Beijing Highlights Tour: Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City, Mutianyu Great Wall

This tour completely exceeded our expectations! Jane, our guide was an absolute professional . Every stop felt personal, every story was told with genuine passion, and the group’s energy stayed high the entire time thanks to how engaging and warm our guide was. Other groups we passed kept mentioning how lucky we were to have this particular guide! Knowledgeable, funny, patient with every question, and truly cared that we had the best possible experience. If you get the chance to book with this guide, do it — you won’t be disappointed. Five stars without hesitation!”

Great Wall was absolutely amazing! We decided to visit after lunch because weather conditions and it was perfect, and our guide Ford, was incredibly flexible with the schedule, which made it even better, because it wasn’t crowded. The food was delicious, and our tour guide, Ford, was so friendly, patient, and polite explained us everything and answering our questions . He did an outstanding job. I highly recommend it!

The tour was really great! Our guide was perfect and she showed us many interesting aspects of Beijing and, in general, the Chinese culture. The wall visit was breathtaking! The tour was so good, we booked another one for the next day (visiting the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven among other things). The tour guide was different but also super fun and nice! It felt like going out with friends to hang out, rather than a more formal tour. I highly recommend Trippest! I will return to China next year, and I'm definitely booking some tours with them again!

Lily was an awesome guide, explaining the history and background of the places we visited, and answering our endless questions about everything we saw. She was patient while waiting for us, and the ride to and from the various sights was comfortable and luxurious. No one else was on the tour so it was just me and my 2 friends. It felt just like a private tour just for us.

We book this tour online and it was amazing! The tour included the places that we wanted to see, Jin was our guide and he made the experience even better. He was very knowledgeable, allowed enough time in each location and presented options (for example access to the Great Wall) Highly recommend!!

This was my second day with tour guide Sophia and this time we were taking in the Summer Palace, Quianmen Street and the Temple of Heaven, to name just a few. I was the only person on this day's tour and I had a thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable visit. Sophia is very knowledgeable about the city's history and also helped me try to find birthday cards for my nephew's birthday. I had a really great day. Thank you, Sophia.

Sunny was excellent , knowledgeable, warm and went far beyond guiding the tour by helping several of us out with other Beijing questions and even escorting me by subway to my next event The tour is a great way to see the highlights of Beijing if you have a short amount of time Highly recommended

Excellent day trip. Highly recommend. Guide Nancy was very knowledgeable and English was great. Great tour guide.

Thanks for a great day Alice. Great sights and unforgettable scenery. Loved learning about the history of the city, the dynasties and the Great Wall.

The day was very eventful. Sunny was full of information. We enjoyed her time and knowledge greatly. All was amazing and the was awesome. Thank you Sunny.

The trip was great, our tour guide Linda was v. knowledgable, helpful and friendly, v. good English and made sure everyone was happy and comfortable on the trip. We visited Tianamen Square, Firbidden City and the Great Wall, me & my friend went up with the group by cable car, then walked to the stop where we got the tobaggen down, we both loved it. Linda made sure everyone did what they were happy & comfortable to do, explaining things clearly. She made great recommendations too, so we highly recommend her.

very nice day trip! even though the tour guide might slow down a little, but it was probably due to holidays and traffic jam.

I usually prefer self explore whenever come to travelling. However, since I only got short days in Beijing, hence, I choose the one day tour to avoid the crowd & traffic jam. I searched like crazy on Tripadvisor to find the perfect excellent review tour, and this came to me. I was concern about the price, it's quite expensive comparing other tour company. However, the reviews persuade me to make a try. When I register, I don't have credit card neither Paypal account, I was worry that I couldn't have slot in the tour on that day, because maximum is 6 people. Hence, I wechat to the company, they are friendly & professional in offering me paying by cash upon arrival. I was amazed that when I checked in the hotel, the tour guide Ms Nancy Niu already called to hotel & giving me message as reminder. Such a wonderful preparation! In the morning, the trip should start at 8:30 AM, but to avoid the crowd & traffic, the bus came earlier at 7:30 AM. It's so great that Ms Nancy's English is fluently!!!!! She told us the history of TianMen, Forbidden city, Great Wall via headset which is very useful & convenience (like bluetooth), we can go around to take picture, but still can connect with her, hear her voice, we don't scare to be lost among many people. Moreover, we saved a lot of time, no need long queuing under sun, skip the crowd, directly entry to Forbidden City like VIP guest which I felt kinda cool ~ We had a lot fun, we are like friend, we ate a lot of nice food, we took a lot of pictures as well After the trip, she recommended me some places for nice food like lamb hotpot, peking duck, bubble milk tea, etc. I love this trip a lot ~ I definitely recommend to my friends or whenever I go China again, I will check if the company has tour in that city or not. ~ Thank Ms Nancy, thanks Trippest ~

We saw everything that we hoped to on this tour. The tour delivered exactly what we expected. The guide did a nice job and we did & saw a ton!

Having chosen this tour because we had very limited time, but still wanted to see the main sights, we were not disappointed. Despite being promised to collect us from our hotel, they never did and we had to cycle in the rain to our meeting point, which took us over an hour to meet the group. We started at the Forbidden City. We only had enough time to walk up the center of the palace and did not branch off into any other buildings. We still got some good photos. From there we took an hour long bus ride to a Jade-stone factory. Mostly unimpressive, but not entirely a waste of time. We then went to have lunch. The food was pretty good: sweet-and-sour chicken, rice, vegetables etc. Had to pay for our own drinks (35RMB for a beer). Going up the Great Wall is what makes the tour worth it. Sensational. Not over crowded despite it being a national holiday in China. Cable Car to the top (100RMB, Toboggan down (another 100RMB) and incredible views. The guide (Vik) was very knowledgeable, patient, and friendly, but sometimes our plans and meeting places were not very clear due to a language barrier.

<p>The tour itself was pretty good for the price. My only complaint would be that I didn’t like the lunch too much and the driver was awful but since you get to see the main highlights of Beijing i’d Recommend this tour.</p>

Our trip to Beijing was only for a day. All went well with our tour guide and driver. We chose a group tour, and enjoyed getting to know a few of the other tourists. Unfortunately, it was unseasonably cold. The Great Wall was beautiful, under a covering of pristine white snow, but the views were limited due to extreme cloud cover. Also, due to a Chinese holiday, traffic was terrible, and we were unable to visit the Chinese medicine shop or receive foot massages. We hope to visit Beijing again, and will definitely look at booking this tour again.

I chose China Highlights based on a recommendation from a friend who went to Beijing a few months ago. The service is excellent and extremely well organised with a friendly guide and driver. It isn't the cheapest tour, but it is safe and well managed. Whether you're travelling in a group; solo (joining a group) or as a couple etc I'd recommend joining a group tour as its a lot of fun meeting others from across the world on a day out. The 1-day is an absolute must, but you if you have time do the other tours (which are multi-day) as well.

My mum and I came for a short trip to Beijing and decided to book a half day tour to ensure we saw the main sites (great wall, forbiddon city, Square). I didnt have high expectations as it was very affordable but included so much. In the end, it was truly that indeed. The guide was super friendly and spoke great english! He was knowledgable and spoke really good english and well as a great sense of humour which made the tour more comfortable and not too formal. Not only was his knowledge great but also his knowledge for really random facts was great! *Shout out to the driver who was also lovely!!* The tour had food included as well as ticket prices and the timings were perfect as you didnt feel like any part were dragged out or rushed. Only comment is that the guide walked quite fast at times. Overall i would do more tours from here again and reccomend this to anyone who visits. My mum left feeling really happy with the day!

<p>This was a very good tour to get a feel for a Beijing first visit. Great guide, very well organized. The price was unbeatable for what was included. I can finally check the Great Wall off my bucket list!!</p>

<p>We had a great experience, this tour entails visiting the Forbidden City, a Jade factory, lunch before entering Mutianyu Great Wall, visiting the Great Wall and finally a stop and demonstration of Chinese tea. Highly recommended and totally worth the price</p>

For the money it was worth it...pretty good value. Made more enjoyable by the fact that there were some really nice people on the tour. We all got along really well. Yo Yo was great. Yes it was a packed day and times rushed but to be honest what do you expect for the low cost? If you are on a limited budget or want to see everything and only have a few days then this tour is great. That said my co travellers had a lot to do with the day being pleasant. I went on another tour with CH the following day and while ok, a certain traveller spoilt it for myself and others. Enjoyed my day, thankyou :0)

<p>This was a short day trip worth taking and was worth the money as well. There were only 9 of us taking the tour and our guide Justin was very knowledgeable of the history of the places we visited. Since we were trying to cover Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall at Mutianyu in just one day, it feels like we were always in a hurry. Overall though, it was a great trip and very educational.</p>

<p>This is the best tout for solo travellers. Highly cost effective and with all required amenities. Hiking to the wall was the best part with knowledgeable English speaking guide. Fantastic experience. Recommended</p>

