2020: Enhanced! Imperial China, Tibet & the Yangtze River

22 days
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Group Tour
On this newly enhanced adventure, you'll explore metropolitan Shanghai—a NEW destination for 2020. There, you'll get acquainted with the modern and ancient aspects of this colossal city, from the city's French colonial roots at the Bund to the modern spirit of Fuxing Park. Throughout China, you'll experience a kaleidoscope of cultural and natural wonders. Ter...

Overview

Trip type
Group Tour
Lodging level
Standard - 3 star
Physical level
Moderate
Trip pace
Flexible schedule

Highlights

    • Discover Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City
    • Explore the Great Wall
    • Explore Barkhor Bazaar & Jokhang Temple
    • Visit Potala Palace

What's this trip about?

    On this newly enhanced adventure, you'll explore metropolitan Shanghai—a NEW destination for 2020. There, you'll get acquainted with the modern and ancient aspects of this colossal city, from the city's French colonial roots at the Bund to the modern spirit of Fuxing Park. Throughout China, you'll experience a kaleidoscope of cultural and natural wonders. Terra cotta soldiers guard an ancient emperor’s tomb ... a royal palace forbidden to visitors for centuries opens its doors in welcome ... and the largest dam in the world harnesses the power of a mighty river while flooding thousands of years of history, altering the face of a country forever. When traveling in China, the past, the present, and the future are alive, vital, and inextricably mixed. Explore Beijing’s greatest monuments, discover Xian’s traditional cuisine, and enjoy a Yangtze River cruise for three nights. Get to know China’s people and landscapes as our small group size of 8-16 travelers allows you to share a meal with a family in their home, ride on a high-speed train, sail small boats through gigantic gorges, and discover the profound beauty of Tibetan culture during a 3-night stay in Lhasa. It’s a grand adventure on an intimate scale, with your Trip Experience Leader providing insight that only a local can.

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Details

Itinerary focusClassic Highlights
Group sizeSmall Group - max of 16 people
Age rangeNo age restrictions
Flights and transportN/A
Start CityBeijing
End CityShanghai

Travel Themes

  • Cultural
  • National Parks
  • Nature & Wildlife
  • Small Ship Cruise

Destinations

Activities

  • Culture
  • Historic sightseeing
  • History
  • Homestays & Cultural Immersion
  • Nature
  • Short Cruise

Max Group Size

  • Max Group Size: 16

Trip includes

    • International airfare, airport transfers, government taxes, fees, and airline fuel surcharges unless you choose to make your own air arrangements*
    • All land transportation and 4 internal flights
    • Accommodations for 20 nights
    • 48 meals—20 breakfasts, 15 lunches, and 13 dinners (including 2 Home-Hosted meals)
    • 15 small group activities
    • Explore in a small group of 8-16 travelers (average group size of 14)
    • Services of a local O.A.T. Trip Experience Leader
    • Gratuities for local guides, drivers, ship-crew, and luggage porters
    • 5% Frequent Traveler Credit toward your next adventure—an average of $340

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Itinerary

Day 1: Depart from the U.S.
You depart this evening for an overnight flight to Beijing.

