BEIJING HISTORY TOURS
Good beijing history tours fill up weeks ahead and the great ones go first. Below: the 4 to book early, what each includes and how they differ.
Review of Beijing’s $22 Badaling Ancient Great Wall day trip, with quiet unrestored sections, transport tips, guide notes, and honest drawbacks.
“The Guide was very professional, very kind and very supportive.”
Beijing tour with Lama Temple, Summer Palace, pandas, lunch, silk demonstration, hotel pickup, and practical advice on timing and shopping stops.
“It was great to see the panda's, Lama Temple and Summer Palace, but you also go to a silk and pearl factory, which aren't factories at all. They are just stores which they aggressively try to sell you things. Also, if they offer the boat tour to the summer palace for 140 yuan, I would pass, it's nothing really exciting about it.”
Review of Beijing’s 7-hour tour of Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and Temple of Heaven, with lunch, guide, transport, and booking tips.
“A terrible experience, a shopping tour disguised as a real tour. Keep in mind for the forbidden city only 1 person in our group got the ticket the other 2 didn’t because the tour group said it was too busy and couldn’t get it. So they were forced to come to Jinshan park instead. Which is bs since they paid for the forbidden city. The tour guide wasn’t really knowledgeable just had basic facts down and couldn’t speak English. Got extremely angry I didn’t wanna do a scam shopping tour.”
Review of Beijing’s intimate tea, Guqin, and calligraphy workshop, with practical details on value, timing, group size, and who should book.
“Everything was done with care—from the welcome tea to the final group photo. The calligraphy teacher helped me write my Chinese name, and I even took the paper home. It’s now framed in my apartment!”
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