Family Kung Fu and Kicks

Step off the plane in Beijing and meet your local guide in the airport arrivals hall • Explore the Forbidden City, a 600-year-old imperial palace once exclusive to royalty • Hike Jingshan for commanding views over its crimson courtyards • Discover Beijing’s hidden cricket culture in ancient hutongs, an almost-forgotten ritual even lifelong locals seldom witness • Savor Peking duck: watch lacquer-crisp skin crack like caramel, then cradle imperial perfection in whisper-thin pancakes • Conquer a two-hour Great Wall hike along ramparts that defended China’s northern frontier • Return to the city to watch either Beijing’s acrobatic show or a kung fu performance • Master ancient taiji amid the Temple of Heaven’s imperial grandeur before departing Beijing.

Enjoy a ride on the bullet train to Luoyang • Visit legendary Shaolin Temple to learn kung fu alongside student monks • Unwind at your hotel or explore Luoyang at your leisure in the evening • Wander among towering stone Buddhas at the awe-inspiring Longmen Grottoes • Visit White Horse Temple, China’s first Buddhist temple, where ancient spirituality still resonates.

Travel at high speed on the bullet train to Xi’an • Marvel at 8,000 life-sized Terracotta Warriors standing guard for China’s first emperor over 2,200 years • Cycle atop Xi’an’s ancient city wall and enjoy a commanding view of the old city • Follow the scent of cumin and grilled lamb through Xi’an’s vibrant Muslim Quarter, where Silk Road flavors have thrived for 1,300 years • Experience Xi’an with more than just your eyes by sampling some of Xi’an’s famous dumplings at a renowned local restaurant • Admire Xi’an’s iconic Big and Small Wild Goose Pagodas blending Indian, Persian, and Chinese influences • Contrast the Qin Dynasty’s militarism at the Hanyang Tombs before your airport transfer.

Fly to Lijiang • Visit Joseph Rock’s former home in Yuhu Village, where Naxi stone houses face Jade Dragon Snow Mountain’s alpine meadows • Explore the Naxi’s sacred Dongba script at the Dongba Culture Museum, then learn this living art firsthand from a priest, one of its last guardians • Watch Baisha’s coppersmiths at work in this timeless Naxi village where few travelers opt to stop.

En route to Dali, stop in the historical market town of Shaxi, once a hub of the Tea Horse Road • Trek among 1,300-year-old Buddhist carvings at Shibaoshan Grottoes, discovering cliffside temples where Mahayana devotion meets mountain wilderness • Meet Shizhong’s Folk Music King as villagers bring Bai culture to life through unrestrained song and dance • Stroll Xizhou’s lakeside lanes to admire ornate Bai architecture and savor the famed “Xizhou pizza” • Learn to craft Xizhou’s stretchy, golden rushan cheese and taste your creation • Sip three symbolic teas—bitter, sour, sweet—in a ritual clay pot ceremony that mirrors life’s journey from hardship to joy • Climb up Cangshan Mountain past waterfalls and hidden temples, where 3,500m peaks frame Dali and Erhai like a painted scroll • Dip, twist, and bind fabric in Zhoucheng’s indigo vats, where Bai artisans turn simple cotton into living blue artworks using methods unchanged for centuries.

Fly to Shanghai. Upon arrival, your local English-speaking guide will welcome you at the arrivals hall and transfer you to your hotel • Join Shanghai’s morning rhythm in Fuxing Park with ballroom dancers and amateur choirs group • Amble down the elegant tree-lined streets of the French Concession that housed Shanghai’s 20th-century revolutionaries, artists, and occupiers • Dine in Xintiandi’s restored shikumen houses • Wander the maze of pavilions and arched bridges of Yu Garden, the most celebrated classical garden in Shanghai • Take in Shanghai’s famous skyline from the bund • Your guide will escort you to Pudong Airport at 430 km/h aboard Shanghai’s Maglev and help you check in with your flight home.