China Ultimate Adventure

The trip offers many un-missable attractions and activities included in the price. However, it has been designed to be flexible, so you can spend as much or as little time with the group as you want. During the free time we offer loads of optional activities. Any activities which aren’t included in the price have their price listed in brackets, if no price is listed then the activity is included for free.

Day 1: Meet the Group
Meet your guides and the rest of the group for a pre-departure briefing in a bar which overlooks Victoria Harbour and the magnificent Hong Kong skyline behind. Afterwards, wander down The Avenue of Stars whilst taking in views of an incredible show of lights and lasers from the skyscrapers on the other side of the bay.

Day 2: Depart from Hong Kong
In the morning begin with an optional hike up Victoria Peak to enjoy breakfast at the top with stunning views over the city and harbor below (10 CNY). The group then meets up again later in the day to board a night train (with fully flat beds) to Guilin. Once on board, have your first free mandarin lesson.

Day 3 – Day 6: Yangshuo (near Guilin)
After arriving in Guilin, take a bus to the village of Yangshuo, one of the most popular areas for backpackers in Southern China, nestled amongst stunning karst peaks and winding rivers. The first afternoon is spent easing into the chilled pace of life here on one of our free un-missable attractions, a bamboo rafting cruise down the Li river whilst the sun goes down over the karst peaks. Spend the following days hiking, biking and swimming by day, and soaking up the atmosphere in Yangshuo’s vibrant bars in the evening. The nights usually start with some ice-cold local beers on the roof top bar of our hostel, located in one of the most spectacular locations any bar in the world could boast! Optional activities in Yangshuo include walking to the back of a 2km cave to mud baths and hot springs (60CNY), a bike tour stopping at incredible view points and swimming spots (10CNY), sampling the local farmers’ home-brewed snake liquor (10CNY), watching cormorant fishing which the Brits will recognize from the HSBC advert where farmers use birds to catch fish for them (45CNY) and enjoying various Chinese herbal remedies such as cupping, where hotcups are placed on your back in order to withdraw the impurities from your body (20CNY)! On the afternoon of day 6 take the bus to Guilin to board a night train to Chengdu.

Day 7 & 8: Chengdu
The capital of Sichuan Province, one of the largest and most vibrant provinces in Western China, Chengdu is a feast for the senses. You’re now in the heart of real China, so the first thing we do is have a mandarin lesson so that you can survive away from the group and start exploring a little more independently. In China they say that if you lose one sense, your other senses improve, which is why many blind people in China study the ancient art of Chinese massage. We spend a relaxing afternoon being massaged in one of the best blind massage places in the city, before heading to try Sichuan Hot Pot, a bubbling broth of spicy sauce in which you dip strips of meat and vegetables (85CNY). Don’t worry, there is a non-spicy broth available as well! The next morning, we have an early start in order to catch feeding time at the Panda Breeding Research Centre, the largest panda sanctuary in the World. We spend a morning watching and learning about these magnificent animals before hopping back on the night train to Xi'an.

Day 9 & 10: Xi’an
After arriving head straight for another un-missable attraction, The Terracotta Warriors, a Wonder of the Ancient World, and in the evening help out in a local soup kitchen for homeless people. Day 10 is spent cycling around the ancient City Walls (60CNY) before heading for a snack of traditional dumplings next to the Ming dynasty bell tower in the center of town. In the evening, enjoy a truly Chinese night out, with (after calling at a few bars en-route) a night singing karaoke, in what can only be described as a karaoke palace (20CNY)!

Day 11: Qinling Mountains
Whilst nursing your sore throats from the singing the night before, take a minibus to a rural farm nestled deep in the heart of the QinLing Mountains, stopping en-route at a swimming/tubing spot. After arriving at the farm, enjoy the locally produced lunch before trekking to the waterfalls surrounding the farm. In the evening, we sit back and enjoy locally brewed beers under some spectacular stars, whilst listening to some of the stories from the local farmers, with the translations of your guides of course!