<p>This was really nice specially for the Price. The tour guide was really nice too. She explained everything and answered all of our questions. Highly recommended.</p>

<p>Excellent value for money, well organised and thoroughly enjoyed it with my 8 year old daughter.</p>

<p>Our tour guide Walter was just ok. He is knowledgeable however it is very hard to understand his accent and he speaks too fast. The tour felt very rush as well. Plus, in our tour group, we had an elderly man who couldnt walk so well he was using a cane but Walter was not so considerate and walked too fast. Other people in the group was also trying to catch up with the tour guide. Our group stayed together during the tour but our tour guide would always walk too far ahead. It was also hard to spot him as he only attached a small pink purse on his telescoping pole. On the other hand, the places we visited was interesting but I think it would be better if we had more time on the Great Wall.</p>

<p>We were only in Beijing for a day and this tour was perfect to see the highlights. Our indefatigable guide led us fearlessly through the sites, and we had a marvelous time. Only drawback- Jade Store was a brief waste of time, and the medical center at the end was just too much at the end of a long day- everyone was too hungry and exhausted for that pony show.</p>

<p>Do not bother with this tour. I would give it no stars if I could. <br/> Walter the guide - why is he even doing this as a job? He clearly has no interest in showing off his beautiful country. He was almost impossible to understand and pretty much ran through the whole morning so no one could keep up. He appeared to have no interest in his job at all.<br/> He pointed out Tiananmen Square from across the road and said we didn't have time to visit it. Yet we had plenty of time to linger in the shops later in the day.</p> <p>But the VERY WORST part of this tour was at the end, when Walter got the bus to pull over in some random side street and told us we had to get out and make our own way to the station. This was despite us having confirmed with China Highlights, and again with him in the morning, that we would be dropped off at the station. Things got very heated as we pointed out we had NO IDEA where we were and we didn't speak a word of Chinese. We had to refuse to get off the bus, and threaten to ring his employers before Walter very angrily rang a taxi for us to take us to the station. As two females traveling in an unknown country, it left us very shaken.</p> <p>We did another two tours with China Highlights. The first was a trip to a Water Village in Shanghai followed by a tour of the city. Apart from being picked up well over an hour late, this was a good trip. The guide, who's name escapes me, was friendly and informative. The water village was lovely and it was a nice size group. </p> <p>During booking with China Highlights, I was also upsold to The Shanghai Yummy Food Safari for 89 per person. We ended up having the same guide, so it was a very long day for her. She is a pleasant guide. However, this tour is nothing like it is advertised and was a massive rip off. It was supposed to go for three hours but we were back at our hotel in less than two. <br/> To quote direct from the website in quotation marks: <br/> Lets take our comfortable vehicles to Shanghais hidden corners and sample more than 20 local yummy foods<br/> We did not go to any hidden corners. We went to two cafes on the same street snake, shrimp at first, skewer of meat and skewer of fish and two baked veges at second and then a third cafe dumplings just around the corner. We had seven dishes and a milky drink. Despite telling the guide at lunch and again before dinner that I cannot eat chili, the snake was coated in it so I was unable to eat any.<br/> Grill your own Lamb Leg on open flame, Taste the local favorite food-spicy crayfish, Enjoy the best barbecue combo of oyster and baked vegetable <br/> Nope - we got some foil wraps of veges they were delicious. A bowl of jumbo shrimp was brought out when it was established I was unable to eat the snake. <br/> Taste the best local Fruit puddings, walk into the depth of Nongtang where the local people live and eat<br/> Nope - no puddings at all. We did get a milky drink at the end that we had to drink in the taxi.<br/> Shanghai is huge, dont ever thinking about tasting all yummy food in one street, Our comfortable vehicle will take you to every hidden corner and experience the secret recipe.<br/> Two out of the three cafes were on the same street, the third was around the corner. The milky drink we got on our walk back to the vehicle. The only time we were in the vehicle was when we were picked up and dropped off.<br/> We will take you to enjoy the real and freshly made Scallop with garlic in a top ranking local restaurant.<br/> Nope - sounds delicious though.<br/> Our rigorous trained guide will let you know about the story behind each of the food,and they will take you to see the stunts of slicing noodle.<br/> The guide was lovely, but didn't seem to be able to answer our questions about the food. Did not see or eat noodles.<br/> Travel to the 100 years old Nongtang and have a nice try on the local speciality: Mud and lotus leaf wrapped chicken baked in oven -the Beggar Chicken.<br/> Nope - again, it sounds delicious.<br/> We were disappointed at the end of the tour, but felt sorry for the guide as she said she had been working since 7am that morning and she looked exhausted. When I had Internet access again and saw the website again and what it promised I felt very ripped off. That was a fair bit of money to spend on probably a few dollars worth of food.</p> <p>To end on a positive, we also booked all our train tickets through China Highlights and that all went smoothly - I would definitely recommend them for any train travel booking!</p>

