12 Days China Tibet Travel with Golden Cities

Day 1

Today's Activities: Arrive in Beijing, Airport-hotel transfer

Day 2

Today's Activities: Beijing
Tiananmen Square (50 minutes):

As the largest square all over the world, Tiananmen Square was also a remarkable place of several key events in the history of China, esp, in Chinese modern history, giving the Square more cultural significance. Near the Square, there are governments buildings, Forbidden City, Heavenly Gate, museums and mausoleum.

The Forbidden City, situated at the heart of Beijing City, is most prosperous between 1420 and 1911 during Chinese feudal society, as it is home to 24 emperors. It is precious wealth to China as well as the whole world for the great halls, gates and squares along with the intricate networks of side courtyards, gardens, halls and quarters. As for tour, it is not a single point, Wangfujing Street, Tiananmen Square and Shijingshan Park are not far away.

Temple of Heaven, located in the southeastern part of Beijing City, is a complex of buildings in Taoist style. During Ming and Qing dynasties, it was a place for emperors hosting annual ceremonies praying for good harvest.

Day 3

Today's Activities: Beijing
Mutianyu Great Wall (4 hours):

Mutianyu Great Wall, about only 2.5-hour drive from the heart of Beijing City, is a place with fewer tourists but also boasting wonderful scenery. Optional cable cars are available, and from where it is also convenient to Badaling Great Wall by bus.

Ding Mausoleum, the mausoleum of Emperor Zhu Yijun, the 13th emperor of Ming Dynasty and his empresses. It is about 27-meter deep, featured by the Stone Bridge, Soul Tower, Baocheng and the stone-made Underground Palace.

Beijing Roast Duck is not unfamiliar for quite a number of foreign friends, it is accredited as one of the most delicious food in Beijing. Among various flavors of Beijing roast duck, those in Quanjude are particularly famous. As a time-honored restaurant with their own special technique and flavor in making roast ducks, Quanjude can provide you most outstanding quality and unforgettable flavor. The largest restaurant of Quanjude is at Gate of Peace, you can go there for a visit and feast your eyes and stomach.

Beijing Opera is a kind of art mixing dance, music, opera, literature together, displaying a complete view of the local art and folklore, as a must-see in Beijing now.

Day 4

Today's Activities: Beijing to Lhasa, Flight to Lhasa

Day 5

Today's Activities: Lhasa
Potala Palace (1 hour):

Situated on Mountain Maburi (Red Mountain) in Lhasa of Tibet, the Potala Palace is an ancient Tibetan palace complex with a height of 110 meters. The whole traditional Tibetan style building consists of the White Palace in the east which Dalai Lama lives in and the Red Palace in the middle containing the Dalai Lama Stupa Temple and the Buddha Temple.

Located in central Lhasa in Tibet and surrounded by Barkhor Street, Lhasa Jokhang Temple is the ultimate pilgrimage destination for Tibetan Pilgrims. With an area of 25,100 square meters, Jokhang Temple is filled with palmers and tourists. Compared with Potala Palace, the Jokhang Temple is smaller while more manageable. The temple itself is a 4-storey and golden-roofed temple.

Situated in the heart of Lhasa encircling the Jokhang Temple, the Barkhor Street is definitly the right place to watch the palmers gathering from different parts of Tibet, doing prostration every 9 steps, or circling deasil around Jokhang Temple, joining the tourists to shop for local products at the colorful stalls, or having a relax in a coffe shop or tea housing to enjoy the show of every passerby, or expacting a date by sitting down against the lover wall?

Day 6

Today's Activities: Lhasa
Norbulingka (2.5 hours):

Situated in the western suburb of Lhasa city of Tibet, Norbulingka it the biggest man-made garden in Tibet Autonomous Region. The garden covers an area of 360,000 square meters, with 374 rooms inside. The area used to be wasteland with wild animals, weeds and scrub which the Seventh Dalai Lama liked and often visited, thus, the Qing Magistrate had a palace built. Later, Kelsang Potrang was built by order ot the Severnth Dalai Lama. Now, it is a park opened to the public.

