Beyond the Golden Triangle
9-Day Beijing – Pingyao Ancient Town – Xi'an – Shanghai Private Tour
This 9-day private tour includes not only the route to Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai which is called the golden triangle, but also has a smart combination with Pingyao by high-speed train.
In Beijing and Xi'an, immerse yourself into the glory history and stories of imperial family, while in Pingyao, touch the ordinary life of merchant in Ming and Qing Dynasty. It is the best preserved ancient city with people has residing in for generations. This is the China as you imagine: red lantern, elegant courtyard, ancient city wall built by gray bricks.
Beyond the gold triangle tour, you can travel the same destinations in three different styles. Which travel style meets your needs?
Highlights
- Experience our exclusive in-depth Forbidden City trip with our expert guide in history.
- Go over a less-crowded area of the Great Wall by combining effort-saving cable car rides and moderate hiking.
- Stroll the unique contemporary Chinese galleries of the famous 798 Art District of Beijing.
- Experience high-tech HSR and authentic ancient city Pingyao with over 2700 years history.
- Gaze amazed, confronted by the Terracotta Warriors.
- Savor the modern and traditional cityscapes of Shanghai.
China Highlights, Asia Highlights, and Global Highlights collaborate to provide families and couples with personalized and stress-free experiences in diverse destinations.


