City lights and stone forests in one easy-paced journey — four days of Shanghai, then the mountains that inspired Avatar. Guided throughout, with three comfort tiers.
Begin in Shanghai — riverfront grandeur, garden lanes and the best small meals in the country. Then fly west to Zhangjiajie, where sandstone pillars walk out of the mist: the landscapes behind the floating mountains of Avatar. Easy walking, cable cars where the mountain is steep, and evenings long enough to breathe.
The two halves are deliberately different in tempo. Shanghai is a city walked on the flat — the Bund and its skyline, Yu Garden and its rockeries, the old lanes and the French Concession at the pace of the coffee shops on them. Zhangjiajie is a mountain walked on cable cars and boardwalks: gentle trails along Golden Whip Stream, and every day kept within an easy range.
It runs once, on fixed dates, as a guided small group — the same guide and the same travellers from the first evening to the last — with three levels of hotel and dining to choose between. The days do not change with the tier; only the doors you sleep behind do.
The river city and the stone forest, linked by a short flight — the modern metropolis, then the mountains behind the floating peaks.
Cable cars where the mountain is steep, boardwalks where it is not, and every day kept within an easy range.
One guide from the Bund to the glass bridge — tickets, cable cars and timed entries all held in your name.
A · Comfort, B · Signature and C · Luxe — the same days and the same guide behind three different doors.
“City lights and stone forests — and nine days that never hurry.”
The Bund · Yu Garden · the old lanes · the French Concession
Days 1–4 · ShanghaiArrive to a riverfront welcome walk on the Bund, garden hop through Yu Garden, and eat your way through the city’s small dishes — soup dumplings included. A day of choice between the skyline view from above or the old water town on the city’s edge. The days are kept on the flat and unhurried: mornings at the sights, afternoons with room to breathe, and the small restaurants doing the talking.
National forest park · Tianmen Mountain · glass walkways · quiet streams
Days 5–9 · ZhangjiajieStand among the Hallelujah mountains of film fame, ride the world’s longest cable car to Tianmen Mountain’s cave in the sky, and walk — if you wish — the glass bridge. Gentle trails along Golden Whip Stream keep every day within an easy range, and the evenings are long enough to breathe.
The full day-by-day itinerary with hotel names is sent with every quotation. Walking distances and start times are anchors, not walls — your guide flexes each day to the weather, the crowds and your legs, and nothing repeats.
Same route, same guide — three levels of hotel, dining and in-journey comfort. Prices per person, twin share, indicative until confirmed in a written quotation.
Prices are per person, twin share, and indicative until confirmed in a written quotation. Full day-by-day itinerary with hotel names is sent with every quotation.
A · Comfort is well-located 4-star; B · Signature is the better-known design and heritage houses in the best locations; C · Luxe is the finest hotel of each half, with the extras that follow.
Breakfast daily, taxes and service, twin or double as you prefer, and the bags taken up while you are out. Tell us about a hard bed, a soft pillow or a high floor — it goes to the hotel before you arrive.
We name the houses in writing before you pay anything — no “or similar”, no surprises on arrival. The full day-by-day plan travels with it.
The March 2027 departure runs as a guided small group. The same route runs privately on any dates you choose — ask us and we will re-price it for your own days.
Zhangjiajie’s park and Tianmen Mountain both run on capped, ticketed entry, and the cable car queues are the difference between a mountain and a car park. Once you are booked we hold the whole sequence — park, cable car, skywalks — in your name, and re-check every confirmation the week you travel.
Shanghai’s sights are gentler but still ticketed by name; the same rule applies throughout.
This is a fixed departure for March 6–14, 2027, and the tiers are held in small numbers — ask us and we will confirm availability the same day, in writing.
Nine days is the shape of this departure. A private version can add Hangzhou or Suzhou to the Shanghai half, or the Fenghuang old town to the mountain half — ask and we will price it side by side.
The departure sits in late March — the mountains usually lift out of winter mist, Shanghai’s plane trees are budding, and the parks are at their first green.
Shanghai is flat; Zhangjiajie is cable cars and boardwalks, with steps only where you choose them. The glass bridge and the walkways are optional — the solid-ground alternatives see the same pillars.
Water rides in the vehicle, and the mountain days start early to stay ahead of the queues. Tell us about knees, hips and heights in advance — the days bend around the answer, not the other way round.
Riverfront stone, garden paths and mountain boardwalks across nine days — broken-in walking shoes are the single best thing in the bag.
A Shanghai morning and a mountain afternoon differ by ten degrees or more; a layer you can stash beats a coat you must carry.
March in the mountains is mist and drizzle by turns — a compact umbrella and a light rain shell cover it.
Every ticket and timed entry is matched to it by name — carry it, and leave the queueing to us.
The vehicle carries the rest and meets you at every stop — pack for the morning, not for the day.
Refills ride on board, and hot water is what the country drinks — a thermos makes you local by day two.
Alipay or WeChat Pay set up before you land — we send a two-page guide with the booking; cards work in hotels, cash almost nowhere.
Mornings are the gentler hours — the pillars lift out of the mist early, and breakfast keeps going whenever you come down.
March 6 – 14, 2027 · guided small group · three tiers from US$2,770.
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