Imperial China: Xi'an to Hong Kong

Day 1 — Xi'an

Arrive in Xi'an and transfer to the Ritz-Carlton, or similar, for one night. Time to settle before the welcome reception and a Tang Dynasty themed dinner — fitting, since Xi'an was the Tang capital and the eastern end of the Silk Road.

Day 2 — Xi'an

The morning is spent on Xi'an's city walls, among the oldest and most complete defensive structures anywhere, and in the Muslim Quarter at the Great Mosque, where Chinese architecture houses an Islamic function. After lunch, the Terracotta Warriors: more than 6,000 life-sized soldiers, horses and chariots buried to guard Qin Shi Huang in the afterlife and found by farmers digging a well in 1974. Every figure is individually modelled, down to the armour and the face. Tonight you board the Golden Eagle Silk Road Express for the welcome dinner.

Day 3 — Luoyang

Luoyang has 4,000 years of history and served as capital to thirteen dynasties. The day starts at the Longmen Grottoes, a UNESCO site where more than 100,000 Buddhist statues and some 60 stupas are carved into the limestone along the Yi River. Then the Shaolin Temple at the foot of Mount Song, birthplace of both Zen Buddhism and kung fu, where monks still train in the courtyards. Back in the old town there is time for Luoyang's water banquet dumplings before dinner on board.

Day 4 — Beijing

The Great Wall at Badaling in the morning, on a restored section with long views over the hills, then a Peking duck lunch at one of the capital's specialists. The afternoon offers a choice: imperial Beijing — Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace — or the modern city, taking in the Olympic Village, the CCTV Tower and the National Museum. Dinner is on board as the train pulls away.

Day 5 — Shanghai

A leisurely morning on board, then Shanghai. You go up the Shanghai Tower — at 632 metres the tallest building in China — for afternoon tea on the 120th floor, with pastries flavoured with lychee and osmanthus and the whole of Pudong below. In the evening a private yacht takes you along the Huangpu, between the colonial facades of the Bund and the towers on the opposite bank, over dinner.

Day 6 — Jingdezhen

Jingdezhen has made porcelain for the imperial court for a thousand years. The morning is at the Chinese Ceramic Museum, with Song celadons and Ming vases, and the afternoon at the Ancient Kilns and Folk Customs Expo Area, where the wood-fired dragon kilns still run. Master potters guide you through shaping, carving and painting a piece of your own — and you take it with you.

Day 7 — Yichang

Yichang is the gateway to the Yangtze. A chartered boat carries the group through the Natural Grand Canyon, from the Three Gorges Dam — the largest hydroelectric station in the world — down to the Gezhouba Dam. Lunch of Yangtze fish and Sichuan dishes is served on board, eaten on deck or from the lounge as the gorges pass.

Day 8 — Chengdu

Breakfast on board as the train arrives in the Sichuan capital, then the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, one of China's genuine conservation successes. In the afternoon the Sichuan Opera Theatre is reserved for the group alone — silk costumes, fire, and bian lian, the face-changing technique in which a performer's mask changes faster than you can follow.

Day 9 — On board the Golden Eagle Silk Road Express

A full day on the train. The observation car has the largest window of any train in China; the lounge has the wine list and the resident pianist. Nothing is scheduled, which is rather the point.

Day 10 — Guilin and Yangshuo

A privately chartered cruise down the Lijiang River from Guilin to Yangshuo, between the limestone karst peaks that have been the subject of Chinese landscape painting for centuries. As the sun goes down you board a fishing boat to watch cormorant fishing, a technique older than most of what you have seen on this journey. Then the farewell dinner on board as the train leaves for Hong Kong.

Day 11 — Hong Kong

The train arrives at Shenzhen and the group crosses the border into Hong Kong, for a night at The Peninsula, or similar. The afternoon is free — the boutiques and older streets of Central, the skyline from the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, or simply the hotel. The farewell dinner is at the hotel this evening.

Day 12 — Hong Kong

A slow morning, then a private transfer to the airport for your onward flight. We are happy to add nights in Hong Kong, or arrange onward travel, if you would rather not finish here.