A Journey Retold: My Three-Week Adventure Spanning North to South China

-- Erik’s Exploration of Beijing, Zhangjiajie and Sichuan

"At China Discovery, we pride ourselves on curating unforgettable travel experiences, but nothing brings us greater joy than hearing directly from our travelers about their adventures. Recently, Erik, one of our valued customers, generously shared his story about a three-week journey through China that we were honored to help organize. In early May, Erik set out on an incredible exploration of China, spanning the cultural treasures of Beijing, the awe-inspiring natural landscapes of Zhangjiajie, and the vibrant charm of Sichuan. We’re deeply grateful to Erik for entrusting us to design this itinerary and for taking the time to share his perspective with the world. As you read Erik’s story in his own words, we hope you’ll feel inspired to embark on your own adventure. Thank you, Erik, for being a part of our travel family and for letting us be a part of your China story!"

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China is one of my favorite destinations in the world. It is just so packed full with amazing history and scenery unlike anything that you can find elsewhere. It’s like doing a trip full of highlights for weeks and weeks. Add to that friendly people, great food and amazing performances and you have a wonderful experience!

And our trip with China Discovery was such a wonderful experience! It ranks at the top of our best vacations ever, and that is also why we are so passionate to share our story with you.

We’re two friends that regularly travel together to see more of the world and in May 2024 we finally were able to realize our 3+ week long China plans. I have been to China in the past, but this was the first time for my friend. And for first time travelers, Beijing is a must. There is just so much to see in and around Beijing! In the end we spent a bit over a week in the vicinity before moving on to the second part of our trip to Zhangjiajie. This mountainous area is famous for its Avatar-like pinnacles, but there are plenty of other things to see in the region. Then on to Sichuan for the third part of our journey, home of the panda. Many people visit this region foremost because of this cute animal, but for us the main draw is the rich cultural heritage, the amazing natural beauty and the spicy food!

Week 1: Beijing Area (Including the Great Wall and Chengde)

As I’ve been to Beijing before, and it is a big city, we wanted to explore it on our own. China Discovery was very accommodating and they helped us with things like airport pick-up and all the follow-up after exploring the city. Nonetheless I still want to share some of our Beijing experiences, as I hope it convinces you (other travelers) to visit this wonderful place.

Beijing is full with temples, gardens and towers/gates that in any other city would be major highlights. Some of them can be entered freely, others require a small fee. Don’t hesitate, because it is always worth it! Some of our favorite parks include Beihai and Jingshan Park. Both of these are located within walking distance from each other and the forbidden city. Beihai Park used to be the imperial garden, and is the biggest of the two. It contains a large lake with several pavilions and halls within its perimeter. It is probably best known for the white pagoda on the island in the lake. Jingshan Park on the other hand is relatively small, it is mainly known because it offers great views over the adjacent forbidden city.

The Forbidden City is the ancient imperial city at the heart of Beijing. It’s also the greatest highlight of them all. The best view from the Forbidden City comes from within the Forbidden City itself, so make sure you purchase your ticket in advance! If you have the energy, there is enough to see within the Forbidden City to spend the whole day, like we did. If you don’t have the time, I recommend you to come at opening, or to be there around closing. This will allow you to experience the main halls and courtyards with less people (as you can see in my pictures).

Admiring Beijing's timeless grace on their own, shared by Erik

Another Beijing attraction that deserves a shout out is the Summer Palace. This is so much more than just a palace. It is a park full of palace buildings, temples, lakes and even a fake shopping street built on the emperor’s whims. Our tip is to not just stick to the lake side of the park, but to also explore the attractions on the top and the other side of the hill with the 3-story pagoda.

The visit to the Summer Palace was our start of the tour with China Discovery.

After our visit to this amazing sight, we were transported to Gubei Water Town and Simatai Great Wall. Gubei Water Town is like a history/architecture museum, where they created replicas of old buildings of different regions. Even though the buildings are not really old, they look great and the town is very lively at night. The main attraction here is however the Simatai section of the Great Wall that towers over the town. To my knowledge, this is the only wall section that is open in the evening.

Though seeing the sunset from the Simatai Great Wall was great, it still pales in comparison to our amazing hike over the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall that we did the next day. Accompanied by our guide we did this amazing 8km hike over one of the most beautiful sections of the Great Wall of China. This wall section really snakes over the mountains and it contains the highest concentration of towers. But what makes the experience really amazing, is that it is almost without any other tourists!? An amazing experience unlike many of the other parts of the wall.

Finding delight in Beijing, shared by Erik

Following our Great Wall experience, we took the high speed train to get to Chengde. It was a 2-hour journey where we were picked up by our new local guides. They brought us to the Chengde Summer Palace (Chengde Mountain Resort), an even larger garden with lakes, pavilions and even a man made mountain. Though the Chengde Summer Palace was nice, what really appealed to us were the eight outer temple complexes. Each of these was beautiful and different in its own right. Most tour operators only visit 2 or 3 of these complexes, but since we have a lot of energy, we really wanted to see as many as we could, and our guide made it happen!

