6-Day Beijing & Xi’an Tour

Touch down at Beijing Capital International Airport or Beijing Daxing International Airport, where your guide waits outside baggage claim holding a name board. A private car then transfers you to a four- or five-star hotel inside the Third Ring Road, roughly 45 to 60 minutes depending on traffic, with the driver pointing out landmarks along the way. Because arrival times vary, no meals are included today, so lunch or dinner is your own call — the hotel concierge can point you to a nearby dumpling house or noodle bar. The afternoon and evening are free: wander the neighborhood, pick up a SIM card, or rest off the flight before tomorrow's early start.

After breakfast the guide collects you at 8:30 for Tiananmen Square, where you walk past the Monument to the People's Heroes and the portrait above the gate. Cross Chang'an Avenue into the Forbidden City, spending about two and a half hours moving from the Hall of Supreme Harmony through the rear palaces to the imperial garden. Lunch is not included; your guide reserves a table at a courtyard restaurant near Jingshan at your own cost. The afternoon shifts north to the Summer Palace, with a short boat ride on Kunming Lake when weather allows. On the drive back, stop briefly at the Bird's Nest and Water Cube for photos. Dinner is free — roast duck in Qianmen is the classic choice.

Meals: Breakfast

An early start beats the coaches to Mutianyu Great Wall, about 70 kilometers northeast of the city. A round-trip cable car lifts you to Tower 14, and you walk the restored Ming ramparts past guard towers toward Tower 20 — allow 90 minutes, with steep steps and uneven brick underfoot. Lunch is on your own near the village base, where trout and farmhouse vegetables are the local specialty. Back in Beijing the afternoon is gentler: the Confucius Temple and the adjoining Imperial College Museum, then a slow walk through the hutongs around Nanluoguxiang, peeking into courtyard homes and small shops. The evening is unscheduled; your guide can arrange tickets to an acrobatics show.

Meals: Breakfast

Begin at the Temple of Heaven before the crowds, watching locals practice tai chi among the cypress trees on the approach to the triple-tiered Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. You ate breakfast at the hotel; lunch is not included, so grab a quick meal near Beijing West Railway Station before boarding. The high-speed train to Xi'an leaves around midday and covers roughly 1,200 kilometers in about five hours, cruising at 300 km/h through Henan farmland and the edges of the loess plateau. Your Xi'an guide meets you at Xi'an North Station and drives you to a city-center hotel. The evening is free — walk to the illuminated Bell Tower or eat biangbiang noodles nearby.

Meals: Breakfast

Leave the hotel at 8:00 for the Terracotta Army, 40 kilometers east of the city. Three pits hold roughly 8,000 life-size soldiers, and your guide explains the excavation as you circle Pit 1's viewing platform. Lunch is not included; a Shaanxi-style restaurant near the site serves noodles and cold dishes at your own cost. Return to town for the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, climbing its seven stories for a view over the old Tang grid, then the Great Mosque, hidden at the end of a market lane and built in Chinese courtyard style. As dusk falls, graze through the Muslim Quarter food stalls and finish at Bell Tower and Drum Tower Square. Dinner is your own; an optional Tang-dynasty music-and-dance show can be arranged.

Meals: Breakfast

Check out after breakfast and drive to the City Wall, the Ming-era circuit that still rings the old city for almost 14 kilometers. Walk a section from the South Gate or rent a bicycle and ride the full loop in about 90 minutes — the surface is flat brick, so it is easy going. Lunch is not included; the guide suggests a restaurant inside the wall before your transfer. In the early afternoon you are driven to Xi'an Xianyang International Airport, about 45 minutes away, for your onward flight. Travelers continuing in China can add a Shanghai or Chengdu extension. There is no evening program today.

Meals: Breakfast