We spent a fascinating four hours exploring the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square with our wonderful guide, Chris. Our day got off to a challenging start when unexpected road closures turned what should have been a 70-minute journey to our meeting point into a trip of more than 2.5 hours! Throughout the delay, Chris kept in contact, reassuring us that everything was fine and that this was just part of Beijing life! Once we finally met up, we had a fantastic experience. Chris expertly navigated us through the numerous security checkpoints, something we would have found quite daunting on our own. Inside the Forbidden City, Chris was a wealth of knowledge. His excellent spoken English and listening skills made the experience particularly enjoyable, allowing us to ask plenty of questions and explore the aspects of the site's fascinating history that most interested us. One practical tip: If possible, don't bring ANY bags. Keep your passport and phone in a secure, zipped coat pocket and simply carry a water bottle. This allows you to use the shorter security queues and can save considerable time. We highly recommend Catherine Lu Tours. We've now had several experiences with their guides, and every one has been exceptional!
About Activity
What's Included
Includes
- Reserve entry to the Tian'anmen Square
- Private guide service fee (4 hours)
- Entrance ticket to the Forbidden City
- If you book only Forbidden City Ticket there is NO Tour Service
- Urber between Forbidden city to other sights (If Forbidden city W other sights option selection)
Excludes
- Transportation to the Forbidden City (If the Option for T Square W Forbidden city 4 hour Tour)
- Meals (lunch & dinner)
- Gratuity (for good service)
- Transportation (hotel drop off)
- Hotel Pick-up within 4th ring road (transportation to the Tian'anmen Square probably costs $50)
Departure & Return
Departure Point
- Traveler pick up offered
Itinerary
Depart at your own hotel or meet at the specific area called the Lash Tea house at Qianmen Branch near the Tian'anmen Square and walk to the Tian’anmen Square (after all the security check) with our certificated Tour Guide. You are going to see the ancient Qianmen Gate, the Monument to the People’s heroes and the Great Hall of the people from outside and your tour guide will share with you the history and stories behind all the mentioned architectures.
We’ll spend 2 hours wandering around this amazing example of Imperial architecture and learning about the history of the palace. There is another option: Booking entrance ticket with us. Please bring your valid passport to visit and go to the spot on your own. Forbidden City was the imperial palace from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. For around 500 years , it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government The tour route : Forbidden City is divided into two parts. The southern section, or the Outer Court was where the emperor exercised his supreme power over the nation. The northern section, or the Inner Court was where he lived with his royal family. You can take the central route or East Route or West Route depending your own interests or even visiting the Treasure house on the East route. After the tour, taking the public transportation back to your hotel on your own.
This is option that has the tour with Forbidden city. & Temple of Heaven. After you finish the Forbidden you can continue go with our tour guide to take a didi or subway from the Forbidden city to the Temple of Heaven which used to be a place for worshiping for the God of Heaven in the Ming & Qing Dynasty. Nowadays it turns to a huge park where the locals use the grand space to do some Taiji or practice and you will see amazing ancient architectures and also understand how the emperors used to worship their ancestors and all the Gods.
Language Offered
Additional Info
Cancellation Policy
Reviews
Catherine was great to deal with in the lead-up, then I had a wonderful tour with Henry. He took care of everything as we went, and provided great insights about modern China as well as the history of what we were looking at. He had a great demeanour and gave useful tips on local restaurants and spots, even offering to help with booking things during the rest of our time in Beijing. Highly recommend!
Our guide arranged the pick up at our hotel and the transportation to the Forbidden City. Communication was efficient and easy. The tour was fantastic. Michael our guide explained us lots af historic and architectural details. Then we went to visit the Tian An Men square. Again everything was organized in advance to avoir the queue. Overall it was a great experience and a fantastic guide.
We had thermostat wonderful day exploring the Forbidden City and Tinanmen Square with our fantastic guide Lucy from Catherine Lu Tours. Cindy was the most helpful, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and kind guide I have ever had. I can highly recommend this tour!
Bob was prompt, friendly, and informative! He was an excellent guide.
