Travel Style

Luxury

Trip Details

Designed by Imperial Tours exclusively for Gourmet Travel Club.

Includes:

• 4 nights accommodation in five star hotel
• 4 breakfasts (buffet breakfast), 3 lunches and 3 dinners at carefully selected restaurants
• Services of a Western bilingual China Host and local tour guides
• All land transportation (as listed on the itinerary)
• Entrance fees to all tourist sites (as listed on the itinerary)
• Local guide and driver gratuities
• Baggage handling, domestic airport, city and hotel taxes

Not included:

• International airfare to / from China, visa processing fees, travel insurance
• Personal expenses such as alcoholic beverages, imported mineral waters, excess luggage fees, telephone charges, room service and laundry charges
• Gratuities to the China Host (recommended at USD 25-50 per guest per day)
• Optional lectures and performances

Price:  From $3,305 per person based on double occupancy

Itinerary

Day 1          ARRIVE BEIJING

Upon arrival at Beijing International Airport, you will be met at the gate by airport VIP staff who will lead you through immigration, baggage claim and customs.  Your China Host will then meet you after you have claimed your luggage and passed through customs.  The China Host will accompany you during the remainder of your stay in China (the China Host acts as a personal concierge to you throughout your stay in China, allowing you to make changes as you see fit...this may mean adding a site or taking out a site, changing a restaurant or booking a foot massage.).

(Optional:  You will be met off the jet bridge and whisked through the airport's Diplomatic Channel.  No need to wait in line for Customs and Immigration, and no need to walk through the car park.  Your car will be waiting for you at the airport exit.)

Upon transferring to the hotel, you will have the remainder of the evening at leisure (no other services included this evening). 

Day 2          BEIJING

Whether by force of irony or expediency, China's government has been located in the same area continuously for over six hundred years.  You will walk back in time; strolling across Tian'anmen Square, one of the largest squares of the modern era; you will pass the Monument to the People's Heroes - dedicated to the ravages of the hundred year long Opium War - and finally enter the ancient epicenter of Imperial Power, the Forbidden City.

(Optional:  We can arrange for special access to Chonghuagong, a section of the Forbidden City that is normally closed to the general public.  Please note that Chonghuagong is filled with antiques and in the event that the weather is particularly rainy / humid, the authorities will not grant access.)

(Optional:  We can invite a former Southeby's expert to bring the history of the Imperial Palace to life through a guided tour entitled "Court Life of the Forbidden City".  As this site was at the apex of political might for nearly five hundred years, this introduction combines general topics such as the organization of Imperial private life or the role of eunuchs in government with the particular challenges, solutions and idiosyncrasies of various Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasty.  That said, guests are invited at all times to ask questions and so influence the direction of the tour.)

For your opening lunch, our restaurant of choice is located a stone's throw away from the Forbidden City and was once a princely mansion.  We continue the day with an intimate pedicab tour through Beijing's traditional alleyways (or huatong).  This is one of the rare chances that you will see Chinese people in their everyday setting.  If you wish, you will have the opportunity to visit the home of a Chinese family and ask them questions about their way of life.

Hidden within these alleys are a number of small markets where local people buy their groceries.  We will call into one of these, giving you an idea of the huge and often intriguing range of fresh produce available in the neighborhood.

Chairman Mao's personal chef, who prepared the meals for the visiting Viscount Montgomery, the Dalai Lama and the last Emperor of China amongst other dignitaries, was bequeathed an aristocratic courtyard home across the street from Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of the Chinese leadership, one of the most exclusive addresses in Beijing.  These days, this chef's grandson, himself also a Master Chef, prepares behind-the-scenes ministerial level meetings in this exclusive conclave.  Tonight you will enjoy an elegant meal of the most authentic, classic Chinese flavors.  (Access is by appointment only, but you may dine here as our guests.  Guests are forewarned that there is a possibility of cancellation given government use of this venue which has priority over traveler access.)  (B, L, D)

Day 3          BEIJING

Today, you will visit the Great Wall of China.  Built to protect China from the incursions of predatory nomads, the utility and meaning of this fortification has been contested for centuries.  The unprecedented scale and unexpected charm of the Great Wall may inspire you.  The section that we most highly recommend is the further away, about 2 hours drive, but is generally considered one of the most beautiful sections of the Great Wall.  Once there, you will be treated to a private banquet on the Wall itself (weather permitting).  After lunch you will be given some time for a stroll along this most magnificent of sites.

