2 Days Beijing Layover Highlights Tour
Essence of Beijing
Essence of Beijing
Start and finish Beijing tour at your hotel, also available for 2 days airport or Tianjin cruise port layover.
With ancient fragrance of its glorious past and modern atmosphere of it brilliant present, Beijing is always regarded as the premier tourist destination of China. If you only have two days' layover in Beijing, don't worry, this tour with well-arranged itinerary allows you to visit the best highlighting attractions of Beijing. After hotel picked-up, you will go to the landmarks - Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City firstly. In the afternoon, take a trip to the famous Royal Garden – Summer Palace. In the next day, admire the magnificent structures of Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, Bird's Nest and Water Cube. After sightseeing, you will be escorted to your hotel.
Day 1 Beijing City Tour (L)
Hotel Pick Up - Tiananmen Square - Forbidden City - Summer Palace
After breakfast, you will start a journey through Beijing's storied past with a brief visit to Tiananmen Square, the world's largest public plaza. This iconic site is where Chairman Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China from the imposing Tiananmen Gate.
Step through Tiananmen Gate and into the heart of imperial China - Forbidden City. This vast palace complex of nearly 10,000 rooms, once home to 24 emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties, stands as a marvel of architectural brilliance and historical grandeur. Admire the intricate details, from the dazzling yellow-glazed tile roofs to the refined white marble bases. As you explore the myriad rooms and courtyards, envision the lives of emperors, empresses, and their courtiers.
After leaving the Forbidden City, take a short walk to Jingshan Park, where you can ascend to its summit for a panoramic view. From here, marvel at the sweeping vistas of the Forbidden City to the south and the serene landscapes of Beihai Park, Shichahai Lake, and the iconic Drum Tower to the north. For unforgettable photos, make your way to one of the palace's corner towers, a favorite spot among photography enthusiasts.
Following lunch, drive to the outskirts of Beijing to experience the enchanting Summer Palace. Once the exclusive summer retreat of the imperial family, this site is renowned as China's largest and most well-preserved royal garden. Discover a stunning array of ancient pavilions, grand mansions, serene temples, and elegant bridges. The Long Corridor, stretching along the peaceful shores of Kunming Lake, is adorned with thousands of vibrant paintings that tell captivating stories of history and mythology.
Lastly, be escorted back to your hotel.
Optional Night Activities:
1) Watch a wonderful acrobatic performance at the Chaoyang Theater;
2) Or enjoy the classic Chinese art performance of Beijing Opera at Liyuan Theater.
Forbidden City Shot by Our Customer Harty
Day 2 Beijing – Great Wall (B, L)
Temple of Heaven - Mutianyu Great Wall - Bird's Nest & Water Cube
After breakfast, visit Temple of Heaven, a historic site once used by emperors for sacrificial ceremonies. As you explore this grand complex of buildings and gardens, you’ll discover the rituals and beliefs of the Ming and Qing emperors, who sought divine blessings for good harvests through intricate ceremonies. Beyond its historical importance, you'll observe vibrant local life, with residents practicing Tai Chi, dancing, and engaging in various exercises among the lush pine woods.
After the Temple of Heaven visit, you'll be driven approximately 70 km (about 1.5 hours) to the iconic Mutianyu Great Wall, a less-crowded but beautiful section of this World Wonder. Begin your adventure by ascending the wall via an enclosed cable car, reaching No. 14 Watchtower, your starting point for an incredible experience. Hike westward along the wall, passing through towering watchtowers and capturing breathtaking views. The trail is moderate, suitable for most fitness levels, including families with children. For the more adventurous, challenge yourself by climbing the Great Man Slope to No. 20 Watchtower, the highest point, offering an even more spectacular vista. After exploring the wonderful sightseeing, hike back to No. 14 Watchtower and descend by the enclosed cable car.
Optional Toboggan Experience: For an extra thrill at Mutianyu, consider taking the toboggan ride or the chairlift cable car to descend the Great Wall, both available at No. 6 Watchtower. Note that there might be a queue, especially during peak seasons like Chinese holidays.
Next, drive back to Beijing City and take a short stop at the Beijing Olympic Village to view its famous Bird’s Nest and Water Cube from the outside.
Lastly, be escorted back to your hotel.
