Beijing: Forbidden City Treasures & Badaling Wall Ruins Tour

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/9

Duration9h

GroupUp to 999

LanguagesEN · CM

PickupAt your hotel

Walk imperial halls see rare treasures then climb ancient wall stones

You’ll step inside Beijing’s Forbidden City with special access to its Treasure Gallery and Clock Exhibition Hall, then climb Jingshan Hill for sweeping city views before tasting real Peking duck at lunch. In the afternoon, walk along quiet Great Wall ruins at Badaling with your local guide — moments that linger long after you’re home.

Step-by-step itinerary

Visit Forbidden City and Great Wall Ruins

Enter Forbidden City
See Treasure Gallery and Clock Exhibition
View Nine Dragon Screen and Palace Gates
Climb Jingshan Hill for city views
Walk Ruins of Great Wall at Badaling
Enjoy Peking Duck banquet lunch

The Experience

You know that feeling when you step through a gate and suddenly everything’s quieter? That’s how it started for us in the Forbidden City. Our guide, Mrs. Zhang, waved us past the crowds into this side hall with glass cases full of jade and gold — the Treasure Gallery. I’m not sure what I expected, but the air smelled faintly of old wood and something floral, maybe incense. She pointed out a tiny clock shaped like a ship (from the Clock Exhibition Hall), and I tried to imagine an emperor actually winding it up. The scale of everything is just… different here. We wandered through these red-walled courtyards while Mrs. Zhang told stories about empresses hiding love notes in their sleeves — she said her grandmother used to tell her those tales as a kid.

Afterwards we climbed Jingshan Hill — honestly, my legs were already tired but she promised the view was worth it. She was right; you can see all of Beijing from up there, roofs stretching out forever under this pale sky. I heard someone playing an erhu somewhere below, just two notes over and over. Lunch was next: Peking duck carved right at our table (I definitely got more sauce on my hands than on the pancake). The chef showed me how to fold it “Beijing style” but mine looked more like a dumpling gone wrong — everyone laughed, including me.

The afternoon took us out to Badaling, but not the busy part — we went to the Great Wall ruins section where grass grows between broken stones and you can hear wind instead of tour groups. It felt rawer somehow, like you could almost sense how long this wall has been holding up against time. Mrs. Zhang let us walk ahead for a bit; I stopped to run my hand along one of the rough bricks and thought about all the people who’d done that before me. There wasn’t much talking on the way back to Beijing — everyone just looking out at fields rolling by, lost in their own thoughts I guess.

What’s included

Your day includes pickup from central Beijing hotels or meeting point at Prime Hotel if needed, all entry tickets for both Forbidden City special exhibitions and Great Wall ruins at Badaling, transport by air-conditioned vehicle with an English-speaking guide throughout, plus a proper Beijing Roast Duck banquet for lunch before heading back in the evening.

Good to know

Easy physical levelInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Hantang International Travel Service