
Foreword:
This route is provided by chinaodysseytours.com, a travel agency based in China . Here I included the details of the route, for anyone who wants to go on a COT tours.
China Odyssey Tours provides hundreds of elaborately pre-designed China tour packages, and provides customized travel service that is organized according to your specific needs and requirements.
Introduction:
Day 1
Accommodations: Jianguo Garden Hotel 4 Star
Transfer via: International Flight on your own arrangement
Upon your arrival at Beijing airport, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free at your own leisure.
Day 2
Accommodations: Jianguo Garden Hotel 4 Star Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Tiananmen Square,Forbidden City, Summer Palace
Gala Event: Peking Opera Show
We first visit the historic Tiananmen Square, and then the magnificent Forbidden City . In the afternoon, we marvel at the exquisite Summer Palace . Enjoy the Peking Opera Show in the evening.
- Tiananmen Square: the largest city square in the world and the spiritual heart of China , where the national flag is raised exactly at sunrise everyday.
- Forbidden City: located in the center of Beijing , used to be the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties with a history of around 600 years, it is the grandest integral palace complex still remaining in China .
- Summer Palace : Located on the northwestern outskirts of the city, it was an imperial summer resort of the Qing Dynasty. With its perfect layout, magnificent buildings and enchanting landscape, it is the most splendid classical garden in China .
- Peking Opera Show: a kind of singing drama which is an ingenious and colorful combination of elements from many sources: traditional music, poetry, singing, recitation, dancing, acrobatics, and martial arts.
Day 3
Accommodations: Jianguo Garden Hotel 4 Star Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Great Wall,Ding Tomb,Sacred Road
Special Dinner: Peking Duck Dinner
Today's full-day excursion take us to the majestic Great Wall, Ming Tomb and Sacred road. Enjoy a famous Peking Duck Banquet for dinner.
- Great Wall: the most famous symbol of China and one of the world's most remarkable architectural wonders, it was built over 2,000 years ago and stretching about 6,700km .
- Ding Tomb: the burial site of the emperor Wanli, the 13th emperor of the Ming Dynasty who ruled for 48 years until his death in 1620, it is the only underground tomb of the thirteen Imperial Ming tombs ever excavated.
- Sacred Road: the path lined with stone statues of animals, mystical beasts and officials who are supposed to serve the emperor in his afterlife, through which the sitting emperors would go to perform memorial rituals for the ancestors once a year.
- Peking Duck Dinner: Peking Roast Duck is regarded as one of the most delicious dishes throughout the world. A Peking Duck Dinner is usually a fixed item on any Beijing tour itinerary. At time-honored restaurants such as Quan Ju De, you can savor the mouth-watering traditional Beijing specialty, and at the same time the chefs will show you how they cuts the meat into exactly 108 slices from one duck, each having a piece of skin.
Day 4
Accommodations: On the Cruise 5 Star ship Meals: B,L
Sightseeing: Temple of Heaven
After breakfast, you will visit Beijing 's splendid Temple of Heaven . And then take the afternoon flight to Chongqing . Upon your arrival, our local guide will meet you and escort you to embark the ship. Departs Chongqing at 21:00.
- Temple of Heaven : the place which was visited yearly by the emperors who performed intricate rituals to insure a good harvest for the whole nation at ancient times.
Day 5
Accommodations: On the Cruise 5 Star ship Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Shibaozhai
Shore excursion to Shibaozhai this morning.
- Shibaozhai: a gem of Chinese architecture, literally means Stone Treasure Fortress in English. It is a 12-storey red wood tower which was first built in Qing Dynasty with a history of 300 years. It was built against a rectangular rock with sheer cliffs on the river bank, 56 meters high, on the top of which you can enjoy a panoramic view of the rapid river and the surrounding countryside.
Day 6
Accommodations: On the Cruise 5 star ship Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Lesser Three Gorges
- Lesser Three Gorges: indicating three separate valleys along the Daning River , the chief tributary of the Yangtze River , they are called "Dragon-Gate Gorge", "Misty Gorge" and "Dicui (Emerald) Gorge" respectively. You can take a small boat to enjoy the spectacular views and experience a water-borne sensation you have never had before when the natural scenic wonders unfold in front of you with clear water flowing fast through the gorges, sheer cliffs and steep mountains rising on either side to create one fine art gallery.
Day 7
Accommodations: Holiday Inn Shanghai -Downtown 4 Star Meals: B,L
Transfer via: China domestic flight on our arrangement
Shore excursion to Three Gorges Dam site this morning. After lunch, you will disembark the ship in Yichang at 13:00. Upon your arrival, our guide will meet you and help you transfer to the airport for your flight to Shanghai . Our guide in Shanghai will meet you and escort you to the hotel.
Day 8
Accommodations: Holiday Inn Shanghai -Downtown 4 Star Meals: B,L,D
Sightseeing: Shanghai Museum,The Bund ,Nanjing Road,Yu Garden,Yuyuan Market
Gala Event: Acrobatic Show
Today, your full-day excursion of incredible Shanghai will include: Shanghai Museum , the Bund and the Nanjing Road , Yu Garden and Yuyuan Market. Enjoy a wonderful Acrobatic Show tonight.
- Shanghai Museum : often ranked as China 's best museum, it is the biggest museum in China with a fine collection of over 120,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts.
- The Bund : where the great trading houses and banks had their headquarters in 1920s and 1930s, about a mile long, it is the city's fulcrum.
- Nanjing Road: known as " China 's No.1 Shopping Street " with a huge of merchandise on sale.
- Yu Garden : located in the Old Town of Shanghai and laid out in 1559 AD by a powerful Ming official, Yu Garden recreates a beautiful landscape of pagodas, pavilions, rockeries, fountains, ancient trees and precious flowers.
- Yuyuan Market: outside the Yu Garden, a bustling market with different snacks and trinkets.
- Acrobatic Show: Chinese Acrobatics is one of the oldest performing arts with its history tracing back to Neolithic times, during its development in the history, it has been absorbing plentiful merits from the opera, dance and Chinese Kungfu, and formed its own artistic features. In Portman Acrobatic Show, in a very typical Shanghainese setting and atmosphere, you will enjoy many breathtaking and stunning programs such as Calvaria Skills, Silk Suspending, Hoop Diving and so on performed by very skillful performers, you will truly have an unforgettable experience of your life.
Day 9
Meals: B
Transfer via: International Flight on our own arrangement
Free in the day until local guide escorts to the airport for your flight back to your sweet home.