After breakfast at the hotel, we'll meet our local guide at 9:00 am in the lobby and head out for a day of exploring! Our first stop is a special one...

Private Tai Chi Class on the Great Wall

Rising from the sea in the east before extending 5,000 miles to the deserts of China’s far west, this is arguably the greatest man-made wonder on earth: The Great Wall. WildChina bypasses the more touristy sections, taking you straight to the stunning Ming Dynasty ruins outside Beijing from which lonely guards far from home once kept a weary watch over the barbarian lands beyond.

Your guide will return you to your hotel at the end of the day (around 5:00 pm).

Meals: B, L, D
Hotel: The Peninsula Beijing

The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square

Step inside the Forbidden City, a massive imperial palace once home to China’s emperors and the geographic center of Beijing. The gates were shut to all but the royal household and their entourage of eunuchs and concubines for 600 years until, in 1924, a powerful warlord gave the last emperor just three hours to leave. Beyond the imposing red walls to the south lies Tiananmen Square, where, Chairman Mao, China’s most powerful ruler lies embalmed in a glass coffin within his own giant mausoleum.

Into the Hutongs: Home-visits and Cricket Prowess

Ask the residents of Beijing’s hutong alleyways, the crisscrossing mazes of courtyards and alleyways which make up the heart of the city, and they’ll tell you that anyone who lives further out isn’t really a Beijinger. You’ll see elders whiling away the night with a game of Chinese chess or mahjong, shopkeepers selling traditional snacks like jianbing (pancakes) and baozi (steamed buns), and hear calls announcing the arrival of the knife sharpener or cardboard collector. It is in these ancient neighborhoods where the capital’s distinct culture was generated and where it continues to thrive today.

Walking through the lanes, you’ll spend the afternoon stopping by the homes of some of the city’s more traditional residents, including the courtyard abode of a man who has won fame and fortune through the legendary prowess of his fighting crickets.

Rest assured that these crickets are treated with the utmost respect and care, more than any other insect we've ever encountered. They have their own special brushes, ginger-infused water in specially carved bowls, and even hand-widdled coffins for the very end. To say the cricket fighting culture is lesser-known would be an understatement, as only the most native of Beijingers have even heard of this underground culture.

Private Dinnertime Cooking Experience at Black Sesame Kitchen

Chinese cuisine is as much focused on techniques as it is on ingredients. Before you dive into a spread of Black Sesame Kitchen's staple dishes, you’ll learn the ins and outs of noodle pulling and dumpling folding. Then, enjoy the fruits (and dumplings) of your labor as you eat your dinner in the fresh air of the hutong courtyard.

Your guide will return you to your hotel at the end of the day (around 8:00 pm).

Meals: B, L, D
Hotel: Peninsula Beijing

This morning after breakfast, we'll take a high-speed train to Xi'an, the starting point of the Silk Road and home to the Terracotta Army.

Upon arriving in Xi'an, your local guide will meet you in the arrival hall with your private vehicle on standby to take you to your hotel.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Standing proudly beyond the city walls (and next to its smaller, younger 'sister', the Small Wild Goose Pagoda) is the handsome Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Reportedly modeled on the pagodas of India as seen by an 8th-century itinerant monk and created to house the Buddhist sutras brought back from the monk's travels, this huge structure is not only among the oldest in Xi’an but is an important symbol of a city whose architecture is heavily influenced by styles from as far afield as Beijing and Iran.

The Great Mosque

Islam first entered China more than a thousand years ago via the Silk Road, flourishing around the Great Mosque in the heart of the Xi’an’s thriving Muslim Quarter. Entering the elegant grounds at sunset, you might mistake the undulating roofs and colonnaded halls for a Chinese temple until the evening call to prayer confirms that this is instead a potent fusion of Chinese and Islamic culture.

The Muslim Quarter

As Islam flowed along the Silk Road into China 1,300 years ago, its faithful followers, both locals and foreigners alike, settled in a busy commercial area of the capital, Chang’an. After centuries of prosperity, the very same Muslim Quarter is still one of the most bustling areas of modern-day Xi’an, and a sensory feast of neon signs, exotic spices, and mouthwatering barbecued fare.

Art You Can Eat: Dumpling Dinner

Xi’an claims to be the birthplace of Chinese dumplings. Whether or not that’s true, local chefs have elevated the humble staple to the most sophisticated culinary heights. Head to Xi’an’s most popular dumpling joint, where these little bundles of joy filled with ground meat and vegetables are crafted into hand-pinched dough parcels of all shapes and sizes, from walnuts to roses.

Your guide will return you to your hotel at the end of the day (around 8:00 pm).

