and the adjacent Wenshufang market. At People's Park, pause for Chinese tea and local park life. End at Jinli Ancient Street for snacks, handicrafts, and folk performances as scheduled.

After breakfast, drive about one hour north to the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, roughly 50 kilometers from Chengdu. Explore bronze, jade, pottery, and gold objects from the ancient Shu culture, including the bronze standing figure, sacred tree, gold staff, and masks with protruding eyes. After the museum visit, continue to Chongqing and transfer to your hotel for the mountain-city portion of this Beijing to Shanghai itinerary.

After breakfast visit the Liberation Monument area, Chongqing's central landmark district for shopping and local snacks. Continue to Liziba to watch the light rail pass through a residential building. Explore Ciqikou, a historic street of bluestone lanes. In the afternoon walk Shibati and Shancheng Lane for everyday hillside street life, then visit Hongyadong, the riverside stilted building complex known for evening views over the confluence of the rivers.

Drive to Dazu for a full day among UNESCO-listed rock carvings. At Beishan, focus on Dafowan and related niches along a cliff face with thousands of statues. Continue to Baodingshan to see major Buddhist cliff sculptures, including the large Thousand-Hand Guanyin carving. Visit the Dazu Museum for additional context on the region's rock-carving heritage before returning to Chongqing for the night.

This morning visit The Ring Shopping Park in Chongqing's Liangjiang New Area for a modern retail and leisure complex stop. Continue to the historic Kuixing Tower, traditionally linked to the god of literature. In the afternoon fly from Chongqing to Shanghai, China's largest commercial center and the final city on this 9-day tour. Transfer to your Shanghai hotel for check-in and rest before Yu Garden and Bund sightseeing tomorrow.

Visit Yu Garden, a classical Chinese private garden in Shanghai's old city. Take a Huangpu River cruise for skyline views of Pudong and the historic waterfront, then stroll The Bund among early twentieth-century trading houses. After the tour, enjoy free time before your airport transfer. This concludes the 9-day China tour covering Beijing, Chengdu pandas and Sanxingdui, Chongqing and Dazu, and Shanghai.