Southern China Highlights

Your Journey Begins

Today is the day, the start of your Southern China Highlights adventure.

First Stop: Hong Kong

Along with New York, London and Tokyo, Hong Kong is one of the fastest-paced metropolises in the world. Once a cluster of quiet fishing villages scattered across islands, starting in the mid-19th century Hong Kong transformed into a major trade port and later an international financial center under British rule. A Special Administrative Region of mainland China since 1997, Hong Kong remains a frenetic financial hub with a combination of modern, towering skyscrapers and remnants of its fishing village past.

Flight to Hong Kong

Airport International Arrival Greet and Meet Service
Upon touchdown, a VIP Service Ambassador will greet you as you exit your flight gate and guide you through the immigrations and customs service, as well as assist you in claiming your luggage. Your local guide will then meet you in the arrival hall with your private vehicle on standby to take you to your hotel.

Your guide will meet you in the lobby of your hotel at 9:00 am to start the day.

Sham Shui Po

In the ever-evolving landscape of Hong Kong, Sham Shui Po embodies the city’s true spirit. Renowned for its bustling markets, such as Apliu Street Flea Market, and historic landmarks like Mei Ho House, a former public housing estate now transformed into a museum. The district also features dense public housing estates like Cheung Sha Wan Estate. Exploring Sham Shui Po unveils its spirited street life and rich history, providing a fascinating glimpse into Kowloon’s dynamic character.

Wheelchair Accessibility: The district offers easy navigation, and accessible restrooms are conveniently available in nearby malls.

Palace Museum

Hong Kong Palace Museum is a striking addition to the West Kowloon Cultural District. Designed by renowned architect Rocco Yim, the building blends traditional Chinese aesthetics with modern design, creating a captivating space with a scenic outdoor garden. Inside, you will find a remarkable collection of artifacts to admire from Beijing’s Forbidden City, including ancient ceramics, paintings, and calligraphy. The museum features rotating exhibitions, educational workshops and lectures for those seeking deeper insights into China’s rich art history.

Wheelchair Accessibility: The museum ensures full accessibility with wheelchair-accessible lifts connecting all floors, each equipped with an audio announcement system and braille signage. Accessible toilets are conveniently located on all floors, and foldable nursing beds are also available within these facilities.

Victoria Peak

Victoria Peak towers over Hong Kong’s tallest skyscrapers, renowned for its breathtaking views and prestigious residences. To reach the summit, visitors travel along a winding road through Hong Kong’s lush, subtropical slopes. At the peak, an expansive viewing gallery offers spectacular vistas of Hong Kong’s dramatic skyline, including the sparkling Victoria Harbour and the surrounding islands. From this vantage point, the dense urban sprawl is framed by a backdrop of emerald hills, creating a stunning panorama.

Wheelchair Accessibility: Access to the summit is conveniently provided by a wheelchair-friendly cable car. Once at the peak, the panoramic city views can be enjoyed from accessible paved paths and designated viewing areas.

The Symphony of Lights Aboard the Aqua Luna

All aboard the Aqua Luna, a privately-owned, traditional wooden Chinese junk restored to luxurious standards. Once aboard, set out across the calm waters of Victoria Harbor to claim a front-row seat to a truly spectacular view of Hong Kong’s famed Symphony of Lights, the world’s largest permanent light and sound show. As the dazzling lights dance across the skyline, experience a seat from the city’s past with an unforgettable view of its future.

Wheelchair Accessibility: Wheelchairs are welcome on board. While there may be a few steps from the pier to the vessel during boarding, the dedicated crew is readily available to provide assistance to ensure a smooth experience.

Your guide will return you to your hotel at the end of the day (around 9:00 pm).

Next stop: Guilin

Few places occupy as special a place in the Chinese imagination as Guilin. Shielded from the vicissitudes of Chinese history for centuries by the Nan Mountains, it remains unlike any other city in the country with undulating hills and limpid waterways that sprout arbitrarily from amid its low-profile urban terrain. A tourism perennial, the city is excellently equipped to host domestic and foreign visitors and serves as a portal to the otherworldly karst topography of northern Guangxi beyond.

High Speed Train to Guilin

Your guide and private chauffeur will escort you to the train station and help you check in for your train. Upon arriving in Guilin, your local guide will meet you in the arrival hall with your private vehicle on standby to take you to your hotel.

Your guide will meet you in the lobby of your hotel at 8:00 am to start the day.