Situated in the southeast corner of Norbulingka of Lhasa of Tibet, the Tibet Museum is a wonderful combination of Chinese and Tibetan architectural styles. The museum is divided into two catalogues.The first catalogue includes two exhibition halls on the first floor, showing the splendid history of Tibet and its abundant natural resources, the other catalogue is on the second floor with five small exhibitions halls displaying the Tibetan religion, folk custom, treasures, and arts and crafts with a rich collection of prehistoric cultural relics including Buddha statues in different postures, imperial jade seals, gold albums, gifts granted by emperors, colorful tangkas, and various printed Sanskrit and Tibetan scriptures.

Situated in the northern suburb of Lhasa of Tibet, the Sera Monastery is a traditional Tibetan temple complex of Great Assembly Hall, three colleges and four structures. Some say the "Sera" means wild rose in Tibetan and the monastery was surrounded by wild roses, hence the name. The Sera Monastery was constructed in 1419 by Jamchen Chojey of Sakya Yeshe of Zel Gungtang(1355-1435), a disciple of Tsongkhapa.

Day 7

Today's Activities: Lhasa to Xian, Flight to Xian

Day 8

Today's Activities: Xian
Shaanxi Historical Museum (2 hours):

Located to the northwest of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda of Xian City, Shaanxi Historical Museum is one of the first huge state museums with modern facilities in China, which was built between 1983 and 2001. It exhibits over 300,000 items including murals, paintings, pottery, coins and bronze, gold, silver objects.  It appearance imitates the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty.

Situated in southern suburb of Xian of Shaanxi province, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Giant Wild Goose Pagoda or Dayan Pagoda) is a holy Buddhist pagoda, which was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty. It had five stories originally, and the exterior brick facade was renovated during the Ming Dynasty. Besides, it was used to hold sutras and figurines of Buddha that were bought to China from India by the Buddhist translator and traveler Xuanzang.

Located near the Drum Tower on 30 Huajue Lane of Xian of Shaanxi Province, the Xian Great Mosque is the oldest and one of the most renowned mosques in China, which was built in 742 and renovated in Ming Dynasty and other dynasties. Currently, it is still a popular place of worship of Chinese Muslims (mainly the Hui people). The Great Mosque of Xian is completely Chinese in its construction and architectural style, except for some Arabic lettering and decorations.

Day 9

Today's Activities: Xian to Shanghai, Flight to Shanghai
Xian City Wall (50 minutes):

Constructed originally in the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Xian City wall is not only the most complete city wall that has survived in China, but also one of the largest and most complete ancient military systems of defense in the world. However, as time goes, many sections have been destroyed, only 14 km of wall survived.

Day 10

Today's Activities: Shanghai
Yuyuan Garden (1.5 hours):

Situated in the Anren Street of the center of the Old Shanghai city next to the Chenghuangmiao(Town God's Temple) area of Shanghai, the Yuyuan Garden is considered one of the most lavish and finest Chinese gardens in the region. With an area of about 20,000 square meers, Yuyuan Garden was built in 1,577 by a government officer named Pan Yunduan for his parents. tourists could access the Yuyuan Garden from the nearby Yuyuan Garden station on the Shanghai Metro Line 10.

Shanghai Museum, situated in the People's Square of Huangpu District, constructed in 1,952, is a museum featured by its ancient Chinese art collections. The original site of the museum was in the Former Shanghai Racecourse club house, moved to the Former Zhonghui Building in 1,600, and at last to People's Square.

Shanghai Nanjing Road--the busiest pedestrian streets in China, includes two sections: Nanjing Road West and Nanjing Road East, beginning in the east at the Bund and ending at the junction of Yan'an West Street and Jing'an Temple in the west.

The area of the Bund centres on a section of Zhongshan Road (East-1 Zhongshan Road) within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District. Usually, the Bund refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road, as well as some adjacent areas. There are 26 buildings in diverse architectural styles, such as Baroque, Gothic, Classicism, Romanesque and the Renaissance etc. It is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai.

The Huangpu River is the longest river passing through the whole city of Shanghai and divides Shanghai into two parts, the pudong district in the east and Puxi district in the west. On its western shore, the colonial landmarks of the Bund serve as a reminder of Shanghai's 19 century struggle to reclaim a waterfront from the bogs of this river. On the eastern shore, the steel and glass skyscrapers of the Pudong New Area point to a burgeoning financial empire of the future.

Day 11

Today's Activities: Shanghai Free Day

Day 12

Today's Activities: Depart Shanghai, Hotel-airport transfer