Southern China Explore 12D: Shanghai to Zhangjiajie, Yangshuo and Guangzhou

Welcome to Shanghai, the most metropolis of China! Upon arrival, you'll be met by our representative and escorted to your hotel. The rest of today is at your leisure.

City explore in Shanghai today with a local guide, you will visit the Bund that is riverfront of the Huangpu River, Yu Garden that is an old pretty garden, Xintiandi that is former French Colony, and Jade Buddha Temple etc. 

Today you will fly from Shanghai to Zhangjiajie. The flight information will be sent to you before the tour. Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred to hotel by your local guide. Zhangjiajie is a renowned town for its spectacular national park. If it is early flight, you will head to visit Tianmen Mount today instead of the visit on the following day.

Today you will take one-hour ride to Zhangjiajie National Park where you will overlook the wonderful views by super elevator. The elevator takes 1.58 seconds to transport tourists from the bottom to the Yuanjiajie top exhibiting unbelievable and fantastic views. Enjoy the heaven and earth pillar unpredictable prototype mountain of the movie AVATAR directed by Jame Cameron on the Summit Sightseeing platform.

Afterwards you will move to visit Tianzi Mountain Nature Reserve that offers a perfect location to have a panoramic picture. Known as 'the Monarch of the Peak Forest', Tianzi Mountain has four wonders the Sea of Clouds, the Radiance of the Moonlight, the Rays of Sunshine and the Snow in winter.

Later you will head to Shilihualang (10-Mile-Gallery) to explore. (One way by electric train; other way on foot for about 30 Minutes.)

Drive to Tianmen Mountain, then walk along the road leading to Gateway of Heaven. The glass walkway makes it so distinctive. You will take Tianmen Mountain Cableway to explore Tongtian Avenue (a way to Heaven), Tianmen Cave (Heaven Gateway), Tianmen Temple, Tianmen glass walkway, Ghost-valley plank road, and Yunmeng Fairy Summit. You will take a small cable to the main cable, then take the longest cableway in the world with a length of 7455 meters and elevation of 518 meters to go down.

(The round-way of the main cable and upper way for the small cable are included. If you take round-way small cable car, you will miss some sights.)

Afterwards you will take 3-hour car ride or 1 hour fast train ride to old town of Fenghuang which was built along the Tuo River with local wood. It is nice to wander around the well-preserved wooden houses. In the evening, the lights creates a wonderful world from the houses.

Today you will take 2-hour car ride to Mt Fanjing that was inscribed on the heritage list by UNESCO in 2018, you will take a cable car up and continue walking to visit. The well-known attractions include Golden Summit with red clouds, Yuejing Mountain, Sleeping Buddha, Mushroom Stone, Jiulong Pond, Layers of Mountains, Phoenix Mountain, etc.

Afterwards you will be transferred to hotel for a rest. 

Today you will take 2.5-hour ride to visit Hongjiang old town in Huaihua. It has been a post, a commercial port and a huge town with 3000 years history and thousands of fireworks since ancient times. It is famous for collecting and distributing oil, wood, opium and wax, it is also called the "thorough-going of seven provinces", "little Chongqing", "little Nanjing", "pearl of west Hunan" and "southwest metropolis". It is the political, military, economic, religious and cultural center of west Hunan.

Afterwards you will be transferred to hotel in Huaihua. 

After hotel breakfast, you will take 4-hour car ride for 266km from Huaihua to Longji Rice Terraces this morning. Upon arrival, you will walk up to the PingAn and Dazhai villages where there are sightseeing spots offering the best view of the rice terraces. The rice terraces here are pretty in different seasons with the rice growing up: green ladders in Summer, yellow belt in Autumn, and silver paddies in Spring.

Note: You can leave your big luggage in a storeroom at the entrance of Longji, where you will take the sightseeing bus to the village where you still have to walk uphill for about 10 minutes.  Then you can pick your luggage up while returning to the entrance after Longji rice terrace tour.

Today you will take 3-hour car ride from Longji to Yangshuo, a small nice town nestled in the Karst mountains area. Enjoy the boat tour this afternoon along the pretty Li River that is well-known for its picturesque scenery. 

It is a nice experience to ride bike to the countryside of Yangshuo, view the picturesque Yulong River. 

Then you will climb up the Mount Xianggong that is a nice spot to have a bird view of Li River. 

Afterwards, you will move to a tea plantation where you can learn how to make tea leaves.  

Later, you will be tansferred back to Yangshuo and enjoy yout free time.

Take 2-hour bullet train from Yangshuo to Guangzhou, Upon arrival, you will be met by your guide and start to visit the pretty city Guangzhou. You will visit the Academy of Clan Chen, the Shamian Island, and view the Canton Tower. Take a night cruise on the Pearl River to view the fantastic lights in the evening. 

Today is the departure day in Guangzhou, you can check out the hotel before noon. The wonderful tour concludes.