Day 1: Departure – Arrival in Changsha, China

Morning: Arrive in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province. Check into your hotel.

Afternoon: Visit the Hunan Provincial Museum, one of the best in Asia – to see the lavish Mawangdui Han Tombs which offer a near complete picture of life in aristocratic China over two thousand years ago.

Evening: Take a boat Orange Isle and stroll through the woodlands and along the shore of the Xiangjiang River, where the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong found inspiration and wrote a famous poem extolling the beauty of his home city. Marvel at the thirty-two-metre-tall bas relief of the former leader, carved from solid granite and illuminated under a peacock sky. Follow this with a traditional Hunan opera performance at a local theatre.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 2: Changsha Exploration

Morning: Visit Yuelu Academy, the oldest extant university in the world. Explore its beautiful pavilions, teaching courtyards and gardens and enjoy sweeping city views of Changsha from the summit of Yunlu Peak.

Afternoon: Head to Kaifu Chan Buddhist temple, where monks have gathered in the gorgeous pavilions and corridors for nearly 1500 years. Admire the stunning wood carvings on the buildings and fabulous modern sacred art in the new Buddhist Meditation Centre.

Evening: Enjoy a nighttime cruise on the Xiangjiang River to see the city lights as they shimmer from building to building and reflect in the inky waters of the Xiangjiang River.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 3: Changsha to Zhangjiajie

Morning: Travel to by bullet train to Zhangjiajie and check into your hotel.

Afternoon: Visit the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and take the Yuanjiajie Scenic Area cable car for stunning views of the myriad, towering two-hundred metre high pinnacles, deep gorges and forests which create one of the most memorable landscapes in Asia.

Evening: Explore the local night market for dinner and snacks and visit the huge 72 Wonders Tower – the tallest stilt building in the world, for a cultural theatre performance showcasing local tribal traditions.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Dinner

Day 4: Zhangjiajie National Park

All Day: Spend the day exploring Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. Walk and train ride the ten-mile natural gallery trail and feet of the mountains. Take a three-hundred-metre-high elevator up the cliff face to see the landscape which inspired film director James Cameron to create the floating Hallelujah Mountains in his Avatar movies. In the afternoon visit Tianmen Mountain for more breathtaking views – of Heaven’s Gate a natural window 150-metre-tall window in a high mountain surrounded by extraordinary views.

Evening: Enjoy the Fairy Fox Opera show with Tianmen mountain as the backdrop.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 5: Zhangjiajie

All Day: Continue your explorations of Zhangjiajie. Walk along the banks of the Golden Whip Stream trail and look out for macaque monkeys in the forest and giant salamanders in the deep river pools. Take another cable car up Qixing Mountain Seven Peak Mountain to explore cliff-hung glass walkways and see the precipice perched Eye in the Sky transparent platform. Walk across the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon on the world’s largest glass suspension bridge.

Evening: Visit the Tujia Broacade Centre and Museum before returning to your hotel to relax.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Dinner

Day 6: Zhangjiajie to Fenghuang

Morning: Travel to Fenghuang Ancient Town by bullet train

Afternoon: Explore the ancient town, walk along the Tuojiang River, and visit the Phoenix Ancient City Museum. Get lost in the lovely alleys and explore the ancient Qing Dynasty Mansion, pavilions and temples.

Evening: Enjoy a riverside dinner and watch the town as it lights up at night, beautifully reflected in the waters of the river.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 7 – Fenghuang Exploration

Morning: Visit the Hongqiao Covered Bridge and the East Gate of Fenghuang – both renown throughout China for the beauty of their architecture.

Afternoon: Explore the surrounding countryside and visit local Miao villages to immerse yourself in hill tribe culture that together with the villages and the landscapes makes the region so unique.

Evening: Enjoy a traditional dinner and relax in Fenghuang

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Dinner

Day 8: Fenghuang to Liuyang

Morning: Travel to Liuyang by bullet train.

Afternoon: Head to the Chrysanthemum Stone Museum where Chen Jiwu, an artist famous throughout Asia crafts astonishing painterly sculptures from a stone whose natural crystals look like exploding fireworks. Visit the Liuyang Fireworks Museum to learn about the history and craft of fireworks which were invented in this town over two thousand years ago.

Evening: Attend a spectacular fireworks show in Liuyang, one of the best pyrotechnic displays in the world, set on the Liuyang River and with a cultural show as accompaniment.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Dinner

Day 9: Liuyang to Yueyang

Morning: Travel to Yueyang by bullet train.

Afternoon: Visit the Yueyang Tower, one of the four great ancient towers of China. Views from here, out over sweeping, porpoise-swum Dongting Lake have inspired poets for over a millennium

Evening: Stroll along the shores of Dongting Lake and enjoy dinner at a lakeside restaurant.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 10: Yueyang Exploration – Changsha – Departure 

Morning: Take a boat trip out on the Dongting Lake Wetland, a vital habitat for migratory birds and one of the last remaining habitats for the critically endangered Yangtse River Porpoise, the only freshwater porpoise in the world.

Afternoon: return to Changsha by bullet train for your onward journey.

Departure.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast