Overview
Beijing rewards the traveller who slows down. This five-day classic covers every landmark that matters, but paces them so you absorb the city rather than tick it off.
You begin at the ceremonial heart of the Ming and Qing dynasties — Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and Jingshan Hill for the view that explains the whole layout. Day two is given entirely to the Great Wall at Mutianyu, the best-preserved section within easy reach of the city, where you can walk restored ramparts or ride the cable car. Days three and four soften the pace: the Temple of Heaven at dawn when locals practise tai chi, the Summer Palace lakeside, a rickshaw ride through the hutongs and a Peking duck dinner.
The trip suits first-time visitors, photographers and travellers who want context rather than a checklist. Your guide is a Beijing native who explains not just what you are looking at, but why it was built and what it meant to the people who lived there.
Group size is capped at sixteen, hotels are centrally located within the Second Ring Road, and there are no shopping stops — ever.
- Full day on Mutianyu Great Wall with cable car option and few crowds
- Forbidden City guided walk from Meridian Gate to the Imperial Garden
- Sunrise at the Temple of Heaven with local tai chi practitioners
- Rickshaw ride and family dinner inside a hutong courtyard home
- Panoramic view over the Forbidden City rooftops from Jingshan Hill
- Central Beijing hotel, small group, guaranteed no shopping stops
Itinerary
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1 Arrival in Beijing
Dinner (Peking duck) Beijing, 4-star hotelMorning / Afternoon: Your guide meets you at Beijing Capital (PEK), Daxing (PKX) airport or the high-speed-rail station and transfers you to your centrally located hotel. Check-in is from 14:00; if your flight lands early, luggage can be stored while you stretch your legs along nearby Wangfujing Street.
Evening: We gather for a welcome dinner of authentic Peking duck at a restaurant that has roasted birds over fruit-wood fires for three generations. Your guide walks you through the ritual of wrapping crisp skin, scallion and sweet bean paste in a thin pancake, and explains how the meal fits into Beijing's court and street food traditions.
Practical note: If you arrive after 20:00 the welcome dinner moves to day two and your guide will confirm arrangements by message.
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2 Imperial Beijing: Tiananmen, Forbidden City & Jingshan
Breakfast, Lunch Beijing, 4-star hotelMorning: We enter Tiananmen Square early, when the flag-raising crowds have dispersed and the light is clean. From there you walk north through the Meridian Gate into the Forbidden City — 980 surviving buildings across 72 hectares. Your guide follows the central axis: the Hall of Supreme Harmony where emperors enthroned themselves, the Hall of Preserving Harmony used for the imperial examinations, and the quieter eastern palaces where concubines and eunuchs lived.
Lunch: A courtyard restaurant just outside the palace walls, serving northern Chinese dishes with a lighter touch than Sichuan cooking — try the zhajiangmian noodles with yellow soybean paste.
Afternoon: Cross the moat to Jingshan Hill, the artificial mound raised from the excavation of the palace moat. The ten-minute climb to the Pavilion of Everlasting Spring rewards you with the definitive photograph: the golden sweep of the Forbidden City rooftops running south to north.
Evening: Free. Your guide can book the Legend of Kung Fu show or a foot massage to loosen up after 20,000 steps.
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3 Mutianyu Great Wall (Full Day)
Breakfast, Lunch Beijing, 4-star hotelMorning: A 90-minute drive north through the Yan Mountains brings you to Mutianyu, a Ming-dynasty section rebuilt on stone foundations laid in the sixth century. Ramparts here are wide, well restored and stair-stepped over ridges that fall away on both sides — the most photogenic stretch within reach of Beijing. You ride the cable car up to Tower 14 and walk westward to Tower 20, roughly two hours at an easy pace, or extend to Tower 23 if the group is energetic.
Lunch: A village restaurant at the foot of the wall, where the speciality is rainbow trout raised in the cold mountain streams and grilled whole.
Afternoon: Descend by cable car or, for a bit of theatre, by the granite toboggan slide that runs down the hillside — a favourite with children and the young at heart. On the return drive we stop briefly at the Olympic Green for exterior photos of the Bird's Nest and Water Cube.
Evening: Free time. Beijing's roast-lamb skewer stalls and craft-beer bars in the Dongcheng district are a short taxi ride from the hotel.
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4 Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace & Hutongs
Breakfast, Lunch Beijing, 4-star hotelMorning: We reach the Temple of Heaven shortly after the park opens at 06:00. This is when it comes alive: retirees practising tai chi beneath the cypresses, water calligraphers painting characters on the flagstones, and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests standing empty and blue-roofed against a pale sky. The emperor came here each winter solstice to pray for the harvest; the acoustics of the Circular Mound Altar still carry a whisper across the stone.
Lunch: A simple, well-regarded dumpling house near the north gate.
Afternoon: The Summer Palace — the lakeside retreat Empress Dowager Cixi rebuilt with funds intended for the navy. You stroll the 728-metre Long Corridor with its 14,000 painted scenes, cross Seventeen-Arch Bridge to South Lake Island, and board a traditional dragon boat for the return across Kunming Lake.
Late afternoon: A rickshaw threads you through the hutongs of the Shichahai district, past grey-brick courtyard gates and old men playing chess, ending at a family home where you are invited in for tea and conversation about daily life in old Beijing.
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5 Lama Temple & Departure
Breakfast Not includedMorning: Depending on your departure time, we visit the Yonghegong Lama Temple — Beijing's largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery, where an 18-metre sandalwood Buddha carved from a single tree stands in the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses. Incense smoke, chanting and the deep-red of monastic robes make it a fitting last impression of the city.
Late morning: Transfer to the airport or high-speed-rail station. Your guide confirms check-in, helps with luggage and sees you through to the departure hall.
Practical note: For afternoon or evening departures we can add the Panjiayuan flea market or the 798 Art District at no extra cost — just tell your guide the day before.
Gallery
What's included
- 4 nights at a centrally located 4-star hotel (Second Ring Road area)
- Daily breakfast plus 2 lunches and 1 Peking duck welcome dinner
- Professional English-speaking Beijing guide throughout
- Private air-conditioned coach and all inter-site transfers
- All entrance fees listed (Forbidden City, Mutianyu, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven)
- Mutianyu Great Wall round-trip cable car
- Hutong rickshaw ride and courtyard home visit
- Airport or high-speed-rail station pick-up and drop-off
- Bottled water daily and all government taxes
Not included
- International and domestic flights or trains to Beijing
- Most dinners (your guide recommends and reserves on request)
- Travel insurance and visa arrangement fees
- Tips for guide and driver (discretionary, around USD 6-10 per day)
- Personal expenses such as laundry, minibar and phone calls
- Optional evening shows (acrobatics, kung fu, Peking opera)