Michael was a fantastic tour guide, very knowledgeable, looked after us and showed us all the sights even in the rain! Helped with transport and was patient considering we had our 1yr old daughter with us. Thanks Michael! 👍
Michael was a fantastic tour guide, very knowledgeable, looked after us and showed us all the sights even in the rain! Helped with transport and was patient considering we had our 1yr old daughter with us. Thanks Michael! 👍
Wendy He was an amazing guide! Very kind, knowledgeable and helpful. Even in a rainstorm we had a great time.
Choose a good day, lots of outdoor walking. Expect some queues but they move fast. Excellent tour and the history behind the place is fascinating. Bill was great, recommend setting aside at least 4 hours for a thorough visit.
We had a fantastic time visiting the Forbidden City with Adam. Adam has excellent English skills and is incredibly knowledgeable. We were all very impressed with the details he provided. He was very professional and patient with us. It was a very memorable experience thanks to him. I can highly recommend this tour for those interested in the history of the place and China in general. I learnt a lot.
We had a great time even though the weather was not great. Bill made sure we were comfortable and shared lots of information and took great pictures of us.
Everything went smoothly from start to finish. Xixi was very helpful and attentive throughout the whole tour. She found great spots for us to take a break and rest, and she recommended lovely places to eat, which made the day much more enjoyable. She made sure we saw every attraction on our plan, without rushing us. She also took fantastic photos of us, and they are now some of our favourite memories from the trip. She kept asking what else we wanted to know, and she answered all our questions with patience and real interest. It felt like she genuinely cared that we had a good time.
I definitely recommend this tour! My guide Cactus/Xian was great, very knowledgeable and helpful. She picked me up at my hotel, knew how to best avoid lines, and even added an extra stop for free since it was my birthday!
Just a week ago me and my friends were on a tour in Beijing organized by Catherine Lu Tours and this was an amazing experience. I have to say huge thank you to our guide Xi Xi. She made us feel so comfortable during our two-day trip. She knows all the spots for cool pictures and she is a very skilled photographer. She provided us with all historical information and fun facts about the places we visited. We didn’t have a lot of time considering how much you want to see when in Beijing but we took the most of every second. Overall organization of the tour is 10 out of 10 - the pick up, the cars, the drivers, the choice of the restaurant, the schedule, the route. I can say nothing but thank you for this amazing experience, we really had time of our lives there!
Excellent day trip with Xixi! She was very knowledgeable and helpful in giving us all the information about the trip and went above and beyond in making this a memorable and informative trip. Thank you for a wonderful day!! Highly recommended!
We had a great day and would highly recommend this trip. Cindy was an excellent guide who provided a large amount of very useful and interesting information. 5 stars.
Great experience. Michael was really helpful, well-versed, informative and kind. I learned a lot about the history of China in general. Glad I did the private tour as I felt I was able to personalise things for me and ask tons of questions.
Great experience. Bill was very knowledgeable and had lots of great information. Best way to see the more crowded attractions in Beijing.
We had a wonderful visit to Tiananmen Square and Forbidden city with Lena. Lena was extremely knowledgeable and gave us lots of information about the area. We really enjoyed our visit and would highly recommend it.
Adam was an impeccable guide. It was like touring one of the wonders of the world with your favorite college professor. Someone who's knowledge, anecdotes, and dry humor you'll always remember.
I book this tour on viator; I really learned a lot , the history of the Forbidden City,,My tour guide Xixi is very friendly and acommodating, She really take her job seriously, she takes a lot of nice photos of me in the Palace, Highy recommended.. Marjorie
We booked the Forbidden, Tiananmen, Summer Palace tour with Jenny and her brilliant driver. We were picked up on time with a happy friendly driver at 7.30am. Jenny was an excellent professional, very knowledgeable and an asset to her tour company as she knew absolutely everything about the area. She went beyond her role as a guide and ended the tour with an amazing meal at her choice of restaurant. Thank you Jenny for the best time.
Our guide Jenny was fantastic- patient, friendly and extremely knowledgeable. It was extremely hot day and Jenny managed the tour very well giving us plenty of water breaks and time to rest. It was one of the best experiences of our 10 day trip in China. A shout out to driver as well who was polite and friendly throughout. I would highly recommend tourists visiting China to use Jenny as a guide - you will have a very positive experience.