Next Stop: Yangshuo

Yangshuo is one of the most famous towns in all of China, offering travelers a laidback atmosphere, plentiful Western fare, and picturesque scenery to those lucky enough to pass through it. While thoroughly on the beaten path, Yangshuo is a wonderful place to unwind and enjoy Guangxi’s pastoral beauty. With breathtaking hidden splendor and a thriving cross-cultural environment, Yangshuo provides the perfect backdrop for nature lovers, poets, and trendsetters alike to congregate in a relaxed environment.

Li River Cruise

The inspiration for ink-brush paintings, poems, and banknotes for well over a thousand years, the Li River is among the most celebrated landscapes in the Middle Kingdom. Decide for yourself if it’s worth the centuries of hype as you drift past remote villages and spectacular karst landforms on a 4-hour cruise before arriving in Longtoushan, where you’ll disembark and have time to snap an obligatory photo of the bend depicted on the 20 yuan note.

Please note that there has been a gradual increase in the number of domestic and international tourists visiting this area, so please be aware that the Li River will have other boats on its waters. Though this may affect the authenticity of the environment, the views of the karst landscape and winding river are well worth the crowds for.

Wheelchair Accessibility: While some vessels are equipped with accessible toilets, availability may vary.

Yulong River

Explore the picturesque banks of the Yulong River, where verdant landscapes unfold alongside the gentle flow of the water. This idyllic setting invites a leisurely journey, revealing captivating scenery and a peaceful connection with nature.

Wheelchair Accessibility: The paths along the Yulong River are generally suitable for navigation, providing an accessible way to enjoy the scenic banks.

Visit a Local Family

Surrounded by rolling green mountains, fruit trees, and rice fields, you’ll share a cup of tea with a family and learn about their lives as farmers in Yangshuo’s rural surrounds. In their redbrick home, under their tiled roof, just for the afternoon, you will become a part of the family.

Wheelchair Accessibility: The home may feature some thresholds, and your guide will be present to assist. Please note, accessible toilets are not available.

Fan Making in Hotel

Even today many of the locals still make their living with this time-honored craft, so peruse their exquisite wares and have a go at crafting one yourself in this atmospheric and historical setting.

Your guide will return you to your hotel at the end of the day (around 5:00 pm).

Day at Leisure

While you will be exploring the city on your own and relaxing at your own pace, we are committed to providing you with an unforgettable experience here in China and if necessary, your travel advisor will be more than happy to provide you with suggestions on how to spend your day.

The wheelchair assistant will be available for the entirety of this day.

Drive to Guilin

The drive from Yangshuo to Guilin will take around 1.5 hours.

Next Stop: Shanghai

Once a mere backwater fishing village, the destiny and fortunes of Shanghai changed forever when the British opened their first concession here in 1842, followed soon after by the French and Americans.

Shanghai today retains those charms in the tree-lined streets of the former French Concession and iconic banking houses along the Bund; at the same time, the urban bustle and multitudes of skyscrapers are a testament to Shanghai’s aspirations to be a major international metropolis. Now the financial capital of China, Shanghai is a great place to check out the old, the new and the foreign in this worldly economic and cultural center.

Flight to Shanghai

Your guide and private chauffeur will escort you to the airport and help you check in to your flight. Upon arriving in Shanghai, your local guide will meet you in the arrival hall with your private vehicle on standby to take you to your hotel.

Yuyuan Bazaar

Nestled in Shanghai’s old town next to the city’s famed Yu Garden, or Nanshi, the Yuyuan Bazaar is a souvenir hunter’s paradise. Tucked amid Ming Dynasty-era buildings, this winding maze of alleyways is filled with an eclectic collection of shops and food stalls hawking local snacks.

Although a popular tourist destination, it’s fun getting lost in the colourful swirl of antiques, lanterns, and keepsakes. Bask in the aroma of freshly made xiao long bao and flex your haggling skills as you search for the perfect Shanghai memento.

Wheelchair Accessibility: The alleyways are flat and offer easy navigation; however, some shops may require assistance to navigate thresholds. Please note, accessible toilets are not available.

Your guide will return you to your hotel at the end of the day (around 6:00 pm).

Your guide will meet you in the lobby of your hotel at 9:00 am to start the day.

Fuxing Park

A vestige of the French colonial era, Fuxing was once a private Ming Dynasty park that is now the beating heart of Shanghai’s local life. Boasting some of China’s best people-watching opportunities, keep an eye out for ensembles of locals singing songs en masse (of varying talent), ballroom dancing, or even the occasional saxophone quartet.