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Magical Adventure
Wow this tour was honestly the best tourI have ever taken! Our guide Simon Yao was simply superb! His English was excellent and he was very easy to talk to. He was personable and friendly but not overpowering or overbearing. Very knowledgeable about history. Thankfully the weather was good so we were not super hot !Finally at the wall we were amazed by it's beauty and grandeur. It really is something and pictures don't do it justice. more
Nov 2023,
Annika M
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Excellent two day visit to Great Wall
Our guide ‘Mark’ was incredible. So friendly, knowledgable and funny. The itinerary was perfect, we got to see two different parts of the Great Wall (one of which at night which was magical) and our hotel stay in Gubei was wonderful. Highly recommend to anybody visiting Beijing more
Nov 2023,
James_Wolstenholme
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Great day out with Mark, thanks China Highlights!
We did a 1 day private tour with China Highlights to see Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Communication was great throughout - from trip planning/booking with Roger and from our guide Mark who contacted us the day before to confirm meet up time/location. Avoided a lot of the queues and definitely learned quite a bit of history from our guide Mark…thanks again! No language barriers/issues…highly recommended. more
Nov 2023,
ykeezy
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China Three (3) Cities Tours
To the tour guides, Ethan, Jason and Tony, you guys have made my visit an awesome and memorable experience. All the tour guides spoke english and communicated very effectively. They are knowledgeable about all the sites visited including, Great Wall of China, The Forbidden City, Panda Breeding and Research Center, Leshan Giant Buddha, Hallelujah Mountains, Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon and Glass Bridge, and Tianmen Mountain. The tour guides ensured I got the most out of my time I stayed in the various cities Beijing, Chengdu and Zhangjiajie. more
Nov 2023,
Kadar
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13 days in China
We booked a 13 day’s tour of China with China Highlights. Our travel advisor, Ms Leah Zhou organised an itinerary that suited what we wanted. She was really helpful and patient will all our needs. Leah helped us organised our 30th Wedding Anniversary Dinner and my 60th Birthday celebration?? in Beijing. For this to be possible, she had to liaise with our guide in Beijing. The flowers and cake were a real surprise. My husband and I, were really touched at the good service provided by China Highlights and Ms Leah Zhou. Thank you China Highlights and Ms Leah Zhou for your constant care of your customers. I will certainly recommend China Highlights to my friends. more
Nov 2023,
Eda Adams
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Perfect Beijing experience
Covering all major sights our exploration of Beijing and surroundings was flawless guided by Lily, along with her knowledgeable and balanced information on Chinas culture and history. In particular, Lily was able to adjust the tour according to personal preferences, e.g. focus on photography, as well as suggesting additional activities like an impressive authentic artistic show. I highly recommend China Highlights as China tour operator and Lily Liu as excellent guide regarding the Beijing area. more
Nov 2023,
Perfect Beijing experience
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Anne and Bob’s tour of Beijing
We did the China Highlights tour of Beijing with our excellent guide Mark and his driver. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Beijing highlights including the Lama Temple, the Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Lama Temple. The Summer Palace with the boat ride and the Garden of Virtue and Harmony were memorable also and the Mutianyu Great Wall was a highlight. We were impressed with Mark as a guide. He knew his history and he was kind and thoughtful. He took us to some excellent restaurants and we were introduced to some beautiful food. We enjoyed his company and will always remember him. more
Nov 2023,
BendigoBob
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Amazing Beijing Tour with Risa!
Risa gave us a wonderful tour of the city! She thoroughly explained the cultuaral importance of each exhibit while also educating us on the Chinese culture. Appreciated having this wonderful Beijing trip with Risa:) more
Nov 2023,
Angelica M.
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Amazing Beijing Tour With Risa!
We were very kindly received in Beijing by our tour guide Risa. She gave us a very thorough tour of the city and showed us wonderful places, while also explaining the important history/culture of China! Very beautiful city filled with many things to do and full of culture! This was very well planned and made it very easy for us to visit the city and foreigners:) Thank you Risa! more
Nov 2023,
Angelica M
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Do Beijing like a local
They organised my trip very quickly and efficiently. On the day, Anna was very friendly to me, my mum and my baby. Very accommodating to our needs. The car was immaculately clean and very comfortable. We visited everything we initially wanted and more. Also, Anna took us to the best meal we had in China. It makes a difference to have a local choosing the dishes! more
Nov 2023,
Natali A
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Must-see Beijing sights in two days
Going on the guided tour gave me the opportunity to visit the main 'must-see' Beijing attractions in two days' time. Although I prefer to travel on my own, it simply would not have been possible for me to arrange tickets and figure out logistics to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and Great Wall with such a compressed schedule and short notice. My guide, Lucy, was very knowledgeable about Chinese history and cheerfully accompanied me through two grueling days. Traffic in and around Beijing is bad, and the sights are notnin walking distance from one another. Our driver, Li Li Mon, patiently fought the traffic allowing me to snooze in between the long more
Nov 2023,
Marcis J
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China Highlights - Great Wall Mutianyu
I arranged a private tour with China Highlights to see the Great Wall, as I had a few hours to spare near Beijing. I was promptly collected, taken to the wall via comfortable car and escorted all the way by my allocated tour guide Jack. The day was highly memorable and thoroughly enjoyable, we walked 20 watchtowers across the Wall and then took the luge back down. The knowledge and history of the Great Wall was shared and Jack’s English was great. Fantastic day, thanks for your great hospitality, Jack! more
Nov 2023,
Daniel White
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Great Day in China!
The experience was great! Amazing learning about history and culture.Thanks for everything Lucy! more
Nov 2023,
Evandro S
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Unforgetable experience
It was the best experience foi my whole life. Thanks a thousand to Lucy for all her assistente and knowledge regarding China. If you are planing to know China as native perspective do not think twice Luci is the best. more
Nov 2023,
Evandro F
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Amazing experience in Beijing
Spent 3 days in Beijing under China Highlights! Our tour guide Jennifer spoke excellent English and was very knowledgeable in Chinese history. Not only was she friendly, she was always on hand to help me with my heavy luggage. She also recommended us very good chinese restaurants for lunch and dinner. She went beyond her call of duties to make sure we had a enjoyable time in Beijing. China highlights also surprised me with a birthday cake on my birthday. Kimi Huang who was my consultant was ever ready to answer all my queries promptly. Thank you for making our trip a memorable one. more
Nov 2023,
Delltravellor
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Great Experience on Beijing Day Visit with tour guide Lucy Yubo
She took me on a side excursion to see the next door park where locals exercise and she took me yo some shops also to get hat and gloves for the cold. Our last stop was 978 Art Center which was super interesting. My day was relaxing, fun, and very special as I feel I learned something much about both China’s past and present. I highly recommend booking a tour to see Beijing in this way. more
Nov 2023,
Nancy H
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Memorable Beijing & Gubei with China Highlights
Jack as the tour guide is a good story teller. He is inquisitive. He knows when to leave us alone exploring the sights and pick out interest again with the historical facts and stories.Then, we explored Jinshanling that provides a balanced view between reconstructed and ruined walls. Finally, we explored the Forbidden City and The Summer Palace. In between, we enjoyed authentic Chinese cuisines which were delicious. more
Nov 2023,
Dian W
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Beijing 2 day tour
Spent 2 days in Beijing with Ethan as my guide and had a fantastic experience. Ethan is very knowledgeable, easy company and takes excellent photographs. The organisation was excellent as well including the driver for the tour as well the airport pick up. more
Nov 2023,
Tam
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My very first trip to Beijing
My guide Jack was excellent- very knowledgeable, organised, kind, helpful, and great English speaker. So I learned a lot about the fascinating history of China while enjoying breathtaking sceneries and monuments. more
Nov 2023,
Amanda Barbosa
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Thank you Mark and China Highlights for an amazing trip!!
Mark was the first sight that we had after getting off the plane and what a beautiful site he was! We felt very safe having him as our first tour guide! We sure appreciate having him guide us through Beijing wouldn’t replace him with anyone!! Thanks Mark for all of your hard work and preparation! more
Nov 2023,
adyn h
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Suggested Itinerary
Hotel:Crowne Plaza Hotel Beijing Chaoyang U-Town (Superior Room)(TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence 2015)
Private Airport Transfer (Beijing)
Your local tour guide, driver and private car will be waiting for you upon arrival in Beijing. Your guide will assist you with your luggage at the airport and take you to your hotel.
Enjoying a Leisure Recovery
Your afternoon or evening is free for you to recovery and relax. Feel free to ask your guide what there is to do nearby, if you want to take a walk or discover parts of the area on your own.
Hotel:Crowne Plaza Hotel Beijing Chaoyang U-Town (Superior Room)
Breakfast & Lunch
A buffet breakfast & real fresh coffee will kick start your day. The expert escort you 5 hour in the emperors' house and show you some interesting places you would never find by yourself in the Forbidden City and guide you away from the noisy parts and crush of other tour groups. What you can see no longer only empty rooms in the Forbidden City but also pictures of emperors, concubines and eunuchs in the expert's ipad, stories brings it to life.
In the afternoon, the expert accompany you to visit the Tian'anmen Square that is very close to the Forbidden City and have a easy climbing to the Jinshan Hill in Jinshan Park to take a birds' eye view of the golden roofs, see it from a new angle.
Good to know
To ensure good timing, the local expert does the day tour once a day. So on this day, you have a small group tour with maximum of eight people. Interaction with the expert and group members add more fun. According to previous customers' feedback, people who love history and family with kids who are over 7 years old are like the tour.
Did you know …
That the Square can hold up to one million people!

