Forbidden City Tour: History, Culture, and Architecture

Join our 4-hour group tour of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City to explore the rich history, culture, and architecture of these iconic landmarks. Learn fascinating stories and gain insight into Chinese culture while visiting major buildings and courtyards. Limited to 10 people for a personalized experience. Entrance fees included.

Duration: 4 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Beijing Urban Planning Exhibition Hall - Please note: You must bring an actual passport for this tour. This tour offers two options.
    Option 1: Tian’anmen Square and Forbidden City Group Tour
    Start time: 10:00am
    Meeting point: In front of Beijing Urban Planning Exhibition Hall
    Option 2: Forbidden City and Coal Hill Park Group Tour (Tour without…
What's Included
  • Entry ticket to Coal Hill Park (if chosen)
  • Professional guide
  • Forbidden City entrance fee
  • Entry ticket to Tian’anmen Square (if chosen)
What's Not Included
  • Hotel pick up and drop-off
  • Gratuites
  • If you choose option: Tian’anmen Square and Forbidden City, you will not visit Coal Hill Park
  • If you choose Forbidden City and Coal Hill Park option, you will not visit Tian’anmen Square
Additional Information

This tour is perfect for people who love history, culture, architecture, and museums. People always say: when visiting the Forbidden City, 70% is to learn the stories and 30% is to see the palace. During this 4-hour walking tour, you will stop at different locations for “Story time” and gain an insightful view of the fascinating culture. You will visit…

Location
Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall
Qian Men Dong Da Jie
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(1290 Ratings)
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Alenkadubai
May 19, 2025
Forbidden city tour - Incredibly interesting tour! Mike leads the tour amazingly. Very exciting, a lot of interesting facts, you don't get tired at all despite the fact that the tour take several hours. Wanted to listen more and more! Fully recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Passionatetravelling
May 19, 2025
Insightful Tour; Recommended! - Andy was a good tour guide that shared many interesting facts and stories. He also went the extra mile to help us take photos, edit the photos and share local tour and food recommendations in Beijing. Andy made sure that all of us felt comfortable and included. Overall, the tour went smoothly and we had a good time learning about the Forbidden City and China's rich history. Highly recommend this tour!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tanvis213
May 19, 2025
Historical Tour - It was quite a memorable tour.. There is so nuch history behind this place. It just transports you to that Era Thanks to Mike who was our tour guide. He is a great story teller and a local from Beijing. Very helpful and supportive.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jim_b
May 18, 2025
George was friendly and... - George was friendly and easy to chat with, and gave a great introduction to the square and city. Excellent coverage and left time at end for us to further explore the forbidden city for another 3 hours.
Review provided by Viator
Lauravy3966vb
May 18, 2025
The best 4 hours in Beijing - The guide Mike, was very good. Excellent English, impeccable instructions. Full of stories and historical information. Also funny.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
235liannem
May 18, 2025
Best tour guide ever! 5*+ - Albert was our guide on this trip yesterday and made the day one to remember. His knowledge was incredible and he is so funny, too. We learned so much and had a wonderful time. Best tour guide we have ever had. Our group was aged 13 - 50 and we all enjoyed it. In fact we went to the Great Wall today and we all said we wished we had brought Albert with us! Thank you for making such amazing memories for us Albert!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Michael_p
May 17, 2025
A fantastic tour - Anson did a fantastic job orienting us to all sites! He was kind and helpful, ensuring everyone in the group stayed together. He also took great photos!
Review provided by Viator
Chen_l
May 16, 2025
Tianmen Square + Forbidden Palace - John was a great tour guide for the forbidden palace. He was knowledgeable and accommodating which made the experience so much more intriguing. Would definitely recommend! Note: there is a lot of walking so wear comfy shoes
Review provided by Viator
Climber44328639511
May 15, 2025
Amazing tour with a amazing guide - A excellent tour conducted by Andy . full of information and history . We were lucky to have Andy as our guide. He also recommended restaurants to experience Beijing Cuisine and even helped us with the reservations .
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tangstar
May 15, 2025
Andy was a great tour guide - Andy our tour guide was great. He was so knowledgeable and mainly his level of customer service was outstanding. Extra things like helping us take pictures and going out of his way to send them to us. He was also very organized and paced the tour well so we had a good balance of your time and free time. I would recommend this tour for everyone and if you are lucky to get Andy, you will be in great hands.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $38
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).