China, East to South

Special Notes

A few things on this route follow the calendar, the season, a supplier's confirmation or a river's water level. Here they are, told straight.

• Bookings are not open yet — the remaining items have to be settled first. The ground arrangements for the October to December 2026 season, confirmed with our partners. The city of the two open nights. And the departure calendar for October and December. Until those items are settled we take no orders and no deposits. Tell us your dates and we will write to you on the day it opens.
• The Li River passage — This one segment is both the day's activity and the way you reach Yangshuo. A full-length downstream sailing is the design intent, but November and December are low-water months on this river and a sailing can be shortened or suspended. What is included either way is the passage from Guilin to Yangshuo and the river scenery along it; the format of your own passage is stated in writing in your quote before you book. We publish no sailing length, no sailing duration and no departure time.
• The Mutianyu ascent in winter — the ascent transport is included, and it is a cableway and an open chairlift, which snow or ice can close. The November and December operating rules are not yet on file with us, so a departure in those two months has the ascent arrangement for that date written into the quote.
• The outdoor day in Yangshuo — rafting, the countryside outing and the riverside tea are all outdoors, and it is the longest unsheltered stretch on the route. A November or December departure has the wet-weather arrangement for those exact dates written into the quote.
• Departure dates — no departures from October 1 to 7, the national holiday week, when the Terracotta Warriors site and the Forbidden City both run at their heaviest visitor load. Dates are also set so that day four never falls on a Monday, when the palace closes; if your dates would put it there, days four and five swap and the Great Wall day moves to day four.
• Two of the thirteen nights 13 — thirteen nights are inside your price either way, and eleven of them are settled by city. The night after the flight south and the last night before you fly home have their city and hotel named in writing in your quote, and the plan is being settled on our side before bookings open.
• Timed reservations — The Shanghai Museum, the Forbidden City and the National Museum of China all require timed entry, and their booking systems do not work well with overseas mobile numbers. Admission to all three is included. Who books each one, and how many days in advance, is stated in writing in your quote.
• Day six — the square, the temple and the national museum sit on the same day as the afternoon train west. Entry to Tian'anmen Square runs through security screening, so your quote states the day's start time and the screening allowance in writing.
• Face-changing and the backstage visit — this is a person-to-person arrangement inside your price, and it has not yet been re-confirmed with our ground partner for this selling season. Until it is, we promise no named performer, no fixed duration and no fixed time slot.
• The last morning — the exhibition hall and the Shekou and Nantou walk both sit before your airport drop-off. We check them against your departure flight when we quote; if the flight leaves too early for both, your quote states which one comes out and prices your order on that basis, before any deposit.
• Leaving from Shenzhen — Shanghai is served nonstop from every market we sell this route in. Shenzhen is not. Direct service out of Shenzhen is full for France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece; it is thin for the United Kingdom (London Heathrow), for the Nordic countries, Central Europe and Ireland (Vienna and Budapest), for Canada (Vancouver) and for Australia and New Zealand (Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland). Several of those services are dated restarts, so we verify yours against the current timetable before we take your order. If you are not flying back to one of those airports you leave on a connecting itinerary, and that sector is an international flight outside your price.
• Visa window — the 30-day visa-free policy currently runs through December 31, 2026. Because this is a 14-day plan, departures on or before December 18, 2026 finish inside that window; later departures are quoted only after the official renewal is announced. Guests who entered China under the ten-day visa-free transit policy cannot take this trip, because 14 days is longer than that policy allows, and we say so before any payment rather than looking for a workaround.
• Timetables — the 2026 fourth-quarter timetables for the six intercity movements have not yet been checked against the operating season. They sit on our standing assumption and are re-checked for your dates before your confirmation is issued. The Chengdu to Guilin flight is the thinnest of the six.
• Confirmation and changes — The confirmation-time commitment and the change and refund terms are being finalised with our ground partners. Until they are settled, each quote states in writing its own confirmation deadline and its change and refund conditions. This route holds four rail movements, one flight, one water passage and three timed museum reservations, so a date change touches several kinds of inventory at once.