Hotel:Crowne Plaza Hotel Beijing Chaoyang U-Town (Superior Room)
Breakfast & Lunch
An early start and chance to exercise or stroll with locals among the 60,000 ancient trees in the Temple of Heaven's Grounds. Watch locals exercise, practice martial arts, play traditional instruments, and other activities that you may never see in your country.
The Temple of Heaven provided a place for emperors to pray to 'the most high God in heaven' for a good harvest. The Round Altar, Echo Wall and Imperial Vault of Heaven are the rated as key sights; we will cover these and more.
In the afternoon, we avoid crowd and move to Mutianyu, this less-crowded section of the Great Wall is about 2.5 hours' drive from downtown Beijing. A cable-car takes you to a good section (avoiding a very steep climb), where you can walk along the wall, through the watch towers and enjoy superb views as it snakes across the hills and mountains. You can return by cable car, walk down or walk along the wall for about an hour to descend by chairlift or toboggan. Wear good walking shoes and protection from the weather.
Good to Know:
If hiking is your thing, or three hours of hiking is your choice, you are also able to enjoy a hiking from Jinshanling to Simatai west, just tell your travel advisor which one you prefer.

Hotel:Crowne Plaza Hotel Beijing Chaoyang U-Town (Superior Room)
Breakfast & Lunch
Continue exploring highlights of Beijing. The Summer Palace is an enormous park with pavilions, vividly painted corridors, temples, among lakes and surrounded by hills. It was originally the imperial courts summer retreat, and still makes a nice place to escape the heat of the summer. Climb the hill or take a scroll in the gardens, this is a charming place to explore before taking a dragon styled boat tour on Kunming lake.
In the afternoon, take a look at traditional hutongs where present local culture. It is an opportunity to look into ordinary people's life. We will stop at a private Chinese baijiu museum that is hidden in hutong. Thousands of bottles strong liquid tell you story in different decades of China.
Let's change into the modern part, Mingle with Artists at 798 Art District. You will be addicted to a variety of Chinese galleries set in some abandoned factories at the 798 Art District, which is the largest and most popular place for Chinese artists.
Good to know
If you like Chinese Kung Fu, ask your guide to book night show tickets. The show tells a story about how a boy monk grows up to a Kung Fu master.

