Golden Triangle: Beijing, Xi'an & Shanghai — 9 Days

Arrive in Beijing and transfer to your hotel. The rest of the day is free for you to rest after your flight and begin acclimatising to the city at your own pace.

Begin at the Forbidden City, the Ming- and Qing-dynasty palace enclosure that housed twenty-four emperors behind its vermilion walls. Cross to Jingshan Park for a panorama over the rooftops, then travel to the Summer Palace, the Qing imperial retreat built around Kunming Lake. Your guide explains the layout of the courtyards and the role the sites played in court life.

Drive north to the Great Wall at Mutianyu, a Ming-dynasty stretch restored with watchtowers and fewer crowds than other sections. Walk the ramparts and take in the ridge-line views before returning to the city for a photo stop at the Bird's Nest (exterior), the stadium built for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Spend the morning at the Temple of Heaven, where Ming and Qing emperors performed the annual rites of prayer for a good harvest within its circular, sky-bound halls. Later stroll Shichahai's lakeside lanes and the adjacent hutong, then walk Qianmen Street, a historic commercial thoroughfare rebuilt in traditional style.

Take the bullet train west to Xi'an. On arrival, visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a Buddhist tower erected in 652 by the monk Xuanzang to house scriptures brought from India, and in the evening walk Tang Paradise Never Night City, a pedestrian district lit to evoke the Tang dynasty's cosmopolitan capital.

Tour the Terracotta Army, the buried guard of China's first unifier, Emperor Qin Shi Huang, whose life-size figures were discovered in 1974. Return to the city to walk the Ming-dynasty City Wall, among the most complete in China, and finish in the Muslim Quarter, where Hui communities have traded and cooked for centuries.

Fly east to Shanghai and transfer to your hotel. The remainder of the day is free for you to rest or explore the neighbourhood at your leisure.

Visit Yu Garden, a walled Ming-dynasty merchant garden of rockeries and pavilions, then browse Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street and the tree-lined former French Concession. Continue to Tianzifang's lane-shop warren and end on the Bund, the riverfront of colonial-era buildings, with an evening Huangpu River night cruise.

Transfer to the airport for your departure flight. Your guide sees you off after a final look at the city you have come to know over the past nine days.