Heart of China – A Journey Into Timeless Civilisation

Eleven days from Chengdu's pandas to the sandstone towers of Zhangjiajie: sacred Mount Emei, the Leshan Giant Buddha seen from the river, the hill city of Chongqing and a night in lantern-lit Fenghuang along the way.

11 Days • from A$3,299 per person (AUD) • including return flights from major Australian cities

Tour Highlights

  • Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where you watch pandas of every age from paths that thread between the bamboo
  • Kuanzhai Alley, Qing-era courtyards in the middle of Chengdu, now holding cafés, small galleries and boutiques
  • Baoguo Temple at the foot of Mount Emei, the gateway where pilgrims begin the climb to one of China's four holy Buddhist peaks
  • The Leshan Giant Buddha seen from the river: 71 metres of Maitreya cut from the sandstone cliff, started in AD 713, finished in 803
  • Liziba Monorail in Chongqing, where the track runs through the middle of an apartment block that people still live in
  • Hongya Cave lit up at night, its timber-framed stilt buildings stacked over the water with shops and restaurants on every level
  • An overnight in Fenghuang Ancient Town, its wooden riverside houses and stone lanes reflected in the Tuojiang after dark
  • Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, where quartzite columns stand through the valley in their thousands inside the UNESCO-listed Wulingyuan landscape

Itinerary at a Glance

  1. Day 1: Departure day: Australia or New Zealand to Chengdu — The journey opens with your international flight to Chengdu, the easy-going capital of Sichuan, with meals served on board. Our representative meets you in the arrivals hall and drives you to the hote
  2. Day 2: Chengdu: pandas and Kuanzhai Alley — Breakfast, then out to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where bamboo groves and quiet garden paths lead between the enclosures. The animals are the ones China treats as a national tr
  3. Day 3: Chengdu to Mount Emei — Leave the city for the green foothills of Mount Emei, the tallest of China's four holy Buddhist peaks. Baoguo Temple stands where the pilgrim path begins, and its halls and shaded courtyards make a ca
  4. Day 4: The Leshan Giant Buddha by boat, then on to Chongqing — Travel to Leshan, where a river boat brings you out level with the Giant Buddha: 71 metres of Maitreya carved into the cliff above the meeting of three rivers, started in AD 713 and finished in 803. S
  5. Day 5: A day in Chongqing — A day in one of China's most dramatic urban landscapes. It starts outside the Great Hall of the People, then comes Liziba, where the monorail line runs straight through the middle of an apartment bloc
  6. Day 6: Chongqing to Fenghuang Ancient Town by rail — Board a train heading into western Hunan, with a road transfer for the last stretch into Fenghuang Ancient Town (rail routing confirmed before departure). Wooden houses on stilts lean over the Tuojian
  7. Day 7: Fenghuang to Zhangjiajie by high-speed train — A relaxed morning with time for the riverside streets and a last look at the old town before the transfer to Fenghuanggucheng Railway Station and the high-speed run to Zhangjiajie West (train service
  8. Day 8: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park — The whole day belongs to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, established in 1982 as the first of its kind in China and now the centrepiece of the UNESCO-listed Wulingyuan landscape. Quartzite columns st
  9. Day 9: Zhangjiajie to Changsha — After breakfast the road runs east to Changsha, Hunan's energetic provincial capital on the Xiang River. Depending on the day's timing there is an orientation look at the city or free time among its r
  10. Day 10: Flying home from Changsha — You are driven to Changsha airport for the flight home to Australia or New Zealand, with connections as required. Rooms remain yours until noon, and the front desk will hold your bags if you are leavi
  11. Day 11: Arriving home — Home again, after eleven days that ran from Chengdu's pandas through mountain temples and a lantern-lit river town to the sandstone towers of Zhangjiajie.

What's Included

  • International return flights, economy class, with a full-service carrier
  • Nine nights in comfortable hotels, with final properties confirmed before sale
  • Chengdu: hotel to be confirmed (comparable standard)
  • Emeishan: Hua Sheng Hotel (comparable standard)
  • Chongqing: Winterless Hotel (comparable standard)
  • Fenghuang: hotel to be confirmed (comparable standard)
  • Zhangjiajie: Best Western Plus (comparable standard)
  • Changsha: Ramada Plaza (comparable standard)
  • Breakfast every day
  • Lunch in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, subject to supplier confirmation
  • Air-conditioned private vehicles for road travel
  • High-speed rail from Chongqing towards Fenghuang, and from Fenghuanggucheng to Zhangjiajie West, with station transfers (services confirmed before departure)
  • Airport transfers both ways