Overview
What this journey is
A food itinerary that still shows guests the country. Each city contributes a distinct culinary school and the sights are chosen to sit alongside it rather than compete: the Wall before Mongolian hotpot, Sanxingdui before the flight east, tea terraces before a Jiangnan banquet. Guests cook twice, shop a wholesale spice market, and leave able to explain why Sichuan and Hangzhou taste nothing alike.
Day by day
- 1
Day 1 — Arrive Beijing
Met at the airport and transferred to your hotel · Welcome dinner in a busy courtyard restaurant — a working neighbourhood room, not a banquet hall.
- 2
Day 2 — Beijing: Great Wall and hotpot
Out of the city to walk the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall · Seasonal lunch at a countryside kitchen below the ramparts · Back to town to rest before a Mongolian-style hotpot dinner, the northern answer to Sichuan's.
- 3
Day 3 — Beijing: imperial city and duck
Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City · The hutongs around Houhai, with lunch somewhere in them · The incense courtyards of the Lama Temple · Peking duck in the evening, carved at the table.
- 4
Day 4 — Beijing to Chengdu
Tai chi with a master at the Temple of Heaven to start the day · Hand-pulled wheat noodles at a local favourite for lunch · Fly to Chengdu · Late dinner on one of the city's long-established snack streets.
- 5
Day 5 — Chengdu: spice market and cooking class
Taste and buy at a wholesale spice market, where the Sichuan pantry is assembled · Lunch at the Sichuan Culinary Museum, then a hands-on cooking lesson · Kung fu practice at Wangjianglou Park · Kuanzhai Alley in the late afternoon · A loud, communal hotpot dinner to finish.
- 6
Day 6 — Chengdu: pandas and a banquet
Early at the panda breeding centre, when the animals are active · Hearty countryside lunch outside the city · Qingcheng Mountain by cable car and foot, past Taoist temples to the summit views · A full Sichuan banquet dinner — the formal register of a cuisine most guests only know as hotpot.
- 7
Day 7 — Chengdu to Hangzhou
Sanxingdui Museum and its bronze masks, evidence of a kingdom that rewrote what we thought we knew about ancient China · Fly to Hangzhou after lunch · Evening at leisure.
- 8
Day 8 — Hangzhou: West Lake and Longjing
Cross West Lake by boat, the landscape that shaped a thousand years of Chinese poetry and still sits on the 1 RMB note · Lunch through the Hangzhou classics · Into the hills to walk the Longjing tea terraces and taste the chestnut note the region is known for · Dinner in a private room, Jiangnan cooking by a senior chef in a garden setting.
- 9
Day 9 — Hangzhou to Shanghai
The old streets and a traditional pharmacy, where the line between medicine and the kitchen is thinner than guests expect · High-speed train to Shanghai · Afternoon and evening free.
- 10
Day 10 — Shanghai: concessions and dumplings
Fuxing Park at its liveliest, music and dancing in a former private garden · The tree-lined French Concession on foot · Xiaolongbao lunch at a neighbourhood institution · Yuyuan Bazaar for snacks and souvenirs · The Shanghai Tower deck, then the Bund at dusk · Shanghainese dinner, sweeter and softer than anything so far.
- 11
Day 11 — Shanghai: free day
A day at your own pace for shopping, museums or a second run at a favourite restaurant · Farewell dinner in a colonial-era mansion.
- 12
Day 12 — Depart Shanghai
Transfer to the airport with check-in assistance for your onward flight.
Accommodation
We quote a hotel ladder rather than a fixed list, so the same itinerary can be sold at more than one price point.
Five-star city hotels
Beijing · Chengdu · Shanghai
Central properties chosen so guests can walk out to eat independently on free evenings — which on a food trip they will.
Lakeside property
Hangzhou
West Lake frontage where availability allows; the walk back after dinner is part of the day.
What’s included
- English-speaking national escort plus licensed local guides in each city
- Hotels on twin-share with daily breakfast
- Private vehicle and driver throughout, with drinking water on board
- Airport and station transfers on arrival and departure
- Domestic flights and high-speed rail as itemised in the itinerary
- Entrance fees and listed activities
- Meals as itemised in the itinerary
Not included
- International flights and associated taxes
- China visa — required for most passports
- Travel and medical insurance
- Meals not itemised, and all alcohol
- Personal expenses and optional activities
- Gratuities for guides and drivers
On the ground
Tap any photo to enlarge.
Operational notes
The things worth raising before you quote it, not after.
- Collect dietary requirements at booking, not on arrival. Sichuan chilli and Sichuan pepper are separate issues; vegetarian and halal versions of every meal are available with notice.
- The two cooking classes have a group cap. Above twelve guests they split into parallel sessions, which needs flagging at quotation.
- Day eleven is deliberately unstructured — resist filling it. Groups on a food itinerary use it.
- Sample itinerary. Dates, hotel ladder and net rates are quoted against your brief.
12D / 11NQuoted on brief
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Putting this on your shelf?
Tell us your market, pax profile and target price point — we return net rates, a hotel ladder, and white-label documents.