 Day 12: Dengfeng
It’s an early start in order to make it back to Xi’an to connect on to the fast train to Dengfeng, a small town just next to the much famed Shaolin Monastery, home of Kung Fu. In the afternoon we call in at a market to buy a pig and other supplies for a near by orphanage. The orphanage focuses on teaching the children Kung Fu to give them a skill to support themselves in later life, you can have a lesson from one of their teachers too (150CNY), but if not, then just go along and give the supplies over to the orphans, help them practice their English and watch the incredible Kung Fu performances they put on.

Day 13: Shaolin Monastery
Staying in Dengfeng, not Luoyang like almost all other tourists, means that today we can arrive at the Shaolin Monastery to watch morning exercises 2 hours before the crowds arrive (100CNY). The day is spent exploring the temples, watching more Kung Fu performances and walking up the holy hill behind the temple, before taking a bus to Luoyang to catch the night train to the nation’s Capital, Beijing.

Day 14-16: Beijing
After arriving, head off to our next un-missable attraction, perhaps the most un-missable of them all, The Great Wall of China. We visit a stunning section of the Wall, which because of its remoteness, means we usually get the place to ourselves. We hike along a 12km stretch before staying overnight in a farmhouse just a few minutes from the wall. In the morning we get up early to watch one of the most incredible sunrises imaginable! The remaining time in Beijing is spent seeing flag raising and Chairman Mao’s embalmed body in Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City (70CNY), the Olympic Village (40CNY), the National Museum and a food street where you can try dog, snake, cat and pretty much anything else with legs or wings!

Day 17 & 18: Hangzhou and Moganshan
We hop on another night train and this time head to China’s most beautiful city, Hangzhou. We spend the morning exploring the ancient Qing Dynasty streets on the banks of West Lake, before heading out to a stunning bamboo nature reserve outside the city. Chairman Mao had a summer house there, so we hike past that en-route to a crystal clear mountain lagoon. We spend the night in a lodge before travelling to Shanghai on the evening of Day 18.

Day 19 – 21: Shanghai
After arriving in cosmopolitan Shanghai, you’ll realise straight away that this is a city which comes alive at night, and there’s no better way to get an overview of the city’s best bars than when on the Drunken Dragon Bar Crawl (150CNY). Other optional activities include walking tours of the former British and French concessions, a visit to the underground propaganda museum (20CNY), and an opportunity to see an incredible acrobatics show (120CNY).

Day 22 & 23: Xiamen (Gulangyu Island)
In the morning we take a bullet train to Xiamen, voted China’s most livable city, and spend the afternoon and evening on Gulangyu, an island which has traditionally been a retreat for China’s poets, artist and musicians. On Day 23, we head to a wonderful Taoist temple called Nanputuo (40CNY), before taking a bus into the countryside where the Haka minority people live in some 30,000 or so traditional mud roundhouses. The people are kind enough to let us stay in their round houses with them, and because these are still their real homes, not just quaint attractions for tourists, they are surprisingly well equipped with running water, electricity and even wifi!

Day 24: Fujian Tulou
The next day is spent exploring more roundhouses in the area and then heading into the tea fields to see the whole tea growing process from planting the seed right through to sampling many kinds of the finest teas (60CNY), whilst enjoying the beautiful tea terraces in the surrounding countryside. In the evening take your final night train to Guangzhou.

Day 25: Macau
After arriving in Guangzhou in the morning, it is just a short transfer to Macau, known as the Vegas of the East. Perhaps, given the fact that Macau’s casinos now turn over 5 times as much money as Las Vegas’s do, perhaps it won’t be long before Vegas is know as the Macau of the West! The afternoon is spent seeing The World’s Highest Bungee Jump and then heading on to explore the colonial old Portuguese side of town, before trying your luck in the Venetian Casino in the evening.

Day 26: Hong Kong
From Macau take the scenic route back into Hong Kong, by hyrdrofoil ferry into Victoria Harbour. That evening you have the chance to say good bye to the group on the Hong Kong Pub Crawl (90CNY), having completed your epic 5,458km journey through China.

Day 27: Hong Kong

Today is a free day with no activities planned, you are free to depart at any time, either to continue with your travels independently or make your own way to the airport for your flight home.