Meals: B, D
Hotel: Sofitel Legend People's Grand Hotel Xi'an

In 1974, while digging a well in the vast countryside outside of Xi’an, a group of farmers made a legendary discovery. They struck a chamber containing 8,000 soldiers belonging to China’s fearsome first emperor, a terracotta army buried beneath the earth to guard his tomb for eternity. Less than an hour outside the city, you’ll spend two hours coming face-to-face with row upon row of these ancient guardians, an experience no trip to China is complete without.

A Calligraphy Class at the Stele Forest

The delicate flicks and strokes of Chinese characters make up the oldest continuously used written language in the world. The Stele Forest in Xi’an is a serene museum named for its large collection of standing stone tablets, inscribed with everything from classical literature to imperial decrees and whose carvings visually portray the evolving story of Chinese writing. After exploring the Stele Forest, test out your own calligraphy skills in a one-hour class with a local master.

Traverse Xi’an’s Ancient City Wall

Ascending to an imperious height of 12 meters, the only way in or out of downtown Xi’an is to pass through cavernous openings in the oldest, largest, and best-preserved city wall in China. Without a doubt, the best way to experience the fortifications is by walking on top of them. Keep your head on a swivel while making the circuit, taking full advantage of the commanding views of the ancient city within and the modern metropolis outside.

Your guide will return you to your hotel at the end of the day (around 5:00 pm).

Meals: B, L, D
Hotel: Sofitel Legend People's Grand Hotel Xi'an

This morning, we'll fly to Lijiang, a mountain village seemingly frozen in time.

Your guide and private chauffeur will escort you to the airport and help you check in to your flight. Upon arriving in Lijiang, your local guide will meet you in the arrival hall with your private vehicle on standby to take you to your hotel.

Next Stop: Lijiang

The city of Lijiang lies in the shadow of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and has entranced visitors for centuries with its singular architecture, quaint bridges, and narrow canals. Although Lijiang has transformed from its quaint roots into a tourist hub, there are still quieter side lanes to explore that hold encounters with Lijiang’s Naxi residents, who, like their ancestors, depend on the mountain water that flows through the town’s canals. Classified as a World Heritage Site in 1997, Lijiang is a charming home base for accessing Yunnan’s authentic and lesser-known communities.

Baisha Village

Located just north of Lijiang, Baisha is a Naxi village built of stone and wood at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Fewer travelers opt to stop in on their way to the mountain or on their cycle tour of the countryside, and so the village remains much as it was a century ago. Wares are sold from wooden carts along narrow streets and foot traffic makes way for cows being driven up the road.

Yuhu Village

A 30-minute drive from the center of Lijiang, Yuhu Village is a small community at the base of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. There, we’ll visit the home of Joseph Rock, famed Austrian-American botanist, explorer, and chronicler of the Naxi people. Yuhu’s stone buildings represent a unique architectural style, their windows overlooking pristine alpine meadows, summits rising in the distance.

Your guide will return you to your hotel at the end of the day (around 5:00 pm).

Meals: B, L, D
Hotel: LUX Lijiang

Your guide will meet you in the lobby of your hotel at 9:00 am to start the day.

Hike Through Wenhai Valley

A visit to Yuhu Village will bring you right up to the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, its stone buildings seemingly tucked into the mountainside. Explore the streets for an hour before hiking out. Three hours of climbing later, look back over Wenhai Valley, framed by mountains with flowers in bloom, Lijiang far in the distance.

Discussion With a Yi Village Shaman

Though rapid economic development, as well as the spread of mass media can be a positive change for some, it also puts the traditions and languages of China’s ethnic minority cultures at risk for extinction. As the elders pass away, so do the traditions. Therefore, visiting this delightful village in the Jade Snow Mountain Range whose families preserve the ways of their forebears, grants a fleeting encounter with not only the culture but the living history of the Yi people.

The village Shaman, or Bimo, will welcome us to his village and share his perspective on local life, the challenges posed by development and his animist faith, a religion that predates the arrival of Buddhism in China. The Bimo is a sacred hereditary office held by one family over centuries. The incumbent is a well-respected scholar who mediates tribal disputes and presides over Yi ceremonies.

Your guide will return you to your hotel at the end of the day (around 5:00 pm).

Meals: B, L, D
Hotel: LUX Lijiang

This morning after breakfast, your guide and private chauffeur will escort you to the airport and help you check in to your flight. Upon arriving in Beijing, your local guide will meet you in the arrival hall with your private vehicle on standby to take you to your hotel.

Afternoon at Leisure

It's been a big trip - so use this afternoon to relax! Go shopping, get a massage, today is yours to do with as you please.

Meals: B
Hotel: Rosewood Beijing

It's departure day, and we're bummed. But we've had such an amazing time exploring beautiful and diverse corners of China, and we know you're leaving with memories to last a lifetime.

After breakfast, your guide will escort you to the airport and help you check in for your flight home.

Meals: B
Hotel: --