Short trips are a series of transfers. Long trips have Tuesdays. You wake up in the same bed, walk to the same breakfast stall, and the woman there starts remembering your order. That is when a place begins.
We build long stays around four or five base cities, with a guide for the first days in each and free days in between. Your guide stays reachable for the whole trip, which matters more than it sounds when someone gets a fever at 11 pm.
Every day here is a suggestion. Your guide rewrites it with you the evening before — that is the whole point of travelling privately.
Five days of sights and two of nothing. Hutong mornings, the Wall, the palace, and a day trip to Chengde if the weather is kind.
Terracotta Army, then four nights in Chengdu at tea-house speed. Pandas, markets, a cooking morning.
Rivers and rice terraces, or Kunming and the stone forest. Slower days, longer lunches.
Two or three days of city, a last dinner, and a driver at 6 am who is already downstairs.
30 days visa-free covers most long stays. Beyond that, plan a visa run or an extension — we explain the options honestly.
Monthly rates at serviced apartments in Chengdu and Shanghai are often 40% below nightly rates. We can introduce, not book.
Pharmacies are everywhere and staff are helpful. Bring prescriptions in original packaging; your guide knows the international clinic in each city.
Plan one full rest day per week. Everyone ignores this and everyone regrets it by week three.
One brief, one reply within 24 hours, two or three guides who have done this trip before.
Start planning — it’s free