3 Days Beijing Highlights Tour

Nihao! Welcome to Beijing, the capital city of China! Upon your arrival at the airport/train station in Beijing, the tour guide and driver will meet and greet you at the exit, and then escort you to the well-selected hotel in downtown Beijing. The rest of the day is free on your own so you can have a good rest for the jet lag or explore by yourself around your hotel.

Arrival Ideas:
Beijing is well connected by air and high speed rail. There are two airports - Beijing Daxing International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport operating many international and domestic airlines. Travelers can go to Beijing by air from most cities of China, like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xian, Guilin, Hangzhou, Kunming, Wuhan, Xiamen, Guiyang, Chongqing, and Lanzhou. In addition, travelers can take the high speed train to Beijing from Xian (4-5 hours), Shanghai (4.5-6 hours), Zhengzhou (2.5-3 hours), Wuhan (4-5 hours), Harbin (5-5.5 hours), etc.

Free Time Ideas:
You are welcome to ask your tour guide for some useful tips to spend your free time based on your time and interest.

This morning, you will visit the Temple of Heaven (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Located in Beijing's Tiantan Park, the Temple of Heaven is larger than the Forbidden City but smaller than the Summer Palace. As a Taoist temple, it is known for its rigorous symbolic layout, peculiar structure, and magnificent decoration. The Temple of Heaven was once a place where 22 Chinese emperors offered sacrifices to Heaven twice a year for good harvests. You can learn more about the grand praying ceremony held there, as well as observe amazing designs such as the Echo Wall and the Triple Sound Stones. Today, the Temple of Heaven is also a park where locals come to exercise in the mornings, and you are welcome to join them and enjoy the vivid local people’s life.

Later, you will head northwest of Beijing (about a 1.5-2 hours’ drive, 73km) to the Great Wall at Mutianyu (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The Great Wall, stretching more than 3,000 miles across several provinces of northern China, boasts a history over 2,000 years, making it one of the most impressive ancient masterpieces on the planet. The Great Wall at Mutianyu is connected with the Jiankou Great Wall in the west and the Gubeikou Great Wall in the east. Mutianyu is the longest and best fully-restored section of the Great Wall with fewer tourists and is also famous for its 23 Ming-era watchtowers and stunning views. Take the cable car up to the 14th watchtower and then enjoy a memorable hike on the wall while visiting its western route. With green pines and cypresses covering the surrounding area and the winding wall standing majestically on the vast land, you will capture the most stunning natural scenery in this section. Challenge yourselves by climbing up to the 20th watchtower, where you can fulfill your Great Wall dreams. Don't forget to cherish the chance and take as many photos as you like!

After this once-in-a-lifetime experience, head back to downtown Beijing to visit the Olympic Park and take the opportunity to take photos with the exterior of the Bird's Nest (Beijing National Stadium) and Water Cube (Beijing National Aquatics Center). These iconic structures were both designed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and were also used for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

After breakfast, you will head to Tian’anmen Square first, which is the world’s largest public square and also the symbol of China. It has witnessed many big events in China over the past decades and from here you can take good pictures of Tiananmen Gate showing on CCTV News every day.

Walk across the square and you will visit the might and splendor of the awe-inspiring Forbidden City (World Heritage), the world’s largest palace complex and one-time home to 24 emperors of China. With about 500 years’ history, Forbidden City served as the political and ritual center of China during the Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. With 9,999 rooms, the Forbidden City is not only China’s largest and best-preserved collection of ancient buildings, but also a city within the city, like the Vatican in Rome. Enter through Meridian Gate and visit along the central axis to ensure you won’t miss any highlighted palaces. You can admire its brilliant architecture and numerous ancient art treasures while listening to your guide and learning more about the emperors’ stories hidden inside the Imperial Palace. Later, take another 15-minute walk up to Jingshan Park, where you can have a magnificent panorama of modern Beijing and princely views over the russet roofs of the Forbidden City.

In this afternoon, you will enjoy a relaxing time exploring the ordinary local life through the Beijing Old Hutong. Walk to Drum Tower and have a bird's eyes view of the hutong area. After that, you can stroll along the Yandaixiejie Steet, the oldest commercial street (about 800 years) and one of the oldest and top 10 popular hutongs in Beijing. Yandaixie Street, which means Skewed Tobacco Pouch Street in Chinese, is a 232-meter-long Hutong. During the Qing Dynasty, people were fond of smoking and carried tobacco pouches (Yandai) with them wherever they went. As a result, many tobacco shops (selling smoking sets) opened on this skewed (xie) street, giving rise to its name. Now you can still purchase tobacco pouches of various sizes and shapes there, including porcelain ones, jade ones, wooden ones, and bronze ones. Located close to the Shichahai Park and Nanluoguxiang Hutong, Yandaixiejie is also a cultural street, where many quadrangle dwellings (Si He Yuan) are dotted, attracting millions of visitors each year. Don't forget to try the Hutong food and take a Rickshaw Tour around the Hutongs and the Shichahai Area.

After the tour, you will be escorted back to your hotel or be transferred to the airport/train station for a flight or high speed train to next destination.

Thank you for choosing Asia Odyssey Travel for your China tour, and we are always here working for you and hope to see you again for your next trip to China/Asia.