9-Day Tour: Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai

Arrive in Beijing, the starting city of this 9-day China tour through Beijing, Xi'an, 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 settle in and adjust to the time difference before Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City sightseeing tomorrow.

After breakfast, visit Tiananmen Square, the large public square linked to modern Chinese history, then enter the Forbidden City, the former imperial palace complex with nearly 10,000 rooms that housed 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Your guide points out glazed-tile roofs, marble bases, and the main halls along the palace axis. After lunch, return to the hotel and rest before the Summer Palace visit and flight to Xi'an tomorrow.

Visit the Summer Palace, the large Qing-dynasty imperial garden on Kunming Lake, with pavilions, temples, bridges, and the Long Corridor of painted historical and mythological scenes. After lunch, transfer for your flight to Xi'an. Upon arrival, your local guide meets you and takes you to the hotel for two nights before the Terracotta Warriors excursion tomorrow.

Visit the Terracotta Warriors Museum, one of the major archaeological finds of the twentieth century, and walk among the excavated pits of life-size clay soldiers, horses, and chariots. After returning to the city, spend free time in the Muslim Quarter, where antique shops, food stalls, and small teahouses line the lanes. Use the afternoon at your own pace before overnighting again in Xi'an.

In the morning, visit the Shaanxi History Museum for collections that explain Xi'an's long role as a Chinese capital and cultural center. Continue to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, linked to the monk Xuanzang and completed in 652, an important Tang-dynasty Buddhist landmark. After sightseeing, fly to Chengdu and transfer to your hotel for one overnight stay before the Sanxingdui Museum visit tomorrow.

After breakfast, drive about one hour to the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, roughly 50 kilometers north of Chengdu. Explore bronze, jade, pottery, and gold finds from the ancient Shu capital, including the bronze standing figure, bronze sacred tree, gold staff, and masks with protruding eyes. These collections show a distinct Bronze Age culture. After the museum visit, continue to Chongqing and transfer to your hotel for one overnight stay.

After breakfast, watch the Liziba light rail pass through a residential building, then visit the Liberation Monument shopping district. Continue to Shibati and Shancheng Lane for local street life, and finish at Hongyadong, the hillside stilt-house complex overlooking the confluence of the rivers. After the city program, fly to Shanghai and transfer to your hotel for two nights before Yu Garden and The Bund tomorrow.

Visit Yu Garden, a classical Chinese private garden with rockeries, ponds, and Ming-style halls in the Old City area. Take a Huangpu River cruise to compare the historic Bund waterfront with the modern towers of Lujiazui across the river. Finish with a walk along The Bund to see the colonial-era bank buildings facing the skyline. Your guide times the program so you can enjoy photos and a relaxed pace before tomorrow's departure transfer.

Enjoy free time at the hotel or nearby depending on your flight schedule. When it is time to leave, your guide escorts you to the airport for the departure flight, closing this 9-day China tour from Beijing through Xi'an, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Shanghai. Confirm terminal details and boarding timing so luggage and travel documents are ready for check-in on your onward or international flight home.