1 Day Beijing Royal Cultural Sites Walking Tour

At the agreed time in the morning, your private guide will greet you at the lobby of your hotel in downtown Beijing, and then escort you on a taxi ride to officially start your Beijing cultural tour.

* Today’s sightseeing will involve a lot of walking, so please wear a pair of comfortable shoes. 

Our first stop will be the Lama Temple, also known as Yonghe Lamasery, once a prince’s mansion and later a proxy of the ancient imperial government for the administration of Tibetan Buddhist affairs from across the country. Here, take your time to appreciate the typical Chinese imperial architecture with red walls and yellow glazed roofs, as well as myriad Buddhist treasures housed within, including China’s largest existing wooden-carved Buddha statue, which stands 26 meters (85 feet) high.

Also, enjoy an incense-scented tranquility and, if you like, collect a free bundle of incense to burn and make a wish for health, wealth, or good luck in one of the certain halls just like most locals. To be more pious, remember to hold the incense sticks in your left hand, support them with your right hand, and raise them over your head while silently reciting your wishes in your heart. 

Out of the Temple, we’ll arrive at the 700-plus-year-old Guozijian Street, the only street in Beijing that still preserves traditional Chinese decorated archways. With your guide, take a stroll to admire the four ornately painted archways, each featuring white marble steles on both sides, which are inscribed with the words “Civil and military officials shall dismount here” in six Chinese ethnic languages. Besides, capture how the vermilion exterior walls of those historical sites like the Temple of Kitchen God, and the towering Chinese scholar trees complement each other. You can also feel the vitality of local life oozing from the inhabited quadrangle courtyards on either side.

Afterward, let’s step into the First Teacher Gate of the Temple of Confucius, a sacred venue built in the early 14th century for feting Confucius, the world-famous sage who lived 2,500 years ago and the founder of Confucianism. The ancient scholars aspired to gain official titles in the imperial court especially loved to come to the temple to pray for blessings for their imperial examination, and even emperors would hold grand ceremonies here to pay homage to this great philosopher. And today, from the main Hall of Great Accomplishment with Confucius’s memorial tablet enshrined to the minipalace-like stove for offering burning, you’ll still sense the supreme position this great man holds in Chinese education.

After marveling at 189 stone steles carved with texts from the thirteen classics of Confucianism in a gallery, we’ll then reach the adjoining Imperial Academy, the top state-run academic institute from 1287 to 1911 AD, and also the only imperial college left in China. After entry, what comes into your view first will be the yellow and green Glazed Archway, the only glazed archway specially built for education in China, allowing you to truly experience how highly the ancient Chinese valued schooling. It is said that touching that stone-carved turtle head beneath the archway will surely bring success in examinations, so you won't be too surprised to see many Chinese visitors doing so. Keep walking forward, and you’ll be amazed by the splendid Biyong Hall standing on a square platform in the center of a circular pool. This was where the emperors gave lectures, and now it offers you a chance to get a close look at the ancient imperial throne inside. 

► Insider Tips for Lunch:
Lunch is not included. As we’re now again on the lively Guozijian Street, you can find some cafes and snack bars to have a simple lunch at your own expense. If you like, try some local snacks like Glutinous Rice Roll with Sweet Bean Flour, Almond Junket, and Dark Plum Soup. Your guide will be glad to provide you with some recommendations according to your taste.

Start your afternoon tour with a visit to Prince Gong’s Mansion. Actually, it was at first the residence for a notorious, corrupt civil official and later was awarded to a prince to live in. Intriguingly, it is said that the official embezzled as much as 1.1 billion taels of silver, equivalent to CNY 350 billion (USD 50 billion) today, even making him the world’s richest person at that time. As the mansion has kept what it looked to become the best-preserved of its kind in China, we are lucky to find it still as palatial with delicate architecture, including a two-story treasure house, on which there are some forty windows with different shapes for the official to tell treasures he possessed apart. Moreover, accompanied by the guide’s explanations, spot the Chinese character meaning ‘auspicious’ everywhere when moving through the courtyards within, and touch one of them written by an emperor in the cave of its back garden for good luck, just like locals do. 

Following that, your guide will accompany you on a leisure walk in the nearby bustling Shichahai Hutong alleys area, with a labyrinth of traditional lanes lined with quadrangle courtyards, to trace the life of old Beijingers. The grey brick walls, the faded wooden doors, the small stone lions on the gate piles, the elderly people sunbathing at the corners all present you with a vivid picture of the local community. At the end of the day, your guide will escort you back to your hotel by taxi. 

This is the end of your one-day Beijing culture tour. Thank you for travelling with us! If you have plans to visit other top attractions in Beijing, such as the Forbidden City, Mutianyu Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, and Summer Palace, please feel free to contact us for more private tours that can be customized to your liking.

► Recommended Nighttime Activities (at your own expense):
There are recreational options galore around the Shichahai area, and you can part with your guide here to discover more fun for the night on your own. It is available for you to find a time-honored restaurant in deep alleys to taste typical Beijing flavors, such as the Peking Roast Duck and the Noodles with Soybean Paste, enjoy a relaxing boat ride on the serene Shichahai Lake, or have a drink and revel in healing music at the lakeside bar street. Just immerse yourself in the revelry of the night!