Optional Night Activity: After the day's tour, treat yourself to a great dinner and taste the famous Peking Roasted Duck, a world-renowned dish with crisp skin and juicy meat.
1. This price is for one person, based on a group of 2 adults sharing one standard double-bed room in a 4-star hotel and traveling with our private tour in low seasons. It will drop greatly if your group has 4 or more members.
2. This price is subject to change according to your traveling season, month and date. There may be huge price increasing during public Chinese holidays, school summer vacations, tourism peak seasons or some special dates. (China Public Holiday 2025 Schedule Released)
3. Other factors that may change the final tour price include group size, hotel class, tour activities, fluctuation of currency exchange rate, etc.
4. This price is based on exchange rate USD 1=RMB 7.00. The final price will be based on the exchange rate in effect at the time of agreement with our quotation.
5. This price is only valid to March 31, 2025.
6. This price is not the final price until the Confirmation Letter is sent.
7. The items included and excluded in this price are for reference only. The final services included, please refer to the confirmation letter sent to you by the travel consultant.
Hi Rita,
The best experience ever!!!! I fell in love.
I received your lovely card and cute gifts, thank you so much.
Done it! As always it’s my pleasure to hire your company services, see you in the next adventure.
Emmy
Hi Rita,
Please kindly see the feedback below.
We are a family of 7. This private tour package definitely met our expectations! Both tour guides (Chengdu- MAY & Chongqing-DAVID) provided us a very good service, both friendly and very flexible despite the change in our tour schedules. They were also very responsible and ensured our safety, meals and transports were well taken care of, especially since we have elderly and kids in our group. Both tour guides are very fluent in English too so it is very convenient for some of the non-chinese speakers in our group.
We will look for the same tour agent again in our next trip to China!
Best Regards,
Victoria
Hi Shirley,
Thanks for the tour, and the itinerary that you planned for us was very comprehensive and detailed. We enjoyed it very much. The tour guide was also very friendly and experienced. He followed your itinerary closely and brought us to all the sites and explained in detail. He also recommended and brought us to enjoy some of the local cuisines during lunch.
Overall, we are impressed by the excellent service, reliability and quality that yourself, the tour guide and the driver has provided us. We would like to visit China again and we will not hesitate to engage your services again. Thank you!
Regards
Chun How
Hi Shirley,
I'm writing to provide some feedback on our recent Xian and Beijing trip that you put together for us.
We travel a lot, in the past year to Japan, New Zealand, China, Turkey, Africa, China, and finally this Xian/Beijing trip. I bring this up to highlight that we deal with a lot of travel professionals. You are easily the best travel professional we have dealt with through all of those trips. My wife, who happens to be Chinese asked me to make sure to keep your contact information for future China trips, with the intention of replacing the China based agent her brother usually uses for our trips.
Please let your manager know that we would probably not have used your company if not for you. Bamboo Travel is new to us and in a foreign country, so we had doubts as to what to expect. Your service was excellent from start to finish which really gave us confidence in your company. We had a little bit of an unusual itinerary and some constraints related to our other China travel prior to this tour. You were able to work through all of our issues with fast responses to our questions.
You also went what I would say was above and beyond expectations. The final example of that is a friend in the US was shipping some things to our hotel in Beijing for me to bring home to her. I contacted you to confirm the hotel name before they shipped the items, expecting I would then have to figure out the shipping details. Your reply not only confirmed the hotel, but you provided the shipping info in both English and Chinese, which saved me the hassle of trying to figure which address to use. Not a huge thing, but it's those small things that add up to a big difference in customer experience.
Thanks again for everything!
Xian:
Our guide was Waldner and we liked him from the start. We were just coming off another tour with another company which had maybe the best tour leader we've ever had. Even though we were always comparing Waldner measured up well. He was great at explaining the history of places we visited as well as answering our cultural questions. The restaurants/food were very good. He and the driver also modified the itinerary somewhat to optimize the driving based on our arrival and departure times and locations. We liked the hotel in Xian. The car (van) was very comfortable. Waldner also helped arrange tickets for a night show for us.