<p>The tour guide was very informative. All the stops on this tour were well worth the trip. Great Wall was breathtaking, not so crowded and the forbidden city was amazing.</p>

<p>Guide was highly knowledgeable, slightly arrogant but tour was perfect</p>

<p>Great value for money. Included admission to Forbidden City, lunch, guide and coach. The stop at Chinese Medicine clinic was a bit of sell but there was little/no pressure. I had major misfortune at Forbidden City lost my bag incl wallet and passport!! but the guide Ha Ha was extremely helpful liaising with staff and police. I had to abandon the tour. Eventually my bag was found and was able to re-do the tour the following day at no expense. Wonderful service. I cannot praise the local tour organiser enough. The tour was great value but the service in my case well exceeded anything I could have asked for.</p>

<p>It's a great tour and I would recommend it, but it's long day. The stops at the jade and tea shops were unnecessary and a waste of time.</p>

<p>An incredible tour with a very talented and professional tour guide Sabrina, she was excellent. Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, a Jade factory and the highlight of the Beijing Highlights...the Great Wall!! Breath-taking, stunning, and worth every penny. I highly recommend this tour to anyone who prefers a smaller group.</p>

<p>My friend and I booked this tour on short notice and couldn't have been more impressed. Lee was an excellent tour guide! He was timely thanks to the other people in our group for being considerate as well, knew how to navigate through the Forbidden city even though there were massive crowds, had insightful information about each location we went to, and wasn't pushy when we went to the Jade or Tea places. I had read reviews about other guides being a hit or miss and couldn't have been more pleased with Lee. I'd recommend him to anyone that's looking for an informative and easy day trip to such historical places!</p>

<p>Our Tour Guide Selina was lovely, easy to understand and told us so much about the History of China, we learnt so much. Our first stop was the Jade Factory, which was interesting seeing the little old man making a 'Happy Ball'! Then onto The Great Wall of China, which was breathtaking, we took the chair lift to the top and had a lovely wander along the wall, the scenery was stunning. We had a lovely Chinese lunch next to the Wall, the food was lovely. Next stop was Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, which was made so very interesting because Selina had so much knowledge of everything. The last stop was at a Chinese Medicine place, I had a foot massage, which was incredible and didn't cost much. We finally got dropped off near the Wangfujing Food Market. Had an absolutely fabulous day and would highly recommend this tour.</p>

<p>Excellent itinerary and service from company and tour guide. Would have been a 5 star grading but the lunch location was not of a very high standard and the food was 3 star at the best. This said would recommend this tour.</p>

<p>The trip to the Forbidden City lasted c. 1 hour and that is enough to see what you need to see. The guide, Yo Yo, provided a very basic and short verbal narration adequate if not inspiring or particularly insightful. Some basic information was shared on Tiananman Square by the guide but did we walk over to the square across the road from Forbidden City. This is not a big deal overall for me but some fellow travellers were somewhat disappointed.</p> <p>The lunch provided prior to the viewing of the Great Wall was very tasty local Chinese food and plenty of it. However, lunch was rushed by the guide, Yo Yo, who wanted us up the wall pronto. This was due to the fact we spent too long visiting a jade factory to see how the jade carvings are made. In reality, this is the ubiquitous and to-be-expected get the tourists to buy expensive items in the guise of a cultural stop. I don't mind these in principle but the length of time we spent there so the guide could squeeze some commission was mind-numbingly boring and not acceptable.</p> <p>On the return we stopped to see a tea ceremony another cultural stop and this was nice to see. Just don't get fooled into buying the tea as you can get the same much cheaper at the local markets - you have been warned!</p> <p>The main issue was upon our return to the hotel. The tour states drop-off at your hotel the reality is the guide tries her very best to get you to get off at Wangfujing street shopping street near Forbidden City so they don't have to drop you at the hotel. Three of us, staying at very separate hotels were all told you can stay on the bus but it will take you 1hr 40 extra to get home as your hotel is the last drop-off - how? Was the bus a time machine? Yo Yo, if you are going to lie make it a good lie advice for next time. I had read as much from previous reviews on this trip and so was not shocked or too bothered as my hotel was two metro stops from Wangfujing. However, if you are a nervous traveller, this would not be a relaxing end to your trip.</p> <p>Overall, I must recommend the tour. For the cheap price it is well worth the minor irritations especially as you are now going in with your eyes open. Beware of Yo Yo! :-</p>

