Beijing: Forbidden City & Mutianyu Great Wall 2-Day Private Tour
Two Days Through Beijing's Imperial Heart and the Great Wall
You spend two full days moving through Beijing's major imperial sites: Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and Summer Palace on day one. Mutianyu Great Wall and a Hutong rickshaw tour on day two. Hotel pickup, all entrance tickets, cable car access, two lunches including Peking roast duck, and a professional guide are included. The tour is private, so you're not joining a group or waiting for strangers.
Step-by-step itinerary
Day 1: Tiananmen Square to Summer Palace
- Meet guide and driver at hotel
- Visit Tiananmen Square and gate
- Explore Forbidden City with guide
- Lunch with famous Peking Duck
- Visit Temple of Heaven park
- Tour Summer Palace gardens
Day 2: Mutianyu Great Wall and Hutong Tour
- Meet guide and driver at hotel
- Visit Mutianyu Great Wall with cable car
- Enjoy toboggan slide down
- Lunch with trout fish feast
- Take Hutong rickshaw ride
- Visit local courtyard family
- Walk around Houhai lake area
What’s included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off on both days.
- private tour with no other groups.
- professional English, Spanish, Russian, or German-speaking guide.
- comfortable air-conditioned car.
- all entrance tickets to the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, and Mutianyu Great Wall.
- round-trip cable car, or chairlift up and toboggan down, at the Great Wall.
- Hutong rickshaw tour on day two.
- two lunches including Peking roast duck.
- mineral water throughout the tour.
Times
- Every day 07:30 08:00 08:30
Options for this experience
4 optionsInformation
Prices and times updated 16 days ago
Operated by Beijing Meitu Travel Agency Co., Ltd.
The experience
Day one covers imperial Beijing, with your guide and driver beside you from the first stop. The itinerary moves fast: Tiananmen Square first, where you'll stand in front of the Gate of Tiananmen with Chairman Mao's portrait, the National Museum building, and the Monument to the People's Heroes all visible from one spot. It's the largest city-center square in the world, and the scale hits different when you're standing in it rather than reading about it. After that, you head straight into the Forbidden City, a 600-year-old royal palace where 24 emperors lived. Your guide walks you through the rooms, tells you about the concubines' lives, the power plays, the things that don't make it into the textbooks. The Forbidden City is UNESCO-listed, and it's easy to see why once you're inside the gates.
Afternoon takes you to the Temple of Heaven, built by Ming and Qing emperors as one of the world's largest worshiping structures. There's a park attached where you can stroll and watch retired locals play chess and poker. The peace of the place is real, not manufactured. Then you move on to the Summer Palace, where Empress Dowager Cixi spent her money on gardens, an opera house, and a birthday celebration pavilion. You walk the longest corridor, look out over Kunming Lake, and your guide explains why she mattered and what her extravagance cost the empire. Two lunches are included across the two days, and one of them is Peking roast duck. The thing Beijing is famous for, done properly.
Day two starts with the Great Wall. You're heading to Mutianyu Great Wall, outside the city. This section is less crowded than the famous parts closer to Beijing, but the views are just as good. You skip the entry line (your ticket is already sorted), and take the round-trip cable car up to the best vantage point. If you want, you can take the chairlift up instead and come down on the toboggan slide, which is faster and more fun if you're not worried about speed. Your guide stays with you, shares the history, walks the wall with you. It's not a rushed photo stop. You get real time up there.
The second day ends with a Hutong rickshaw tour through the old Beijing alleyways. You ride through the Hou Hai lake area, past the Yin-ding bridge, and stop at a local courtyard family's home to see how people actually live: the birdcages, the pomegranate trees, the fish pond. It's the kind of detail that makes the trip feel like more than just hitting monuments. Everything is private: no group tours, no waiting for other people to finish their photos. Your driver handles transport in an air-conditioned car between each stop. Hotel pickup and drop-off bookend both days.
Is this one for you?Book this if you want Beijing's major imperial sites covered in two days without arranging your own transport, tickets, or timing: the private format and fixed itinerary mean you move through each stop with a guide who knows the stories, not a schedule that waits for other travelers.
Traveler reviews
Compare the 12 alternatives
Top questions
What languages is the tour guided in?
Live guide in English, Spanish, French, German and Russian.
Can children come?
Yes. Ticket types: Child (1 to 5 years); Infant (under 1): free.
Is lunch included both days?
Yes, two tasty lunches are included. One features Peking roast duck, which is a signature Beijing experience.
Do I need to book the cable car separately?
No. Round-trip cable car access is included in the tour price. You can also choose the chairlift up and toboggan slide down if you prefer.
Is this tour wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the tour is listed as wheelchair accessible. Infants and small children can use a pram or stroller, and specialized infant seats are available.
Will I skip entry lines at the Forbidden City and Great Wall?
All sight entrance tickets are included, so you don't buy any yourself, and at the Mutianyu Great Wall you skip the line.
Is this a private tour or a group tour?
This is a private tour only. You're not joining other travelers. It's just you, your guide, and your driver.
Beijing: Forbidden City & Mutianyu Great Wall 2-Day Private Tour
2d · EN · ES · FR · DE +1 · at your hotel
from US$ 369.39 per person