8-Day All-inclusive Private Tour to Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai

The Great Wall at Mutianyu is the trip’s big outdoor moment, but this itinerary quickly moves between China’s imperial capitals, ancient ruins, and modern Shanghai. In eight days, you’ll see the Forbidden City, Terracotta Army, Summer Palace, Xi’an’s city wall, and the Bund without having to arrange each transfer yourself.

I like the private format, which means your guide can set the pace and help with meals, transport, and language problems. I also like the smart use of China’s high-speed train from Beijing to Xi’an, followed by a flight to Shanghai. The drawback is the pace: you change cities twice and have several full sightseeing days, so this is a highlights tour rather than a slow local stay.

Five details that shape the experience

• Mutianyu includes a round-trip cable car, making the Great Wall easier to reach than a fully walking visit.
• Your Beijing to Xi’an transfer uses a five-hour high-speed train, with a local guide and driver meeting you at the other end.
• The Terracotta Army visit includes a family stop and clay figure activity, adding a personal element to the museum visit.
• Three lunches are included, including welcome and farewell meals valued at CNY150 per person.
• Only your booking group participates, with private guides, drivers, and air-conditioned vehicles throughout the sightseeing program.

Three major cities in eight demanding days

This trip is designed for you if you want China’s headline sights with the practical work handled for you. You begin in Beijing, continue to Xi’an by train, then fly to Shanghai for the final two days.

The price is $2,169 per person. That is not a budget trip, but it covers hotel accommodation with breakfasts, entrance fees, private transport, professional guides, the Beijing to Xi’an train, the Xi’an to Shanghai economy flight, bottled water, and three lunches. International airfare, visas, and personal spending remain yours to pay.

The main value is time. You avoid piecing together airport pickups, railway transfers, museum tickets, and local transport in three large cities. A private tour can also help you spend less time waiting or working out where to go next. If you prefer independent wandering, though, you may find the schedule too fixed and the price higher than arranging each piece yourself.

The package describes 5-star hotel accommodation and eight nights, while the day-by-day plan runs from arrival on Day 1 to airport transfer on Day 8 and includes seven breakfasts. Because those details do not line up perfectly, confirm the exact number of hotel nights before paying.

Arrival in Beijing, with room to recover

Your guide meets you at Beijing Capital International Airport and drives you to the hotel. The planned airport transfer takes about an hour, though the actual time depends on traffic and your arrival details.

The first day is intentionally light. You can rest or ask your guide for ideas for a self-guided outing. That breathing room matters after a long international flight, especially since the following two days are packed with major sights.

Pickup is offered, and your booking begins at Capital Airport in Shunyi, Beijing. You need a current passport, and passport name, number, expiry date, and country are required for everyone at booking. A minimum of two people is required, so this is not a solo booking option.

Beijing’s imperial core: Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City

Day 2 opens at Tiananmen Square, where you have about 30 minutes to take in the scale of one of the world’s largest urban squares. Your guide provides the setting, then leads you into the Forbidden City, also called the Palace Museum.

Allow three hours here. The imperial complex is not just a collection of grand gates and courtyards. Your guide helps explain how the emperor’s government operated and how court life worked, while the museum displays ancient art and imperial objects.

The Forbidden City is one of those places where a guide adds real value. The buildings can look repetitive if you do not know what you are seeing, and the site is large enough that a clear route saves energy. Wear comfortable shoes and expect plenty of walking.

At noon, you receive an a la carte welcome lunch at a local restaurant. It is included and valued at CNY150 per person. Since only three lunches are part of the package, you should budget for your other meals, including lunch at the Great Wall and the Terracotta Army site.

Temples, ritual, and Beijing’s old neighborhoods

After lunch, you visit Lama Temple, or Yonghegong, for about an hour. This former imperial lamasery has survived for more than 300 years and combines Han, Mongolian, and Tibetan architectural features.

The visit gives you a different side of Beijing. The Forbidden City presents imperial power; Lama Temple offers a religious setting that still feels connected to the city’s older traditions. Your guide can help you notice the architectural blend rather than treating the stop as just another temple.

The final stop is the Temple of Heaven, with about 90 minutes inside the grounds. Emperors once came here to worship the heavens and pray for good harvests. The architecture is carefully arranged, and the site gives you a useful look at how ritual shaped imperial life.

