Basically you have two choices when considering a yangzi river cruise. Downstream running from the Tibet Plateau or Upstream commencing at the mouth of the Yellow sea  near Shanghai.

As I have mentioned in the Yangzi Getting There Section the most popular route for most is downstream boarding at Chongqing and alighting at Yichang.

This cruise as all of them takes in the most scenic spots and excursions, including Fengdu Ghost City, Danning River or Shennong Stream and of course the Three Gorges and the famous Three Gorges Dam Project

Whether you travel upstream or downstream you are going to get the same visual experience, the major difference being is that the Yichang - Chongqing upstream route takes four nights and is run at a lower pace than the three night downstream version from Chongqing to Yichang.

For those of you who wish to have a longer onboard experience some cruise lines including Viking River Tours run a variety of longer cruises that take in a combination of Wuhan, Nanjing and Shanghai. The longer cruises span between six to nine nights.