24 Days Extensive China exploration for newlyweds: Hong Kong-Guilin-Kunming-Shangri-La-Lijiang-Dali-Chengdu-Jiuzhaigou-Chengdu

Welcome to Hong Kong. Upon arrival, the guide and driver is waiting for you at the arrival hall. They will accompany you to the hotel and help check in. If you want to explore nearly, feel free to get some practical suggestions from your tour guide.

Meals: No meal, advice freely available

• Hotels: The Langham Hong Kong, Harbour Grand Kowloon

Hong Kong

Today you will take a half day tour in Kowloon Island. The first stop is Wong Tai Sin Temple, which is believed to answer prayers made here. Make your way to Nan Lian Garden, a Tang dynasty-style attraction that allows you to soak up the region’s rich religious heritage and intricate garden design. Experience historic sites, traditional architecture and stunning gardens in the peaceful Kowloon Walled City Park. If not, you could choose one from Jade Market or Bird Garden or Avenue of Stars.

• Meals: Breakfast,

Wong Tai Sin Temple

A free day is left for you.

• Meals: Breakfast,

Hong Kong

After breakfast, take the bullet train from Hong Kong to Guilin. Upon arrival, the guide and driver will transfer you directly to Longsheng. If you are lucky enough to encounter the good weather, the amazing sunset is waiting for you.

• Meals: Breakfast,
• Hotels: Longsheng Lian Lodge Hotel, Baike Hotel

Longsheng Rice Terrace

Get up early and hike up to the view point to appreciate the sunrise. Be ready with your camera. After breakfast, do some more in-depth exploration of the Terraced Rice Field and Ping'an Zhuang Village. The best way to gain a better understanding of a place is talking with the locals. Walk in a local family and learn to make bamboo rice with the help of the host. The sticky rice together with the bamboo fragrance will stimulate your taste bud and feast your stomach.

After the tour, drive to Guilin city area for overnight.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: Guilin Shangri La Hotel, Jolie Vue Boutique Hotel Guilin, Aroma Tea House

Ping'an Zhuang Village

Go up to the top of Folded Brocade Hill and take a far-sighted view of the Guilin city and Li River. Besides the mountains and waters, Guilin also has many spectacular caves. Then free your imagination in the Reed Flute Cave. What the stalactites look like totally depend on your imagination.Take a leisure stroll at Daxu Ancient Town – the ancient fishing village at the end of the day.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch at Mc Found Restaurant with a la carte menu

Feature Dinner option: Xiaonan Guo, Gold Dragon Village Restaurant, Yilu Restaurant, The Taste-Made Restaurant

Optional evening activity: Night cruise in Two Rivers and Four Lakes Scenic Area

Note: Please wear antiskid shoes for today’s tour as you need to climb up to the hill top and the path in the cave can be slippery sometimes.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Folded Brocade Hill

After an hour private transfer from the hotel to Yangdi Pier, you will take the private bamboo raft combined with some hiking along the Li River to Xingping. It offers you a great chance to get close to the water.

Stroll in Xingping Ancient Town and buy some souvenirs if you like. Wait till the sunset to have a photo taking of the cormorant fishing in Li River. After that, go to Yangshuo for overnight.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: Yangshuo Banyan Tree Hotel, Yangshuo Mountain Retreat

Xingping Ancient Town

Nowadays, Trip shooting is getting more and more popular among visitors. A trip shooting tour is arranged for you to record the wonderful moments of your tour. Start from the bamboo rafting tour in Yulong River. Follow on is the biking tour around Yangshuo countryside. You could also stop from time to time to grasp some good photo opportunity.

The tour ends with a romantic candlelight dinner near the Yulong River in the hotel. You could feast your eyes with the beautiful natural scenery while feast your stomach.

Optional evening activity: Impression Show of Sanjie Liu

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner,

Yulong River

The romantic hot air balloon tour is quite a special way to appreciate the Yangshuo scenery, away from the travel crowds. After the tour and lunch, go to the airport in Guilin for the flight to Kunming, a city of perpetual spring.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: Crowne Plaza Kunming City Centre, Green Lake Hotel, Intercontinental Kunming, Ytel Premium

Hot air balloon

Start today’s tour with the stroll in the Stone Forest after 1.5 hours’ drive, which is rated as the "World Geological Park" and "World Natural Heritage scenery by UNESCO.

Kunming Green Lake is regarded as a jade in the city area and also a good place to have a close view of the local lifestyle.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Green Lake Park

You will visit the Black Dragon Pool, which is divided into two parts by a bridge. You will find it is quite strange that the water at two sides has different colors even though the water is connected.

At the beginning, Bird and Flower Market was the location for flowers, birds, domestic animals, insects and goldfish trading. With the prosperity of commerce, it began to attract tourists from all over the world, and gradually developed into a charming commercial and tourist center with real local flavor.

After lunch, go to the airport in Kunming for the flight to your next destination, Shangri-La.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: Shangri-La Resort, Songtsam Linka Shangri-La, Songtsam Shangri-La (Lvgu) Lodge

Bird and Flower Market

In the morning, visit a natural park, Pudacuo National Park, which includes Bita and Shudu Lake. Hike in the small trails through the forest and breathe in the oxygen offered by this amazing forest park. Look from its appearance, Songzanlin Monastery resembles the Potala Palace in Lhasa. It is a traditional Lama monastery and home for more or less 700 monks and Lamas for their monastic lives.

A local Tibetan family visit is arranged for you to have a close look at the local life of the minorities.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Pudacuo National Park

Wander in Zhongdian Ancient Town and have a close view of the local life. On the way to Lijiang, you will feel the breathtaking magnificence of the Tiger Leaping Gorge Upper Section, a world famous Grand Canyon with steepness and grandeur. Running from the north of China to the south, the Jinsha River turns to the northeast here in Shigu Town, hence the name “First Bend of the Yangtze River".

