Beijing, Xi'an & Shanghai, 7 Nights

Met on arrival at Capital or Daxing airport and driven into Beijing, typically an hour's drive. Check-in is usually from mid-afternoon, so the day asks for nothing more than a walk and a meal. The lanes around Qianmen, just south of Tiananmen, are a good first evening: restored shopfronts, the old railway station and a long line of snack sellers. It is worth changing some money or setting up a phone payment app today, before the sightseeing starts.

An hour and a bit north-west to Juyongguan, where a fortified section of the Great Wall crosses a narrow valley and then heads straight up the hillsides on either side. The climb is steep; the views from the first tower already justify it. Coming back, the Summer Palace sits on the same side of the city: the imperial summer retreat around Kunming Lake, with the covered Long Corridor running along the shore and Longevity Hill above. A short stop at the Olympic Green for the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube finishes the day.

Tiananmen Square first, then north through the gate into the Forbidden City, the palace of the Ming and Qing emperors for almost five centuries. It is a long walk through halls and courtyards, and the guide will steer you to the quieter side palaces as well as the great halls on the central axis. The palace closes on Mondays, so the day order may flex. Later, the Temple of Heaven: the round Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and a park that fills with local people dancing, singing and playing cards.

The morning high-speed train from Beijing West crosses the north China plain and runs into the Wei valley in around four and a half to five and a half hours. Met at Xi'an North and taken to the hotel. In the early evening, the city wall: a complete fourteenth-century rampart around the old centre, wide enough to cycle on. Then south to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, built in the Tang dynasty to hold scriptures brought back from India by the monk Xuanzang, with the musical fountain playing in the square below after dark.

About an hour east of the city, the pits of the Terracotta Army: an estimated eight thousand clay soldiers, archers, horses and chariots buried near the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the emperor who first unified China. Pit 1 is the great hall of ranked infantry; Pits 2 and 3 show the archers and the command post, and the museum holds the bronze chariots. No two faces are alike. Back in the city, the Muslim Quarter behind the Drum Tower for hand-pulled noodles, flatbreads and persimmon cakes, with plenty for vegetarians.

Xi'an to Shanghai is the one leg with a real choice. A flight takes about two and a half hours in the air; the high-speed train takes most of a day but runs city centre to city centre through the Yangtze plain. We book whichever suits your dates. Either way you are met in Shanghai and driven to the hotel, and the evening goes on the Bund: the old waterfront of banks and trading houses, with the towers of Pudong lit across the river.

Yu Garden in the morning, before it gets busy: a sixteenth-century private garden of rock piles, ponds and pavilions in the old walled town. Then the Shanghai Museum on People's Square for bronzes, jade and porcelain. After lunch, across the river to Pudong and up to the 88th-floor observation deck of the Jin Mao Tower, looking over the river bends and the city's taller towers next door. The day ends on Nanjing Road, the long shopping street that runs back towards the Bund.

Breakfast, check-out and the private transfer to Pudong International, allowing an hour or more depending on traffic. If the flight leaves in the evening, the hotel can store luggage and the morning suits a short walk to a nearby park or a last look at the river from the Bund promenade. Leave generous time at the airport; Pudong is large and the queues for security can be long.