The best honeymoon days are the ones with nothing scheduled until four in the afternoon. We plan two anchors a day and leave the rest open: a boat, a tea house, a long lunch that turns into a walk.
Where we can, we book small hotels instead of towers — a courtyard house in Hangzhou, a riverside room in Yangshuo, an art deco building on the Bund with a view you will recognise from films.
Every day here is a suggestion. Your guide rewrites it with you the evening before — that is the whole point of travelling privately.
Art deco hotel, the Bund at dawn, dinner in a lane kitchen with six tables. One afternoon free for the spa you will not admit you booked.
One hour by rail. West Lake by private boat, Longjing tea village, a temple walk in the rain if you are lucky.
Private karst boat at 7 am, bamboo raft in the afternoon, a riverside room with a balcony and nothing to do.
Last shopping, last dumplings, a quiet airport run with a driver who is early.
April–May and September–October. Guilin is lush and warm in May, clear and cool in October.
Boutique courtyard hotels run ¥600–1,600 a night. We book at cost and show the rate, which is often lower than the booking sites.
If you want a couple shoot, we arrange a local photographer in Guilin or Shanghai for two hours at dawn.
Tell us if you want no guide at all on certain days. We can leave a car and driver and disappear.
Dates, rough headcount, and the one thing you refuse to miss. We reply with guides, a day plan and a fixed price — usually within a few hours, always within 24.
One brief, one reply within 24 hours, two or three guides who have done this trip before.
Start planning — it’s free