6-Day Beijing Xian Chengdu Tour Package by Bullet Train

Summary

DAY 1 Arrive in Beijing: Drive to Beijing train station and take bullet train to Xian
DAY 2 Xian: Terracotta Warriors, Xian Ancient City Wall
DAY 3 Xian: Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, Bell tower, Muslim Quarter
DAY 4 Xian--Chengdu by Bullet Train: Kuanzhai Alley, Hot-Pot, Sichuan Opera (Face Changing Show)
DAY 5 Chengdu: Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Centre, Wuhou Temple, Green Ram Taoism Temple
DAY 6 Chengdu Departure

Day 1 Arrive in Beijing

Arrival in Beijing, Bullet Train to Xi'an

Welcome to China. On arrival in Beijing our driver meets you at the airport exit with a Your Way Holiday sign and takes you to the Beijing train station. From there you board the high-speed bullet train to Xi'an, a ride of around five hours. Your guide meets you at the Xi'an station and drives you straight to your hotel. After check-in the rest of the day is free to explore the city at your own pace.

DAY 2 Xian

Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum

After breakfast your guide and driver meet you in the hotel lobby for a trip to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, the burial army of the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Thousands of life-sized clay soldiers, horses and chariots were laid out in pits beside his mausoleum and rediscovered in 1974. Each figure is individually modelled, and the museum shows how the excavated pieces are cleaned and reassembled.

Xi'an Ancient City Wall

After lunch you head back into the city to walk the Xi'an Ancient City Wall, a Ming Dynasty fortification first raised in the fourteenth century on the orders of the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Built as a defensive rampart, it is one of the oldest and most complete city walls surviving in China. From the wide top you can see the gate towers, ramparts and the moat below, and renting a bike to circle the wall is a popular option.

Back to Your Hotel

Your guide and driver take you back to your Xi'an hotel so you can put your feet up after the wall walk. The transfer is direct, and your guide stays on hand to answer questions or to suggest somewhere to eat nearby in the evening. The rest of the day is yours before you travel again the next morning.

DAY 3 Xian

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Today begins at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a Tang Dynasty brick tower raised in 652 to keep the Buddhist sutras and statues the monk Xuanzang brought back from India. The pagoda today stands seven storeys and around 64 metres tall, rebuilt over the centuries after earlier versions were damaged by earthquakes. The square around it has fountains and, in the evening, a music show, and the nearby streets are lined with tea houses and shops.

The Bell Tower

After lunch it is back to the old centre and the Bell Tower, a Ming Dynasty watchtower that once stood at the heart of Xi'an and sounded alarms across the walled city. Your guide explains how it was built and moved brick by brick in the sixteenth century, and you climb for views over the rooflines and the crossing avenues below. It is a short but central stop, easy to pair with the streets around it.

The Muslim Quarter and Great Mosque

Next is the Muslim Quarter, the old Hui neighbourhood at the centre of Xi'an, home to the Great Mosque and lanes of food stalls that have traded here for centuries. The dishes are local ones: mutton soup with torn bread, liangpi cold rice noodles, roujiamo, a filled flatbread, and hand-pulled Qishan noodles, seasoned to northern Shaanxi taste. Gray flagstones and Ming-style fronts set the scene as you walk, and the guide helps you choose what to try.

Back to Your Hotel

Your guide and driver take you back to your Xi'an hotel after the quarter so you can rest after a full day on foot. The drive is direct and your guide stays available to answer questions or to point you to another table for dinner. Tomorrow you travel on by train.

DAY 4 Xian--Chengdu by Bullet Train

Bullet Train to Chengdu

After breakfast your driver takes you to Xi'an train station for the high-speed train to Chengdu, a comfortable scenic ride of around four hours. On arrival your local guide and driver meet you and drive you to your Chengdu hotel to check in and drop your bags. The rest of the morning is free to rest before this afternoon's sightseeing.

Kuanzhai Alley

In the late afternoon your guide takes you to Kuanzhai Alley, the Wide and Narrow Alleys, one of the preserved old quarters of Chengdu. Three parallel lanes, rebuilt in Qing Dynasty style, mix traditional courtyard houses with tea houses, a painting studio and small shops. It is an easy place to walk and sit, and to see how the old street plan of the city has been kept in use alongside newer cafes.

A Chengdu Hot Pot Dinner

Tonight your guide brings you to a local hot pot restaurant, a Sichuan way of eating that has been popular for centuries. A simmering pot sits on the table and you cook fresh items in it, thin slices of meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wontons and seafood, taking them out as they are done. Chengdu hot pot is known for its chilli-and-pepper heat, but the kitchen can turn it down and offers milder broths, and your guide helps you order.

Sichuan Opera and Face Changing

After dinner your guide takes you to a traditional tea house for a Sichuan Opera performance. The regional opera is famous above all for Face Changing, where an actor switches masks in a blink, and for Fire Spitting, with acrobatics and comic bits around them. You watch from a low table with tea and snacks, and the short set is a good introduction to the city's night-time theatre.

Back to Your Hotel

The show is close to your hotel, so your guide and driver walk or drive you back when it ends. Your guide can talk over what you just saw or answer questions about the opera before leaving you to settle in. The evening is then free to rest ahead of the next day in Chengdu.

DAY 5 Chengdu

Chengdu Giant Panda Base

This morning you are driven to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the city's main stop for seeing pandas. It is a breeding and conservation centre for giant pandas and red pandas, with enclosures landscaped to look like bamboo hillside forest so the animals feed and rest in open views. There are wetland birds on the grounds and a nursery area where cubs are kept, and the site explains how the breeding programme works.

Wuhou Temple

Next is Wuhou Temple, the Memorial Temple of Marquis Wu, raised to honour Zhuge Liang, the chancellor and strategist of the Shu kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD). Inside the red-walled complex are his statue and tomb mound along with halls of inscriptions and plaques that retell the era. Old gardens and courtyards run between the buildings, and your guide explains the history behind each hall.

Qingyang Palace

The last stop is Qingyang Palace, Qingyang Gong, a Taoist temple on the West Second Section of the First Ring Road beside the Jinjiang River. Tradition says it marks the place where Laozi, the founder of Taoism, gave his first teaching, and it is reckoned the oldest temple in Chengdu. The grounds hold bronze statues, carved panels and quiet courtyards, and your guide sets out the Taoist story behind the halls.

Back to Your Hotel

Your guide and driver bring you back to your Chengdu hotel after the temples so you can rest. The transfer is direct, and your guide stays available for questions or to suggest somewhere for dinner nearby. Tomorrow you have the morning free in the city before your flight home.

DAY 6 Chengdu Departure

Leisure Day and Departure

Your last morning is free to spend as you like, whether that means more tea houses and shops or simply a slow start. When it is time to go, your driver takes you to Chengdu airport in good time for your flight home. Over six days you have travelled from Beijing to Xi'an and on to Chengdu, and your guide and driver have handled the transfers between the cities. We hope you leave with good memories of the trip and wish you a safe journey home.

Price Per Person in US Dollars