Beijing bus tours are nowadays very popular among semi-self-service travelers, for it is flexible to be arranged day by day. Badaling Great Wall and Ming Tombs Bus Tour, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Summer Palace Bus Tour and Prince Gong's Mansion and Beijing Hutong Bus Tour are among the most popular ones.

A Beijing Bus

Great Wall, the symbol of China, is always a must for travelers to China. Among all the Great Wall sections, Badaling Great Wall is the best-preserved and one of the most popular sections, hence a top travel destination in Beijing. This section is also equipped with cable cars and pulleys, which makes it easier to access for seniors and children. Ming Tombs, a group of mausoleums of 13 emperors from Ming Dynasty, is a good place to learn about China history and culture. These two sites are comparatively close to each other, so they are usually arranged in one tour.

Tiananmen Square is a place so well-known that almost every traveler to Beijing pays visit there. Forbidden City, an imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties is located to the north of it. The two sites are put together to avoid detours. The Forbidden City is so big that 3-4 hours are usually needed for the sightseeing. If time is left after exploring these two places, then a visit to Bird's Nest and Water Cube is a good choice. The night scenery around the area is beautiful.

After touring the imperial palace, you may want to know how a princely mansion looks like, then go to Prince Gong's Mansion. It is the largest one in Qing Dynasty. A Hutong and Courtyard Tour after shows visitors the residences of common people. At night, you may visit some bars and pubs in Shichahai Bar Street.

Beijing Bus Tour Travel Tips

Popular as Beiijing bus tours, some illegal travel operators have taken advantage of this opportunity and many travelers have been cheated. Then how to avoid it and have a happy trip in Beijing? Here under are some useful tips:

City-bus Station of Beijing

1. Do not go on bus tours advertised by tourist leaflets or flyers.
Travelers may receive many kinds of tourist leaflets and flyers around the attraction sites or in the streets. Please do not believe them, a legal tour operator never advertise in this way. 

2. Never believe the tourism flyers pasted on bus stop boards.
Again, legal tour operators do not promote tours in this way. 

3. Keep away from those people in fake bus uniforms.
Their bus is usually privately-owned and a ride on it is probably unsafe. Additionally, the bus ride may take you more time and money. Sometimes, it will not take you to the site wanted.

4. Do not take the bus departing from anywhere without a normal bus stop.
The bus without a fixed bus stop is usually illegally operated. Please kindly note that some bus tour operators offer pick-up service just because they do not have a fixed departure point. 

5. Be cautious of the unreasonably low-priced and post-paid tours.
Some tour agencies may operate low-priced or post-paid tours. However, hidden charges happen a lot in these tours. Besides, one may not be taken to the promised attraction sites while shopping places and self-paid activities are added. The food offered may also not as good as claimed. 

6. If one is interested in Beijing bus tours, we recommend you sign up with those legal tour operators with fixed offices and corresponding licenses and documents issued by the authority. You may read more about How to Identify a Real Leading Tour Operator. 

7. Usually, the tour operator will arrange a group of or even a crowd of unfamiliar people to go on the bus tour. In this case, travelers can not go on the tour as expected since time is limited and one has to consider for others in the tour. Besides, the service standard may be low because of the tour size. For those travelers want to explore Beijing in a highly-serviced and easy tour, Beijing One-day Tours offered by TravelChinaGuide.com are good choices for you!

Useful link: Beijing Bus Search