Travel Style

Luxury

Trip Details

Designed by Imperial Tours especially for Gourmet Travel Club. 

Included in the tour price:

• 11 nights accommodation in outstanding five star hotels
• 11 breakfasts (buffet breakfast), 7 lunches and 10 dinners at our carefully selected restaurants
• 3 Cooking Lessons (including lunch)
• Services of a Western bilingual China Host and local tour guides
• All internal flights in economy class (Beijing/Chengdu; Chengdu/Shanghai; Shanghai/Hong Kong)
• 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 in the tour price is:

• 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 50-100 per group per day);
• Optional lectures and performances

Priced from $11,295 per person.  Price depends upon rate of exchange, number of persons traveling and seasonality.

Itinerary

Day 1          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.  Once through customs, you will be met by your China Host who will accompany you throughout your stay in China.  (The China Host acts as a personal concierge to you during 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!) 

Upon transferring to the hotel, you will have the remainder of the evening at leisure.

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 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 Sotheby’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 to 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 then continue the day with an intimate pedicab tour through Beijing’s traditional alleyways, or hutong.  This is one of the rare chances you will have to see Chinese people in their everyday setting.   Hidden within these alleys are a number of small markets where local people buy their groceries. We will call on 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 and 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 public access.  In the event of a cancellation, we will attempt to reschedule.

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 a distance away, about a 2 hour 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 and is now arguably the most informed historian on 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 fiery Szechuan feast in a surreal, Philippe Starck designed interior.

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 also arrange for a private tai chi lesson by a local tai chi 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 to buy from an astonishingly rich variety of Chinese and Tibetan cultural objects (at usually a tenth 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. 

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.  Décor also plays an important role in this restaurant and no two dishes are presented the same way.

Afterwards, we 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 (please note that the tea ceremony can only be arranged in the afternoon).

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.

Day 5          BEIJING / CHENGDU

_{This morning there will be some free time.  You may wish for us to arrange visits to the studios of local crafts people, such as a kite maker whose ancestors were the kite makers to the Qing Imperial household.  Or if you are more interested in contemporary items, a visit to Beijing’s art galleries might be more suited to your tastes.}

In the afternoon we fly to Chengdu, where you will begin your cooking experience at the dinner table with a sample Sichuan hot-pot at a wonderfully aesthetic restaurant.

Day 6          CHENGDU 

This morning we are off to school, attending a day of cooking lessons at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine where leading Chinese chefs will supervise your participation in preparing Sichuan cuisine’s most popular dishes. 

These evening’s dinner will be served at one of the city’s most renowned restaurants.  Dishes will include perennial Sichuanese favorites such as Lazi Ji (chicken in a mound of chilies) as well as some of the local chefs’ more innovative Sichuanese dishes.

Day 7          CHENGDU / SHANGHAI

This morning we can explore the exotic variety of fruits, vegetables, meats and spices at Chengdu’s food markets.  For lunch, we will feast on delicious Sichuan “xiaochi” delicacies.  These are comprised of an assortment of dishes ranging from meat and seafood, to preserved vegetables, to hand-made noodles.  Each dish is brought out on a small individual plate, allowing you to sample a wide variety of flavors. 

Later in the day, a flight takes us from Chengdu to Shanghai. This city will take your breath away.  Since the early 80’s Shanghai has been growing like no other, the Pudong waterfront becoming as emblematic of economic prowess as that of Manhattan or Hong Kong.

Dinner tonight will be served at 100 Century Avenue, on the 91st floor of the Park Hyatt.   Enjoy Western, Chinese or Japanese dishes from the lively open kitchens while admiring views of the lit up city. 

Day 8          SHANGHAI

This morning you will be taken to one of the largest seafood markets in China where you will select the ingredients for your next culinary adventure.  Today’s cooking lesson takes place in a French Concession home where your hosts will guide you through the preparation of a typical Shanghainese meal.

After lunch we take you to visit the Shanghai Museum, one of the most modern in the country.  Arranged by category rather than according to a chronology, its collection introduces and elucidates the gamut of Chinese arts from ceramics to jade and ivory carvings to paintings. 

