Beijing Forbidden City Small Group Tour with Tickets
Description
- Entry to the Forbidden City with pre-booked tickets - Expert guidance from an English-speaking tour guide - Enough time to learn about Chinese history - A well-structured and relaxing small group tour
Tour Options
Itinerary
Please go to the meeting point by yourself and Your guide will be waiting there, holding a flag printed with "Happy Dragon."
Once inside, your guide will lead you to enjoy all the highlights on the central axis, you can admire the ancient royal administrative area and the residences of the imperial families, the western palace is a great place to explore ancient royal furniture and the atmosphere of daily life. Our English-speaking guide's explanations will make the trip more enriched. The last stop within the palace is Imperial Garden where emperors and concubines once relaxed. Our tour ends at the North Gate of the Forbidden City, if you want you can stay longer by yourself inside, or any other places you want to go, please feel free to ask assistance from your guide.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(31)
This was a great experience. The tour company got in touch on WhatsApp as soon as week booked (several weeks in advance) and was happy to answer any questions leading up to the tour. There was also a message the day before with all the details we needed about meeting point etc. The tour itself was great - it is a huge site, so to cover everything would have taken at least a full day. Instead, the guide gave us lots of interesting information, taking us through the central path, without overloading us and keeping to time. He was very happy to answer any questions and also allowed time for taking pictures etc, even helping us taking photos. Throughout the tour he gave pointers and suggestions for other parts of the site to explore individually after, if we choose to.
We booked this tour because regular tickets for the Forbidden City were no longer available. Originally, we hadn’t planned to join a guided tour at all, but in the end, we were pleasantly surprised. We were initially told to meet at 8:00 AM, but shortly beforehand we were informed that the meeting time had been moved to 8:20 AM. The tour eventually started around 8:30 AM. We set off from a subway station and walked for about 15 minutes. The tour guide then purchased the tickets for us on site, and the actual guided tour began shortly after 9:00 AM. There were 18 people in our group, and the tour was conducted in English. Overall, it was very interesting. We were given small headphones, and the guide shared a lot of information along the way. It was definitely helpful, especially if you don’t want to walk through the Forbidden City without any context. Of course, it’s also possible to explore the site on your own, but there isn’t much information displayed on site. So unless you prepare very well in advance, a guided tour can be quite useful. The tour lasted until around 12:30 PM. It was a very warm day, and our feet were quite sore by the end, so for our taste it could have been a bit shorter. Some parts didn’t interest us as much, while we would have preferred to hear more about other topics—but that’s probably just a matter of personal preference. Overall, if you are interested in Chinese history, a guided tour is definitely a great choice.
Nice tour with a great guide. I learned a lot about Chinese history, and recommend this tour to others.
I appreciated the small group size of just 5 people (on Nov 21, 2025); it made navigating the Forbidden City easier. Our guide was great, he spoke naturally and clearly, showing us the complex in a respectful, informative, and agreeable manner. The pacing was also good, and we never felt rushed. Great tour, thanks!
Coco was a very great guide! She knew a lot about the forbidden city and brought the historical stories to life in her stories. It was all very well organized and we got a good overview of the buildings and the history associated with this place. You should put on good, comfortable shoes, especially if you want to explore the forbidden city for yourself after the tour.
Linda was very helpful, energetic and very kind. I can recommend this tour and Linda!!!! Thank you, I enjoyed it very much!!!!
The Forbidden City or People's Museum is a huge space with several buildings. Although you cannot enter any of them, the visit takes at least 2 to 3 hours. Our guide was spectacular and explained the whole story with lots of detail. As in all the monuments, stacked of Chinese and tourists. Very hot in August. I recommend hat, water and comfortable shoes and start well early before the strongest heat.
Coco was amazing, very informative about the historical background to the establishment of the Forbidden Palace as well as the workings of the Palace itself. Anecdotes about daily life added colour and explained the life of women in the palace.
Forbidden city generelly is overrated attraction. Guide was very kind but whole 4 hours are too long for this empty space. I would recommend to fo 1-2 hours trip instead of 4. Was too long, too focused on small stories.
Our guide Amy was great. Very punctual, great knowledge about the Forbidden City and its history, and she covered lots of different areas in the tour. I really appreciated her keeping us in shaded spots whenever possible as it was extremely hot and most of sites are extremely exposed.
