Mini Group: Beijing Forbidden City Tour with Great Wall Hiking at Mutianyu

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Time: 8:00 - 8:30 Tian'anmen Square is the largest city square in the centre of Beijing, named after the Tiananmen (literally, Gate of Heavenly Peace) which sits to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several key events in Chinese history. As the world's largest city square and enduring symbol of China's national pride, it is surrounded by many imposing buildings including the Heavenly Gate (entry to the Forbidden City), Museums, government buildings and Chairman Mao's Mausoleum.

   30 min

2. Time: 8:30 -10:30 The Forbidden City, in the very heart of Beijing, was home to 24 emperors during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. It is the largest and best preserved ancient imperial architectural complex in the world, featuring a great square, halls and gates, in contrast to intricate halls, gardens, courtyards and living quarters. The exhibitions, both permanent and temporary, are important treasures of ancient China. You will be walking for about 1.5-2 hours (2 kilometers). The walks in the Forbidden City are graded moderate.

   2 hAdmission included

3. In order to save your time, we suggest you to choose round-way cable car or toboggan ascend to and descend from the Great Wall, instead of spending about 40 minutes climbing lots of boring steps. Cable car station is at Tower 14. Chairlift & toboggan station is at Tower 6. At the Wall you’ll have free time to enjoy the beautiful scenery and your guide will show you the background information of the Great Wall. The cable car ascends to and descends from the 14th watch tower. We recommend you to hike up the most beautiful part of the Great Wall – between the 14th and 23rd watch towers which were known by hikers as “the Golden Route”. However the chairlift ascends to the 6th watch tower while the toboggan descends from tower 6 too. It might be a challenge to hike from the 6th watch tower to the 23rd watch tower. But you can decide based on your physic condition. Normally it would take about 2 hours to complete the hike from the 14th watch tower to 23rd watch tower.

   2 hAdmission included

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 344 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Showing reviews written in English.

• 5Great Tour except the lunch

  We did the Mini Group Tour: Beijing Forbidden City Tour with Great Wall Hiking at Mutianyu with Dan as guide. It was a wunderful day with a very well organized tour, which we enjoyed very much! The trip through the forbidden city was a little bit less detailed than I expected but still very nice. You basically just follow the very touristic route straight through the core of the city and the guide will tell some instersting stories or facts about the buildings and artworks. The stay at the Great Wall was amazing, we really took a lot of time for a hike along the wall and Dan answered all questions in detail. But keep in mind that you have to pay an extra 15-20 US$ for the caple car. They offer you to walk to the wall but I am not sure if that is really an option because than you would not have a lot of time at the wall itself. The only thing which was really bad was the lunch. Dan told us there wouldn't be any good chinese restaurants in Mutianyu so we would have to eat at Burger King. After we ordered at Burer King the WORST meal of our whole trip in Asia, Dan left and came back with some amazing chinese food for herself from a little place just around the corner. We were sitting there asking ourself why she didn't tell us about this place beforehand but nobody explained to us why. For future tours: PLEASE give people the choice where to eat lunch! Besides that we had a great day! Thank you again for everything Dan!

  641gregorsSeptember 2023via Tripadvisor

• 5Knowledgeable and kind guide

  Very cool tour, I went in the winter of 2022, so the Great Wall was completely deserted. Covid restrictions were still in place at this time. I was the only one to book, so it ended up being a full-day, private tour 😊

  Abi LJuly 2023via Tripadvisor

• 5Great tour!

  Very nice tour with a very nice tourguide. Great wall in the early morning was impressive. I recommend.

  Wolfgang_BJuly 2023via Viator

• 5Good comprehensive tour of forbidden city and great wall

  Overall a good day tour. Our guide William picked us up with his driver at our hotel, and we went directly to Tiananmen Square. We had a private driver and we were the only ones on the tour, so we never needed to wait for parking or for anybody else. This was very convenient and worth the expense, as car travel is very time consuming in Beijing. After Tiananmen Square, we walked directly to the Forbidden City. Then our driver picked us up and we had lunch on the way to the Great Wall (fee not included). It took 2 hours to get back from the wall to the hotel. All the experience was smooth save for the usual Beijing traffic. William is a full time tour guide, so he was very knowledgeable about the history of China and relevant events which happened at the tour destinations. He even drew out a detailed map for us by hand to show the location of the Great Wall and the reason why it was built at that latitude. William also said he specializes in foreign tours, which makes sense because his English was good. For any tour in general, especially in countries where English is not the first language, I recommend you pick a tour agency which employs full time rather than part time tour guides, as I have found the quality of the tours to be much better. Note that the Forbidden City and Great Wall are not wheelchair friendly. Expect a decent amount of uphill walking on the Great Wall if you wish to visit tower 20 (recommended). Overall a positive experience worth the time and money. However I will likely not tour these locations again in the near future, because I think once is enough for these types of historical tours.

  ymakiMay 2021via Tripadvisor

• 5Just do it!

  We had an amazing day with enough time at the Great Wall to go from one end to the other end and back. Probably not everyone will come so far, but you can try. The weather was brilliant, we had a perfect view and the wall is really a life goal everyone should have seen this. Our guide Tom was very kind and he spoke english very well. What also was very important to me: We didn't have to buy anything. If you have the time just do it. This tour is worth every penny!

  TToriginalJanuary 2020via Tripadvisor

• 5Amazing Day in Beijing!!

  Tom was my tour guide and he took us to see the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall, it was an amazing day! He had lots of knowledge about the places we visited which made it even better. Thanks for a great day!

  Megan RJanuary 2020via Tripadvisor

Know before you go

How it compares in Beijing

• Its from-price is close to the median of the 521 city tours we list in Beijing.
• Its length is typical for the group.
• By number of reviews it ranks 9 of 521.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Beijing

Beijing, China's capital for centuries, holds imperial palaces, sacred temples and stretches of the Great Wall within reach of its modern boulevards.

At the city's heart, the Forbidden City spreads behind vermilion walls, a labyrinth of halls and courtyards that housed the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Tiananmen Square lies to its south, and the hill of Jingshan Park to its north gives the finest view over its golden roofs. The Temple of Heaven, set in a park where locals practise tai chi and dance, is a masterpiece of imperial design.

Top-ranked sights in Beijing: Mutianyu Great Wall, Forbidden City (Palace Museum), Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen Guangchang).

See all 3624 experiences in Beijing