Visit China's iconic sites and bring its fascinating history and culture to life! Beijing's history stretches back three millennia and the scale of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City never fail to amaze. Leaving the grandeur behind, explore the old town's narrow 'hutongs', and have a class in the traditional Chinese craft of papercutting inside one of the homes. Head out of the city and step foot on one of the best-preserved sections of the Great Wall; here you'll begin to comprehend the magnitude of this construction as it snakes across the mountains to the horizon and beyond. Juxtaposed to this is Xi'an's vibrant Muslim Quarter, where we catch a shadow puppetry show at Gao's Family Mansion. Xi'an is most famed for the nearby Terracotta Warriors of Emperor Qin, where excavations have revealed thousands of hand-crafted life-size and lifelike army figures. A China holiday would not be complete without a trip to Chengdu to see the endangered Giant pandas - these black and white furry animals are a national emblem and a rare sight. End in cosmopolitan Shanghai, with its unmistakable skyline illuminated at night.

We spend nine nights in hotels and one night on a sleeper train.



In all the cities, we stay in good tourist-class hotels with twin rooms and private facilities. Nearly all are locally rated at least three-star and, wherever possible, located as near to local attractions as possible.



There is one overnight sleeper train, from Beijing to Xi’an (journey time approximately 12 hours). For this, we book soft-sleeper class, where you are accommodated in comfortable four-berth (bunk bed-style) cabins. Please note, while every attempt is made to place passengers together in the same
earby cabins, this is not always possible due to availability and you may find yourself sharing a cabin with other non-Exodus train passengers. However, we never place a solo traveller in a cabin by themselves (they are always either with another passenger on the trip or with the leader). Clean bedding is provided and there are shared washrooms on board but you may choose to bring your own sheet. The train itself is of a good standard, although facilities such as washrooms and toilets are shared with other passengers and the cleanliness can never be guaranteed.



The hotels usually used are named in the detailed itinerary; however, these may be subject to change by departure date, depending on availability. Chinese government officials occasionally take over hotels at short notice and so there can sometimes be last-minute hotel changes that are beyond our control. In this event, we book an alternative of the same local rating but we cannot guarantee the facilities will be the same.



A limited number of single supplements are available on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis, excluding the overnight train. Please request this at the time of booking.