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Seven Day Sample Itinerary: Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing

This sample is a route and a shape for a student group of sixty across three cities, by coach, by high-speed rail and on foot. It is the programme planned for a returning school group. It is not a quotation, and nothing in it is booked.

Sixty people, in practice

Two coaches run with the group all week, not one. Every museum, campus and restaurant takes the group as a booking rather than as walk-ins, and the tea session and the banquet theatre dinner are likely to run as two sittings of thirty. Rail seats for sixty on one train are secured as early as sales allow.

Overview

How the seven days fit together

DayWhereWhat happens
1ShanghaiArrival, welcome lunch, first class session, the Bund at dusk.
2Shanghai to HangzhouZoo and pandas in the morning, then west by coach. Hotpot dinner.
3HangzhouWest Lake, the tea hills, the old street, a class session, banquet theatre.
4Hangzhou to BeijingUniversity campus and heritage museum, then high-speed rail north.
5BeijingThe Temple of Heaven at opening, then the Great Wall. Roast duck and Wangfujing at night.
6BeijingUniversal Beijing Resort, the whole day.
7DepartureEarly transfer to Daxing airport.
Pudong seen from the Bund promenade
Day 1 · Pudong seen from the Bund promenade · Photo: PreeChina
A giant panda at Shanghai Zoo
Day 2 · A giant panda at Shanghai Zoo · Photo: Esin Üstün, CC BY 2.0
The causeway at West Lake, Hangzhou
Day 3 · The causeway at West Lake · Photo: PreeChina
Longjing tea field in the Dragon Well area near Hangzhou
Day 3 · Tea terraces near Hangzhou · Photo: Peter K Burian, CC BY-SA 4.0
Hefang Street in Hangzhou
Day 3 · Hefang Street, Hangzhou · Photo: Dingding (钉钉), CC BY-SA 4.0
The main building of the Zhijiang campus of Zhejiang University, built as Hangchow University
Day 4 · The Zhijiang campus, built as Hangchow University · Photo: Zhang Gang, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Zhejiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum
Day 4 · The Zhejiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum · Photo: Siyuwj, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at the Temple of Heaven
Day 5 · The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests · Photo: PreeChina
The Great Wall at Mutianyu
Day 5 · The Great Wall at Mutianyu · Photo: PreeChina
Sliced roast duck on an oval plate beside cucumber and scallion strips, a bamboo steamer of thin pancakes and a dish of dark sauce
Day 5 · Roast duck served with pancakes · Photo: Daifawei, CC BY-SA 4.0
St Joseph's Church on Wangfujing Street
Day 5 · St Joseph's Church, Wangfujing Street · Photo: PreeChina
Universal Beijing Resort, the globe square
Day 6 · Universal Beijing Resort, Tongzhou · Photo: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0

Day 1

Shanghai

  • MorningArrival and transfer. About ninety minutes from aircraft door to coach door for a group of sixty. Two coaches meet the flight and the luggage travels with the group.
  • MiddayWelcome lunch near the hotel, so that nobody is moved twice before checking in.
  • AfternoonCheck in and rest. The group is slow in the morning and fine in the evening for the first days, because of the time difference.
  • Late afternoonFirst class session in the hotel, two hours, with a room for sixty, a screen and microphones.
  • Early eveningThe Bund, a walk along the waterfront as the lights come up on the far bank.
  • EveningDinner in the streets behind the Bund.

One thing to know about this day

The Bund is very crowded on public holiday evenings. When the arrival date falls on one, the walk moves earlier or to the quieter Pudong side for the same view.

Day 2

Shanghai to Hangzhou

  • MorningShanghai Zoo and the pandas. About two and a half hours on foot, with the panda house as the fixed point.
  • MiddayLunch on the western side of the city, already pointed the right way.
  • AfternoonWest by coach, about 180 kilometres to Hangzhou, two and a half to three hours with one stop.
  • Late afternoonCheck in at the lakeside hotel. For the next two days the lake is a walk, not a drive.
  • EveningHotpot dinner. A good first group dish: everyone cooks their own, and a mild broth sits beside the spicy one in the same pot.

Zoo or safari park

Shanghai has both, at opposite ends of the city. The sample uses the city zoo, because the afternoon ends in another city and the safari park would add about two hours of coach time to a travel day. Panda numbers on display change, so the zoo confirms in writing before the group arrives.

Day 3

Hangzhou

  • MorningWest Lake, on foot from the hotel door and by boat across the middle of it.
  • Late morningThe tea hills west of the city. A pan-firing masterclass and tasting, likely two sittings of thirty.
  • AfternoonHefang Street, the old souvenir street under Wushan hill, about forty minutes back east.
  • Late afternoonClass session at the hotel, ninety minutes. This is the fullest day of the week.
  • EveningA banquet theatre dinner with a staged Han and Song programme. Show times are fixed and the menu changes, so seating for sixty in one sitting is confirmed first.

About the tea, honestly

The main picking of West Lake Longjing tea ends in April. By early May the picking is over. What the hills give in May is the better half for a student group: the leaf fired by hand in a hot wok, grades side by side in the cup, and growers who have time to talk. A group that expects to pick leaves should be told so now.