This is a full day with several major stops. You get a lot, but you should not expect much unscheduled time in central Beijing.

Mutianyu, the Bird’s Nest, and a hutong ride

Day 3 starts with the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. You have about three hours, and a round-trip cable car is arranged. That is a practical inclusion because it reduces the physical effort needed to reach the wall and return to the vehicle.

On the wall, you can look along its ridges as it rises and falls into the distance. The walk itself can still be tiring, and uneven surfaces are part of the experience, but the cable car makes this visit possible for more people than a route that requires a long uphill climb.

Lunch is not included. Your guide can help you choose a restaurant near the site, which is useful if you do not read Chinese or want help judging your options.

The drive back includes a short photo stop at Beijing’s Olympic National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest. Admission is not included, and the planned visit is only 20 minutes, so think of it as an exterior view rather than a stadium tour.

The day finishes with a rickshaw ride through traditional hutong alleys and a visit with a local family. This is one of the more personal parts of the Beijing program. The hutongs show a lower-rise, neighborhood side of the city that grand monuments cannot provide. The visit is brief, but it breaks up the parade of imperial buildings with a glimpse of everyday residential life.

The Summer Palace before the train to Xi’an

On Day 4, you spend about two hours at the Summer Palace. This former imperial garden combines water, paths, pavilions, and large ceremonial buildings. It is a more relaxed setting than the Forbidden City, though the grounds still require walking.

The Summer Palace works well as your last Beijing sight because it gives you a change of mood before the long transfer. In the afternoon, you board a high-speed train for the five-hour journey to Xi’an.

Rail travel is one of the strongest practical choices in this itinerary. You avoid another airport process and travel directly between two major cities. At Xi’an North Railway Station, a local guide and driver meet you and take you to the hotel.

The transfer day is still long. You have a morning visit, a station transfer, five hours on the train, and a hotel check-in. Keep your evening plans modest.

The Terracotta Army and an unexpected hands-on stop

Xi’an’s main event comes on Day 5 at the Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses. You spend about four hours seeing the three excavated pits, which contain clay soldiers, horses, and ancient weapons.

This is the kind of place where a guide helps you understand the scale and purpose of what you are seeing. The figures are impressive in their own right, but the arrangement of the pits and the story of their discovery make the museum much more meaningful.

Lunch is on your own. Your guide recommends nearby restaurants according to your preferences, so you have some choice rather than being tied to a fixed group meal.

The day then takes a more personal turn with a family visit to the home of the first person who discovered the Terracotta Army. You also make a small clay warrior with help from a local artisan. That activity gives you something to do with your hands after several hours of looking at museum displays, and it suits families especially well.

In the afternoon, you visit Big Wild Goose Pagoda, built during the Tang Dynasty to store Buddhist scriptures brought from ancient India. The visit lasts about an hour. You then have around 40 minutes at Grand Tang Dynasty Ever-Bright City, a pedestrian street where people may dress in traditional Chinese clothing and take part in modern cultural displays.

That final stop is more staged and contemporary than the archaeological sites. It can be fun for photos and people-watching, but it will not feel as old or quiet as the pagoda.

Xi’an’s city wall, mosque, and Muslim Quarter

Day 6 begins at the Xi’an City Wall Park, followed by a visit to the wall itself. The combined stop lasts about two hours.

The wall is one of China’s most complete surviving urban fortifications. From the top, you get a different view of Xi’an than you do from the Terracotta Army or Big Wild Goose Pagoda. You can rent a bicycle and ride along the wall, but the bike fee is not included. If cycling appeals to you, ask about the rental cost before setting off.

The Great Mosque follows, with about an hour inside. Its design brings Chinese and Islamic elements together, making it one of Xi’an’s most distinctive cultural sites.

Nearby, the Muslim Quarter gives you 90 minutes to look for local snacks and handicrafts. This is a good place to use your guide’s advice, especially if you want to try food but need help understanding what is available. Your free time is limited, so think of this as a focused visit rather than an open-ended food crawl.

After Xi’an sightseeing, you fly to Shanghai in economy class. A local guide meets you at the airport and transfers you to the hotel. Again, the city change is efficient but tiring. You should expect Day 6 to feel like both a sightseeing day and a travel day.

