China

The most celebrated section of the 21,196-kilometre Great Wall, Mutianyu preserves watchtowers and battlements dating from the 6th century and is at its most extraordinary in autumn when the forested ridges surrounding it turn brilliant red and orange. A private sunrise visit with a specialist guide — before any other visitors arrive — transforms this monument from a popular attraction into one of the world's great moments of solitude in history.

The largest ancient palace complex in the world, the Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from 1420 to 1912 — 980 buildings and 8,886 rooms occupying 720,000 square metres in the heart of Beijing. The sequence of ceremonial courts leading to the Hall of Supreme Harmony remains one of architecture's most powerful statements of power, hierarchy, and cosmic order.

The limestone karst peaks rising from the Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo are among the most recognised landscapes in the world — depicted in Chinese painting and poetry for 2,000 years and appearing on the back of the 20-yuan note. A private bamboo raft drift at dawn, before the tour boats begin, offers one of China's most tranquil and beautiful experiences.

The towering sandstone pillars of Zhangjiajie — some over 200 metres tall — provided the visual inspiration for the floating Hallelujah Mountains in the film Avatar. The park's glass-floored Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Bridge, at 430 metres the world's highest glass bridge, and the Avatar Hallelujah Mountain offer completely unique perspectives on one of China's most extraordinary geological phenomena.

A remarkably preserved ancient trading town of the Naxi minority people in northwestern Yunnan, Lijiang's Old Town is a labyrinth of cobbled streets, wooden architecture, and canals framed by the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The town serves as the gateway to Tiger Leaping Gorge — one of the world's deepest river canyons — and the ancient Tea Horse Road trading routes into Tibet.

A series of valleys in northern Sichuan famous for their tiered turquoise lakes, rainbow-coloured mineral pools, and waterfalls cascading through ancient forest, Jiuzhaigou has been called the most beautiful natural landscape in China. The colours — produced by calcium carbonate, algae, and mineral deposits in water of extraordinary clarity — shift through the day from emerald to sapphire to brilliant white.