Luoyang Departure: Three Gorges Dam, Wushan Lesser Gorges and Baidicheng, 6 Days

Board at Luoyang Longmen in the morning, change once at Zhengzhou East or Wuhan, and arrive at Yichang East around five. Leave the bags at the hotel and walk down to the river, where the riverside park runs all the way to the downstream side of Gezhouba and you can watch masts rise slowly inside the lock. For dinner find a place doing fat fish, the broth milky white, with a bowl of rice on the side.

Attraction introduction: Yichang was called Yiling in earlier times and sits where the upper Yangtze meets the middle, at the mouth of Xiling Gorge. Gezhouba began storing water in 1981, nearly twenty years before the Three Gorges Dam, and the two dams together turned this stretch of river into something closer to a lake.

Tips: This day is mostly transport, and Yichang East is another twenty minutes from the centre. Guests generally find taxis hard to flag at the evening peak and ride-hailing requires a designated pickup point. In practice we run a transfer straight to the hotel and keep the evening to a riverside walk; if you go out for a late snack, come back early because tomorrow starts at half past six.

Enter the dam area at half past seven and go first to Tanziling for the view down onto the five-step ship lock, then descend to the 185 platform at dam-crest level, and finish at the closure memorial where the concrete tetrahedrons dredged from the river bed are stacked. Lunch inside the dam area, then cross Xiling Gorge to Three Gorges Families and walk up Longjin Stream past waterwheels and stilted houses, with the old trackers path pressed against the cliff beside the water.

Attraction introduction: The dam stands at Sandouping in Yichang, its axis more than 2,300 metres long, and the five-step lock lets ships climb over the structure like a staircase. Three Gorges Families sits on the south bank of Xiling Gorge, where Longjin Stream drops out of the hills and a cluster of stilted Tujia houses stands at its mouth.

Tips: The shuttle inside the dam area runs in sections and the longest queue is at Tanziling. Guests generally find the lock reads better from above at Tanziling but the dam only feels heavy from the 185 platform. In practice we reverse the order and go far to near. The Three Gorges Families ticket already covers the internal shuttle and the return ferry, so nothing needs buying at the pier.

Leave at seven and take the Three Gorges expressway west along the left bank, with one service-area stop on the way. Reach Wushan county at midday, eat, then go to the pier at the mouth of the Daning River and take the Lesser Gorges boat upstream, where the cliffs of Longmen Gorge close to within ten metres of the hull. The boat stops once in Dicui Gorge so you can get off and look at the square sockets of the old plank road.

Attraction introduction: The Wushan Lesser Gorges are the Longmen, Bawu and Dicui reaches of the lower Daning River, about fifty kilometres end to end. Hanging coffins rest in clefts in the cliff face, and rows of square holes mark a plank road once cut into the rock, running on until it disappears.

Tips: The boat is included in the 120 yuan ticket, and entry closes at two in the afternoon, after which the only option is the next morning. Guests generally find Dicui Gorge the coldest stretch, with wind funnelling in over the bow. In practice we take the half past one sailing and have coats on before boarding; window seats go to whoever boards early.

Head up the Shennu road at eight, the shuttle climbing the Huangyan switchbacks, and from the platform look down on Wu Gorge bending below you, the river narrow enough to pick out the road on the far bank. Light is best around eleven, when the red of Chinese tallow and the yellow of smoke tree come through in clumps pressed into the evergreen oak rather than as one sheet of colour. Back in town in the afternoon for a walk along the waterfront.

Attraction introduction: Wu Gorge runs from the mouth of the Daning River west to Guandukou in Badong, more than forty kilometres, the longest of the three. The twelve peaks of Wushan stand on both banks, with Shennu Peak on the north side at over nine hundred metres. Chinese tallow along the river turns red in late autumn and is the loudest colour here.

Tips: The Shennu road is all switchbacks and motion sickness is common, so take a tablet half an hour before setting out. Guests generally find the red peaks between early and mid November, yellow a week earlier and gone a week later. In practice the platform is scheduled twice, at eleven and again at four, with midday left for lunch and rest in town.

Take the morning Shuangxia Yifeng boat upstream from Wushan pier, through Wu Gorge and into Qutang Gorge, reaching the Baotaping landing at Fengjie in a little over two hours. From there walk the covered bridge to Baidicheng and climb the several hundred steps, and from in front of the Tuogu Hall look back: Kui Gate is off to the left, two cliff faces like a door not quite shut. Back in town by evening, where the riverside wind is gentler than at Wushan.

Attraction introduction: Baidicheng stands on Baidi Hill four kilometres east of Fengjie, water on three sides and hill on the fourth. Gongsun Shu fortified it at the end of the Western Han and styled himself the White Emperor; later Liu Bei retreated here after Yiling and entrusted his son to Zhuge Liang. Kui Gate below is the western mouth of Qutang Gorge, its two walls under a hundred metres apart.

Tips: The steps at Baidicheng are steep and numerous, a quarter of an hour from the bridge to the top, and anyone with bad knees is better off waiting below. Guests generally find Qutang Gorge reads stronger from the boat than Kui Gate does from land, because the low angle exaggerates the walls. In practice we book the morning sailing and are inside Baidicheng before three; the gate ticket is sold separately at whatever the notice board shows that day.

Leave Fengjie in the morning on the expressway for Yichang, about four hours with one service stop. Eat a bowl of hot dry noodles near Yichang East at midday, board in the afternoon and reach Luoyang Longmen around ten at night. Go through the red-leaf shots on the train and pull the highlights down a stop on the backlit ones.

Attraction introduction: East of Fengjie the expressway hugs the Yangtze the whole way, and past Wushan it enters the western end of Xiling Gorge, tunnel after tunnel. Storage raised this stretch by nearly a hundred metres, so the old rapids lie underwater and only the shape of the mountains is unchanged.

Tips: The return drive runs close to six hours with only service areas to get out at. Guests generally find the last day is the tiring one on this route, because the sightseeing is over and sitting still gets harder. In practice we leave Fengjie at half past eight to miss the morning peak; if you are travelling with older family, tell the guide, and the service stops can stretch by ten minutes.