The Red Dragon and Lhasa

Step off the plane in Beijing and meet your local guide in the airport arrivals hall • Explore the Forbidden City, a 600-year-old imperial palace once exclusive to royalty • Hike Jingshan for commanding views over its crimson courtyards • Discover Beijing’s hidden cricket culture in ancient hutongs, an almost-forgotten ritual even lifelong locals seldom witness • Savor Peking duck: watch lacquer-crisp skin crack like caramel, then cradle imperial perfection in whisper-thin pancakes • Conquer Jinshanling Great Wall while hiking along ramparts that defended China’s northern frontier • Master ancient taiji amid the Temple of Heaven’s imperial grandeur before departing Beijing.

Fly to Xi’an • Walk atop Xi’an’s ancient city wall and enjoy a commanding view of the old city • Marvel at 8,000 life-sized Terracotta Warriors standing guard for China’s first emperor over 2,200 years • Admire Xi’an’s iconic Big and Small Wild Goose Pagodas blending Indian, Persian, and Chinese influences.

Fly to Dali • Wander Dali’s ancient Old Town, where 1,000 years of Bai culture unfolds along cobbled lanes, flowing streams, and serene courtyard teahouses • Stroll Xizhou’s lakeside lanes to admire ornate Bai architecture and savor the famed “Xizhou pizza”• Learn to craft Xizhou’s stretchy, golden rushan cheese and taste your creation • Sip three symbolic teas—bitter, sour, sweet—in a ritual clay pot ceremony that mirrors life’s journey from hardship to joy • Immerse in the traditional Bai architecture of Xizhou, characterized by ornate gateways and honeycomb patterns • Hike up Taoist Weibao (meaning Magnificent Treasure) Mountain to meditate with a Taoist master • Retrace the steps of traders past along the Ancient Tea Horse Road to a Chinese Muslim village.

Continue along the Ancient Tea Horse Road to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lijiang • Trek among 1,300-year-old Buddhist carvings at Shibaoshan Grottoes, discovering cliffside temples where Mahayana devotion meets mountain wilderness • Meet Shizhong’s Folk Music King as villagers bring Bai culture to life through unrestrained song and dance • Visit Joseph Rock’s former home in Yuhu Village, where Naxi stone houses face Jade Dragon Snow Mountain’s alpine meadows • Explore the Naxi’s sacred Dongba script at the Dongba Culture Museum, then learn this living art firsthand from a priest, one of its last guardians • Watch Baisha’s coppersmiths at work in this timeless Naxi village where few travelers opt to stop • Walk through Wenhai Valley’s flower-filled meadows, where yaks and rare birds thrive beneath snow-capped peaks • Meet a hereditary Bimo shaman to discuss Yi animist traditions • Stroll Black Dragon Pool’s pavilion-lined waters, where Jade Dragon Snow Mountain’s reflection mirrors classical Chinese paintings • Complete your Yunnan journey through what is arguably the world’s deepest Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Marvel at Potala Palace, Tibet’s iconic 7th-century fortress-turned-museum, where gold-roofed shrines and 200,000 statues whisper centuries of spiritual and political history • Enter the sacred glow of Jokhang Temple, Tibet’s holiest Buddhist site, where pilgrims prostrate beneath gilded roofs and rooftop views frame Potala Palace against the Himalayas • Wander Barkhor’s vibrant stalls amid spinning prayer wheels • Rest in a Lhasa tea house to sip yak-butter tea among locals, savoring the sweet, creamy taste of Tibetan hospitality at its most unhurried • Begin a day with silent meditation in an ancient hermit cave, once a sanctuary for Buddhist teachers and a secret refuge during times of persecution • Discover Pabongka Monastery’s legendary tortoise boulders and sacred mantra carvings, then hike to Chupzang Nunnery, where 80 nuns practice amid rolling grasslands • Witness the debates of student monks at Sera Monastery, and visit its traditional sutra printing workshop • At Yamdrok Lake, Tibet’s turquoise sacred waters cradled by snow peaks, enjoy a lakeside picnic that connects you to the land’s spiritual heartbeat • Unravel the secrets of thangka art with a master and craft your own meditation-inspired masterpiece • Your local guide will escort you to the airport and help you check in for your flight home.