7-Day Guilin, Chongqing and Yangtze River Cruise Tour

Your guide and driver will meet you at the airport (no sign-holding required, or perhaps a small sign). In the afternoon, explore a limestone cave formed by millions of years of water erosion, with stalactites and stalagmites in shapes that range from majestic to resembling a dragon. End the day with a photo at Elephant Trunk Hill, Guilin's most photographed landmark, overlooking a lake with two pagodas. Check into your lakeside hotel.

Board your cruise for a 4-hour journey down the Li River to Yangshuo. The scenery includes karst peaks, bamboo groves, water buffalo on the riverbanks, and fishermen with cormorants. The view resembles a Chinese painting, as Chinese painters have depicted this exact scene for centuries. Arrive in Yangshuo and check into your countryside hotel. Afternoon bike ride along the Yulong River, through rice paddies and past hills that will make your phone's camera work very hard.

Morning bullet train from Guilin to Chongqing (~4.5 hours). High-speed rail through southern China's landscape, already worth the trip. Your Chongqing guide meets you at the station. Afternoon walk through Shancheng Alley, a historic trail with old city walls, former foreign consulates, and a cliff-side walkway with panoramic views of the Yangtze. Then the Kuixing Building: enter on what feels like the ground floor, glance down, and realize you are on the 22nd. Chongqing geography is not for the faint-hearted. Evening at Hongya Cave, a multi-story riverside complex lit up after dark. Good for photos and snacks.

Morning in Ciqikou Ancient Town, a well-preserved Ming and Qing dynasty neighborhood. Cobblestone streets, traditional snacks, and the contrast of ancient architecture surrounded by a modern megalopolis. Next stop: Liziba Station, home to a light rail line that passes directly through a residential high-rise. Chongqing's urban planners had limited options and unlimited creativity. Then the Great Hall of the People, a hybrid of traditional Chinese palatial design and Western Neoclassical architecture, built in the 1950s. Finishes with a visit to the Three Gorges Museum, where you can get the full ecological, historical, and engineering context for the Yangtze journey ahead.

Morning shore excursion to Fengdu Ghost City, a hillside complex of temples and statues dedicated to Chinese mythology's version of the afterlife. The imagery ranges from beautifully surreal to genuinely unsettling, and the whole place is historically significant, atmospherically charged, and the only stop on this tour where you might feel mildly judged by a statue. Back on board: cultural activities in the afternoon, and an evening performance of War Fires of the Three Kingdoms, China's most dramatized historical saga, staged on a moving cruise ship on the actual river it is set on. Dinner included. Dramatic irony also included.

Optional morning excursion: White Emperor City, perched at the entrance to Qutang Gorge. The scenery here appears on the back of China's 10-yuan note, which means you have technically already seen it, just very small. Ancient stone calligraphy inscriptions dating back centuries. Excellent views. Worth the detour. Afternoon cruise through Qutang Gorge (the shortest and most dramatic, walls closing in from both sides, in the best possible way) and Wu Gorge (the longest, flanked by 12 named peaks that Chinese poets have been writing about for a thousand years). Then a shore excursion to Shennv Stream, a narrow, crystal-clear Yangtze tributary navigated by small wooden boats through steep canyon walls. Quiet, genuinely remote, and the kind of place that makes you want to leave your phone in your pocket. You won't, but you'll want to. Evening: Crew Cabaret and Talent Show on board. Surprisingly, genuinely fun.

Morning disembarkation, followed by a visit to the Three Gorges Dam, viewing platform access included. At 2,335 meters long and 185 meters tall, the dam holds back a reservoir the size of a small country. Standing at the base, you will search instinctively for something to provide a sense of scale. You are the scale. It doesn't help. Transfer to Yichang for your onward flight or train. Your private guide and driver will handle the logistics; you just have to decide whether to look out the window or sleep. Note: Shore excursions are arranged by Century Cruises and may vary by cruise selection. Seven days. Two rivers. One itinerary that manages to be both a geography lesson and a very good holiday. Here's what it takes to make it happen: