This day Beijing tour begins at 09:00am and ends at around 5:00pm. Please get everything ready before our English-speaking guide comes and meets you in the lobby of the hotel where you stay. It is about 20 minutes driving to the first stop of the main attractions, Temple of Heaven.

Morning half-day tour includes the Temple of Heaven and Lama Temple. The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 during a time when many other important structures were constructed in Beijing. Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties visited the Temple of Heaven to worship heaven and pray for an abundant harvest. This temple was for imperial use only, however, it is a public park today. The park spans 1,700 meters from east to west, 1,600 meters from north to south, and covers about 273 hectares. It is one of the largest parks in Beijing. All day long, you can see a lot of local folks in the park doing exercises, singing, dancing, and flying kites or something like that. 

The Lama Temple is the largest Tibetan temple outside Tibet, which may give you a touch of Tibetan culture. Situated in the heart of Beijing, the temple was built in 1694 as the residence of Prince Yong of the Qing Dynasty, who later became Emperor and moved to the Forbidden City in 1723. According to tradition, his residence was converted to a temple and was renamed Yonghe temple after Emperor’s name Yongzheng. Yonghe Lamasery covers an area of 66,000 square meters with a combination of mainstream Han and ethnic Tibetan Buddhist architectural styles. There are 1,000 rooms altogether. Five main buildings lying on the north – south axis in the temple that are the main attractions: the Gate of Harmony, the Hall of Harmony, the Hall of Eternal Blessing, the Hall of the Wheel of the Law and Wanfuge (Ten Thousand Happiness Pavilion). It takes you about one hour to visit the Lama Temple.

12:30pm, it is time for lunch when you finish morning half day tour. Perhaps you do not need to have lunch to your habits, but it is important for our guide and driver. If they were hungry, they might have no more energy to take tours. We would like to offer Beijing day tour with lunch in a local restaurant, which is included in the given price. We also consider that in this way you can learn a lot more about Chinese cuisines during your stay in China. 2 hours are needed for having lunch and driving to the next stop, the Summer Palace.

The Summer Palace lies about 20 kilometers northwest of Beijing. It is up to now the best preserved and the largest imperial gardens in China. The main features of the Summer Palace are Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill. It has an area of 290 hectares, approximately the size of seven Tiananmen Square. It also boasts more than 3,000 bays of various buildings in different palace and garden architectural styles. Kunming Lake consists of three fourths of the whole garden. 1.5 or 2 hours are needed for the visit to the Summer Palace.

This day tour ends with the transfer back to your hotel at around 5:00pm. We hope that this day tour arrangement just fits your need. We look forward to hearing from you.