3 Days Private Beijing City Tour

According to your flight schedule, your guide and driver will pick you up at the airport arrival hall today, holding a welcome board with your name on it. After greetings, we will drive to the hotel in about one hour. Check in and have a break.

If time permits, we will arrange for you a Hutong tour by rickshaw to explore the old, traditional alleys of Beijing. There are some workshops, distinctive boutiques, bars and restaurants in Hutongs and all these will give you a better understanding of the special Hutong culture. What's more, we will also pay a visit to a local family living in one of the old style folk yards, where you will not only see how a typical local family lives, but also learn about the Chinese folk customs.

After breakfast, we will pick you up at the hotel on time. The first stop of today is the Tiananmen Square. Situated in the center of Beijing, it has become the symbol of the city, and even China. Walking north through the square, we will come to the Forbidden City which is the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368 - 1911). With over 70 palaces and 9000 rooms, it is the world's largest and most complete ancient wooden architectural complex.

Today's lunch is on your own so that you could try whatever you like. Your guide is available to recommend proper restaurants or foods to you.

In the afternoon, we will continue to visit the Mutianyu Great Wall, which is one of the most famous and best-preserved Great Wall sections. It takes about 1.5 hours to drive to the Great Wall. Upon arrival, you will be certainly attracted by its breathtaking landscape, dense watchtowers and meandering walls. A round-trip cable car will be arranged to save your energy and leave you more time to hike on the Great Wall. If you want to take a chairlift up and an exciting toboggan down the Wall, we will make the change for you. Late in the afternoon, we will return to the downtown Beijing. On the way back, we will pass by the Bird's Nest, also known as the Olympic National Stadium. We will make a brief stop there for you to take some pictures of this magnificent building. Afterwards, we get back to the hotel.

Meals: Western buffet breakfast

Today we will begin with a visit to the Temple of Heaven, which was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1384 - 1911) held the heaven worship ceremony in ancient times. Nowadays, it has developed into a popular park where many local people do exercise, play chess, fly kites, dance and have fun.

► Why was the Long Corridors built in Temple of Heaven?
Temple of Heaven was the imperial place where sacrifices were offered to the Heaven and the emperor prayed for harvest. The Seventy-two Long Corridors, east of Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, connects Kitchen for Sacrifice and Pavilion of Immolation. You can see pillars along the zigzagging corridors now, but which was closed like a chain of rooms, with walls and windows on sides in ancient times. The livestock were slaughtered in the Pavilion of Immolation, and then sent to Kitchen for Sacrifice; when the sacrificial ceremony began, the treated sacrifices were served in the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. During the entire procedure, the sacrifices were moved through the Long Corridors, to prevent offerings from being contaminated by wind with sands, rains, or snows.

Then, your guide will accompany you to visit the Summer Palace, a large and well-preserved imperial garden, which perfectly merges garden design into the luring natural scenery. It ranks amongst the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO and deserves a visit for both its intoxicating landscape and traditional Chinese architecture.

At the end of the city tour, we will escort you to the airport according to the flight schedule of your onward journey. Hope you enjoyed travelling with us!

Meals: Western buffet breakfast