Beijing:
Pickup was great; even though we got in late the guide that picked us up was there and actually met us at the track. Cindy was our guide and we really liked her also. She is very knowledgeable and willing to answer (a lot of) questions. This was my 3rd time in Beijing and it was amazing what a difference having a good guide made. Cindy and the driver also modified the itinerary to optimize the driving. She also helped us book tickets to two shows, one of which was not on your list of optional items (Lao She tea house). Cindy was concerned about us ordering a cab so she stayed at the show to make sure we got back to our hotel ok. The restaurants/food were very good. The hotel was good but not great; for example we had hot water issues every day, and when I went to pick up a package that was shipped to me they just left me to dig through a pretty large pile of packages all addressed in Chinese.
To wrap up, I would rate the overall experience of looking for a trip, picking a company, and traveling 9.5 out of 10. Shirley, your service was 10 out of 10.
See you next trip!
Terry
Dear Rita,
Feedback.
The trip organised by Rita Jiang to Beijing and Xian was very well planned and enjoyable, showing the best of Chinese history, culture, heritage, and enormous progress.Your 2 guides, Linda Chua and Beryl are very good. Linda went out of her way to take us to Peking Opera at night. The kids were tired, so we did not go to Summer palace and Heavenly temple, and did not go to Xian Pagoda. It was our choice, so its ok. (I have been to all)
The 2 bus drivers were excellent, very careful, disciplined and good temperament and helpful. I could not give a tip to Beryl at Xian station, as I had to rush into toilet inside, and did not know she could not enter the train Station.
The pace was good, but the last day of train from Xian, to hotel (plus late dinner scrabbling in Beijing), then early next morning to airport was too Hectic. However, it was because we had to return on 8.12.24. we wish we could stay longer in Xian, and elsewhere. We could probably have gone to Xian by train, then fly back to Beijing by plane, but one way tickets could cost much more.
Anyway, thank you very much for all your fine arrangements. We all enjoyed the short trip.
For the kids, the major highlights were the Great Wall, Terracotta warriors, Acrobatic show. They will treasure. I will plan more trips for them to China.
Best wishes and warm regards,
Richard
excellent assistance, helpfulness and courtesy. My contact 'was Shirley, prepared friendly and punctual. Highly recommended...
"Highest Standards of Quality and Honesty" is the core value of each specialized team at China Discovery.
Eveyone in our company is working hard for only one goal, which is to ensure the highest level of service, luxury, and attention to detail from the minute you begin planning your trip, to the day you return home.
Our travel consultants are professional, experienced and responsible, helping you from the very beginning to the end of your China trip!
After sending us an inquiry, one of our travel consultants will get back to you within 0.5~23.5 hrs. In the next few days, he/she will be working closely with you to formulate a customized tour plan, as well as providing professional suggestions based on your travel interests, time, and budget.
Beside, he/she will keep in contact with you during your entire tour in China, continually checking if everything is going well as planned.
We're working at Chengdu Bamboo International Tours, local based in Chengdu.
Our local guide in every destination is not only very friendly, enthusiastic but also very informative and knowledgeable.
Once you arrive in the destination, the patient and punctual guides will pick you up and take you to get under skin of the city at your own pace. By in-depth discovery and explanation, they’ll show you more about the history, culture, customs and authentic local life. Throughout the journey, they're not only expert guides who take care of all the details but also fellow travelers who are dedicated to help you explore in comfort and style.
Our guides are passionate about what they do, and it shows all the way!
Using our private transfer service makes you comfortable, relaxed and worry free all the way!
Our private service includes licensed drivers with many years’ driving experience and air-conditioned, non-smoking, clean and well-maintained cars/vans. Drivers are local, polite, friendly and helpful, taking you to your tourist sites, hotels, airport/train stations in safety. All kinds of vehicle are offered, and yours depends on the size of your group. Usually, we offer sedan cars, SUVs, business vans (MPV) and different types of buses, all with extra space for your luggage.
Our private transfer service guarantees you the highest comfort!
In each destination, you’ll enjoy a comfortable stay in a great location!
The hotels we choose are based on star rating, great locations, well-equipped facilities, cozy bed, high quality service and guests’ feedbacks. Choices are a lot ranging from luxury 5 star, comfortable 4 star to budget 3 star. You could decide where to stay to best suit for your budget and likes. Generally, the hotels have both Western and Chinese breakfast with a wide choices.
