Legends of China: Warriors Through Time

Thirteen days from Shanghai's skyline to the Great Wall by high-speed rail: Suzhou's gardens, Wuxi on Lake Tai, a new stop in Nanjing, Xi'an's buried army and imperial Beijing.

13 Days • from A$2,999 per person (AUD) • including return flights from major Australian cities

Tour Highlights

  • Thirteen days through six cities — Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing, Xi'an and Beijing — joined by high-speed rail
  • Shanghai History Museum, the Yu Garden precinct and the Bund, where 1920s bank facades face a wall of glass
  • Lingering Garden in Suzhou, one of the great classical gardens and a UNESCO World Heritage site, plus a boat ride on the Grand Canal
  • Lihu Park in Wuxi, where the city comes out to walk beside the water, and a visit to a freshwater pearl farm on the shores of Lake Tai
  • Nanjing, a former capital new to this itinerary: the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum precinct on Purple Mountain and the Confucius Temple quarter beside the Qinhuai River
  • The Terracotta Army outside Xi'an, still standing in the pits where it was found
  • Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, with Temple of Heaven standing in if tickets sell out
  • The Great Wall at Juyong Pass, the quieter stretch away from the coach crowds

Itinerary at a Glance

  1. Day 1: Australia and New Zealand to Shanghai — The trip opens with the overnight flight from Australia and New Zealand to Shanghai. Our team is waiting when you land, then drives you to your hotel; depending on the schedule, the rest of the day is
  2. Day 2: Shanghai's old streets and new horizons — The city introduces itself through contrasting neighbourhoods. Shanghai History Museum lays out the transformation from trading port to global metropolis, which makes everything that follows read diff
  3. Day 3: Shanghai to Suzhou: gardens and canals — Suzhou has been a trading city since 514 BC, and water has always been its working life — the canals carried silk, goods and people, and the city still gets compared with Venice because of it. The mor
  4. Day 4: Suzhou to Wuxi: lakeside China — Nearby Wuxi sits on the shores of Lake Tai, the great lake of the southern Jiangsu lowlands. Lihu Park is the morning's stop: waterside paths, landscaped gardens and the ordinary life of a city park,
  5. Day 5: Wuxi to Nanjing: stories of an ancient capital — The journey moves to Nanjing, one of China's great historic capitals and a new stop on this itinerary. The proposed visit is the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum precinct, set among the wooded slopes of Purple M
  6. Day 6: Nanjing to Xi'an across China by high-speed rail — Today is the long rail day: a high-speed train west for Xi'an, crossing the heartland of eastern and central China as the landscape changes from fertile plains to the loess country around the ancient
  7. Day 7: Xi'an's buried army and its horses — A slow start, then the drive to the pits. In three covered hangars, rank upon rank of life-size figures stand in battle order: infantrymen, archers, chariots and warhorses. Faces, hair and armour diff
  8. Day 8: Xi'an to Beijing, the imperial capital — Leave Xi'an by high-speed rail for Beijing, watching the country fold back into plains as the capital approaches. Our representative meets you at the station and transfers you to the hotel. The evenin
  9. Day 9: Tiananmen Square, then the Forbidden City with Temple of Heaven as backup — The day belongs to Beijing's ceremonial centre. Tiananmen Square opens it, a stretch of paving so wide that the buildings on the far side sit in haze, and the space around which modern Chinese public
  10. Day 10: The Great Wall and hutong life — Three things shape the day: the Wall, Peking Duck and old Beijing at walking pace. The coach leaves the city for Juyong Pass, the quieter, less rebuilt stretch of the Wall, where fortifications climb
  11. Day 11: A day to discover more in Beijing — The extra day this extended itinerary adds, spent well. The proposed visit is the Summer Palace, the Qing emperors' lakeside retreat, where Kunming Lake, the Long Corridor and the Marble Boat show imp
  12. Day 12: Beijing to Australia and New Zealand — Your flight home to Australia or to New Zealand leaves from Beijing, and the transfer is timed to suit it. Rooms stay yours until midday, and reception will hold your bags if your flight out is a late
  13. Day 13: Home again in Australia and New Zealand — Home again, and thirteen days of China behind you — vibrant cities, timeless gardens and some of the country's most significant historic sites.

What's Included

  • Return international flights in economy class with a full-service airline
  • Two long-distance legs on high-speed rail — Nanjing to Xi'an and Xi'an to Beijing (a domestic flight is used instead when rail seats are not available)
  • Eleven nights in four-star hotels across Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing, Xi'an and Beijing
  • Shanghai: the Courtyard by Marriott in Jiading (or a comparable property)
  • Suzhou: the Snowy Sea Hotel (a comparable property if it is full)
  • Wuxi: the Mingdu Hotel (or a comparable property)
  • Nanjing: hotel to be confirmed before departure
  • Xi'an: the Metropark Huanyu Hotel (a comparable property may be used instead)
  • Beijing: the Ramada Hotel North (a comparable property if it is full)
  • Breakfast each morning
  • A Peking duck lunch in Beijing
  • Dinner cooked in a hutong family home
  • Private vehicles with air conditioning throughout
  • Two long-distance rail journeys at high speed
  • Airport transfers at both ends of the trip