Wheelchair Accessibility: The main pathways offer easy navigation. Please note, accessible toilets are not available.

Xintiandi

Xintiandi still bears the traces of an older Shanghai, hidden amidst an infusion of upscale, modern developments. Housed behind its restored facades are international restaurants, boutiques, cafes, and bars. The neighborhood brings together the heady, glamorous atmosphere of decades gone by and the comforts of a modern city, inviting you to experience its unique blend of historical charm and contemporary allure.

Wheelchair Accessibility: The main pathways offer easy navigation, with accessible toilets available.

Former French Concession

The elegant, tree-lined streets of the former French Concession are steeped in European charm. This enclave, governed by France for almost a century until the 1940s, was once the domain of China’s rich and powerful, from revolutionaries to movie stars.

Explore the history within the grand mansions that have housed members of the French, Japanese, Nationalist, and Communist elite, and relive the glamour of pre-World War II Shanghai.

Wheelchair Accessibility: The main pathways offer easy navigation. Please note, accessible toilets are not available.

Shanghai Tower

China is a land of superlatives and nowhere exemplifies the extremes of this country better than the record-breaking Shanghai skyline. Ride the world’s fastest elevator to the world’s highest observation deck in China’s tallest building and feel yourself blown away by awe-inspiring views of one of the planet’s largest cities, all while learning about the architecture which makes these gravity-defying feats of engineering possible.

Wheelchair Accessibility: Staff assistance is available for elevator use, with smooth surfaces throughout, making navigation easy.

The Bund

Rising majestically across the river from Shanghai’s electric skyline are the sublime art deco and neoclassical buildings of the Bund, a patchwork which has earned the street the nickname of “Museum of International Architecture.”

On the riverside promenade, flanked by neon on one side and marble on the other, witness a vivid depiction of a city’s past and future with one turn of the head, a sight few other places on earth can match.

Wheelchair Accessibility: The promenade offers easy navigation. Please note, accessible toilets are not available.

Your guide will return you to your hotel at the end of the day (around 5:00 pm).

Next Stop: Hangzhou

An ancient capital at the southern end of the Grand Canal with a lake at its centre and hills at its back, Hangzhou is a living expression of the aesthetic values of imperial China, according to which the ultimate harmony in a landscape is shanshui, or the interplay between mountains and water. It certainly impressed Marco Polo who called it ‘the finest and the noblest (city) in the world.’

Aside from its watery trappings and verdant beauty, Hangzhou is also famous for its Longjing, or ‘Dragon Well’, tea – it is the only place in China that brews this special variety of green tea.

High Speed Train to Hangzhou

Your guide and private chauffeur will escort you to the train station and help you check in for your train. Upon arriving in Hangzhou, your local guide will meet you in the arrival hall with your private vehicle on standby to take you to your hotel.

West Lake

On the shores of West Lake, you’ll discover the landscape that inspired some of history’s most enduring minds, for “above there is heaven, below there is Hangzhou.” From the lake’s shores and waters, you’ll take in views of tea-covered hillsides and Hangzhou’s city centre, of gently arched bridges and sloping temple gardens. Keep an eye out, you’ll pass the scene on the back of your 1RMB notes along the way.

Wheelchair Accessibility: The pathways around West Lake are designed for easy navigation, and accessible toilets are available.

Dragon Well Tea Plantation with Tea Ceremony

Grown for over 1,000 years in the hills above Hangzhou, Longjing tea is a favourite of former emperors and current visiting dignitaries. Immerse into this tradition at the viewing point of the Dragon Tea Well Plantation, while enjoying the panoramic scenery overlooking the rows of tea trees. Partake in a traditional tea ceremony, tasting the tea’s light sweetness with a hint of chestnut that lingers on the tongue – a tradition wholly intertwined with Chinese culture.

Wheelchair Accessibility: While there is no official wheelchair access, staff are available to assist with lifting wheelchairs over the three stairs at the gate. Please note, no accessible toilets are available.

Flight back home

Airport International Departure VIP Service
Your local team will escort you to the airport to catch your departure flight.

Upon your arrival at the airport, a VIP Service Ambassador will greet you and help guide you through the express immigrations and customs service, assisting you with checking in your baggage and acquiring your boarding passes along the way.

Then, relax in the VIP room before being accompanied to your departure gate by your VIP Service Ambassador.