Shanghai’s art, gardens, and river views

Day 7 starts at the Shanghai Museum, one of China’s major museums, with a focus on ancient art. You have about two hours. This stop gives you a useful cultural counterpoint to Shanghai’s glass towers and commercial streets.

Next comes Yu Garden, where you spend around two hours. The Nine Zigzag Bridge and mid-lake pavilion are among the garden’s signature features. The compact design, stonework, and pavilions create a sharp contrast with the scale of Beijing’s imperial compounds.

Your farewell lunch is included and valued at CNY150 per person. As with the Beijing welcome lunch, it is an a la carte meal at a local restaurant, not simply a snack between sightseeing stops.

The one-hour Huangpu River cruise gives you a moving view of Shanghai. The river divides and connects the city’s major areas, and the cruise lets you see the city from the water instead of only from the pavement.

You then have free time around the Bund for about 30 minutes. This is short, so use it for the classic waterfront view and photographs. The Bund is one of Shanghai’s defining public spaces, and the contrast between its historic buildings and the modern skyline across the river is the reason it appears on nearly every first visit.

The last stop is Tianzifang, a traditional street with an arts and culture focus. You have about 40 minutes. It is another brief visit, useful for browsing and atmosphere, but not enough for a long, unhurried exploration.

After the sightseeing ends, your guide sees you into the hotel lobby and says goodbye. That small handoff is useful if you are tired and still need to organize your final evening.

What is actually included, and what you still pay for

The inclusions make the $2,169 price easier to assess. You receive:

• Hotel accommodation with seven breakfasts listed in the meal plan
• Entrance fees for the scheduled attractions
• Professional guides and experienced drivers
• Air-conditioned private vehicles
• One high-speed train from Beijing to Xi’an
• One economy flight from Xi’an to Shanghai
• Two bottles of water per person per day
• Three lunches, including the two CNY150 meals

You still pay for your China visa, international flights, personal expenses, some lunches, the Xi’an City Wall bicycle rental, and admission to the Bird’s Nest if you choose to enter rather than view it from outside.

The package is strongest when you value convenience. Private vehicles and local guides can save substantial effort in cities where language and transport systems may slow an independent trip. The tradeoff is that you have less control over how long you stay at each site.

Who should choose this China itinerary?

I would choose this trip if you have one week, want the essential sights, and prefer a guide to manage complex transfers. It suits first-time visitors, couples, families, and anyone who wants private service without joining a large coach group.

The itinerary also works for people who value variety. You get imperial Beijing, archaeological Xi’an, and modern Shanghai, plus a train ride, a flight, a river cruise, a rickshaw trip, and a hands-on clay activity.

I would think twice if you want long evenings in local neighborhoods, independent food hunting, or several hours at each museum. The schedule is packed, and the travel between cities takes up meaningful parts of Days 4 and 6.

The private format is the key decision. You do not share the activity with other groups, but that does not turn the schedule into a leisurely one. You still cover a great deal of ground in a short time.

Should you book it?

Book this tour if your priority is a well-organized first look at China’s three signature cities. The Great Wall, Forbidden City, Terracotta Army, city wall, Yu Garden, and Bund give you a strong set of major sights, while private guides and included transfers reduce the usual planning strain.

Do not book it expecting a slow, intimate stay in each city. You will be moving often, paying for some meals and extras, and following a firm eight-day route. Before confirming, verify the exact hotel-night count and make sure the non-refundable terms fit your plans.

FAQ

How long is the tour?

The tour lasts approximately eight days, from airport pickup in Beijing on Day 1 to airport transfer in Shanghai on Day 8.

Is this a private tour?

Yes. Only your group participates, with private guides, drivers, and sightseeing transportation.

What cities does the tour visit?

The route covers Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai.

Is airport pickup included?

Yes. A guide meets you at Beijing Capital International Airport on arrival, and airport transfers are also provided when you leave Xi’an for Shanghai and depart Shanghai.

Is the train ticket included?

Yes. One-way high-speed train travel from Beijing to Xi’an is included.

Is the flight from Xi’an to Shanghai included?

Yes. One-way economy-class airfare from Xi’an to Shanghai is included.

Which meals are included?

Hotel breakfasts are included, with seven breakfasts specified. Three lunches are also included, including the welcome lunch in Beijing and farewell lunch in Shanghai. Other meals are your responsibility.