Moments from Chengde, shared by Erik

Week 2: Zhangjiajie Area (Including Fenghuang and Fanjingshan)

Zhangjiajie is based in the Hunan province. This province is far to the south from Beijing, so we took a flight to get there. Our guide and driver picked us up from the airport in this magical mountain land.

Magical is the right term to describe these beautiful straight spires that rise up hundreds of meters from the floor within the Wulingyuan Park (Zhangjiajie National Forest Park). It is no wonder that this sight inspired the floating rocks in the Avatar movie. Here we used buses, cable cars and elevators to bring us to beautiful panoramic viewpoints. Outside of the main park, there are also plenty of other sights, like lakes, caves and canyons just waiting to explore!

Special shoutout goes to Tianmen Mountain. This place offers pretty mountain scenery, a temple complex on the top and another amazing evening performance!

Zhangjiajie: Where nature and culture collide, shared by Erik

From the mountains of Zhangjiajie our guide led us south to the picturesque Fenghuang Ancient Town. This is a beautiful and romantic town on a river with lots of traditional wooden houses. The city is particularly popular among female Chinese tourists that dress up in local dresses. We found the city center especially very nice and lively in the evening, with plenty of music and dance performances taking place on the river.

Further south we went to visit one of the lesser known UNESCO sights of China: Fanjingshan. This is a holy mountain with a temple complex on the top. It is recognizable by its twin peak spire that jolts out from the mountain. On top of this is a small temple and a bridge that connects the two spire peaks. Under normal conditions, this is a beautiful sight to behold, but unfortunately we had our only bad weather day and the mountain was covered in a thick fog.

Immersing in the beauty of Fenghuang, shared by Erik

Week 3: Sichuan Area (Including Chengdu, Mt. Emei and Jiuzhaigou)

With a high speed train we traveled to Sichuan, where we had some more new highlights waiting for us. First up we went to Leshan to see one of the largest Buddha statues in the world! Then we proceeded to Mount Emei, which is another UNESCO listed holy mountain covered with temples. Yes we like mountains and temples, and luckily, so did the ancient Chinese! The temple complexes on Emei are great and we love how they have a distinctly different architecture than the temples we saw around Beijing. Particularly the temples on the top of the mountain were spectacular, with the giant statue of an elephant ridden Buddha as the centerpiece.

Exploring the Wonders of Leshan & Mt. Emei, shared by Erik

Next up is Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province. Here we visited the city's prettiest sights and met the most famous inhabitants: the pandas! These were held at a special panda research and breeding center (Chengdu Panda Base). Unfortunately it is not really possible to spot pandas in the wild, as there are only so few of them still out there, living in bamboo covered mountainous areas.

Discovering the Charm of Chengdu, shared by Erik

Then we took a nice day trip to… another UNESCO listed holy mountain covered with temples. Mount Qingcheng and its temples differ from the other ones, as it is not attributed to Buddha, but the birthplace of Taoism. Next to Qingcheng is Dujiangyan, which holds historical significance as a 2000-year-old irrigation system.

Captured in Dujiangyan, shared by Erik

With only a few days left we took a final high speed train up to the mountains in the North of Sichuan. This area is home to a large Tibetan population and some of the most amazing natural scenery you will ever witness. Our new guide picked us up from the station and brought us to our first national park: Huanglong Valley. This was a personal highlight as the water filled terraces, flanked by snow capped mountains, created the most spectacular scenery.

Enchanting scenes from Huanglong, shared by Erik

The second national park on our itinerary here is Jiuzhaigou. Think tons of waterfalls, and amazing lakes with crystal clear water in all shades of green and blue. This truly offers view, after view, after view. In the end we easily spend 2 full days in this park as we simply couldn’t get enough of it!

If we could, we would want to stay longer, or to explore the many other beautiful parts of China that are still on our wish list. But unfortunately this was the end of our vacation, so we flew back to Beijing and then homewards. China really was everything that we dreamed of and maybe even more. It was full of highlights from start to finish and we are sure we will be back in the future.

Stunning views at Jiuzhaigou, shared by Erik

China Discovery was a great travel agency that helped us arrange this amazing experience. Each and everyone of their guides and drivers was amazing. With their help we were able to focus our time and energy on experiencing the wonderful sights, instead of being stressed about transportation and hotels. As such we could do and see much more than if we would have done things ourselves. On the other hand, China Discovery really allowed us to tailor the trip to our own interests, ensuring we got the perfect experiences matching our own preferences!

Thanks to our travel consultant Evelyn Ma, our guides, drivers and others at the China Discovery team for this unforgettable experience. We’re looking forward to traveling with you again in the future.

(Above travel story was written by our customer Erik, edited by our editor.)