Day 4

Hangzhou to Beijing

  • MorningZhejiang University, the Zhijiang campus on the hillside above the Qiantang river. Chosen over the main campus because it stands ten minutes from the heritage museum. Visiting groups are registered with the university in advance.
  • Late morningThe Zhejiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum, with halls for traditional crafts and for opera. Group booking is confirmed in advance.
  • LunchNear the culture centre.
  • AfternoonHangzhou East station. Allow an hour: sixty people with luggage do not move quickly through a rail station.
  • AfternoonHigh-speed rail north, between four and three quarters and six hours depending on the service.
  • EveningArrive in Beijing and check in.

The tightest day of the week

Two indoor visits and a five-hour train in one day leave no slack. The alternative is a morning train, with the university and the museum moved to the afternoon of Day 3 and the old street dropped. It can be built either way. The question is which evening the group would rather spend on a train.

Day 5

The Temple of Heaven, then the Wall

  • 06:30The Temple of Heaven at opening, when the park belongs to Beijing: choirs, ballroom dancing, writing with water on the paving, card tables. The altar, the Echo Wall and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, built without nails. About ninety minutes.
  • 08:30North across the city, two hours to Mutianyu in morning traffic. Breakfast is taken on the coach.
  • 10:30The Great Wall. Cable car up, toboggan or cable car down, about two and a half hours on the ramparts. Walking up is an option, not a requirement, which matters across sixty people of mixed fitness.
  • 13:30Lunch below the Wall.
  • 15:00Back to the city, with an hour at the hotel before the evening.
  • 18:30Roast duck at a restaurant by Wangfujing, so dinner and the evening are in the same place.
  • 20:00Wangfujing by night, the pedestrian street, lit, with St Joseph's church in the middle of it.

A long day, and it is described as one

The group is out at half past six, back at three, and at dinner at half past six. The Temple of Heaven is in the south and the Wall is seventy kilometres to the north-east, so the day crosses Beijing twice. The Wangfujing walk is optional: whoever has had enough goes back with the second coach after dinner. Mutianyu is chosen over Badaling because it is the same distance out, restored, better wooded and quieter.

Day 6

Universal Beijing Resort

  • MorningEast to Tongzhou, about thirty kilometres from the centre.
  • All dayThe park, with lunch and dinner inside. A weekday is usually lighter than a weekend, which is the main reason this day sits here.
  • EveningReturn to the hotel and pack: the group leaves early the next morning.

The whole day, and that is deliberate

Sixty people inside a theme park until closing cannot also walk a shopping street twenty-five kilometres away, so the shopping street moves to the evening of Day 5. Express passes change what a group of sixty sees in a day. That decision is taken early, and the programme is priced both ways.

Day 7

Departure

  • 06:45Breakfast boxes from the hotel. Too early for the restaurant to open for sixty.
  • 07:15Leave the hotel. Both coaches, with the luggage loaded the night before.
  • 09:15Arrive at Daxing, forty-six kilometres south of the centre, about an hour at that hour.
  • 09:30Check-in opens two hours before an eleven o'clock departure. Sixty people need to be at the counter when it opens, not after.

Why this day holds nothing else

An eleven o'clock international departure with sixty people and checked luggage takes the whole morning. No sight in Beijing can be added in front of it without putting the flight at risk. If the flight time changes, the route is rebuilt: an afternoon departure gives the morning back, and the Temple of Heaven returns here.

From 2026

The same legs on the 2026 trip

The 2026 group followed the same shape through the same three cities. These photographs were taken by PreeChina on that trip and show the legs that carry over into the route above.

Pudong skyline from the Bund in Shanghai at dusk, with the Oriental Pearl Tower lit up
Day 1 · The Bund at dusk, Shanghai · Photo: PreeChina
Calm water and green hills on West Lake in Hangzhou on an overcast day
Day 3 · West Lake, Hangzhou · Photo: PreeChina
A dancer in a bright silk costume performing at a banquet theatre in Hangzhou
Day 3 · A banquet theatre dinner, Hangzhou · Photo: PreeChina
Visitors walking along a restored section of the Great Wall near Beijing, with green hills and a Chinese flag
Day 5 · The Great Wall near Beijing · Photo: PreeChina

In Writing

What PreeChina confirms before a group travels

  • Star rating, room count and meeting room at each hotel, against the school's brief.
  • Whether the banquet theatre in Hangzhou seats the whole group in one sitting, and when the show starts.
  • Group booking at the heritage museum and visitor registration with the university.
  • The panda display at the zoo, in writing.
  • Rail seats for the whole group on one Hangzhou to Beijing service.

Once the arrival flight and these answers are settled, a priced itinerary and an invoice are issued, and the dates are held from the deposit onwards.

Plan a Student Group Tour with PreeChina

Send the group size, ages, dates and the curriculum or interests, and PreeChina replies with a draft route. Nothing is booked until a priced itinerary is agreed.

Request a Proposal

Reviewed October 2026. Programme details are confirmed in writing for each group.