High up to the Roof of the World
Deep into the Clear Minds of All
A 15-Day Journey Through Imperial China, Ancient Civilizations & the Sacred Roof of the World
From the imperial grandeur of Beijing to the ancient capital of Xi’an, and onward to the vast, spiritual landscapes of Tibet, this journey reveals China through its monuments, traditions, landscapes, and people.
Walk through the halls once reserved for emperors. Meet a local family and share the simple pleasure of making dumplings together. Stand before the silent army of Qin Shi Huang. Then rise into Tibet, where sacred temples, prayer wheels, turquoise lakes, remote monasteries, and snow-covered mountains create a landscape unlike anywhere else on earth.
This is a journey designed not only for sightseeing, but for discovery, reflection, and meaningful cultural connection.
Depart on your international flight to Beijing, the historic capital of China and the starting point of your journey into the heart of the country.
Meals: In-flight meals
Arrive at Beijing International Airport, where you will meet your Tour Escort and transfer to your hotel.
The rest of the day is intentionally unhurried. After your long international flight, take time to rest and settle in. Let the rhythm of the journey begin gently as you prepare to discover China’s imperial history, ancient civilizations, and living traditions.
Meals: None
This morning, enter the magnificent Forbidden City, the former imperial palace at the heart of Beijing. For nearly 500 years, 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties lived and ruled from within its vast courtyards, ceremonial halls, and secluded gardens.
In the afternoon, leave the imperial world behind and wander through the Hutongs and Shichahai Lake, where old Beijing survives in narrow lanes, courtyard homes, neighborhood shops, and everyday encounters.
Visit a local family and experience traditional Chinese crafts firsthand—from Chinese calligraphy to painting inside snuff bottles. Then join your hosts to make dumplings and prepare dinner together.
Tonight, the experience is not simply a meal. It is a chance to sit around a family table and experience the warmth of ordinary Chinese life.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: China World Hotel Summit Wing
Travel beyond Beijing this morning to the legendary Badaling Great Wall.
Stretching across rugged mountain ridges, the Great Wall is one of humanity’s most extraordinary feats of construction. Walk along its ancient stone paths and imagine the generations who guarded, traveled, traded, and lived along this immense frontier.
After a local specialty lunch, continue to Yongning Ancient Town in Yanqing. Explore the traditional market, where local farmers bring seasonal produce, regional foods, and homemade specialties. It is a glimpse into a quieter side of northern China, far from the capital’s modern skyline.
End the day with a relaxed farmhouse barbecue dinner.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: DoubleTree by Hilton Beijing Yanqing
Begin at the Temple of Heaven, where emperors once performed elaborate ceremonies to pray for good harvests and harmony between heaven and earth. Its elegant architecture and ancient cypress trees create one of Beijing’s most contemplative spaces.
Continue to Wanshou Temple (Temple of Ten-Thousand-Year Life), where you will experience a traditional Chinese tea ceremony in the temple’s Incense Hall.
Then change perspective and take to the water. Cruise along the Jingmi Water Diversion Canal toward the Summer Palace, one of China’s great imperial garden landscapes.
Glide across Kunming Lake, looking toward Longevity Hill and the graceful pavilions, bridges, and wooded slopes surrounding the water.
Tonight, enjoy a Beijing classic: Peking Duck in a traditional courtyard restaurant.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: China World Hotel Summit Wing
Fly to Xi’an, one of China’s oldest and most important capitals and the eastern gateway of the ancient Silk Road.
In the afternoon, visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Da Ci’en
Temple (Temple of Great Mercy), where the story of Buddhism’s journey between China and the wider Asian world comes vividly to life.
Later, explore the lively Muslim Quarter at your own pace. Fragrant foods, traditional shops, colorful stalls, and bustling street life reveal Xi’an as a city shaped for centuries by cultural exchange.
Dinner Treat: Xi’an-Style Lamb Soup with Crumbled
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: JW Marriott Hotel Xi’an
Today, travel outside Xi’an to one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made: the Terracotta Warriors.
More than two thousand years ago, Qin Shi Huang, China’s First Emperor, ordered an extraordinary underground army of life-sized warriors, horses, and chariots to accompany him into the afterlife. Every face and figure reveals details of ancient China's military power, craftsmanship, and organization.
After a local specialty lunch, return to the city and walk along the Ancient City Wall, one of the finest surviving examples of a traditional Chinese city fortification.
This evening, experience the elegance of the Tang Dynasty through a dinner accompanied by traditional music and dance.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: JW Marriott Hotel Xi’an
Fly westward from Xi’an to Lhasa, entering the vast world of the Tibetan Plateau.
After arrival, transfer to your hotel and allow the afternoon to unfold slowly. At this altitude, the first experience of Tibet should be gentle. Rest, hydrate, breathe deeply, and give your body time to adjust to the dramatic change in elevation.
