China Golden Triangle & Chengdu

Arrive in Beijing, where your private driver and guide will meet you and transfer you to the hotel. The first day is designed to be gentle, allowing time to settle in and adjust to the rhythm of the journey.
In the late afternoon, begin with Wangfujing Street, one of Beijing’s best-known urban spaces. Rather than treating it only as a shopping street, we read it as a first glimpse into the capital’s public life, taste, movement, and everyday urban energy.
Dinner is included, offering a relaxed opening to this 12-day cultural journey.
Overnight: Beijing
Hotel: The Peninsula Beijing or similar

Begin the day with the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Set against mountain ridges and open sky, the Wall introduces the scale, strategy, and symbolic power of ancient China.
Return to Beijing and continue to the Temple of Heaven, where emperors once performed rituals for harmony between heaven, earth, and human order. This visit helps guests understand that imperial China was not only about palaces and power, but also cosmology, ritual, and seasonal order.
The day includes a gentle Tai Chi experience and a relaxing foot massage, offering a softer entry into Chinese body culture. Dinner features Peking duck, one of Beijing’s most iconic dining traditions.
Overnight: Beijing
Hotel: The Peninsula Beijing or similar

Spend the day exploring Beijing’s imperial and local layers.
Visit Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and Jingshan Park, reading the city through axis, hierarchy, palace architecture, and views over the old capital. Continue to the Summer Palace, where imperial leisure, garden design, water, and landscape aesthetics come together.
Later, enter Beijing’s hutong neighborhoods by tricycle or slow walk. Here, the journey shifts from imperial scale to human scale: courtyards, alleyways, neighborhood life, and the intimate social structure of old Beijing.
Lunch is included.
Overnight: Beijing
Hotel: The Peninsula Beijing or similar

Transfer to the railway station and take the high-speed train to Nanjing.
Upon arrival, visit the Mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen, located in the scenic Zhongshan area. Nanjing introduces a different chapter of Chinese history: dynastic memory, republican ideals, mountain landscapes, and the political imagination of modern China.
Continue to Linggu Temple, where forest, temple space, and historical atmosphere create a quiet transition from Beijing’s imperial order to Jiangnan’s softer cultural landscape.
Enjoy free time before checking in.
Overnight: Nanjing
Hotel: The Ritz-Carlton, Nanjing or similar

Depart Nanjing for Suzhou, one of China’s most elegant classical garden cities.
Visit the Humble Administrator’s Garden, where architecture, water, plants, rocks, poetry, and spatial rhythm reveal the refined aesthetics of Jiangnan scholar culture. After lunch, continue to Tongli, a historic water town known for canals, bridges, old residences, and riverside daily life.
A scenic boat ride offers a slower way to experience the relationship between water, settlement, and memory in Jiangnan.
Arrive in Shanghai in the late afternoon.
Overnight: Shanghai
Hotel: The Peninsula Shanghai or similar

Begin in Pudong, where Shanghai’s skyline reveals the speed and ambition of modern China. Cross the Huangpu River by ferry, experiencing the city from the water before entering its older urban layers.
Visit Yu Garden and enjoy a tea experience, where garden aesthetics, merchant history, and everyday ritual meet. Continue through Xintiandi, Tianzifang, and the Bund, reading Shanghai through architecture, colonial history, local lanes, design, and contemporary lifestyle.
Lunch is included. The late afternoon allows free time to explore the city at your own pace.
Overnight: Shanghai
Hotel: The Peninsula Shanghai or similar

Transfer to the railway station and travel by high-speed train to Luoyang.
After lunch, visit the Longmen Grottoes, one of China’s most important Buddhist cave sites. Here, stone carving, river landscape, Buddhist devotion, imperial patronage, and artistic transformation come together across centuries.
A short boat experience or riverside viewing can be arranged according to timing and conditions, allowing guests to understand the grottoes not only as carved caves, but as a landscape of faith along water.
Later, take a walk through Luoyang’s old city area.
Overnight: Luoyang
Hotel: Luoyang Marriott Hotel or similar

Begin with White Horse Temple, often associated with the early arrival of Buddhism in China. The visit offers a bridge between India, Central Asia, and ancient China, helping guests understand how belief, translation, and cultural exchange shaped Chinese civilization.
Continue toward Sanmenxia along the Yellow River region. Depending on final timing and site arrangements, the day may include selected cultural stops related to regional history and river civilization.
After lunch, continue to Xi’an and arrive in the late afternoon.
Overnight: Xi’an
Hotel: Sofitel Legend People’s Grand Hotel Xi’an or similar

Visit the Terracotta Army, one of the most powerful archaeological encounters in China. Rather than approaching it only as a famous attraction, we read it as a world of state power, craftsmanship, death, protection, and the imagination of empire.
Return to Xi’an and explore the old city’s cultural layers: the Wild Goose Pagoda, Muslim Quarter, Great Mosque, and Drum Tower area. Here, Xi’an reveals itself not only as an ancient capital, but also as a city shaped by Silk Road exchange, religious diversity, and living street culture.
Overnight: Xi’an
Hotel: Sofitel Legend People’s Grand Hotel Xi’an or similar

Take the high-speed train to Chengdu.
After arrival, visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, one of the city’s most beloved introductions to Sichuan’s natural identity. Continue into People’s Park, where teahouses, mahjong, local conversation, and everyday leisure reveal the relaxed rhythm of Chengdu life.
In the afternoon or evening, experience a local market and Sichuan cooking session. Guests walk through a neighborhood market, learn about common Sichuan ingredients and seasonings, and then join a hands-on cooking experience or family-style meal. This is designed as an entry into Chengdu through taste, daily life, and the warmth of the local table.
Overnight: Chengdu
Hotel: Yijian 6500 hotel Chengdu or similar

Take a full-day excursion into western Sichuan.
Begin at Dujiangyan, the ancient irrigation system that has shaped the Chengdu Plain for over two thousand years. This visit introduces the intelligence of water management, agricultural civilization, and the relationship between landscape and society.
Continue to Qingcheng Mountain, one of China’s important Taoist mountains. The atmosphere here is quieter and greener, offering a different way to experience Chinese spirituality through mountain paths, temple spaces, and the idea of cultivation.
After returning to Chengdu, the day can close with one selected WAYON cultural experience, depending on group interest and final scheduling:
Option A: Thangka Private Sharing
A guided introduction to Tibetan Buddhist art, symbolism, patience, and devotion, suitable for guests interested in belief, visual culture, and western China.
Option B: Shu Embroidery Experience
A hands-on or appreciation-based session introducing one of Sichuan’s most refined craft traditions, connecting silk, color, technique, and local aesthetics.
Overnight: Chengdu
Hotel: Yijian 6500 hotel Chengdu or similar

After breakfast, the journey comes to an end.
Depending on departure time, guests may enjoy a slow morning in Chengdu, revisit a teahouse, or arrange a short final walk before private airport transfer.
This final day is designed to leave space — allowing the journey to settle before returning home.