Monuments, Then Neighbours

Special Notes

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

• Bookings are not open yet — one thing has to be real first. In each of the three cities we need a bookable connecting or family room type, held and named in writing. We do not have that in all three yet. Until we do, we take no orders and no deposits. Tell us your dates and we will write to you on the day it opens.
• Departure dates — no departures between October 1 and October 7, the national holiday week, when the panda base restricts visitor numbers. Dates are also set so that day two never falls on a Monday, when the Forbidden City closes; if your dates would put it there, day two and the Great Wall day swap places.
• Cable car and toboggan in late season — the cable car up and the toboggan down are in your base price, and they are what makes the wall work for a party with a grandparent in it. Mountain lifts in northern China can close for weather or annual maintenance in November and December. For a departure in those months we confirm both against your exact dates before you pay, and if either is out of service we say so before payment rather than after.
• Sichuan opera programme — The backstage visit and your seats are included in the base price. Which performances take place on your chosen date is determined by the theatre, so we cannot guarantee a specific one in advance.
• Security screening at the square — everyone is screened to enter Tian'anmen Square. The queue takes half an hour to an hour and it is budgeted separately, on top of your time on the square, so the palace reservation still lands on time.
• Internal flights — two of them, so a date change touches airline inventory as well as hotels. The flight number, time and cabin class for your order are written into your quote, and the autumn and winter schedule on both legs is confirmed for your dates before anything is charged.
• The farmhouse lunch — It is arranged either way and you eat it either way. Its pricing basis with the operator is being finalized, so your quote states in writing whether it sits inside your base price.
• Visa window — the 30-day visa-free policy currently runs until December 31, 2026. Because this is an 11-day plan, departures on or before December 20, 2026 finish within that window; later departure dates are quoted only after the official renewal is announced.
• US passports — the US is not on the 30-day visa-free list, and 11 days is longer than the 10-day visa-free transit policy allows, so every US guest on this route holds a Chinese tourist or business visa, including the 10-year multiple-entry one. First-time applicants attend a consulate appointment in person for fingerprints, so allow several weeks. We confirm visa status before any payment. Guests who entered China on the transit policy cannot join this trip, and we say so rather than working around it.
• 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.
• Shanghai Tower on the departure morning — sold only as an add-on, never bundled into the plan and never counted as a highlight. Whether it fits is checked against your departure flight, order by order, and it is priced separately at the time of choosing.