If you have already got an ideal hotel, please feel free to tell our travel consultants and they'll book the hotel for you.
Have good sleep in our well-selected hotels in all the destinations of China.
We can satisfy all the dietary requirements no matter you want Chinese local food, western food, vegetarian food or muslin food.
The restaurants we will take you for lunch or dinner are all designated tourist restaurants approved by local tourist administration bureau. They have very good sanitary conditions and the food is prepared fresh and clean.
There will be some meals excluded in your itinerary as you like, and your private guide will be delighted to give you some suggestions and take you to the local restaurants to taste like Beijing Roast Duck, Xian Dumpling Dinner, Sichuan Hotpot, etc., if you are interested in local food tasting.
All the dining options will satisfy your stomach!
Forbidden City - Harty
Tiananmen Gate at Tiananmen Square
The Fudol Couple - Summer Palace
Beijing Fobidden City from Jingshan Park - Sara from Australia
Mutianyu Great Wall - Sara's Family from Australia
.jpg "Carol's Group - Temple of Heaven")
Carol's Group - Temple of Heaven
Our customers visited Bird's Nest in 2019
Beijing, altogether with Tianjin and Hebei has implemented 144-Hour Visa-free Transit to visitors from 54 countries with valid travel documents & connecting (flight, ship, trains) tickets to a third country/region. These countries include 25 European Schengen Visa Agreement countries (Austria, Germany, Italy…), 14 Other European countries (Russia, United Kingdom, Ireland…), 6 America countries (United States, Canada, Brazil…), 2 Oceania countries (Australia and New Zealand) and 6 Asian countries (South Korea, Japan, Singapore…).
The itinerary in this tour can be customized according to your own interests and needs. Usually, Mutianyu Great Wall is the top recommended among several sections of Great Wall in and around Beijing, because it's less crowded, fully-restored and quite family-friendly. If you want to explore the primitive appearance of Great Wall and want a memorable hiking experience in lesser known sections, consider hiking less-traveled sections like Jinshanling, Simatai, Huanghuacheng, etc. It is also available to choose some other attractions based on your interest. Besides, you can visit a local family in Beijing Hutongs, or take part in some other interested activities. If you have any personal travel ideas, feel free to tell us.
As China's capital and a top tourist destination, Beijing is equipped with numerous hotels and restaurants for your choice. Undoubtedly, every traveler can stay in Beijing with great comfort. There are enough luxury hotels with good location and best value. It is also easy to find many comfortable 4-star hotels and economical hotels. You can choose one hotel according to your tour itinerary and budget. Beijing also offers a large number of choices of food – from multi-course cuisine to various street food to satisfy your taste bud.
Beijing boasts a well-developed transportation network, making it accessible from both international and domestic cities. There are many daily flights from Europe (London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Amsterdam, etc.), America (Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Washington, etc.), Asia (Singapore, Tokyo, Taipei, Macao, etc.) and Oceania to Beijing. Additionally, domestic flights from over 120 cities in mainland China, including major hubs like Shanghai, Guangzhou, Kunming, Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Chengdu, make reaching Beijing convenient.
With a temperature monsoon climate, Beijing enjoys four distinctive seasons. It has warm spring (March ~ May), hot summer (June ~ August), cool autumn (September ~ November) and cold winter (December ~ February). Visiting Beijing in different seasons allows you to see different featured scenery, but the best time to visit Beijing is spring and autumn because you can enjoy the most comfortable weather. It is also important to avoid visiting Beijing in China's big festivals, including May Day, Tomb Sweeping Day, Dragon's Boat Day and National Day when most of the scenic areas will be crowded and it will be common to meet traffic jam.
If you have more days in China, you are strongly suggested to extend your tour to another two top tourist destinations - ancient Xi’an and modern Shanghai. This combination provides a comprehensive view of China's historical and contemporary highlights. A tour combining these three cities will help you get a first panoramic view of China. For a more enriching experience, you can visit Guilin for its stunning karst landscapes or take a Yangtze River cruise for a relaxing holiday.
“Very good experience”
“WONDERFUL 25 DAYS IN CHINA - PRIVATE TOUR”
“Awesome China tour from northeast to southwest”
2,050+ Reviews
