Private Southern China: Guangzhou to Zhangjiajie

Meet the driver at Guangzhou Airport and transfer privately to the hotel. After time to rest, explore the restored Xiguan lanes of Yongqingfang and visit the family house built by Lee Hoi-chuen, Bruce Lee's father. A Cantonese-opera venue may offer a live performance if timing aligns. Continue to Canton Tower for city views. An optional local viewpoint with tea and desserts can extend the evening, while a seafood dinner is available separately.

Walk through Baomo Garden among Lingnan-style pavilions, bridges, carp ponds and sculpted details. Continue to Shawan Ancient Town, founded in the Southern Song period, and follow its narrow lanes past ancestral buildings and artisans' workshops. Selected walls preserve the regional technique of building with oyster shells. During the visit, taste Shawan's ginger milk pudding, a distinctive local speciality made from buffalo milk, before returning to Guangzhou.

When the seasonal tabebuia trees are in bloom, begin with a relaxed walk and time for photographs in the planned park. Outside the flowering period, continue directly towards Chikan. Arrive in the Kaiping area during the afternoon and explore Chikan's restored qilou arcades, waterfront streets and softly lit façades. The reflections and evening atmosphere provide a gentle introduction before settling in for the night.

Visit the UNESCO-listed Kaiping Diaolou and Villages. These fortified multi-storey houses served residential and defensive purposes while combining Chinese planning with architectural forms brought home through overseas connections. Walk among several diaolou and their rural surroundings to understand the families and migration history behind them. Afterwards, travel through the countryside to Yangshuo, arriving in the evening for hotel check-in and rest.

Explore Ruyi Peak for broad views over Yangshuo's clustered karst hills, river valleys and villages. Walk through the elevated scenic area before continuing to a second local viewpoint for another perspective on the landscape. During the kumquat and mandarin harvest, add a local orchard stop to taste fruit and learn how it is grown. Outside the season, the mountain programme remains unchanged.

Travel to Xingping and board a boat for a peaceful journey through the Li River's tower-karst scenery. Back on land, walk along Xingping's old street past traditional façades, small shops and teahouses, then check in at a hotel overlooking the mountains. After dark, an optional visitor demonstration of the historic cormorant-fishing technique is available on the river, presented with a local fisherman and his birds.

Leave Xingping for the four- to five-hour drive to Dazhai and check in at a hotel overlooking the Longji Rice Terraces. Walk through the village and learn about Red Yao culture, including the long-hair custom associated with a coming-of-age haircut at 18. Hike towards several viewpoints, including quieter routes beyond the busiest paths. Rice does not grow here in winter, but the sculpted mountain contours remain clearly visible.

Depart Dazhai in the morning for the five- to six-hour drive to Fenghuang. Check in on arrival, then walk through the riverside old town among cobbled lanes, bridges and timber stilt houses reflected in the Tuojiang River. Continue into the evening as illuminated façades, lanterns, music, cafés and food stalls transform the waterfront, leaving time for an independent dinner in the historic centre.

Leave Fenghuang for the approximately three-and-a-half-hour drive to Zhangjiajie. Enter Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and follow viewpoints through the quartz-sandstone pillars of the wider UNESCO-listed Wulingyuan landscape, scenery associated with the visual inspiration for Avatar. Ride the 326-metre Bailong Elevator to the upper area; Guinness World Records recognises it as the tallest outdoor elevator. Transfer to the hotel after the mountain walk.

Cross the 430-metre glass bridge spanning Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, with high views into the gorge between sandstone cliffs. Continue to Yellow Dragon Cave, also known as Huanglong Cave. The underground route passes through spacious limestone chambers filled with stalactites, stalagmites and stone cascades, with the option of a sightseeing-boat section along the subterranean watercourse. Return to the hotel after the contrasting canyon and cave experiences.

Ascend Tianmen Mountain by cableway and continue through the high landscape. Follow cliffside paths, step onto a glass walkway when conditions allow and see Tianmen Cave, the natural arch known as Heaven's Gate. After the mountain visit, transfer privately to Zhangjiajie Airport for your flight home or independent onward journey. The private tour concludes at the airport.