Day 1 Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Tian'anmen Square

After breakfast, your tour expert and guide will take you to the first destination of the day - Tian’anmen Square. Seated in the center of Beijing, the square is well-known to be the largest city square in the world. The fact is the Tian’anmen Square is also a witness of numerous historical events and changes. At present, the square has become a place hosting a lot of monuments, museums, halls and the grand celebrations and military parades. It holds an special place in Chinese people’s hearts. Many local people come here early in the morning to view the solemn ceremony of raising the national flag of China.

Passing the Tian’anmen Square, you will enter the world-renown Forbidden City. As the largest and the best-preserved wooden palace complex in the world, the Forbidden City is definitely a great place to study architecture. As a place housing 24 emperors and royal families from Ming and Qing Dynasties, the palace is also a wonderful place to learn the life of royals, the Ming and Qing history and customs. While as a royal palace with over a million pieces of treasures, the palace serves as a grand museum to learn the past of Beijing. From all aspect, it’s a must-see sight in your list.

Your lunch will be arranged at a local restaurant and you will have a chance to taste the authentic Beijing dishes.

Your afternoon tour starts with the Temple of Heaven. Served as a place where emperors in Ming and Qing dynasties held sacrificial ceremonies to the heaven praying for good harvest, the Temple of Heaven was a holy place. Nowadays, it’s more like a local park, except that there are many exhibition rooms displaying vessels, chimes, paintings, and documents of the rituals. Meanwhile, you can also admire some of the finest architectures like the Circular Mount Altar. If you visit in the morning, you will encounter a lot of local people exercising in the park.

Lastly, we will cover the Summer Palace. It was a royal summer resort in old times. Imperial families came here to escape heat. Therefore, it’s a great place to spend your summer time in. You can take a leisure wall along the quiet paths, take a boat floating on the rippling Kunming Lake, walk on the Seventeen-Arch Bridge and listen to the beautiful stories, or follow the fine paintings on the beams of the Long Gallery and see where they take you.




After the tour, you will be transferred safely back to your hotel.