Explore Beijing City Off the Beaten Path with a Private Guide

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• 1
  Summer Palace (Yiheyuan)

  Summer Palace is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing dynasty. Inside includes Longevity Hill, Kunming Lake and Seventeen Hole Bridge. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water. The Summer Palace used to be a summer retreat for the Chinese royal family. During the hot Beijing summers, the imperial family preferred the beautiful gardens and airy pavilions of the Summer Palace to the walled-in Forbidden City. Dowager Empress Cixi took up permanent residence there for a time, giving rise to some wonderful tales of extravagance and excess.

  2 hours • Admission ticket not included
• 2
  Jingshan Park

  Just north of the Imperial Palace, Jingshan Park occupied by Prospect Hill was a private park reserved for the use of the emperor in the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), an artificial hill with five peaks was made, utilizing earth excavated when the moat of the Imperial Palace was dug. A pavilion was erected on each peak, and five bronze Buddhas given pride of place in them; four of these statues were removed by the troops of the Allied Expeditionary Force when they came to Beijing to relieve the Siege of the Legations in 1900. Prospect Hill was opened to the public in 1928. The artificial hill in Jingshan Park used to be the highest point in the city. The park is nice to walk around, but what really makes it worthwhile is that the temple at the top of the hill, the Pavilion of Everlasting Spring (Wanchunting), affords stunning, panoramic views over Beijing and the Forbidden City.

  1 hour 30 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 3
  Temple of Heaven

  In ancient times, people could not scientifically understand and explain a variety of natural phenomena, such as the movement of the sun and the moon, the cycle of the four seasons, thunder, wind, rain, earthquakes, and tsunamis. They believed that these phenomena were governed by "Heaven", so they worshiped the "Emperor of Heaven". To better earn the respect of the people that was needed to govern and regulate them, Chinese emperors call themselves the "sons of Heaven". They also claimed that Heaven authorized them to govern the Earth (China). So, emperors in each dynasty regarded offering sacrifices to Heaven and Earth as very important political activities. The Temple of Heaven was the outcome of the combination of the dynastic regime and Confucian theocracy.

  1 hour • Admission ticket included

Additional info

• Wheelchair accessible
• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Specialized infant seats are available
• Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
• All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

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