China: Tracing the Yangtze

Arrive in Beijing and transfer to your hotel.

Fly via Kunming to Shangri-La, formerly known as Zhongdian. The remainder of the day is at leisure.

Visit the Songzangling Monastery, home to 800 monks and the Living Buddha, where you may speak with a lama and see a monk’s living quarters. Wander the streets of Shangri-La’s Old Town and stop to see the work of a local NGO at the Thangka Center. Afterward, visit Dropenling Tibet Handicraft Development Center Tonight, enjoy a traditional music performance or a presentation of Tibetan culture.

Pass through extraordinary mountain ranges, cavernous gorges and jade-green valleys, stopping at a Nixi village to see the black pottery craftsmen. After lunch, visit the home of a Tibetan farming family. From the village, there is a great view of the Yangtze River Valley. Continue to a local prayer center where elders gather to worship.

Early this morning, walk up a small hill and hang symbolic prayer flags while you burn incense. Back at the lodge, meditate with a Tibetan master. Next, visit 17th-century Dongzhulin Monastery and a nunnery. After a picnic lunch, continue to Meili via the Baima Pass, towering at nearly 14,000 feet above sea level.

View the beautiful sunrise on the Meili Snow Mountains and hike the pilgrimage route. Pause for a picnic lunch before returning to your lodge. Tonight, have dinner at your lodge and attend a bonfire party that features traditional Tibetan singing.

Learn how to paint a wooden bowl and view traditional lacquer works when you visit the village of Gonjo. After lunch in Benzilan, drive to Shangri-La.

The land drops in a series of precipitous descents, following the rushing course of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, as it tumbles out of the Himalaya. Admire the region, the land of the treacherous Tiger Leaping Gorge, where the river roars through more than 10 miles of mountain gorge, plummeting 700 feet in places. Visit the village of Shigu en route to Lijiang.

Visit a Yuhu village and the home of 20th-century naturalist Dr. Joseph Rock. Watch an Impression of Lijiang performance and have lunch at a local restaurant. Afterward, embark on a walking tour of the Old Town, meander through Mu Palace and look over the rooftops from Wangulou Pagoda.

This morning, explore Lashi Lake and Meiquan village. After lunch, visit Black Dragon Pool Park and the Dongba Institute, a complex dedicated to Naxi culture.

Fly to Chongqing, gateway to the Three Gorges region, and transfer to the pier to board your luxury river cruiser.

Cruise the mighty Yangtze, enjoying the splendor of its stunning Three Gorges region. Witness a traditional way of life with shore excursions that take you to out-of-the-way villages along the river.

After a light lunch on board, disembark in Yichang and fly to Shanghai, the final stop of your journey and the point where the Yangtze meets the sea. The remainder of the day is at leisure. Tonight, gather for a farewell dinner.

Fly home or continue to Hangzhou.

Oct 28-31: Board the Bullet Train from Shanghai to Hangzhou. Take a boat ride on West Lake and explore Lingyin Temple. Visit Long Jing Tea Plantation and meet a local tea farmer, listen to a talk on Chinese herbal medicine and watch Impression of West Lake. You also stop at Wuzhen water town and take a canal boat ride, see Six Harmony Pagoda and wander the Botanical Garden. Return to Shanghai by train. Four Seasons Hangzhou at West Lake