After the tour, the guide will escort you to the hotel for check-in.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: Banyan Tree Lijiang, InterContinental Resort Lijiang Ancient Town, Lijiang Ivy Garden Resort

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Though very small, Yushui Village boasts very beautiful scenery. It is a good place to know the Dongba culture of Naxi minority. Here you will also make a photo frame with Dongba characteristics on your own. Choose one of the best photos during the tour and put it in. It may have great sentimental value for you.

After lunch, go for the highlight of your Lijiang tour, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. It is winding like a flying dragon, hence the name. It is also deemed as the sacred mountain of Naxi people.

Optional activity: Impression Lijiang Show

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

In the morning, have a leisure walk through Lijiang ancient town, which reveals its simple, elegant, old houses with stone foundations, brick walls, sloping roofs and red doors. Adding to the charm of the narrow cobblestone streets is a network of canals. Next you will visit Black Dragon Pool Park, which provides a haven for bird and water-life, with spectacular plants. As a monumental building located in the ancient city of Lijiang, Wangu Tower is an example of wooden Dougong architecture with sets of brackets on top of the columns supporting the beams within and the roof eaves.

Go to Dali by private transfer after the Lijiang tour. Rest in the hotel.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: Hilton Dali Resort & SPA, The Linden Centre

Lijiang Ancient Town

Dali Ancient Town nowadays is the treasure land of Bai ethnic minority showing their traditions and culture. Go up to the city wall and have an overlook of the whole town. Feel the tranquility and the breeze of Erhai Lake by taking a boat cruise. Your tour to Dali will not be complete without seeing the authentically designed Three Pagodas as it is a symbol of Dali.

Besides the flower cake, handmade silver products are quite famous in Dali. Participate in silver rings or bracelets making in a local silver jewelry shop. Make one by your own hands.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Dali Ancient Town

In the morning, have a really close view of local life at Xizhou Farmer’s Market, where the locals sell many kinds of products. If you are tired of walking and private transfer, take a local carriage around Xizhou and Erhai Lake for about 1.5 hours.

You may have tried the flower cake, but do you really know how it is made? To satisfy your curiosity, you will see and learn how to make Yunnan flower cake with the guidance of the locals.

After that, you will be transferred to Zhoucheng to learn Bai Minority Tie-dyeing. You could Tie-Dye a cloth, a handkerchief or even a table cloth and bring them home.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Zhoucheng City

Today is time to leave. The guide will escort you to the airport in Dali and help with the check-in. You will do a connection in Chengdu on your own and then fly to Jiuzhaigou. The guide will meet you at the arrival hall of the airport in Huanglong and go to the hotel near the park with you.

Note:

The altitude of Jiuzhaigou is relatively high and the air is quite thin, so the temperature difference between day and night is relatively large. Bring some thick clothes with you.

Avoid the strenuous exercise and avoid the altitude sickness.

• Meals: Breakfast,
• Hotels: Sheraton Jiuzhaigou Resort, Howard Johnson Tianyuan Resort Jiuzhaigou

Jiuzhaigou Velley

Jiuzhaigou is arranged in the Y shape with a total length of over 50 km and consists of three main valleys, called Shuzheng Valley (main gully), Zechawa Valley (left gully), Rize Valley (right gully). Today you will visit 2 of them. Strat from Shuzheng Valley, where you will see the Shuzheng Lake, Rhinoceros Lake and Nuorilang Waterfall.

After lunch, visit the south-west Rize Valley, where you will see the Bamboo Lake, Panda Lake, Five Flower Lake, Pearl Shoal and Mirror Lake.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Rize Valley

This is your second day in the park. Your day starts from Zechawa Valley, which includes Long Lake and Five Color Pond. Watch a variety of plants and animal species at Zharu Valley before leaving the park.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Zechawa Valley

After breakfast, drive about 2.5 hours from Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area to Huanglong Scenic and Historic Interest Area. It is famous for its breathtakingly beautiful travertine landscape. Cable car is arranged to save energy and time.

After the tour, the guide and driver will take you to the airport in Huanglong. The Chengdu guide will wait for you with a warm smile and your name sign at the airport arrival hall.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,
• Hotels: The Ritz-Carlton, Chengdu, JW Marriott Hotel Chengdu, Chengdu Xijinge All Suites Apartment

Huanglong

Get up earlier today to get a close contact with the cute pandas. You will not watch them, but also take care of them for one day as a panda keeper. Your tasks include feeding the pandas with bamboo and apple and making panda breads with the teachers. You might have to do some cleaning duties in the enclosure, or collect and weigh the panda poop.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in the panda base

Feature Dinner option: Lao Ma Tou Hotpot, Huang Cheng Lao Ma

Optional evening activity: Face changing show and taste the local tea in Shufengyayun Theater

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Panda Keeper Program

After several extension, the present People’s Park is a developed park combined gardening, culture, tea-tasting, leisure and recreation. How cozy it is to taste the local tea in the park. Jinli Street is a good place for visitors from all over China and abroad to relax, admire the traditional-style buildings, and taste some local snacks. Appreciate the Chinese style architecture, compact but beautiful tranquil garden, Wuhou Ancestral Hall near Jinli Ancient Street.

Explore the Jinsha Site Museum for its numerous collections, like gold, bronze, jade, stone, ivory objects and lacquerware, tens of thousands of pottery pieces, tons of ivory, and thousands of wild boar tusks and antlers.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,

Wuhou Ancestral Hall

Say goodbye to your guide, driver and this beautiful country. Bring back home the amazing memories about your China tour. Wish you a safe flight.

• Meals: Breakfast,

Chengdu