4 Days Kaiping Diaolou and Villages Admiration Tour with Guangzhou Bests

Day 1 Guangzhou Arrival

Airport / Train Station Pick Up

Welcome to Guangzhou, the City of Rams! Situated in south China, Guangzhou is a “hot” metropolis for relaxation, food exploration, business communication and seeking of culture, history, arts of Lingnan Area. Upon your arrival, your local guide and driver will meet you at the arrival hall of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport or railway stations in Guangzhou and then escort you to your hotel in downtown and help you check in. The rest of the day is free on your own to take a nice break or explore this city.

Evening Optional Experience: Enjoy the 70-minute fascinating Pearl River night cruise sailing along the mother river of Guangzhou people and soak in the wonderful sightseeing of lights and neon of historical architectures and new modern towering buildings to feel the pulse of this developed city. You won’t miss the Canton Tower during the cruise.

Arrival Idea: Guangzhou is a large international city with great transportation connections including many international and domestic flights to and from. Furthermore, high speed trains are quite convenient from most domestic cities including Hong Kong (about 1 hour), Shenzhen (0.5-1.5 hours), Guilin (2.5-3.5 hours), Beijing (8-10 hours), Shanghai (7-8.5 hours), Chengdu (9-10 hours), Guiyang (4-6.5 hours), Xian (8-9 hours), Hangzhou (6-7.5 hours), and so on.

• Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
• Pearl River Night Cruise to Enjoy Canton Tower

Day 2 Guangzhou (B, L)

Yuexiu Park - Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall - Chen Clan Ancestral Hall - Shamian Island - Huacheng Square

After breakfast, your local guide and driver will pick you up at your hotel. Start to explore the old and new Guangzhou City from Yuexiu Park, the largest city park in Guangzhou. Stroll leisurely in the verdant park to see the Five Rams Statue from which you will savor the interesting legendary story of the five rams and know why Guangzhou is called the “City of Rams”. Then, continue to appreciate a five-storey ancient structure in red - Zhenhai Tower which was changed as Guangzhou Museum. Have a brief learning about Guangzhou’s over 2000 years’ history and if you like, climb up the tower to get a bird’s-eye view of Guangzhou City. After the morning stretching with fresh air, move your steps to the nearby Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall which was built in memory of the great revolutionist Sun Yat-sen. Enjoy the Chinese and Western combining styled octagon-shaped main building in bright red and blue from outside. Enter the hall to know Dr. Sun deeper with excellent exhibitions of his biography and contribution to the country and people, and get a simple learning about the contemporary history of China in the 18th - 19th centuries. Before leaving, admire the 5.5-meter tall bronze statue of Dr. Sun outside in the yard and show your respect to this world famous great Father of the Nation in China.

In this afternoon, visit the must-see Chen Clan Ancestral Hall which is regarded as the largest, most beautifully decorated and best preserved traditional ancestral temple in Guangdong Province. Roam among the tranquil houses and courtyards built during 1888-1894 to discover its architectural origin and find out whether it was an ancestral hall or an academy for the Chen Family in Guangdong initially. Since it is famous as the “Pearl of Lingnan Architectural Art”, you will taste the super exquisite colorful decorations of vivid patterns of various flora and fauna, figures and immortals to feel the highly skillful construction and decoration of Lingnan people and know their typical folk culture and best wishes of harvest and prosperity in ancient China. Later, be transferred for about 10 minutes’ driving to see the quite different Shamian Island where over 150 European styled old buildings from the colonial period from 19th century are well preserved for a nice savory. Take a relaxing walk in the strongly exotic street block in emerald and imagine the past life and changes of Guangzhou told by those historical remains.

After the exploration, be transferred to the urban central axis in Zhujiang New Town to see the modern cityscape of Guangzhou at Huacheng Square. Have a leisure stroll between the glittery skyscrapers and peculiar shaped modern buildings to feel the fast development of this metropolis, including Guangzhou IFC Tower, CTF Finance Center, Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou Grand Theater, etc. Most importantly, appreciate the slim outline of the iconic Canton Tower on the opposite bank of Pearl River.

After the tour, be escorted back to your hotel.

• Yuexiu Park Five Rams Statue
• Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Guangzhou
• Exquisite Decoration of Chen Clan Ancestral Hall
• Church of Our Lady of Lourdes at Shamian Island
• Huacheng Square - To See Stunning Guangzhou Skyline and Canton Tower

Day 3 Jiangmen Kaiping Diaolou and Villages (B, L)

Drive to Kaiping - Li Garden - Zili Village - Back to Guangzhou

Today, we will drive about 1.5 hours from Guangzhou to meet Kaiping Diaolou and Villages in Jiangmen City. The over 1,800 precious and well-kept watchtowers together was listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 2007 with rich value to know culture and history of overseas Chinese from Guangdong in the 16th - 19th centuries. Our guide will take you to appreciate Li Garden and Zili Village, the two most popular and featured diaolou villages. Besides the outlook of the western styled watchtowers, you won’t miss to enter the watchtower buildings and have a historic look at the tasteful layout with lots of furnishing and decorations imported from overseas countries. Every detail tells the particular life and house of overseas Chinese who worked hard to succeed in another country and pursued a better future of their family and nation.

First visit Li Garden that is treated as a top excellent private garden built by overseas Chinese. Wander in the villa styled garden to admire its outstanding combination of typical traditional classic garden in ancient China and graceful features of European and American villa constructions. Take your time to discover every corner and every floor to savor the interest of the lovely Chinese pond, pavilion, bridge, Western styled artistic decorations and local Lingnan featured sculptures and carvings.

In the afternoon, you will be transferred for about 10 minutes to the nearby Zili Village. This village has the largest number of diaolou buildings among all the four Kaiping villages designated by the UNESCO, showing the silver age of Kaiping diaolous with delicate diaolou buildings distributed harmoniously. Admire its rich western styled watchtowers dotted on the contrast Chinese Lingnan local countryside to find out why it is one of the best beautiful diaolou villages in China. Just get to the top of those watchtowers where you will take nice photos of the full view of watchtower clusters with the backdrop of idyllic countryside sightseeing of Lingnan village, including blossoms, pond, farm lands, winding rural paths, domestic animals, etc. After the sightseeing, be driven for about 3 hours back to Guangzhou. Have a nice sleep!

Useful Tips for Kaiping Diaolou and Village Photography: 1. March to April is good for shooting watchtowers with large scaled golden rape flowers; June to July is great to catch vibrant scene of verdant paddy fields; July to August is the high season for shooting lovely lotus flowers and the dancing lotus leaves. 2. Nearly all watchtowers are allowed to go up for village full view, and the top one recommendation is Longsheng Building near Ju’an Building in Zili Village.

• Kaiping Li Garden - Panli Building
• Panorama of Zili Village in Kaiping

Day 4 Guangzhou Departure (B)

Flight / Train off Guangzhou

Today, you will say goodbye with Guangzhou! After breakfast, your local guide and driver will send you from your hotel to the airport / train station to catch the flight / train to your next destination or home. Service ends!