Day 2: Arrive Beijing, China
Destination: Beijing Accommodations: Holiday Inn Express Beijing Dongzhimen or similar Afternoon/Evening: You fly across the International Date Line and arrive in Beijing in the late afternoon or late evening. An O.A.T. representative will meet you at the airport a...
Day 3: Beijing • Summer Palace
Destination: Beijing Meals: Breakfast and Lunch Accommodations: Holiday Inn Express Beijing Dongzhimen or similar Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel beginning at 6am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: Around 9am, we’ll gather for a Welcome Br...
Day 4: Beijing • Discover Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City
Destination: Beijing Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Accommodations: Holiday Inn Express Beijing Dongzhimen or similar Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel beginning at 6am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: Around 8:30am, we’ll leave the ho...
Day 5: Explore the Great Wall • Home-Hosted Lunch
Destination: Beijing Meals: Breakfast and Lunch Accommodations: Holiday Inn Express Beijing Dongzhimen or similar Activity Note: This day includes a 1.5-hour climb with about 800 steep stairs. Travelers may choose to do part of the climb, or may choose not to parti...
Day 6: Fly to Xian
Destination: Xian Meals: Breakfast Accommodations: Ramada Xian Bell Tower Hotel or similar Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel beginning at 6am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: Around 8am, we’ll check out of our hotel and drive about an hour...
Day 7: Discover Small Wild Goose Pagoda • Tai chi demonstration
Destination: Xian Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Accommodations: Ramada Xian Bell Tower Hotel or similar Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel beginning at 6am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: Around 9:30am, our group will take a bout a 20...
Day 8: Discover Terra Cotta Army • School visit
Destination: Xian Meals: Breakfast and Lunch Accommodations: Ramada Xian Bell Tower Hotel or similar Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel beginning at 6am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: Around 9am, we’ll leave our hotel and drive for 1 hour...
Day 9: A Day in the Life of the Donghan community • Home-Hosted Lunch
Destination: Xian Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Accommodations: Ramada Xian Bell Tower Hotel or similar Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel beginning at 6am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: Around 8:30am, we’ll drive into the countrysid...
Day 10: Xian • High-speed train to Chengdu • Optional Face-changing Performance tour
Destination: Chengdu Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Accommodations: Tianfu Sunshine Hotel or similar Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel beginning at 6am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: Around 9:30am, we’ll leave our hotel in Xian and d...
Day 11: Chengdu • Giant Panda Sanctuary
Destination: Chengdu Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Accommodations: Tianfu Sunshine Hotel or similar Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel beginning at 6am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: Around 8:30am, we’ll leave the hotel and drive 30 ...
Day 12: Fly to Lhasa, Tibet
Destination: Lhasa Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Accommodations: Minshan Hotel or similar Activity Note: Because of the controversial and sensitive nature of Chinese control over Tibet, the Chinese government will occasionally close the border to Tibet without...
Day 13: Explore Barkhor Bazaar & Jokhang Temple • Optional Sera Monastery & Norbulingka Palace Tour
Destination: Lhasa Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Accommodations: Minshan Hotel or similar Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel beginning at 7am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: At about 9am, we drive for about 30 minutes by motorcoach to...
Day 14: Explore Potala Palace • Visit with Tibetan family
Destination: Lhasa Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Accommodations: Minshan Hotel or similar Activity Note: Today’s itinerary features a 2.5-hour walk with 300 steps at an altitude of 12,000 feet. Travelers do not have to participate if they feel it may be too di...
Day 15: Fly to Chongqing • Board Yangtze River cruise ship
Destination: Yangtze River Meals: Breakfast and Dinner Accommodations: Yangtze River Ship Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel beginning at 7am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: Around 8:30am, we’ll check out of our hotel and drive one hour to...
Day 16: Yangtze River Cruise • Meet relocated family in Shi Bao Zhai or Fengdu
Destination: Yangtze River Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Accommodations: Yangtze River Ship Activity Note: Depending on the water level of the Yangtze, today’s shore excursion will either be in Shi Bao Zhai or Fengdu. Breakfast: Served buffet-style onboard o...
Day 17: Wu and Qutang gorges • Explore Lesser Three Gorges
Destination: Yangtze River Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Accommodations: Yangtze River Ship Activity Note: When the water level of the Goddess Stream is low, we make part of this excursion by bus. Breakfast: Served buffet-style onboard our ship from 7am-8:15...
Day 18: Explore Three Gorges Dam • Disembark At Yichang
Destination: Yichang Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Accommodations: Holiday Inn Express Yichang Changjiang or similar Breakfast: Served buffet-style onboard our ship beginning at 6:30am, with traditional Chinese and Western-style options available.   Mornin...
Day 19: Fly to Shanghai • Optional Shanghai Acrobatic Show tour
Destination: Shanghai Meals: Breakfast Accommodations: Fairfield by Marriott Shanghai Jingan or similar Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel beginning at 6am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: We’ll check out of the hotel around 8:30am and driv...
Day 20: Explore Shanghai • Jade Buddha Temple • Old City Center Bazaar
Destination: Shanghai Meals: Breakfast and Lunch Accommodations: Fairfield by Marriott Shanghai Jingan Breakfast: Served buffet-style at the hotel starting at 6am, with hot and cold options available. Morning: We depart around 9:30am for a 20-minute drive to the ...

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Dates & Availability

Price From $4,695
Price per day$213
Last Updated: 0/27/2020

Check Current Availability, prices, specials with Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours).

The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.

Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.

Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours) Reviews & Ratings

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Policy over practical customer service. zero customer service

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don't expect humanity or common sense

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Overseas Adventure Travel (O.A.T. Tours)

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Overseas Adventure Travel offers unique small group adventures worldwide to Americans over 50. By land and sea, we explore on—and off—the beaten path with a resident OAT Trip Leader, immersing ourselves in local cultures, sampling unique modes of transportation, and staying in authentic lodgings that reflect the essence of your destination. Grand Circle Small Ship Cruises serves both our GCT and OAT brands with an award-winning fleet known for exceptional value and high-quality experiences in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. Custom-designed according to our travelers’ specifications, our fleet includes 50+ small river and ocean-going ships that we own or privately charter.

Grand Circle Corporation is a global enterprise—comprised of a family of travel companies—committed to changing people’s lives by offering high-impact experiences to our travelers and building local communities through philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, and volunteerism.

Simply by traveling with OAT, you support the work of the nonprofit Grand Circle Foundation, which was created with the mission of changing people’s lives through travel—both those of our travelers, and of the people who welcome us so warmly into their homelands.

Journey with the Leader in Adventure Travel and Watch Your Dreams Take Flight: It is the stuff of dreams: gazelles bowing to lap at a glassy pool in the Serengeti as the vast sky turns purple with night, the tiered splendor of the Himalayas, rising behind a Tibetan monastery. Dreams like these are everyday realities for OAT travelers, thanks to the principles which ground every OAT adventure: value, choice, discovery, and carefully paced itineraries.

