8 awesome things to do in China

Wander Beijing’s Summer Palace

The world’s largest, best-preserved royal garden is actually a vast complex of landscaped gardens, palaces, lakes, and hills. Once known as the 'Versailles of the East’, it’s now a public park where you can wander amidst Jesuit-designed palaces and scores of Chinese, Tibetan, and Mongolian-style buildings. Among the highlights are the Eternal Spring Garden, the Great Fountain, and the remnants of the Haiyantang Reservoir.

Tour Jiuzhai Valley National Park

Set in China’s Sichuan province, this network of valleys has several focal points: Nuorilang waterfall in the Shuzheng Valley, the Zharu Monastery, and the Rize Valley with its mountains clad by ancient forests. Best of all, perhaps, is the multicoloured Five Flower Lake in its shades of sapphire, emerald, jade, pale turquoise, and amber yellow, believed by locals to be a holy site.

Cruise the Yangtze River

A Yangtze River cruise is one of the most scenic and relaxing ways to experience China. Sailing along Asia’s longest river, you will glide through the famous Three Gorges, where dramatic cliffs, misty mountains, and calm waters create unforgettable views. The journey is enriched with guided shore excursions to riverside towns, temples and engineering marvels such as the Three Gorges Dam, offering insight into life shaped by the river.

Meet giant pandas in Chengdu

One of China’s most heart-warming experiences, the world-famous research base outside Chengdu lets you see giant pandas in habitats that mimic their natural environment. Get there in the morning when pandas are most active playing, climbing, and munching bamboo, and don’t miss the Panda Nursery and kitten-like Panda Kindergarten where baby pandas tumble around in the grass.