Outside your window, the landscape itself begins to tell you that you have entered another world.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: The St. Regis Lhasa Resort
Begin at Jokhang Temple, the spiritual heart of Lhasa and one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites in Tibetan Buddhism. It is the most sacred and important temple in Tibetan Buddhism. Located in the heart of Lhasa, it was originally built in the 7th century during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo. The temple houses the revered Jowo Shakyamuni statue, believed to be one of Tibet's most precious images of the Buddha. It forms part of the UNESCO-listed Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace.
Walk through Barkhor Street, following the rhythm of pilgrims as prayer wheels turn and incense drifts through the air. Around the temple, devotion and everyday life exist side by side—an intimate glimpse into Tibet's living culture.
In the afternoon, visit the Jebun Gang Art Center to discover Tibet's extraordinary artistic traditions. Through color, symbolism, craftsmanship, and sacred imagery, Tibetan art reveals a culture in which spirituality is woven into everyday life.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: The St. Regis Lhasa Resort
Rise above Lhasa this morning to explore the magnificent Potala Palace.
Crowning a hill above the city, this extraordinary architectural masterpiece was once the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas and a major center of Tibetan political and spiritual life. Its chapels, murals, sculptures, manuscripts, and sacred treasures preserve centuries of Tibetan history.
In the afternoon, visit Zaki Temple, a beloved local temple where people come to pray for prosperity, good fortune, and protection.
Here, Tibet reveals itself not only through monumental architecture, but through the hopes and daily rituals of its people.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: The St. Regis Lhasa Resort
Begin the morning at Xueduibai Traditional Tibetan Arts and Crafts School, where you will experience the ancient art of Tibetan thangka painting.
Discover how artists create intricate sacred images using precise lines, symbolic compositions, and richly colored pigments. More than paintings, thangkas are visual expressions of Buddhist teachings and meditation.
In the afternoon, travel toward Drolma Lhakhang Temple (Nyethang Drolma Lhakhang), a historic Buddhist temple. Built in 1055 AD to honor the renowned Bengali master Atisha, it enshrines the Green Tara statue, the beloved Buddhist goddess of compassion and protection, along with relics such as his Begging Bowl. As a key site of the Kadam tradition and a national cultural protection unit, it preserves ancient architecture and 11th-century clay sculptures, reflecting a unique blend of Tibetan and Han artistic styles. You will have a precious opportunity to listen to monks’ chanting sutras, receive blessings from Green Tara, and walk around the White Stupas to pray for World Peace and all sentient beings.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: Pingcuo Kangsang Hotel
Travel toward Yamdrok Lake, one of the great sacred lakes of the Tibetan Plateau.
From the mountain viewpoint, look across extraordinary turquoise waters curling between high mountain ridges. The scale is immense; the silence, almost tangible.
Continue to Rituo Monastery, a tiny monastery perched on a remote peninsula surrounded by the lake. Its extraordinary isolation has inspired the poetic description “the loneliest monastery in the world.”
Later, continue to Shannan, one of the most important cradles of Tibetan civilization and an important region in the early history of Tibetan Buddhism.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: Hampton by Hilton Shannan
Today, visit Samye Monastery, traditionally regarded as the first Buddhist monastery established in Tibet.
Its ancient temples, murals, sacred architecture, and mountain setting tell the story of a transformative chapter in Tibetan history, when Buddhism began taking root across the plateau.
Enjoy a simple vegetarian lunch near the monastery, then journey into the mountains to the Qingpu sacred mountain meditation retreat.
Surrounded by cliffs, valleys, and profound silence, Qingpu offers a glimpse into a more contemplative Tibet—one shaped by meditation, solitude, faith, and the search for inner clarity.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: Hampton by Hilton Shannan
After breakfast, drive toward Lhasa Gonggar Airport for your flight back to Beijing.
As the road winds away from the Tibetan mountains, take a final look at the vast valleys and highland landscapes that have shaped Tibetan culture for centuries.
Arrive in Beijing in the afternoon and transfer to your hotel. The evening is yours to rest and reflect on the journey.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Accommodation: China World Hotel
After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your international departure.
Your journey comes to an end, but the memories remain: the golden roofs of Beijing, the silent warriors of Xi’an, the incense-filled streets of Lhasa, the turquoise waters of Yamdrok Lake, and the remote monasteries of southern Tibet.
A Journey Beyond the Ordinary
From imperial palaces to ancient Silk Road civilizations, and from the sacred streets of Lhasa to the vast silence of the Tibetan Plateau, this journey follows a remarkable thread through history, faith, landscape, and human connection.
You leave with more than photographs. You leave with stories, encounters, and a deeper sense of a China that has been shaped by thousands of years of civilization—and continues to live through its people today.
