16-Day Sichuan - Lijiang - Grand Shangri-la Overland Private Tour

Arrive in Chengdu International Airport. Meet the local guide and transfer to the hotel.

-- Chengdu City is mountainous in the northwest area, with plains in the south-east area, and low hills in-between. It has a sub-tropical climate with an annual average temperature of 16.2 degree Celsius, and rainfall of 1.000 millimeters, and a frost-free period of about 300 days. Its mineral deposits include coal, iron, talcum, serpentine, dolomite etc. It abounds in agricultural resources.

Meals: No

Sightseeing: Wangjiang Tower,, the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base, Wuhou Temple, Dufu Thatched Cottage.

Special Experience: Enjoy the Sichuan Opera at night.

This morning, you will be picked up at your hotel by your tour guide and start your tour. First you will visit the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in the morning, the best time to see the pandas. After that you will visit Wangjiang Tower, the memorial to a female poet of the Tang Dynasty, Xue Tao. This tower is a symbol of Chengdu city.

Then you will visit Wuhou Temple which was built in the sixth century to honor Zhuge Liang. Then you will visit the home of one of the greatest poets of the Tang Dynasty, Dufu Thatched Cottage. Meals: Hotel Breakfast, Chinese lunch

Sightseeing: Kangding, the hot spring at Erdaoqiao.

Drive to Kangding, overnight and sightseeing in Kangding. It is 376Km and 6hrs on the expressway from Chengdu to Kangding While traversing the Western Sichuan Plain, you will arrive at Kangding, the capital city of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the afternoon. you can appreciate the idyllic scenery and visit the local people. After dinner, enjoy the hot spring at Erdaoqiao.

Meals: Hotel Breakfast, Chinese lunch and dinner

Sightseeing: Anjue monastery, Litang, Chang-Qing-Chun-Ke'erSi monastery

In the early morning, visit Anjue monastery-the very first Tibetan monastery on this trip, an rare chance to see their morning ceremony per day!

Drive to Litang. Today's journey from Kangding to Litang will take us approximately 5 hours (306km). At an altitude of just over 4000m, Litang is one of the highest towns in the world (Lhasa is 3700m). Situated high on a grassy plateau, Litang has the feel of a rough and tumble 'Wild West' town. Khampas - dressed in yak skin coats, bedecked in colorful necklaces and hair ornaments, long daggers hanging from their belts - from the surrounding areas amble into town to stock up on food and supplies, play pool on the streets and hang out in the local teahouses. This small town is great for people watching and just strolling around.

You will also visit the famous Chang-Qing-Chun-Ke'er-Si monastery and pay homage to the living Buddha with a personal interview. The monastery here is now home to 1400 Yellow Hat sect monks.

Meals: Hotel Breakfast, Chinese lunch and dinner

Sightseeing: Yading nature reserve,

Today you will reach the highlight of this journey - Yading nature reserve, home of three sacred Tibetan mountains - Chenresig (Avalokitesvara, 6032m), Jambeyang (Manjusri, 5958m), and Chanadorje (Vajrapani, 5958m). Tibetan Buddhists believe that making a kora (pilgrimage) around these mountains brings great merit, and that the three mountains represent compassion, wisdom and energy - attributes one must cultivate on the path to enlightenment. The scenery here easily rivals that of national parks of the west such as Yellowstone and Yosemite in terms of spectacular, pristine mountain scenery. The drive from Litang to Daocheng will take approximately 4 hours (180km), and the trip from Daocheng to Yading (60km) will take approximately 3 hours as much of the road to the park is dirt track. You will spend the night in tent hotel.

Meals: Hotel Breakfast, Chinese lunch and dinner

Sightseeing: Mt. Chanadorje, Tshonggo Gonpa Monastery, Mt Chenresig.

You will visit beautiful Yading by horseback riding or hiking. From the reserve entrance you will traverse a beautiful wooded pathway leading to a valley set at the foot of the spectacular Mt. Chanadorje.

You'll pass piles of Mani stones by the side of the pathway and at the base of the Reserve's most stunning vistas. You'll also visit Tshonggo Gonpa Monastery (Chonggu Si in Chinese) - a small Tibetan temple, which Joseph Rock nicknamed 'Bandit Monastery.' You will continue your hike to the foot of Mt Chenresig, where you'll ascend a small but steep hill to view a beautiful mountaintop emerald green lake. Local lore has it that this magical lake can reveal your future if you spend a few moments in quiet contemplation by its side. You'll return to the meadow at the foot of Mt. Chanadorje and spend the night in a tent hotel.

Meals: Hotel Breakfast, Chinese lunch and dinner

Sightseeing: Yading Nature Reserve

You will spend the morning doing a shorter hike or horse ride around the reserve. In the afternoon you'll drive back to Daocheng where you'll spend the night.

Meals: Hotel Breakfast, Chinese lunch and dinner

Sightseeing: Daocheng, Xiangcheng, Shangri-La

Today you will take a long (5 hours, 290km) but scenic drive to Zhongdian (3,300m, 10,000 ft), a small town on the Tibetan Plateau.

Shangri La is described by James Hilton in his World famous novel “Lost Horizon”. If more and more tourists travel to Shangri La (also call Zhongdian, its former name), this area still preserves a unique and remote atmosphere, also due to the Tibetan minority that keep the place different from the rest of Yunnan. Shangri La is in the center of a famous scenic area where three mighty rivers converge: the Nu River, the Yangtze River and the Mekong River.

Meals: Hotel Breakfast, Chinese lunch and dinner

Sightseeing: the Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, the Bita Lake & Shudu Lake, the Old Town of Shangri La and the Guishan Park.

Special Experience: Taste the butter oil and Tibetan food, Tibetan home-made.

In the morning, you'll visit the Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, the largest Tibetan monastery in Yunnan. And afterwards you'll go and visit the tranquil Bita Lake & Shudu Lake. After having finished touring the Bita Lake & Shudu Lake, you'll visit the Old Town of Shangri La and the Guishan Park.

Tibetan home made at night and have dinner in Tibetan family with butter oil tea and Tibetan food.

Meals: Hotel Breakfast, Chinese lunch and dinner

Sightseeing: the First Bend of the Yangtze River, Shigu Town, Tiger Leaping Gorge,.

From Shangri-La, you'll drive about 100KM to the Tiger Leaping Gorge, the deepest gorge in the world. With 34 rapids of the Yangtze River, it is called the Jinsha in this area because you can find gold in the river. Afternoon, you'll head for Shangri La, the former Zhongdian. Upon arrival in Shangri La, you will have entered the Tibetan cultural area and a landscape of barley fields and yaks scattered in the valleys.

After lunch continue the driving 50KM more to visit the First Bend on the Yangtze River with imposing gorge scenery, and the Iron Chain Bridge in the Stone Drum town. The town of Stone Drum got its name from a large, cylindrical, marble tablet shaped like a drum. The scenery is magnificent as the road running through the Lijiang valley which is filled with wheat fields and drying haystacks.

Drive 60KM more to Lijiang. Explore Lijiang Old Town at night.

Meals: Hotel Breakfast, Chinese lunch and dinner