China
Other suggested itineraries
Classic China
The following are some of our suggested experiences that can be incorporated into your custom-made itinerary.
Destinations include: Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Hangzhou and Suzhou.
Beijing
VIP Arrival - receive the "red carpet" treatment - you will be expedited through customs and immigration procedures through a VIP channel and escorted to your private luxury vehicle for the transfer to your hotel.
Check in to one of Remote Lands' recommended hotels in Beijing: the stylish Opposite House, the ultra modern Park Hyatt Beijing, the spacious and lavish Raffles Beijing Hotel, or the luxurious Peninsula.
Enjoy a private reception in the opulent Summer Palace, historically the royal retreat from Beijing's summer heat. Proceed through the Aman's secret door to the Summer Palace, where you will enjoy sunset cocktails before a lavish dinner in an 18th-century pavilion within the Palace's gardens.
Imagine yourself as an ancient sentry on the Great Wall, on the frontline of defenses erected to guard against Mongol invaders. Ascend Longquanyu, one of the seldom-visited sections of the Wall, and marvel at unrestored segments stretching as far as the eye can see. You will be guided by noted author and Great Wall expert.
Enjoy a sumptuous champagne brunch served at the Wall, before descending its snaking path through several villages and the Xiaoxihu Valley. You are certain to be one of the very few visitors to this section, and when you arrive at a lake that supplied water to Ming Dynasty soldiers posted here, you can imagine how isolated they must have felt!
Have a poetic Chinese name bestowed upon you and learn how to write it during a private calligraphy lesson. Most names convey parents' wishes for their children's future - integrity, prosperity, health and wisdom are all popularly used characters.
Be serenaded by virtuosos of traditional Peking opera and receive a special behind-the-scenes tour complete with trying on costumes and/or make up.
Jump into the dazzling world of contemporary Chinese art. With a noted curator, visit Dashanzi Art District, colloquially called "798," the number of one of the factories here, and have a private tour of the Ullens Center, China's first proper contemporary art institution. The 798 district was designed by East German Bauhaus architects in the 1950s and originally produced electronics and armaments. Today, it has been repurposed and redesigned to house scores of galleries, artists' studios.
Go on an architectural tour of modern Beijing, led by an internationally renowned architect. Visit the Water Cube and Bird's Nest, icons of the 2008 Summer Olympics. In central Beijing, see the towering CCTV building designed by Rem Koolhaas, and the National Center for the Performing Arts, or "Alien Egg," designed by Paul Andreu.
Dine at Courtyard, with a superb view of the Forbidden City and perennially considered one of Beijing's foremost fine-dining experiences. Ancient on the outside and minimally chic on the inside, Courtyard features a menu of delectable contemporary cuisine and an award-winning selection of nearly 600 wines from around the world.
Thread your way through Beijing's alleyways like a local. Go on a pedicab or motorcycle sidecar tour of the hutongs, or traditional courtyard houses, with a Western journalist and history expert - who happens to live in one himself.
It wouldn't be a trip to Beijing without peking duck! While several restaurants in the city claim to be the best, and every local has his or her own opinion, one of our favorites is Liqun Roast Duck Restaurant, a family-opened operation tucked away in a hutong a few blocks south of Tiananmen Square. The secret is out about Liqun - Al Gore, Jet Li and scores of other dignitaries and celebrities have feasted here on this dish once reserved for the royal family - but due to modernization in the area, it may not be around for much longer, which is all the more reason to savor this experience now.
Experience the everyday life of the emperors at Chonghua Palace within the Forbidden City with an expert in Chinese history as your guide. Much of the Forbidden City remains as it was during the last emperor's time, and while it is one of the most visited sites in Beijing, you will have exclusive access to the Palace's royal apartments, normally off-limits to the public.
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Shanghai
Shanghai is one of Asia’s most dynamic metropolises, buzzing with new architecture, world-class dining, shopping, arts and nightlife. Of the city’s many unique traits, perhaps the most striking is its mix of architectural styles: traditional Chinese, European colonial and ultra-modern. From the dense shikumen, two- to three-story tenements protected by brick walls, to the stately, colonnaded financial buildings on the Bund, to the newest stamps on the city’s landscape made by the world’s “starchitects,” Shanghai’s skyline is truly unforgettable. But be sure to take note of what Shanghai looks like today – with scores of new developments planned for the foreseeable future, you might not be able to recognize it on your next visit!
Visit 1933 Shanghai, a gigantic Art Deco-era slaughterhouse repurposed into a thriving cultural center and one of 2010’s hottest spots.
For the adventurous, get a thrilling street-level view – literally – of today’s Shanghai from the vantage point of a speeding motorcycle sidecar tour.
With a contemporary art expert, explore the new Rock Bund Art Museum, which opened in May 2010 with an exhibit by the celebrated Cai Guo-Qiang and is the centerpiece of a vast urban renewal effort.
With Remote Lands’ specialist expert guide, go on a private tour of the little-known history of Jews in Shanghai. Drive to Hongkou District, an area of great historical significance, as well as other important sites in the city. Jews have long been in Asia and the first Jews to arrive in Shanghai came from Iraq via India in the 1840s and soon made this formerly sleepy town on the Huangpu River the “Pearl of the Orient.”
Peruse the galleries in the Moganshan Lu warehouse district, also known as M50, with an expert in contemporary Chinese art, who will give you a private tour of the top galleries and studios where you will meet renowned curators and artists.
With your expert guide, get a taste of Shanghai’s commercial, Jazz-Age heyday while strolling the tree-shaded streets of the French Concession, and walk along Shanghai’s landmark waterfront, The Bund, a vestige of the city’s capitalist days in the first half of the 20th century.
Remote Lands’ friend, an urban planning expert-cum-Shanghai historian, can provide a highly specialized tour with fascinating insight into the city’s development over the past 150 years.
Meet with a senior staff member for a privately guided tour of the Shanghai Museum in the center of the city, which contains one of the world’s finest collections of Chinese art and antiquities.
Take a private tai chi lesson in the Yu Gardens.
Experience the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall. Housed in a striking modern five-story building made of microlite glass, this is one of the world’s largest showcases of urban development and renewal. Its highlight is an awesome vast scale model of urban Shanghai as it will look in 2020, where you can get a firsthand glimpse and projects currently under construction under the supervision of world-renowned architects.
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Xian
Explore the vast Han Mausoleum, the joint resting place of Han Dynasty emperor Liu Qi and his Empress, Wang Zhi. Aside from the majesterial royal tombs, the site’s 81 satellite tombs have proven to be an archaeological jackpot, containing more than 60,000 burial objects - from pottery and utensils to weapons and chariots - of the Western Han Dynasty. With your private, expert guide, learn what the careful placement of the awe-inspiring tombs and relics reveals about the hierarchical social structures of the dynasty.
Discover the end of the Silk Road. Explore one of Xian’s Muslim neighborhoods by visiting the Great Mosque of Xian, originally built in 742. Stroll and admire the tranquil environs of the mosque’s four courtyards, and view such rare pieces as a Ming dynasty handwritten copy of the Koran.
Look a terracotta warrior in the eye. You will have unusual access to the floor of the excavation site of the Terracotta Army, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that consists of over 8,000 terracotta soldiers, 100 chariots and 600 horses, no two identical. Rivaling the Han Mausoleum in scope and magnificence, the army was created to guard the tomb of Qin Shi-huang, the legendary and controversial “First Emperor” who united China into one country from an array of warring states, and also began construction of the Great Wall.
Continue playing archaeologist by visiting the private storeroom at the Xian Archaeological Institute. An expert representative of the Institute will guide you through the typically off-limits displays of invaluable relics, some of them nearly 3,000 years old.
Receive the rarest passport stamp in the world – enjoy a royal Tang Dynasty reception at the city wall and, in accordance with ancient procedure, a “royal visa” will be issued to you. Performers dressed in period costume will announce your arrival similar to the manner in which explorers were presented to the emperor.
Dine at Tian Long Bao Yuan, a restaurant specializing in Chinese Buddhist cuisine, with a senior monk from a local monastery joining you. Everything is vegetarian here; in particular, the “goose,” made out of marinated bean curd sheets and shiitake mushrooms, is quite delicious. Your palate may be amazed at how closely tofu, gluten and other vegetarian ingredients can approximate the taste of poultry in such a delectable way.
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Hangzhou
In October 2010, China unveiled a new high-speed train linking Shanghai with Hangzhou, approximately 100 miles southwest, which now makes the trip in merely 45 minutes.
Hangzhou is organized around the vast West Lake. The city is a living expression of the aesthetic values of imperial China. In classical Chinese aesthetics, the ultimate harmony in a landscape is shan shui, or the interplay between mountains and waters – Hangzhou and its environs have shan shui in abundance. A respite from the frenetic modernization of the rest of China, Hangzhou remains a favored destination for relaxation and contemplation.
