Private Full Day Tour: Forbidden City, Tiananmen & Summer Palace
Description
Do full justice to three of Beijing’s must-see sights with a privately guided city sightseeing trip. Check out Tiananmen Square, the immense square at the heart of the city, and explore the highlights of the Forbidden Palace and the Summer Palace on guided walking tours. All entrance fees, private transfer with driver, hotel pickup and drop off all transfer with lunch at local Chinese restaurant are all inclusive.
Tour Options
Itinerary
After picking you up from your centrally located hotel in Beijing in the morning, you will start your day trip by visiting Tian'anmen Square, the world’s largest public square. Explore the sites around the square with opportunities to take some amazing pictures.
Then you will spend a couple of hours wandering around the magnificent Forbidden City which is an amazing example of Imperial architecture, and you will learn about the history and stories of the palace. Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum, and Gu Gong in Chinese, lies at the city center of Beijing, and once served as the imperial palace for 24 emperors during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368 - 1911AD). There is another option: just purchase the entrance ticket to Forbidden City. You can use your passport to enter.
After lunch, head to Summer Palace and visit the largest and most well-preserved royal park in China. It greatly influences Chinese horticulture and landscape with its famous natural views and cultural interests, which also has long been recognized as 'The Museum of Royal Gardens'. You will get a chance to take a boat ride at the Summer Palace (opens from 1st April to 30th Oct.) to enjoy the Kunming lake and also get off at the south-facing island and leave from another exit. There is another option: purchase the entrance ticket to Summer Palace. We will send you the QR code in advance, you can scan to enter freely.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We pick up guests from hotel lobby within 4th ring road of Beijing downtown.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Please wear comfortable shoes
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
- Please make sure to provide your full name and passport number for entrance tickets purchase to Forbidden City in advance
- If you prefer to have different language tour guide than English one, please kindly make your booking with request 3 days advance
Reviews(311)
May was great. Smart and professional. Driver was good driver with clean car. Would recommend them to anyone. Thanks
We really enjoyed this tour. Our guide, Edward, was friendly, knowledgeable, and spoke excellent English. He shared interesting information without making the tour feel rushed and was always happy to answer our questions. We would definitely recommend this tour.
Sandy was very attentive and friendly! Excellent guide and person! He communicated with us in English and Spanish. We really enjoyed the tour and her company!
We had a fantastic day with Catherine Lu Tours. We booked at the very last minute during the peak summer season and weren't sure we'd be able to get a tour, but Catherine Lu still managed to accommodate us, which was a great start. The real highlight, though, was our guide, Linda. She was absolutely wonderful. Her English was excellent, she explained the history in a way that was interesting and easy to follow, and she was incredibly patient throughout the day. It was extremely hot, but Linda was always looking out for us, finding shade whenever possible, making sure we had plenty of water, and never making us feel rushed. Visiting the Forbidden City and the Great Wall was already going to be a memorable experience, but Linda's knowledge, enthusiasm and genuine care made it even more special. A huge thank you to Linda and everyone at Catherine Lu Tours. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend you.
A very welcoming and very knowledgeable guide. We took a guided tour including Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, … with a French-speaking guide, Tony! Tony told us the history associated with the different places we visited, took photos of us the whole time, and even accompanied us into the souvenir shops to assist us as needed. I recommend it! Thanks again, Tony!
Tour was good. Guide was OK but not great. Viator wrote to me several times since demanding I write a review. Unlikely anyone will read this but if you do enjoy the tour.
Great way to see Beijing with a local who knows the sights and knows how to check into each place and is knowledgable about the sights! Linda kept me company while I visited the city alone. Taught me some history and some Chinese!
Everything was excellent, they were super punctual and spoke Spanish perfectly. Lin was wonderful, she explained everything to us in great detail and took us to eat at a great place. 100% recommended, thank you very much.
Linda, our guide, was absolutely amazing. She was kind and considerate, friendly and a wealth of knowledge about these significant Beijing landmarks. Mr Liu, our driver, was the best driver - patient despite the traffic, calm, and he made sure that we had plenty if water to stay hydrated in the hot conditions. We had the best day and are very glad that we chose this day trip. With thanks and gratitude to Linda and Mr Liu.
It was a journey through time when we were with Lena. She was teaching us Chinese culture. It was so inspiring and amazing the history of Beijing that I felt like a great oak tree taking all in - the past and present. She is such a great and knowledgeable tourist guide. I recommend her to anyone who wants to have a great time in Beijing. Best tourist guide ever.