May, our Guide, was superb. She confirmed with us the day before about meeting at hotel and time. All went perfectly, she tailored the tour to our liking - we wanted to start with and focus on Forbidden City. She was incredibly knowledgeable & experienced. I would recommend her & this incredibly impactful tour everytime. Certainly not something we could have gotten as much out of on our own. She was also kind enough to recommend a Peking Duck restaurant & make our dinner reservation. Thank you May!
We had a fantastic tour of the Forbidden City in Beijing with Marcus. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and very professional. Marcus made the visit enjoyable and easy to follow, while also adapting the tour to our interests. .
This is a must when visiting Beijing. We were in line for tiannmen square first and this line is extremely long. I mean like 4 to 5 blocks long. I would get there early and go on a weekend. Another option is to drive around tiannmen square and take pictures without entering it. And then just wait in line for forbidden city which is a lot shorter.
Very interesting, with an experimented guide. Difficult to do it in August with a heavy sun. No privileged access to avoid the crowd.
We traveled with a multi-generational group — two octogenarians and two children — and Justin handled it beautifully. He was endlessly patient, constantly balancing the needs of the youngest and oldest members of our group, and pushed my parent's wheelchair the entire way without ever seeming rushed or put out. It was summer, and the heat wore down the kids and grandparents faster than the rest of us. Justin made sure they were safely settled in a shaded rest area while the rest of the group continued on to see more of the history, which we thoroughly enjoyed. At some point during the day he sprained his ankle, but insisted on finishing the tour anyway. He got everyone seated at the restaurant before he'd even think about leaving, and made sure our driver knew exactly where to find us for the return trip — all without ever letting the pain show. If you're booking a Catherine Lu tour in Beijing, ask for Justin.
Vivian was lovely, really insightful tour guide! Getting to skip the queue for being part of a group was worth the ticket price itself!
No regrets booking this tour. Due to our limited time in Beijing, it was the best decision to get a guide to see and experience as much of the city as possible. Billy was an excellent guide, by our side through strict security, leading us to best photo ops and taking our photos too! His expert knowledge of history inspired a deep appreciation and respect for this country and its people❣️
TONY was a fantastic guide!!! Our initial guide wasn’t able to make our scheduled morning tour (not their fault, weather/city flooding limited their commute) and I was impressed with the prompt communication / how the company handled the issue. They offered a morning group tour instead or an afternoon private tour with another group that had the same issue (we chose this option). My elderly mother loved his stories and he was good about finding spots for her to sit and rest. Tony was so efficient at navigating buying tickets and all the security checkpoints so it wasn’t stressful for us at all. Forbidden city is so huge that we were happy to have a guide to lead us around. Highly recommend!
We went to Tian’anmen square and forbidden city. It was a great experience. Jenny was a wonderful tour guide. She found the shortest security line for us (which was imperative on a hot summer day). She was very knowledgeable and easy going. I would definitely recommend her.
Song was an excellent tour guide! Passionate about history and his work! We loved learning about the forbidden city! 100% recommend booking your tour with him! Speaks excellent spanish for spanish speaking tourists!
Did a private tour of Tiananmen Square / Forbidden City with guide Bill of Catherine Lu Tours - he did a truly excellent job. Bill is knowledgeable, personable, engaging, friendly… just a wonderful professional guide. His knowledge of Chinese / Beijing history & culture and his explanations of the buildings, monuments, inscriptions etc. made the experience so much more informative & worthwhile than if I'd gone on my own. I would gladly recommend Bill to friends or family visiting Beijing in the future. Catherine Lu tours (Catherine + team) were also very helpful and responsive over email and WeChat re: tour logistics -- would recommend them without hesitation.
May was an amazing guide. She took us through all the sites with a small line and quickly took us in. We greatly enjoyed it.
We had a great time with Bill as our tour guide for Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We’re a family of six with kids from 7-21. Meeting us at our hotel, and being flexible enough to stop for a quick meal of Baozi before the tour really helped everyone have a good time. Very informative and entertaining. His restaurant recommendation was spot on for afterwards as well.
We loved the Forbidden City walking tour! Our guide Susie was an amazing. She provided a lot of history and detail about the sites. She also took us to a great spot for lunch. Thank you!
My tour guide was Lena. She picked me up from my hotel and we walked the short distance to Tiananmen Square from there. Lena is very knowledgeable about the history of China and the various buildings. T Square is an awesome sight, and Lena was able to illustrate the history of the PRC very well, and I left with a real sense of the significance of the site. The Forbidden City was our next stop, and Lena knew so much about the city itself, its inhabitants and the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was a fascinating way to spend the morning. Well worth it!
