Overview
The Three Gorges are the reason most people come to Chongqing. For 193 kilometres the Yangtze cuts through limestone mountains in a series of narrow defiles — Qutang, Wu and Xiling — and the only comfortable way to see them is by boat.
This four-day itinerary gives you the classic downstream run from Chongqing to Yichang. You board in the evening, wake the next morning in Qutang Gorge, and pass through the Wu Gorge and the Three Gorges Dam's five-stage lock before disembarking at Yichang.
Ships on this route are floating hotels with balconied cabins, several restaurants, a spa and nightly entertainment. Shore excursions take in the Fengdu Ghost City, the Daning or Shennong tributary gorges by small boat, and the dam itself. It is the most relaxing way to cover 600 kilometres of China, and the scenery from the top deck at first light is worth the whole trip.
- Sail through all three Yangtze gorges — Qutang, Wu and Xiling
- Transit the Three Gorges Dam five-stage ship lock
- Balcony cabin on a five-star vessel with all meals included
- Small-boat excursion into the Daning or Shennong lesser gorge
- Fengdu Ghost City shore excursion
- Sunrise on deck as the ship enters the gorges
Itinerary
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1 Embarkation in Chongqing
Dinner Onboard, balcony cabinAfternoon: Free time in Chongqing. If you arrive early we recommend the Liziba station, where the monorail runs straight through a residential building, or the Ciqikou ancient town on the Jialing River.
18:00 - Boarding: Transfer to the Chaotianmen pier and check in. Cabins are available from around 18:00; your passport is held at reception for the manifest.
20:00 - Departure: The ship casts off and the lights of Chongqing's hillside towers slide past — the city looks most itself from the water, stacked up the bluff in layers of neon.
Evening: Captain's welcome reception, safety briefing and an early night. The first gorge comes at dawn.
Practical note: Cabin allocation is by deck and category confirmed at booking. Balcony cabins are on the third to fifth decks and are worth the supplement — the gorges are narrow enough that you can watch them from your own balcony.
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2 Qutang Gorge & the Lesser Gorges
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Onboard, balcony cabin06:30 - Qutang Gorge: Wake early. The ship enters the first and shortest of the three gorges around dawn — eight kilometres of near-vertical walls where the river narrows to little more than 100 metres. The Kui Gate at its entrance, with its inscribed cliffs and the ancient plank road cut into the rock, is the most photographed spot on the Yangtze.
08:00 - Breakfast on deck if the weather allows.
09:30 - Shore excursion: Either the Daning River's Lesser Three Gorges by small passenger boat — narrower, greener and quieter than the main channel, with hanging coffins in the cliffs and monkeys on the banks — or the Shennong Stream, depending on the vessel's schedule. Both take around three hours and involve transferring to shallow-draft boats.
13:00 - Lunch aboard.
15:00 - Wu Gorge: Forty-five kilometres of the most dramatic scenery on the river, with the twelve peaks along its southern bank, including the Goddess Peak that gives the range its most famous legend.
Evening: A cultural performance by the crew, or a lecture on the dam and the resettlement of more than a million people from the reservoir zone.
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3 Fengdu Ghost City & the Dam Transit
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Onboard, balcony cabin08:00 - Fengdu Ghost City: A shore excursion to the temples and shrines on Ming Mountain, a Chinese folk-religion complex representing the underworld, where the dead are judged. Most of the original town was submerged by the reservoir; what you see was rebuilt on higher ground. The architecture is vivid, the humour is broad, and the Nothing-to-be-Done Bridge — crossed in three specific steps or not at all — is a genuine folk custom.
12:00 - Lunch aboard.
15:00 - Xiling Gorge and the dam: The longest of the three gorges at 66 kilometres, and the site of the Three Gorges Dam at Sandouping. Ships of this size transit the five-stage lock, a process that takes around three hours as 175 metres of water level are climbed in steps. Alternatively the ship may use the new ship lift. Either way it is an engineering spectacle, and the guides aboard explain the power output, the flood control and the cost.
Evening: Farewell banquet and the captain's reception.
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4 Disembarkation at Yichang
Breakfast Not included07:30 - Breakfast aboard as the ship approaches Yichang.
09:00 - Disembarkation: Passengers are called by deck and colour group. Our representative meets you on the pier and transfers your luggage.
10:00 - Yichang option: Depending on your onward travel, either a short city tour — the riverside Binjiang Park and the Gezhouba Dam, the first of the two Yangtze dams — or a direct transfer.
12:30 - Departure: Transfer to Yichang Sanxia airport, Yichang East railway station (with high-speed connections to Wuhan in two hours, Beijing or Shanghai in six to eight), or onward overland.
Practical note: Cruise disembarkation is strictly scheduled, so please book onward flights no earlier than 13:00 and trains no earlier than 13:30.
Gallery
What's included
- 3 nights in a balcony cabin on a five-star Yangtze cruise ship
- All meals aboard (breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets)
- All scheduled shore excursions with English-speaking guides
- Chongqing pier transfer and Yichang disembarkation transfer
- Cruise taxes and port fees
- Captain's welcome and farewell receptions
- Evening entertainment and daily activities aboard
- Yichang city tour or transfer to the airport or station
Not included
- Flights and trains to Chongqing and from Yichang
- Cabin upgrades (suite, executive floor)
- Optional excursions such as the Three Gorges Tribe park
- Alcoholic drinks and spa treatments aboard
- Travel insurance and visa fees
- Tips for crew, guide and driver (around USD 15-20 per person total)