Optional:  To deepen your experience of the Great Wall, you will be accompanied to the Wall by an historian who holds degrees in ancient Chinese history from Dartmouth and Beijing Universities.  He devotes himself full-time to walking, studying and writing about the Great Wall in any country in any language.)

Back in town, your evening's meal will be served in one of the city's most unique restaurants.  A firey Szechuan feast in a surreal, Philippe Starck designed interior.  (B, L, D)

Day 4          BEIJING

This afternoon we will visit the Temple of Heaven - a Confucianist complex spanning 670 acres - created for the exclusive use of the Emperor as a place to mediate affairs between God and man.  Morning is a wonderful time to visit the Temple as you will see local Beijingers out doing their morning exercises.

Optional:  We can arrange for a private taichi lesson by a local taichi master.

For shoppers, Beijing's largest open-air market will come close to paradise.  Here you will mingle with Beijingers, overseas and local art dealers as well as farmers who import goods from the countryside.  This is your opportunity to buy a Ming dynasty set of the Confucianist classics for a song or else, and more likely, to buy from an astonishingly rich variety of Chinese and Tibetan cultural objects (at usually a tenth of the price found in the U.S. and at often half the price found at local shops).  For non-shoppers, this market can be thought of as China's largest museum of modern cultural life, where you can see, talk to and photograph a wide range of local and regional Chinese going about their daily lives and business.  (Please note that this market is open only on the weekends.)

Lunch today will be at one of the capital's most stunning restaurants, serving fusion cuisine that is more Chinese than Western.  All dishes contain or are infused with tea and include such items as succulent lamb with Wulong tea or a crisp pear and walnut starter with green tea pesto.  Decor also plays an important role in this restaurant and no two dishes are presented the same way.

Afterwards, you will take a tour of the Imperial Summer Palace, a retreat said to have been given to the Empress Dowager Cixi in return for political favors.  Whether or not you believe the popular demonization of this female leader, she certainly had taste.  Her enchanting mansion, set on 700 acres of land, incorporates stunning temples, arched bridges, capacious pavilions and the world's longest covered corridor, all within a landscape crafted according to the dictates of feng shui.

(Optional:  We can invite a guest lecturer, formerly at Sotheby's, to introduce this site through his talk "Court Life at the Summer Palace".  This focuses on the reign of the much demonized Dowager Empress Cixi, for whom the New Summer Palace was built towards the end of the nineteenth century.  The Dowager Empress is a controversial figure in Chinese History - she lived through the demise of three Emperors and is commonly blamed for bringing the Qing dynasty to its knees, all the while leading an egregiously hedonistic lifestyle at her cherished Summer Palace.)

You will experience a quintessential Chinese tradition:  a private tea ceremony.  Originally an elitist ritual of high culture, the tea ceremony has become a hallmark of Chinese conviviality, especially south of the Yangzi River.  Savor a professionally-prepared cup of fragrant tea served in the traditional Chinese style by a skilled tea master.

This evening you will dine where we believe boasts the capital's best Peking Duck.  Very few restaurants still use the traditional wood oven and even fewer bother using wood from a fruit tree.  The effort is worth it as the Peking duck is heavenly, as is all the other food at this Beijing legend.  The restaurant has a lively atmosphere with show kitchens throughout, allowing you to admire the chefs throwing noodles, making dumplings and creating delicious dishes over fire blazing woks.  (B, L, D)

Day 5          DEPART BEIJING

This morning you will be transferred to the airport in time for your international flight home. 

Accommodations

Beijing:        Raffles Hotel - Landmark Room