<p>Perfect . Niki is the best tour guide. Pick up on time . We share the van with 2 more couples. Went first to tiananmen square , after forbbiden city . After tea ceremony . After some place that they made the olympic medals . After launch , and we finished at Great Wall of Mutianyu. It was middle of february so they was no toursit at all. We had the wall only for us . Cool :D <br/> Niki and the driver was very nice and polite at all time . <br/> It was a bit rush , but if you have 1 day in Bejing there is no other way to see all this places . So we had like and hour - hour and half per place , but it was enough . <br/> Perfect value for the money. highly recommended.<br/> Thanks Niki you are the best, and thanks for the driver who stopped at Bird Nest wich was not in the program :</p>

<p>Great day tour. Patrick was a great guide. Gave lots of information. Was not in too much of a rush.</p>

<p>Knowledgable tour guide and delicious food. The time allotted to the multiple places was right on. The only downside was that we had to wait for a family to join the tour at the beginning since they were late upon pickup. This time crunch put our trip back an hour or two, but that hour or two were essential when arriving back to our hotel on time. We had to be dropped off outside of the city, and take the metro in at our own expense because of the traffic. We were not given the option to be dropped off at our hotel that night by the guide or the driver.</p>

<p>Everything would be perfect, if it had not summed up the weather. The snow has gone and it has made it very difficult journey, especially in the mountains. But the tour guide with his challenge, although we had to condense the schedule.</p>

<p>I went in January so it was winter time. It was only me and another person in the tour so we had a personalized tour. The tour guide was great, good English. Would definitely recommend this tour.</p>

<p>While I booked this tour I was having a doubt in mind as to who will co-ordinate this tour for me and how to contact etc etc , but everything was well organized ,, thank you very much ,,</p>

<p>Myself and two of my friends booked the Great Wall tour based on the reviews from other travellers on Viator as well as the low price. We were picked up from our hotel 20 minutes early on the day of the tour and then collected other passengers. Our tour guide for the day was very friendly and welcoming and went above and beyond.</p> <p></p> <p>We stopped just outside of the Forbidden city and walked through the main square and had a guided tour around the Forbidden city, which allowed us to have plenty of time to explore the grounds and take pictures.</p> <p></p> <p>We then were taken to a Jade factory and had a guided tour of the workshops and had time to get a coffee and look around the store.</p> <p></p> <p>After this we drove to the Great Wall and stopped for lunch at the bottom of the hill and had a scenic lunch. This was a buffet style, with plenty of food for the size of the tour.</p> <p></p> <p>Our guide then bought of tickets and we were taken up to the cable cars (own expense) and we were given 90 minutes to explore the wall at our own pace. As we went in December the wall was very quiet, so this was a good time to go! J</p> <p></p> <p>After this we were driven down the road to a Tea ceremony, where we explored 6 different teas and then had the change to purchase some for ourselves.</p> <p></p> <p>Our guide afterwards asked if we wanted to be taken back to our hotel or to a nigh market where we could exlore the local street food and stores, which we opted for. This was a great end to a great day around Beijing.</p> <p></p> <p>I would recommend this tour!</p>

<p>Great tour . well organised . Our guide was really good , knowledge and organisation . Will recommend to any one . Value for money .</p>

<p>The tour was okay... nothing to write home about. The bus wasn't heated and it was freezing outside. Our tour guide, Selina was helpful but not the best. She was really fast and left some of our group members behind. The lunch wasn't too bad but not the best I had in China... And our tour guide didn't want to take us back to our hotel, which was SO strange because the package said we would be dropped off at the hotel.</p>

<p>Our tour guide Anli was professional, kind, knowledgeable, and had wonderful English. We went to so many places in one day, but with her expertise it seemed like the whole experience was one smooth tour throughout Beijing. The day was stunning with blue skies and just a slight chill in the air. Anli even arranged for a driver to arrive late, so that my friend and I could enjoy a Peking duck dinner before returning to our hotel.</p>

<p>Great tour overall. The tour guide Mr. Rocky was very knowledgeable. Wish we would have more time at the Forbidden City and at the Great Wall we want to hike up the towers</p>