Enjoy a traditional medicine check-up at Huqingyutang, the most famous Chinese pharmacy in southern China. Its northern counterpart is Tongrentang in Beijing. Medicine in China dates back some 4,000 years and began with the ancient emperors’ interest in finding the elixir of life. Today, the treatment is still founded on the use of herbs, diet and acupuncture, with an emphasis on qi, the vital force of living things.
Follow your session with a Chinese reflexology foot massage at Dragonfly Spa, which is just steps away from West Lake. Each point in your foot is linked to the various parts of and organs in your body; sharp pain or a sudden reflexive response when applying pressure to certain points of your foot denotes possible stress to your body’s corresponding appendage or organ.
With your expert guide, visit a selection of seven Buddhist temples, the most renowned of which is Lingyin Si or “Soul’s Retreat.” Founded in the first year of Xianhe of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (326 AD), the temple once housed 3,000 monks who worshipped in more than 70 halls. Although now reduced in size, it remains one of the ten most important Buddhist temples in the country. In the Main Hall sits an 82-foot high, gold-gilded statue of Sakyamuni Buddha, the largest sitting Buddha in China.
There are also three fascinating temples of Tianzhu, the ancient Chinese name for India, linked together by the Pilgrim Path. These are The Temple of Faxi (Happiness) (built between 906 and 970 AD); Middle India Peak Less (597 AD); and Fajing (Reflection) Temple (330 AD). The latter is the only nunnery in Hangzhou and is surrounded by tea fields and a small village; many older Hangzhou women visit this temple to pray and spend time with the nuns.
Go to West Lake for a private cruise on the waters that inspired the Chinese saying, “In heaven there is paradise; on earth, Hangzhou and Suzhou.” Traditionally, there are 10 most beautiful scenic spots on the West Lake, each remembered by a four-character mnemonic. Collectively, they are known as the “Ten Scenes of West Lake”: Spring Dawn on the Su Causeway, Orioles Singing in the Willows, Viewing Fish at Flower Pond, Lotuses in the Breeze at the Crooked Courtyard, Evening Bell Ringing at Nanping Hill, Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake, Leifeng Pagoda in Evening Glow, Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, Lingering Snow on the Broken Bridge, and Twin Peaks Piercing the Clouds. Visit a selection of these 10 scenes in a motorized boat with a covered deck.
Enjoy an authentic tea ceremony that involves an athletic style of pouring at the Hangzhou Tea Museum. You will be met by an expert who will explain the intricacies of the ceremony to you as he performs it privately for you.
The tea grown here is the “Bordeaux” of Chinese teas, and comprises all the tea grown in the valleys around Hangzhou that are watered by this one source.
Set on a verdant hillside is the exclusive Longjing restaurant, which has just eight tables. Have lunch here and continue sipping a variety of delicious teas. Although the menus are set, they change regularly as the chef has relationships with local farmers and buys ingredients directly from them several times a week.
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Suzhou
An important city renowned for its historical and cultural heritage as well as for its natural beauty, Suzhou has a variety of sobriquets: “The Venice of the East,” “Capital of Silk,” “Land of Abundance,” and “World of Gardens.”
The history of gardens in Suzhou can be traced back to 770 BC and four of the city’s gardens are UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Master of (Fishermen’s) Nets Garden, the Humble Administrator’s Garden, the Surging Wave Pavilion, and the Lingering Garden.
With your expert guide, visit the 100-foot tall twin octagonal pagodas of Shuang Ta, built more than 1,000 years ago by brothers as a thank-you gift to their teacher for successfully guiding them through their civil service exams.
Visit the Suzhou Museum, designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei. The museum houses the extensive artistic and cultural treasures of the 2,500-year-old city, including painting and calligraphy – with a special display of works by the “Four Ming Masters” (all from Suzhou) – as well as bronzes and jades from Neolithic and Bronze Age sites around the city. Reflecting traditional Suzhou architecture, the museum’s unique buildings are organized around a series of gardens and courts. Located in the city’s historic quarter, it adjoins the landmarked Zhong Wang Fu, a historic 19th-century complex, and the Humble Administrator’s Garden.
Suzhou is also the silk and embroidery center of China. Have a privately guided curator’s tour of the interesting Silk Museum and Embroidery Institute.
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