Hotel: Yunjincheng Folk Hotel (Rank No.2 of Hotels in Pingyao on Tripadvisor)
Breakfast & Lunch
HSR to Pingyao and Exploring History in Pingyao Ancient Town
Today you get opportunity to experience smooth China's high-speed railway. Depart from Beijing at 07:58 and arrival in Pingyao at 12:09. Your guide, driver and private car will take you to the local restaurant and taste local food and take a short break before visiting the ancient town.
As a tiny ancient city with a history of nearly 3,000 years, Pingyao is one of the four best-preserved ancient cities. Walk along the Ancient City Wall, built with rammed earth inside and brick and stone outside, the ancient city walls measure 10 meters high and 6162.7 meters long with 3-5 meters wide tops, and afterwards head to Mingqing Street. One of the earliest banks in China, The Rishengchang Draft Bank established in 1823 will give you some ideas about its development.

Hotel: Wyndham Grand Xian South (Deluxe Room) (TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence 2015)
Breakfast & Lunch
Visiting Wang Family Compound
Take your time to enjoy your breakfast, while your guide and driver will wait for you in the lobby. Today, you will see a representative of North China folk house in the Qing Dynasty-Wang Family Compound that is considered has much less tourists. The architecture has a magnificent scale with five alleys, five forts, and five ancestral temples. Besides, the courtyard layout of the five ancient forts were respectively compared to designs of five lucky animals of "dragon, phoenix, tortoise, kylin and tiger".
Your guide and driver escort you to the station to take the HSR to Xi'an in the late afternoon and arrive at Xi'an at about 7:30 pm.

Hotel: Wyndham Grand Xian South (Deluxe Room)
Breakfast & Lunch
Visit Xi'an's Treasure – the Terracotta Warriors
The Terracotta Warriors is definitely a unique highlight of Xi'an. This incredible army of more than 7000 soldiers, archers, horses and chariots are unique and buried underground for more than 2000 years. Learn more about this imperial army and the once ancient capital of China.
Have lunch at A Wa Shan Zhan Restaurant after your visit to the Terracotta Warriors.
View the City of Xi'an from the Big Goose Pagoda
Visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, built from bricks without cement. Climb up to the top of the pagoda for a bird's eye view of the city center. A great place to get a photo shot of the city.
Biking on the Ancient City Wall is one of highlights. Slow down your pace and enjoy the overview of the whole city.
Good to know
It is pleasant to have a stroll at the Muslin Quarter and the Bell Tower area at night or enjoy a Tang dynasty dancing and singing show.

Hotel: Les Suites Orient Bund Shanghai (Bund Studio River View) (TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence 2017)
Breakfast & Lunch
Xi'an to Shanghai Transfer
Your flight departs Xi'an and arrives in Shanghai in the morning. A comfortable private car will take you to the airport at right time to avoid traffic jam.
See Shanghai's Classics – A blend of East and West
Shanghai's landmark - the Shanghai Tower offers wonderful views of the Bund. It has a revolving teahouse, if you want to sit back and enjoy local tea culture. Explore old Shanghai among Shikumen - traditional classical local houses and visit a typical Jiangnan style garden - Yuyuan Garden built in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty. Taste some local Shanghainese food at Home's Restaurant.
Did you know …
Shanghai is the largest city in China by population, with around 24 million!
Good to know
Highly recommend Huangpu Evening Cruise or Era Acrobatics show.

Trip Notes
Extend the tour:
- Yangtze River Cruise: add 4–5 days (Chongqing to Yichang or vice versa)
- Chengdu: usually add 2–4 days —visit a Panda research center, the Giant Buddha, Mt. Emei, Panda Keeper Program and Jiuzhaigou natural scenery. Choose your favorite.
- Guilin: add 3-4 days —enjoy the Li River cruise, Longsheng terrace field, relax at Yangshuo
- Suzhou and Hangzhou: add 2–3 days — visit scenic gardens, West Lake, and water towns
- Hong Kong: add 2–3 days — visit Victoria Peak, Disneyland, and day tour Macau
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong are China's major entry cities.
Optional Activities
It must be clearly understood that enjoying these extras is your own decision. They are not included in the itinerary or tour price, so you will need to pay separately. The ticket price depends on seating. Ask your guide to book tickets if you want to see any of the following.
- Beijing — Legend of Kungfu Show
- Xi'an — Tang Dynasty Cultural Show plus Dumpling Banquet
- Pingyao —Synopsis of the Dance Drama Wild Jujubes
- Shanghai — Chinese Acrobats Show
Price includes:
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