Food plays a significant role in Chinese culture and Imperial Tours tailors its bespoke traveling itineraries to ensure you savor and celebrate her rich culinary smorgasbord. The wealth and internationalism of today’s China has created an exciting and evolving food culture throughout the country. Besides the rich array of traditional, regional cuisines, China’s major cities are home to a vast selection of Western restaurants as well as those conjuring up an eclectic fusion of Chinese and Western traditions.

Our expert Itinerary Designers will help enrich your journey with immersive culinary experiences such as learning how best to roast Beijing’s famous Peking Duck at one of her top duck restaurants, accompanying a top Hong Kong chef to a seafood market to learn which fish to buy, or visiting a wholesale tea market with a master to name but a few.

Table etiquette is important to Chinese people, as correct table manners bring good luck. Lazy Susan is watching, but not to worry – your China Host will ensure you don’t place a chopstick wrong and that your customized menus are continually updated to suit your prandial tastes. On a mouth-watering culinary exploration of China you will soon understand the meaning behind the old Chinese proverb, “Sour, sweet, bitter, pungent: All must be tasted.”

My parents visited China in 2000. When asked for advice, they told me to bring some snacks as they had found some of the food iffy. Not only did my snacks go uneaten, but I must report that the restaurants were some of the best I have ever encountered – this from a native San Franciscan who has dined very well all over the world! The cutting edge atmosphere at nearly every meal added to the excitement.

Hale Party, USA

Experiences

Spicing Up Your Trip

See China Your Way

We all dress differently, we all live differently and we all have different interests when we travel. Just as there's no one China, there's no one destination. What we do is customize your itinerary so that you see each destination the way you want to see it.

The sample itinerary below is styled on four main divisions in Chinese cuisine: the wheat-based North including the Imperial kitchen, the spicy and pungent West embracing Sichuan, Yunnan & Hunan provinces, the gentle, soya sauce infused East, centered on the Huaiyang kitchen, and finally - best known in the western hemisphere - the cuisine of the South, mainly Cantonese with its focus on seafood and dim sum. 

DAY1
Arrive in Beijing
DAY2
Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City, Vegetarian Lunch with Talk on Food as Medicine, Pedicab Ride through Hutong District, Local Street Food Tour Dinner
DAY3
Temple of Heaven, Noodle & Dumpling Making Class, Summer Palace, Fusion Dinner

YOUR PERSONAL TRAVELING CONCIERGE

Our China Hosts