Our Value puts your travel dreams within reach: OAT can help you realize your travel dreams for a lot less than you thought possible. Together with our regional offices located throughout the world, we’ve been able to establish long-term relationships with many local vendors and hotels. Buying direct brings down our costs—and allows us to pass the savings on to you. And negotiating directly for hotel space also allows us to secure as many single room allotments as possible for our solo travelers. That way, we can also extend our great value to solo travelers. In fact, we offer the best value for solo travelers, guaranteed.

The Choice is yours: You’ll always have plenty of choices with OAT. We offer you a breadth of awe-inspiring travel destinations—from the peaks of the Andes to the sweeping desert sands of the Sahara to the rugged natural beauty of Iceland. You'll also enjoy more trip extension choices than ever before—like hiking to ancient monasteries in Bhutan or discovering the Moai monolithic rock statues on Easter Island. You have plenty of choices within each adventure, too, including several interesting optional tours. And the free time we’ve woven into our itineraries allows you plenty of opportunities for independent exploration. You can shop, unwind, perhaps linger at a sidewalk café, visit an interesting gallery or museum, or explore a cobbled street that caught your eye earlier in the day. You can do as much or as little as you want on an OAT adventure—the choice is yours.

OAT Difference

Adventure Travel: Adventure travel with OAT is a journey beyond the familiar, one that takes you into the very heart of a destination—to meet people where they work and live.

OAT Advantages: Journey with the leader in adventure travel and watch your dreams take flight, thanks to the principles which ground every OAT adventure: value, choice, discovery, and carefully paced itineraries.

Small Groups, Big Discoveries: When you discover the world in an OAT small group, you’ll journey off the beaten path to the places the big tour groups miss—and enjoy an intimate, discovery-filled adventure filled with personal connections, shared experiences, and treasured memories.

Trip Leaders: No matter where in the world you venture with OAT, you'll have one of our resident, expert Trip Leaders by your side. All are fluent in English and possess the skills, certification, and experience necessary to ensure an enriching adventure.

Airport Transfers: We’ve listened to your feedback, and will now offer international airport transfers to and from your hotel to our travelers who choose to purchase their own airfare on OAT adventures as part of our Personalize Your Trip program, which allows you create the OAT adventure that's right for you.

Personalize your trip: OAT travelers have long expressed the desire to decide exactly where they’re going, how they get there, and when they wish to leave. That’s why we developed a variety of choices that enhance the value of every trip we offer, allowing you to create the adventure that works best for you.

Traveling solo? Enjoy your own room or cabin—at no extra cost: You’re in control of your travel dreams—and we’re making them more affordable than ever: Maybe you prefer the freedom of solo travel—or maybe you and your usual traveling companion can’t agree on a destination. Whatever the reason, you don’t have to put your travel dreams on hold. When it’s time to go it alone, you’ll never pay a Single Supplement to have your own room or cabin with OAT.

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Small group tours for seniors and retirees wanting an international adventure, especially solo female travelers.

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Logistics

Accommodation

Holiday Inn Express Beijing Dongzhimen Ramada Xian Bell Tower Hotel Tianfu Sunshine Hotel Minshan Hotel Holiday Inn Express Yichang Changjiang Fairfield by Marriott Shanghai Jingan
Ship & cabin information
Yangtze River Ship For our three-night cruise on the Yangtze River, we travel aboard an air-conditioned river ship, with all meals included during our cruise. The ship’s amenities include a bar, reading room, fitness center, and Internet access. Depending on our exact ship, it will have a capacity of 208 to 378 passengers.
Cancellation policy
If you need to cancel your trip for any reason, please call us as soon as possible, and follow up in writing. You are also required to return any airline tickets that may have been issued to you. Cancellation refunds will be calculated as of the date we receive your written cancellation. We will issue your refund in the manner in which we received your payment. If you paid your deposit by credit card and your balance by check, your refund will be divided accordingly. Refunds are generated manually by our accounting department to ensure accuracy. Please allow for a 30-day processing period before receiving your refund. There is a non-refundable, $300 per person processing fee for each trip you cancel, which reflects our costs of administering a reservation. Other cancellation fees depend upon your trip type and time of cancellation.
Travel Insurance
We strongly recommend purchasing travel insurance alongside your travel package to safeguard against unforeseen circumstances such as medical expenses, trip cancellations, and other contingencies. It offers you peace of mind and ensures you are prepared for unexpected events that may occur before or during your journey
Visa requirements
Visa requirements vary depending on your country of origin and your country of destination. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the relevant requirements. For a handy tool that can help you quickly find the requirements, please visit this link .
Meals Included
20 Breakfasts, 15 Lunches, and 13 Dinners (including 2 Home-Hosted meals)
Age Requirements
No age restrictions
Additional Information
*Airport transfers are only available for travelers arriving and departing to/from the same airport and on the same arrival/departure dates as the main trip.
Trip ID
overse-EnhImpOve

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