Shandong’s Golden Triangle
Qingdao, Qufu and Mount Tai are Shandong’s three most worth-visiting destinations, known as Shandong’s Golden Triangle. They represent you both the finest nature and best cultural essence of Shandong region. Start your vacation in Qingdao, the city of famous Tsingtao Bear and beautiful coastal landscape, then travel to Qufu, the hometown of the great siege Confucius, finally finish your vacation in Tai’an where the majestic Mount Tai sits. These three destinations are connected conveniently by highways and high speed rails, which ensures a comfort and efficient vacation for you.
Highlights of this tour
Welcome to Qingdao, a famous seaside city with marvelous coastlines and great Tsingtao Beer. Our guide will meet you at the airport, train station or hotel and escort you to Tsingtao Brewery Museum, where you can watch the exhibition of the complete process of making the beer and taste the freshly brewed beer. Since Qingdao is famous for the Tsingtao Brewery, you will have a better understanding about the beer and the city after today’s visit. Before leaving, you will take a fresh sip of 2 glasses of Qingdao beer in the museum.
Then you will visit Xiaoyushan Park to enjoy a 360-degree view of Qingdao City. Reach the small hill in this park with a short climb, you will feast your eyes by looking across to the spectacular beach close-by, the strip stretching into the sea, the red-tiled and white-walled villas, etc. The popular attractions you can see from the hill include German Governor Mansion, Qingdao No.1 Bathing Beach, Little Qingdao Isle, Zhanqiao Pier and Huiquan Bay. After that, take a short visit to Zhanqiao Pier, a symbol of Qingdao city. It was built in 1891 as a naval pier, and now is a famous landmark in the Qingdao Bay.
Arrival Ideas: 1) it is available to take a high speed train from Beijing (4.5h), Jinan (2-2.5h), Tianjin (4~4.5), etc., and a flight from Beijing (1.5h), Shanghai (1.5h), Xian (2h), Luoyang (1.5h), Guangzhou (3.5h), etc. 2) we suggest you take a morning flight or high speed train and arrive in Qingdao before 10 a.m. for a better sightseeing experience in Qingdao.
After breakfast in your hotel, you will first visit Badaguan Scenic Resort (also called Eight Passes Scenic Resort) which is named after 8 important military fortresses in China's history. In fact, it is not a resort and there are no passes here. It is a pretty neighborhood with about 200 old buildings in over 20 different countries’ styles, including German, Russian, French, American, Danish, Greek, Spanish, Swiss, Japanese... Take a nice stroll in the scenic streets and get some great shots. The landscape of Badaguan becomes most marvelous in spring when lots of flowers are in full blossom and in autumn when the leaves present a stunning mixed hue of yellow, orange, red, etc. To fully appreciate the buildings, you can walk into the Princess House, Butterfly House, Spanish Villa and Huashi House (optional). Then you will visit Qingdao No.2 Bathing Beach, just near Badaguan Scenic Resort. In spite of its small scale, it enjoys a peaceful environment and gorgeous scenery.
In the afternoon, you will visit Qingdao Site Museum of the Former German Governor's Residence which was built for the German governor when Germans occupied Qingdao during in late 19th century. The large building is packed with original furniture and period pictures that really make you wonder what it must have been like for Germans over a hundred years ago move to China to administer a far flung colony. After that, go to enjoy a walk along the coastline of Qingdao City to May Fourth Square in Qingdao's central business district. It is best recognized by a big sculpture of “May Wind” near the seaside. Then move to the 2008 Olympics Sailing Center where impressive scores of sailing boats and yachts are there to please your eyes with quaint surroundings - rows of cafés, good restaurant, street musicians, etc. Moreover, it is the best place to look at the glittering skyline of Qingdao.
After the city exploration, return to your hotel.
After breakfast, take an early high speed train to Qufu. You will arrive at Qufu after about 3 hours' train ride, and be welcomed by local tour guide who will accompany you to explore the life story of the great sage Confucius and his influential Confucianism in three sacred sites in Qufu – Confucius Temple, Kong Family Mansion and Confucius Cemetery.
The Confucius Temple is the largest and most influential temple of Confucius in East Asia. It was originally constructed on the former residence of Confucius in 478 BC, two years after Confucius’ death. The history of the tradition of paying homage in the Confucius Temple can be traced back to 205 BC when the emperor Gao of West Han Dynasty offered sacrifices to memorize Confucius and blessed for good fortune for his empire. Since then, many emperors and high officials followed Gao’s example. In total, there were 12 emperors of different dynasties came to Qufu Confucius Temple personally to worship Confucius.
The Kong (Confucius’ family name) Family Mansion is located to the east of the Confucius Temple. It was the home to Holy Duke of Yen, the direct descendants of Confucius who were in charge of governing the Confucian sites and organizing elaborate ceremonies to worship Confucius. Since its establishment in northern Song Dynasty, the descendants of Confucius have lived, also worked in the mansion for over a thousand years.
The Confucius Cemetery is the private cemetery of Confucius, his more than 100,000 descendants and some of his disciples. The oldest graves can be traced back to Zhou Dynasty, and the most recent graves belong to the 78th generation of Kong family. They are the witnesser of the dominant position of Confucianism in the long feudal society of China.
After the tour, go to check in to your hotel in Qufu City.
After breakfast, meet your guide and driver in your hotel and drive about 75km (1.5hrs) to Mount Tai (1524m). Mount Tai is the holiest of all mountains in China. Because of its history, majesty and stunning scenery, it was listed as World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site (the first one of its category) in 1987, and was announced to be a World Geopark later in 2006. Mount Tai has been a significant place of worship for over 3000 years. It was regarded by the ancients as the heaven of "direct access to the throne". From Shihuang Emperor of Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, there were 13 emperors came to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices. The great sage Confucius once hiked the mountain and claimed “the world is small”.
You will arrive at the Tourist Center first, then shift on to a sightseeing bus (about 30mins) and head along a zigzag but stunning road to the halfway point of the Mount Tai – Zhongtianmen (Middle Heaven Gate 800m). The hiking trail starts from here to Nantianmen (South Heaven Gate), which is the most highlighting part of Mount Tai hiking with more than 6000 uprising steps The steep trails demand much energy and time. You can lower your pace with stops to visit the ancient temples, historical relics, spectacular pine trees and stone inscription of different times. Finally, you will get to Nantianmen (South Heaven Gate 1460m), which means you have already put your steps on the top of Mount Tai. It’s time to slow down your steps to explore the essence of Mount Tai. You can wander leisurely on the Heavenly Street, worship in the Jade Emperor Hall which has a centuries old altar used for worshiping ceremony, appreciate rock inscription of Chinese calligraphy, look out over the peaks, enjoy the sea of clouds, etc.
After about 2 hours’ exploration on Mount Tai, you will descend the mountain by a cable car. Take the sightseeing bus back to the tourist center. Your driver is ready to escort you to catch your high speed train to next destination. Tour ends.
Meal tips: Lunch is not covered because restaurants on the mountain are not as fancy as those in Tai'an city. You can bring some snacks and food, or buy some from the vendors on the mountain.
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Beijing / Qingdao
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