1 Day Tour of Beijing Essence
Our local English-speaking guide and experienced driver will pick you up at your Beijing hotel at around 8:30am (or your convenient time) to cover the essential city spots.
The first stop is the Tiananmen Square, the public square filled with evolutionary monuments and museums as well as the local exercisers and picture-posing tourists. Passing the square, you then come to the imperial palace--Forbidden City which is rich in impressive architecture cluster and heavy with over 24 emperors' reign histories.
Then drive to Temple of Heaven. This past solemn rite for a good coming year by the emperor now has served as a park for the tourists and the playground for morning exercisers.
Finishing Temple of Heaven, you can name it whether to be transferred back to your hotel or bye bye to your guide and driver and explore the surrounding by yourself.
2 Day Tour to Mutianyu and Ming Tombs
Have another private tour with your local guide outside of the Beijing city after the morning hotel pick-up.
Stop by and glance at (Or make the optional entry visit if you want the deeper exploration) the appearance of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games inheritance--Water Cube and Bird's Nest. Then drive to the Chinese engineering wonder--Mutianyu Great Wall.
Mutianyu Great Wall, 73 km far away from Beijing city, is wider and less commercialized than the Badaling Great Wall. The dense vegetarian coverage endows the Mutianyu different spectacular views all the year round. Its stretching to the mountain peak and sharp turning and dipping downhill form a triangle also known as Ox-Horn Wall. The double battlements and branch walls are also features of this wall section. You can conquer over 1,400 steps to the wall top with your guide or optionally take a cable car up and a slide down the wall.
Continue your tour by 1-hour driving to Changling of Ming Tombs.
Changling, the underground mausoleum of Emperor Yongle, is one of the thirteen imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The tomb, around 50 km far from Beijing, is well preserved and regarded as the largest and most magnificent tomb of the Ming Tombs. Main structures of this tomb are Ling En Hall, Ling En Gate, Stone Archways, Soul Tower, Merit Monument, and the Underground Palace.
After finishing Changling mausoleum, you will be transferred back to Beijing city. You then can choose whether to be transferred back to your hotel or get off in the city center to explore the surrounding by yourself.
Meet your guide and driver at your hotel as previous days and then deeper explore the Beijing city.
First stop is the royal garden--Summer Palace decorated with vast lakes, ornate temples, and pavilions to glimpse at the past poetic expanses of noble life.
Then take a rickshaw or cycle the winding Hutong to view the hundred-year-old courtyards and learn about their residents and their daily life. You can also choose to tour the cultural buildings that interest you like Gong's Mansion, Drum Tower or Bell Tower following the Hutong ride.
After the Hutong tour, it is up to you whether to be transferred back to your hotel or make use of the rest time for more walking and exploring this area on your own.