I had only a few hours to explore the Forbidden City and Summer Palace and Jenna was the perfect guide. She picked me up at my airport hotel, expertly adjusted the routes through the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City to make sure I made the most of my limited time. I learned so much about what I was witnessing with her explanations. Her knowledge of the sites is very impressive. Jenna is kind and intuitive. I completely recommend her and Catherine Lu Tours.
We had a fantastic morning with Jenny as we toured Forbidden City learning about the Emperors and their concubines. Jenny pointed out little details along the way which made this 4 hour tour interesting and memorable. We got an early start (recommend) and Jenny met us at our hotel and then expertly navigated us through the rush hour crowds of the metro and then the massive FC complex itself.
A wonderful tour of the Forbidden City with our guide Sonia. The whole process from booking until the end of the tour was well organised and seamless. Sonia was very kind and super knowledgeable. She was a great communicator and taught us so much about Beijing and Chinese history as well as about more modern life. Even though the area itself is very busy, she helped create a calm and relaxed atmosphere. It really enriched our visit of the capital and I would highly recommend.
Angel, our tour guide, was fantastic—highly knowledgeable and engaging. Her English was excellent, and her deep understanding of history made the experience even more enriching. She effortlessly guided us through every checkpoint without rushing us, even taking the time to capture great group photos. Her storytelling brought Chinese culture to life and sparked a newfound interest in it.
Despite the rain, the tour was fantastic. James was amazing as our tour guide. His English was great and did a great job showing us both the square and the Forbidden City. Highly recommend.
Great guide, organized, patient
This was our third day tour with Catherine Lu Tours and it was just as good as the first two. Very easy to book and we were kept up to date with the booking via WeChat. Our guide, Jenny, was amazing. She met us at our hotel and took us directly to the Forbidden City. Jenny knew the best route to access both the Forbidden City but also the Tiananmen Square too. Both areas can get very busy but we only had a short wait and we were through security. It was great to have a local with so much knowledge to guide us through what is a bit of a tricky entry process. Then once we were inside Jenny gave us lots of information, history and facts about the site including the history and this was of course all done in perfect English. Despite the hot weather Jenny kept us safe and comfortable with regular stops along the way. Our needs were always her priority and she took great care of us. The Forbidden City and the surrounding area is massive and you could spend days there if you really wanted too. At the end of the day our guide helped us back to the hotel, really was a 5 star service. I would thoroughly recommend Catherine Lu Tours - this was our first big trip to China and knowing you had the backup of a professional company was a big help and it made our trip. Thanks to everyone on the team!
Mai was a wonderful guide who was friendly and knowledgeable. I really enjoyed the tour with her and would recommend it to others!
Thanks to our outstanding tour guide, Ms Jenna, we enjoyed a fabulous time at the Forbidden City even though we had only reserved on short notice. Ms Jenna speaks English very well and has the ability to convey both the history of this outstanding palace and compelling personal stories of the generations of emperors and their families who governed China from this site since the 15th century.
Kathy, our guide, was very knowledgeable about all the facts and history about Tianamin Square and the Forbidden City. Her English is excellent and she really added a lot of value regarding historical context and significance with all parts of the buildings and structures. I asked many questions about the tour and Beijing in general and she answered them perfectly. I am a history buff and like to understand the context and significance of the tour. I highly recommend this package to get the most out of the sights. There is a rich history of these places and I would have missed a lot of meaning without her descriptions and input. The price is very reasonable for what you receive.
Great experience!!! and Catherine Lu Tours help us a lot!!! I trully recommend their services!!! What they offered, was accomplished!!!
Henry was an amazing guide with true golden retriever energy! I could tell he genuinely had a lot of passion as a tour guide showing us around. There were many things I appreciated: him recommending we leave our bags at the hotel, which helped us skip over a 45 minute security line. Or him talking about the basic details of the palace in a simple and engaging way, like what each building did (and which the palace signs themselves omitted). And finally, his assurance that we would finish everything with lots of time in the afternoon, which put my girlfriend’s mind at ease. I really think going by ourselves with a guide would have been a vastly poorer experience, and we have Henry to thank for that!)
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