13-Day Beijing, Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou Tour | Pandas, Valleys & Shanghai

Your Beijing, Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou tour begins here. Meet your local team in Beijing and travel to the hotel by private vehicle. Keep the arrival day for checking in, resting and becoming familiar with the nearby streets, rather than adding a fixed sightseeing circuit. Your meeting point follows the confirmed flight or train, with luggage and any early-arrival needs discussed beforehand.

Move from the Temple of Heaven’s ritual grounds to Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City, allowing around three hours for the palace’s principal open halls and courts. Jingshan supplies a different perspective on the same roofs through a short stepped climb. Break the walking with lunch and rest; the park’s resident activities are observed respectfully rather than promised as a private class.

Tiananmen Square Reservation for Foreigners & Visiting · Forbidden City Tickets · Jingshan Park Forbidden City View · Temple of Heaven Highlights

Travel north to Mutianyu for a suitable watchtower walk, with around 1.5–2.5 hours each way on the road and 2–3 hours at the site. Choose walking access or a separately specified lift before departure. Return for exterior views of the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube, comparing historic ridge defences with the scale of modern Olympic architecture.

Mutianyu Great Wall

A rickshaw ride around the Drum Tower introduces public hutong lanes before the Summer Palace’s water-and-hill landscape. Keep the garden and specified lake cruise compact enough for the airport transfer. Fly to Chengdu in economy class, provisionally around three hours in the air, with arrival pickup and hotel check-in. No further fixed sightseeing is planned after the flight.

Summer Palace Beijing · Beijing Hutongs

Visit Chengdu Panda Base earlier in the day, using its specified sightseeing shuttle and public viewing paths. Panda activity varies, and no contact or keeper access is included. A Sichuan hotpot lunch and People’s Park tea break follow the itinerary, with spice levels and allergens confirmed. Finish around Chunxi Road, Taikoo Li and the IFS panda sculpture; mahjong tuition is an interest-dependent choice.

Explore Wenshu Monastery as an active Buddhist setting before moving to the gardens and literary memory of Du Fu Thatched Cottage. At Wuhou Shrine, distinguish historical evidence from later Three Kingdoms storytelling, then walk adjoining Jinli. Allow roughly 4–5 hours of visits across the day, with transfers and breaks. Vegetarian or Sichuan dining follows the confirmed meal arrangements rather than assumed historic restaurant claims.

Du Fu Thatched Cottage · Wenshu Monastery · Wuhou Shrine

Take a second-class train from Chengdu to Huanglong Jiuzhai Station, provisionally around two hours aboard the train. The journey continues by road to the valley entrance area; the station is not beside Jiuzhaigou. Allow roughly 2–3 hours for the onward mountain drive, subject to road conditions, and settle into the hotel without a late sightseeing commitment.

Give the valley a full day, combining official buses with selected boardwalks around Five Flower Lake, Pearl Shoal, Mirror Lake, Nuorilang, Shuzheng Lakes and Long Lake where open. Follow the operating bus system instead of promising a fixed direction through every branch. Breaks and altitude-aware walking matter as much as photographs; reflections and clear-water colours depend on conditions.

Jiuzhaigou

Leave Jiuzhaigou early for Huanglong, allowing roughly 2–3 hours by road across mountain terrain. Explore selected travertine-pool boardwalks at over 3,000 metres, planning around four hours and adjusting walking to individual response to altitude. Continue roughly an hour to the station and around two hours by train to Chengdu. Stay near the booked station after this long day; lifts do not remove altitude exposure.

Transfer from the station-area hotel to the airport for an economy-class flight to Shanghai, provisionally around 2.5–3 hours in the air. The local team handles the hotel connection after arrival. Keep the rest of the day for recovery after the mountain excursion; an independent Bund stroll is a suggestion if the timing and your energy allow.

Begin at the Shanghai Museum building confirmed for your date, then explore the old-street setting and Bund waterfront. Continue to the active Jade Buddha Temple and the Oriental Pearl’s booked observation level. Museum collections, temple courtyards and a high city view create different ways into Shanghai. This is a full city day, so allow transfers and a meal break between visits.

Oriental Pearl Tower · The Bund

Keep today genuinely free, with no scheduled guide or vehicle. Suggested options include Shanghai Tower, Tianzifang, Nanjing Road, poster-art displays or a historic hotel tea or music visit; choose only what interests you and check the actual venue and opening arrangements. Additional tickets, restaurant bookings or guiding are requested separately rather than automatically included in this free day.

Keep the final free time for packing, rest or a short independent walk before your departure transfer in Shanghai. The pickup is planned around the actual flight or train, hotel location, road conditions and departure procedures. No extra timed attraction is inserted into this connection; additional guiding, nights or excursions require an agreed supplement. This completes your Beijing, Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou tour.