We also recommend the Urban Planning Museum where a huge scale model of the city outlines the vast changes that have taken place here within the last decade, as well as vast projects that are planned for the future of the city.

Dinner takes place at one of our favorite Shanghai restaurants, boasting a magnificent view over the Bund and Pudong waterfronts.

Day 9          SHANGHAI

Your tour of Shanghai continues with a lecture/tour on colonial architecture in Shanghai given by a member of the Shanghai Historical Society.  This tour will take you into some of the most important buildings along the Bund and French Concessions including the former Hong Kong Shanghai Bank.  

For lunch today you will enjoy a special menu created by award winning chef Jereme Leung, one of the most innovative young chefs in China.  He is the author of “New Shanghai Cuisine” and Chef Consultant to such leading restaurants as the Whampoa Club and the China House at Bangkok’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel

In the afternoon we will visit the Yu Gardens, one of the best examples of traditional Chinese garden design in the country.  Afterwards, you will have some time to stroll through Shanghai’s Old Quarter with its bustling market feel. The area is a great place to try some of Shanghai’s traditional street foods, such as the city’s signature dish xiaolongbao – soup-filled dumplings. 

Afterwards, we will travel along sycamore-lined boulevards into the heart of the French Concession.  This section of the “Paris of the Orient” now hosts many arts-based businesses and art galleries that we can visit if you so desire.  The afternoon will be spent discovering some of Shanghai’s great shopping treasures.  This might include a contemporary ceramics shop, the studio of a woman who designs cashmere handbags for Harrods or a fantastic Tibetan carpet shop.

For this evening we will arrange a private dinner catered by Jean Georges inside the cupola of an Art Deco building on the Bund with a magnificent view over the Huangpu River. This set-menu meal will be designed and catered by Jean Georges (only available for 8 or fewer).

Day 10          SHANGHAI / HONG KONG

This morning, you will be transferred to the airport in time for your flight to Hong Kong.  But don’t forget to wake up early to take one last advantage of both the Hyatt’s magnificent views and amazing breakfasts! 

You will land at Hong Kong’s international airport.  This was Britain’s last infrastructural project before handing over this dynamic commercial hub to China in 1997.  Since then, despite fears to the contrary, this financial center of dizzying contemporary architecture, perched on a tiny tropical atoll in the South China Sea, has retained its potency as the major gateway to doing business in China. 

After an authentic Dim Sum lunch you will be introduced to the island with a detailed walking architectural tour of Central Hong Kong from colonial edifices by the waterfront to the totemic skyscrapers of modern times, finishing on Hollywood Road where contemporary art galleries vie for space with antique dealers.  The day will include an ascent to the Mid-Levels on the world’s longest escalator and a trip on the funicular Peak Tram climbing to Victoria Peak where you enjoy expansive views over the financial hub and harbor.  

At Aberdeen Harbor, we board a sampan to retrace the original landing path of the British Lord Aberdeen to Hong Kong and sail through a flotilla of Hakka boat people that still call this harbor home. 

Day 11          HONG KONG

Our last set of cooking lessons focuses on China’s best-known cuisine, Cantonese food.  You will spend a day at the state-of-the-art Chinese Cuisine Training Institute of Hong Kong, where the city’s top chefs are trained.  Morning instruction in dim sum dishes will be followed in the afternoon with lessons in making other delectable Cantonese favorites.  A sampling lunch will be provided in the Institute’s Sky Lounge that is also home to the members-only Hong Kong Dining Society. 

Your farewell dinner will be served at the China Club located atop the art deco Bank of China building.

Day 12          HONG KONG departure

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

Accommodations

Beijing:       Raffles Hotel – Landmark Room

Chengdu:    Shangri-la Hotel – Executive Riverview Room

Shanghai:    Park Hyatt Hotel** – Park Room

Hong Kong: Peninsula Hotel - Grand Deluxe Harbor View Room

**Please note that the Park Hyatt is located on the 73rd to the 91st floors of Shanghai’s tallest building.  If you are not comfortable with heights, please let us know and we will suggest an alternate property. 

Pricing is based on seasonality and number of persons traveling.

Club Member Benefits