4-Hour Private Beijing Walking Tour of the Forbidden City

Jimmy was an excellent tour guide and provided a custom, private tour that met out needs. We sat in the hotel at the beginning of the tour to plan the day. We shared with Jimmy that our priority was to capture some great family pictures, and get a little history in the process. Turns out Jimmy is an excellent photographer. We gave him our camera for the tour and set him loose. He captured an excellent combination of candid and posed shots, while sprinkling in some history along the way. He was also helpful with getting us early coffee before the tour, and helping us get set up on Didi (Chinese Uber). We shared with Jimmy that we do not want to be taken to any sales pitch, or overpriced souvenir shop. He shared with us that his company does not take customers to hear sales pitches (a bonus of the tour we very much appreciated). Thank you for helping to make our time in China Amazing!!!

We had a great walking tour of the square and city with Becky. Her knowledge of the area was fantastic. She was able to guide us through security and entry with no problems. She also focused on some of the less crowded areas. The huge crowd size was a surprise and there is little to no shade on this trip. 4 hours can get a bit long.

If you are someone who wants to know details of history and do some shopping in the Forbidden City without being pushed or rushed by a group tour due to limited hours, this is the tour you want to take.

Jimmy was an amazing guide! I would highly recommend him to anyone touring the Forbidden City. He was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and passionate. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour from start to finish!

We greatly enjoyed our small group tour. Susan, our guide, was helpful in accommodating our tight schedule and made the entire tour both lively and interesting. Several in our group had been to the Forbidden City without a guide before and found that this tour brought the Forbidden City to life for them. We look forward to returning and seeing more next time.

Miko was a conscientious and helpful tour guide, and worked with us to tweak the tour to avoid the crowds on a holiday weekend. He also helped us to navigate a busy Forbidden City and figure out how to get home with a closed subway!

This tour is a great way to see the Forbidden City and get to know Chinese history a little better. Our guide Albert really knew his stuff and was happy to go at our pace, but there is so much to see! Although the tour is longer, we only had 3 hours but there was no pressure to rush. A friendly atmosphere throughout. Albert even kindly escorted us through the crowds afterwards to an amazing local restaurant for Peking duck! Brilliant! Rob and family Oxford, UK

We spent 2 very full days with Albert, our tour guide in Beijing. He was outstanding in every way. He showed up right on time at our hotel with a driver. We did the Great Wall and the Summer Palace on the first day. Between the two Albert and the driver took us to lunch at a great local spot in between the two locations. Everything was perfect. Albert majored in tourism and was very knowledgeable and informative every step of the way. He also spoke very good English. The second day was the Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City. Without Albert, we would have gotten very little out of visiting these sites. He completely explained the details so it brought the entire visit alive and made it so very memorable. In fact, we met some people on the flight home who had gone there on their own. They said it was a waste of time as they didn't know what they were looking at or what to look for. Albert did a great job and we are very happy we decided to go with the guided tours. Completely made the trip a lifelong, positive memory.

Roy was our guide for this trip. He was so helpful. He helped us navigate the subway . He was very knowledgeable about the history of Tienanmen Square. Roy got us through the cue at Forbidden City, no long lines for us. He explained each court of this massive Palace. He was a great guide!

The forbidden city is a must see...but I dont think we needed the guide. She spoke english and was very nice but did not seem very knowledgeable for having been there, allegedly, over 100 times. She walked us through although she missed out two or three major things, like the screen of nine dragons, which I didnt realize until after we finished. Disappointingly she didnt tell us much about the palace and seemed to know less then I had learned from a history channel documentary on the forbidden city. Absolutely go to the city, be prepared for crushing throngs of people which make it very hard to see anything. But honestly you only need a guide if your a nervous traveler who wants your hand held.

No one mentioned Tianenman square was going to be closed when I booked this tour so I was unable to explore the Plaza. Therefore, I should've been given some type of partial refund. You also have to pay for your taxi rides around the city after already paying 90 usd for the tour. apparently that's just for the tour guide and not transportation. ridiculous. wouldn't take this tour again. Booked for 4 hrs and we were done in 2 hrs. definitely NOT worth 90.