4 Days Beijing Essence Tour with Simatai Great Wall Night Sightseeing
Unique Way to Appreciate the Wild Sections of Great Wall
Unique Way to Appreciate the Wild Sections of Great Wall
Curious about experiencing the Great Wall from two unique perspectives?
This 4-day tour offers the chance to explore Jinshanling by day, known for its breathtaking vistas, and Simatai by night, celebrated for its enchanting evening views. The itinerary also includes a visit to the charming Gubei Water Town, where you can enjoy scenic highlights like lakes, bridges, and boats. Of course, essential Beijing landmarks such as the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and traditional Hutongs are covered, offering a rich exploration of Beijing's imperial history and traditional Chinese architecture.
With customizable options to match your fitness level, interests, and budget, this tour promises a personalized and unforgettable experience.
Day 1 Beijing Arrival
Airport or Railway Station Pick Up
Ni Hao, welcome to Beijing, the iconic city as well as the capital of China!
You will be met by your local tour guide at the arrival hall of your arrival airport or train station, then be escorted to check in to your hotel in downtown by a private comfortable vehicle. The rest of today is on your own to relax. If you want to explore nearby, feel free to get some practical suggestions from your tour guide.
Arrival Ideas: At present, there are many international and domestic flights to Beijing. Besides, you can take a high speed train to this capital city from Shanghai (4.5-6 hrs), Xian (4-6 hrs), Guangzhou (7.5-8 hrs), Chengdu (7.5-10 hrs), Chongqing (7-9 hrs), Hong Kong (8 hrs), etc.
Tour guide picked up our clients at Beijing airport
Day 2 Beijing City Tour (B, L)
Tiananmen Square - Forbidden City - Temple of Heaven - Hutongs
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, 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.
After lunch, you will go to 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.
Then get back to the central city to hop on a rickshaw to experience the Beijing Hutongs - narrow alleys lined with historic quadrangle dwellings. This journey will immerse you in the traditional Beijing lifestyle, where you can explore charming antique shops, boutique stores, and witness the city's historical evolution. You'll also visit a local family’s home in the Hutongs, offering a glimpse into everyday life.
Optional Activities:
1) Join a class on Traditional Chinese Paper Cutting in the Hutong area;
2) Watch a wonderful acrobatic performance at the Chaoyang Theater at night;
3) Or enjoy the classic Chinese art performance of Beijing Opera at Liyuan Theater.
Day 3 Beijing - Jinshanling Great Wall - Simatai Great Wall (B, L)
Jinshanling Great Wall Hiking & Simatai Great Wall Night Tour
In the morning, your tour guide and driver will pick you up at your hotel and drive you to Jinshanling Great Wall, which is about a 2.5-hour drive (160 km). Known as one of the best-preserved and most picturesque sections of the Great Wall, it features in steep mountains and dense, ornate towers. This section is a paradise for hiking enthusiasts and photographers.
From the entrance of the scenic area, you'll walk about 20 minutes to Zhuanduo Tower. Then, start your hike eastward along the undulating wall winding through stunning and remote mountainous terrain. The essential hiking route from Zhuanduokou to Big Jinshan Tower is renowned for its beauty and is considered the most picturesque section of the Jinshanling Great Wall, taking approximately 2.5 hours to complete. During your hike, you’ll encounter several notable towers: General Tower, Small Jinshan Tower, and finally Big Jinshan Tower. Each of these towers features distinctive architectural elements and offers breathtaking panoramic views of the surrounding landscape and the wall itself. After the sightseeing experience at Big Jinshan Tower, hike back to Small Jinshan Tower and take a cable car down.
For Hiking Enthusiasts: The above hiking route is suitable for various ages and fitness levels. If you're looking for a more challenging hike, let your travel consultant know so they can tailor the route to your preferences and physical condition. For a longer hike, consider continuing from Big Jinshan Tower to Houchuankou (about an hour) to view the unrestored section or to East Wuyan Tower (approximately two hours) to fully explore the unrestored Great Wall before descending on foot.
Next, drive to Gubei Water Town and check in to your hotel. After dinner, your guide will accompany you to the Simatai Great Wall, which will be illuminated along the mountain ridge. You'll take the cable car up to the wall to enjoy the stunning night views. Currently, only the section between Watchtowers No.5 and No.6 is open for night tours. You'll spend about an hour on the wall before taking the cable car back down and checking into your hotel in Gubei Water Town. If visiting between May and October, you might catch a breathtaking sunset over the Great Wall.
The evening is yours to enjoy at leisure in the charming Gubei Water Town. Depending on the season, you may experience water shows and drone performances.
Day 4 Gubei Water Town & Beijing Departure (B, L)
Gubei Water Town - Beijing Departure
This morning, you have the freedom to explore Gubei Water Town before your tour guide and driver escort you to catch your flight or train to your next destination. Gubei Water Town, a themed resort by picturesque canals, offers a tranquil escape reminiscent of the Southern Yangtze River water towns. As you stroll along the stone-paved streets, you can admire the serene lake views, ancient stone bridges, beautiful pavilions, and traditional northern Chinese architecture. Attractions such as Sima Brewery, Dyeing House, Yinghua Academy, Yang Wudi Ancestral Hall, and Zhenyuan Bodyguard Bureau invite further exploration. Additionally, climbing to the hilltop church rewards you with a breathtaking panoramic view of the town.
Optional Activities: If time permits and you're interested, engage in activities such as brewing, dyeing, crossbow shooting, or paper-making.
After the sightseeing, you drive back to Beijing and catch your flight or train to your next destination.
Beijing Extension Travel Ideas: Beijing connects directly to popular destinations in China via flights and high-speed trains, including Xian, Shanghai, Guilin, Zhangjiajie, Chengdu, Huangshan, Hangzhou, and Pingyao. Contact us to customize your China tour and maximize your stay.
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!
Tour guide picked up our clients at Beijing airport
The majestic Temple of Heaven in Beijing - Jessica from USA
One Corner Tower of Forbidden City
The Inner Jinshui River Winding through the Heart of the Forbidden City
Our customers enjoyed Hutong Rickshaw
Simatai Great Wall Night View
Viewing Jinshanling Great Wall from Small Jinshan Tower
Jinshanling Great Wall Shot by Victoria from South Africa
Viewing Sunset from Simatai Great Wall
Gubei Water Town in Summer Bright Days
The Panoramic View of Gubei Water Town
Sima Brewery in Gubei Water Town
Beijing, altogether with Tianjin and Hebei has implemented 144-Hour Visa-free Transit to visitors from 53 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. 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.
Beijing / Xian / Shanghai
“Very good experience”
“WONDERFUL 25 DAYS IN CHINA - PRIVATE TOUR”
“Awesome China tour from northeast to southwest”
2,050+ Reviews
