5 days / 4 nights | A private driver-guide, pure sightseeing with no shopping stops, and a real feel for the capital.
Overview
Designed for travellers who want a higher standard of comfort, this itinerary is pure sightseeing with no shopping stops. Your private driver doubles as your guide, giving one-to-one attentive service, and you travel in your own dedicated vehicle throughout. Nights are spent at hand-picked boutique 4-star / 5-star hotels in central Beijing, so there is no wasted time on long transfers.
The route covers Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Olympic Park, the Shichahai hutongs, the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven, the essential Beijing landmarks. Everything can be changed: days, route, meals and hotels are all adjustable, and once confirmed we quote quickly on the actual route.
Highlights
Itinerary
On arrival in Beijing your private vehicle meets you at the airport and takes you to your hotel in the city centre to check in, the start of a comfortable, understated-luxury stay in the capital. Along the way you get a first taste of the way modern Beijing and its ancient culture intertwine. The evening is free: settle in, shake off the jet lag or wander out to explore the food streets nearby.
The morning begins at Tiananmen Square, the largest city square in the world, with its solemn, stately atmosphere. You then step into the Forbidden City, the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties, to admire its vast complex of royal architecture and countless precious artefacts. The Forbidden City is China's most representative cultural landmark and an essential stop on any visit to Beijing.
Today you head out to the Great Wall at Juyongguan or Mutianyu and feel for yourself the spirit of the old saying that one is not a true hero until one has climbed the Great Wall. In the afternoon you return to the city to visit the Olympic Park, home to the landmark venues of the 2008 Games and a showcase of modern, international Beijing. A photo session in traditional costume is specially arranged, a one-of-a-kind souvenir of the day.
In the morning a pedicab carries you through the lanes of old Beijing's hutongs, taking in Shichahai and Yandai Xiejie for a real taste of the city's local character. You then see the exteriors of the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. The afternoon is spent at the Summer Palace, strolling beside Kunming Lake and up Longevity Hill to enjoy the elegance and grace of this imperial garden.
Sleep in and enjoy a leisurely start. You then visit the Temple of Heaven and its Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, where the emperors of old performed the rites to heaven, and make a wish for good fortune of your own. At the end of the visit your private vehicle takes you to the airport for the journey home, with a wealth of memories to take with you.
Inclusions
Quoted per trip. Tell us your dates and group size and a travel consultant will send a tailored quote within 24 hours.
Complimentary extras: one bottle of old Beijing honey yoghurt per person and one photo in traditional costume. Service hours are 9 hours per day in the city and 10 hours on the Great Wall day; overtime is charged per hour. The final plan and quote are confirmed by your travel consultant.
Stops
The imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties and an enduring symbol of ancient China. It is one of the largest and best-preserved complexes of wooden palace architecture surviving anywhere in the world, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987, and holds a vast legacy of historic buildings and countless treasures.
Juyongguan is a famous fortified pass on the Great Wall north of Beijing, one of the Nine Great Passes and hailed as the foremost stronghold under heaven. The Mutianyu section runs for 5,400 metres and is celebrated with the saying that, of all the Great Wall, Mutianyu stands out.
The main venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a host site of the 2022 Winter Olympics, with Asia's largest urban man-made waterway and green landscaping and the most spacious pedestrian plaza in the world.
Stroll beside Kunming Lake and up Longevity Hill, where blossom lines the West Causeway and willows turn green along the shore. Walking here feels like stepping into a painting, with all the elegance and grace of an imperial garden.
Where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties prayed to heaven for good harvests and rain, and the largest surviving complex of ancient sacrificial architecture in China. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, with its red walls and blue-tiled roofs, is the place to make a wish and ask for good fortune.
Related
Five days in and out of Shanghai: Hanshan Temple and Shantang Street in Suzhou, Hangzhou's West Lake, a night in Wuzhen Xizha, then the Bund and a Huangpu River night cruise.
Five days around Xi'an: the Terracotta Army and Huaqing Palace, Mount Hua by West Peak cable car up and North Peak down, then Daci'en Temple, the City Wall, Yongxingfang, the Bell and Drum Towers and the Muslim Quarter.
Five days through the best of Sichuan: giant pandas at Dujiangyan Panda Valley, the Leshan Giant Buddha by boat, the Golden Summit of Mount Emei with a hot-spring night, then Kuanzhai Alley and the Tower of Life in Chengdu.
Ready to plan this route?
Share your travel dates, group size and hotel preferences. A travel consultant confirms the itinerary and sends a quote.
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Each destination has its own LINE official account staffed by that country’s consultants. Send your travel dates, group size and the places you want to see, and we reply with a tailored route and quote, usually within one business day.
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