1 day

Instant confirmation

About this activity

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen Guangchang), West Changan Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100006 China

Your English-speaking guide will pick you up at your hotel lobby between 6:30 am and 7:30 am depending on other customer’s hotel pick-up. The exact time will be informed by your guide a day before the tour starts, normally after 6:00 pm, by a phone call to your hotel.

The tour starts at the northern side of Tiananmen Square, one of the symbols of Beijing. Here you can see two pairs of 600 years old stone lions, the characteristic ornamental columns, an outer golden water bridge and several other decorations that the guide will explain. The square is one of the biggest on the world, so from the distance, you will be able to see the National Flag Pole, the Monument to the People's Hero, the Chairman Mao Zedong Memorial Hall, the Great Hall of People, and the National Museum.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Forbidden City-The Palace Museum, No.4 Jingshanqian Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100009 China

Then you will proceed to visit the Forbidden City, the largest and best-preserved ancient imperial palaces group in China, with 500 years of history. Here you will learn about the history of this sprawling World Heritage–listed complex, where Ming and Qing emperors once lived and ruled in opulence. Take in some of the 1,000 rooms and 800 buildings, and marvel at the exquisite luxury of imperial life. The visit along the central axis from south to north will last for about 2 hours.

After exploring the Forbidden City, you will have the opportunity to visit a Jade Carving Factory for 45 minutes. Jade carving is a very popular product in China, not only for the excellent skills artists need to do the carvings, but also because of the cultural background behind it. A traditional Chinese cuisine lunch will follow the visit.

Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Mutianyu Great Wall, Mutianyu Road, Huairou District, Beijing China

The next activity is the Mutianyu Great Wall, the longest piece of architecture in the world, stretching from China’s east coast to China’s west desert. This section of the Wall is known for its beautiful surroundings like dense woods and rich pastures changing colors with the seasons of a year. At Mutianyu, you can hike up the side of mountain to the wall or take a cable car (at your own expense). Then you can walk over the wall passing several watch towers for different views. On the way down, you can either walk, or take the cable car or toboggan (at your own expense).

After this 2 hour’s visit, you will return to Beijing downtown, where you will have the chance to learn about the Chinese traditional medicine culture at a specialised hospital. Finishing the tour, you will be transferred back to your hotel around 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, depending on the hotel drop-off order.

Duration: 2 hours

Read more Show less

Included

Hotel pickup and drop-off
Air-conditioned tour coach
English-speaking tour guide
Traditional Chinese cuisine lunch
Entry/Admission - Forbidden City-The Palace Museum
Entry/Admission - Mutianyu Great Wall

Not included

Fee of cable car to the Mutianyu Great wall
Shuttle bus fee at the Mutianyu Great wall
Gratuities
Personal expenses
Drinks

Additional

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
This is a bus tour. The hotel pickup time will be informed by your guide a day before the tour starts (normally after 6pm) by a phone call. If you don't get any information about the hotel pickup time by 10pm the day before the tour, please call the emergency number and they will inform you.
Hotel must be in Beijing city centre (within the third ring road). If you stay in an apartment block, we will find a nearest hotel as your pickup point. If you stay in a hutong hotel in a narrow lane, please walk a few steps and wait for our bus on a main street.
Please note that depending on traffic conditions, the return time may be later than stated
All passports names and numbers are required when booking to book the Forbidden City tickets in advance
Comfortable walking shoes are recommended

Features

Tourism

95%

Cultural

90%

Reviews

3.4

5

J

Jennifer A

3 | 2016-05-22

I'm half and half on this tour. For The Great Wall portion of the tour, it was great. The wall was amazing. It's a steep walk even just getting up to the cable cars. It says disable friendly but my mum was injured and she could barely make it up. The guide doesn't actually go up to the wall with you so we learned nothing about the wall itself other than who built it and why. Paid for a tour guide who wasn't even with us the whole day. You don't actually go to Tiananmen Square. You see it across a busy road. The Forbidden City was pretty boring and our tour guide didn't really do anything to try and make it interesting. And we got rushed through everything pretty quickly. Jade Factory was ok. We bought some pretty things. Make sure you haggle. Don't pay the price it says. A lot of it isn't worth as much as they say so unless you haggle, you're getting ripped off. The Tea Shop is another rip off. It's for white tourists so the prices are very expensive. Walk into any of the multiple teashops around Beijing for much better pricing.

Collections This experience is part of these collections