Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai

Three of China's most consequential cities in nine days — that is the shape of this itinerary. Beijing opens the tour with its layers of imperial history: Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and a stretch of the Great Wall all sit within reach before the group boards a flight westward. Xi'an arrives on Day 5 as a deliberate change of register, a city that was once the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and today shelters the Terracotta Army of the First Emperor. Shanghai closes the tour as modern China's most visually striking argument for where the country is heading. Across nine days, your group covers roughly three thousand years of Chinese civilization without ever feeling rushed.