On arrival in Beijing, your private guide meets you and transfers you to your hotel. An hour from the airport to the city centre. Welcome dinner this evening — Peking Duck at a restaurant that has served the dish since the Qing Dynasty.

Drive to the Great Wall at Juyongguan — the ancient mountain pass, one of the best-preserved sections of the wall, where the structure climbs steep ridges in both directions. Walk to the upper towers for panoramic views across mountain ranges that have changed little in two thousand years. Return to Beijing. Afternoon: the Summer Palace — the vast imperial retreat on Kunming Lake, with its famous covered Long Corridor painted with ten thousand scenes from Chinese history. Evening: Chinese Kung Fu performance.

Begin at Tian’anmen Square — the world’s largest city-centre square, gateway to the Forbidden City. Pass through the Gate of Supreme Harmony into the palace complex: 9,999 rooms, 72 hectares, home to 24 emperors over five and a half centuries. Lunch. Afternoon: the Temple of Heaven, built in 1420 — China’s greatest surviving example of Ming Dynasty sacred architecture, where emperors prayed for good harvests. This evening, board the overnight train to Xi’an.

Arrive in Xi’an. Meet your Xi’an guide and transfer to your hotel. Xi’an was the starting point of the Silk Road and the capital of eleven Chinese dynasties — more than any other city. This afternoon: the 14th-century city wall, the most complete surviving Ming Dynasty fortification in China, 14 kilometres of battlements encircling the old town. The Small Wild Goose Pagoda, built in 652 AD to house Buddhist scriptures brought from India. The Muslim Quarter at night — the finest street food in China.

The eighth wonder of the world. A private morning visit to the Museum of the Terracotta Warriors before the public gates open — your guide explains the three excavation pits, the battle formations, the unique faces, the colour that was once on every figure and has since faded. Over 8,000 warriors constructed to protect Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the afterlife, discovered entirely by accident in 1974 by local farmers. Lunch at the museum. Evening: Dumpling Banquet dinner with Tang Dynasty song and dance performance.

Morning bullet train from Xi’an to Xining — four hours through the Wei River valley and up into the high plateau of Qinghai. Afternoon: the Thangka Museum, the world’s first museum dedicated to sacred Tibetan painted scrolls used for teaching medicine and philosophy in monasteries. This evening, board the overnight train to Lhasa on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway — the highest railway on earth. The train crosses Tangula Pass at 5,072 metres above sea level before dawn. Supplementary oxygen is provided in all carriages.

One of the great train journeys of the world. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway crosses glaciers, passes herds of long-haired yaks on impossibly remote grasslands, and climbs to the highest point of any railway on earth at Tangula Pass — 5,072 metres above sea level. The train descends towards Lhasa through increasingly dramatic Himalayan landscape. On arrival, transfer to your hotel for rest and acclimatisation. An evening at leisure — altitude sickness is common and your first night should be restful.

The most iconic image in Tibet. The Potala Palace — winter residence of the Dalai Lama, standing 100 metres above Lhasa on Marpo Ri hill — contains over a thousand rooms, ten thousand shrines and 200,000 statues. Its golden rooftops are visible from miles away. After the Potala, walk to the Jokhang Temple — the most sacred site in Tibetan Buddhism, built in 647 AD. Outside: the Barkhor Bazaar, where pilgrims complete ritual circuits of the temple alongside market stalls selling butter lamps, prayer flags and jewellery unchanged in design for centuries.

Norbulingka — the Jewel Garden, summer residence of the Dalai Lama, with its 600-year-old palace complex set within lush gardens. Then Sera Monastery — one of the three great Gelug university monasteries of Tibet, founded in 1419, where monks conduct their famous afternoon debate sessions, gesturing and clapping as they test each other’s philosophical knowledge. One of the most remarkable spectacles in Tibet.

Train from Lhasa to Shigatse — two hours through the Yarlung Tsangpo valley. On arrival: Tashilunpo Monastery, Tibet’s largest religious establishment, home of the Panchen Lamas. The monastery contains extraordinary golden tombs of former Panchen Lamas, a 26-metre-high gilded statue of Maitreya Buddha, and hundreds of resident monks. Continue to a Gang Gyen carpet workshop to observe local women weaving traditional Tibetan carpets using techniques unchanged for generations.

A day of authentic Tibetan life. Visit a local family home to understand how religion shapes every aspect of daily existence on the plateau. Then Pelkor Chode Monastery — one of the most distinctive in Tibet, its exterior unique among Tibetan monasteries, set against breathtaking views of the surrounding snow-capped mountains. The monastery contains hundreds of Tibetan sutras and attracts a constant flow of pilgrims from across the plateau.

The most scenic drive in Tibet. The road back to Lhasa passes Yamdrok Lake — one of the four most sacred lakes in Tibet, a turquoise vision of impossible clarity surrounded by snow-capped mountains at 4,441 metres above sea level. Continue to the Karola Glacier — viewable from the highway at only 300 metres distance, a wall of ancient ice descending from the mountain peak to within sight of the road. Return to Lhasa this evening for your final night in Tibet.

Morning flight from Lhasa to Chengdu — two hours from the Roof of the World to the panda capital of China. On arrival, visit Chengdu People’s Park — the heart of Chengdu’s famous tea culture, where locals sit for hours over a pot of green tea and a game of mahjong. Stroll the Wide and Narrow Alleys — a preserved Qing Dynasty neighbourhood of courtyard houses, cafés and craft shops. Sichuan hotpot dinner this evening.

Private morning access to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding before the public gates open. Pandas are most active in the morning — you will watch them climb, eat bamboo and interact in enclosures built to mirror their mountain forest habitat. The base is home to one of China’s largest captive panda populations. After the pandas: the Leshan Giant Buddha, a 71-metre statue carved from a cliff face in the 8th century — the largest stone Buddha in the world. Farewell dinner of Sichuan cuisine.

Breakfast at your hotel. Transfer to Chengdu Tianfu International Airport for your departure flight. An hour from the city to the airport.