Beijing by Bus Tiananmen Square Forbidden City and Mutianyu Great Wall Tour

Beijing, China

For visitors there are two places in Beijing that they should not miss. One is the Forbidden City which is the imperial palace which used to be the home for 24 Chinese Emperors and the other is the Great Wall at the Mutianyu section. This tour will enable you to see those two sites in one day.

Your English-speaking guide will pick you up at your hotel lobby between 7am and 8:30am depending on other customers' hotel pickup times. The exact time will be informed by your guide a day before the tour starts, normally after 6pm, by a phone call to your hotel.

The tour starts at the northern side of Tiananmen Square, one of the symbols of Beijing. Here you can see two pairs of 600 year old stone lions, the characteristic ornamental columns, an outer golden water bridge and several other decorations that the guide will explain. The square is one of the biggest in the world, so from the distance, you will be able to see the National Flag Pole, the Monument to the People's Hero, the Chairman Mao Zedong Memorial Hall, the Great Hall of People, and the National Museum.

Then you will proceed to visit the Forbidden City, the largest and best-preserved ancient imperial palaces group in China, with 500 years of history. Here you will learn about the history of this sprawling World Heritage–listed complex, where Ming and Qing emperors once lived and ruled in opulence. Take in some of the 1,000 rooms and 800 buildings, and marvel at the exquisite luxury of imperial life. The visit along the central axis from south to north will last for about 2 hours.

After visiting the Forbidden City, shopping at a Jade Carving Factory for 45 minutes.The jade carving is very famous special local product, it was not only the excellent skill on carving, but also mixes many Chinese traditional cultures in the jade carving.

After lunch, visiting Mutianyu Great Wall about 2 hours. Mutianyu Great Wall is known for its beautiful surroundings - dense woods and rich pastures changing colors with the seasons of a year. If you want to reach the highest point, cable car is a good choice (optional).  

After this 2-hour visit, you will return to downtown Beijing, where you will have the chance to learn about the Chinese traditional medicine culture. Finishing the tour, you will be transferred back to your hotel between 5pm and 6pm, depending on the hotel drop-off order.

USD $63.00

Traveler Reviews

Review by:   Jennifer A,    May 2016
I'm half and half on this tour. For The Great Wall portion of the tour, it was great. The wall was amazing. It's a steep walk even just getting up to the cable cars. It says disable friendly but my mum was injured and she could barely make it up. The guide doesn't actually go up to the wall with you so we learned nothing about the wall itself other than who built it and why. Paid for a tour guide who wasn't even with us the whole day. You don't actually go to Tiananmen Square. You see it across a busy road. The Forbidden City was pretty boring and our tour guide didn't really do anything to try and make it interesting. And we got rushed through everything pretty quickly. Jade Factory was ok. We bought some pretty things. Make sure you haggle. Don't pay the price it says. A lot of it isn't worth as much as they say so unless you haggle, you're getting ripped off. The Tea Shop is another rip off. It's for white tourists so the prices are very expensive. Walk into any of the multiple teashops around Beijing for much better pricing.

Review by:   Brittany C,    April 2016
Nice tour, but the Jade factory and Tea house should be cut out. The items there are overpriced by at least 50. Don't buy anything there! You can find better prices at the silk market and even the airport.

Review by:   jan,    April 2016
It was an amazing experience! We saw many things in a short period of time. English speaking guide was great!

Review by:   jan,    April 2016
Amazing. Well worth the money

Review by:   Alejandra B,    November 2015
This was one of my favorite tours with Viator because the section of the wall that we went to had incredible views.

All Traveler Reviews...