6 Days Traditional Beijing Spring Festival Tour

Day 1 Arrive in Beijing

Transfer via: International Flight on your own arrangement

Upon your arrival, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel. Then you will spend the rest of the day exploring the nearby streets, or resting and catching up on your jet lag. Beijing is a city of amazing contrasts - an ancient capital with incredible historical sites as well as a bustling modern metropolis.

Day 2 Beijing (B, L )

Sightseeing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven

Unique Cultural Performance: Peking Opera Show

Today we will take a Beijing highlight city tour. In the morning, we will join with local people who practice Tai Chi Chuan at the Temple of Heaven before breakfast. You can have a try if you like or just watch. The Temple of Heaven, built in 1420A.D, is the place where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties offered sacrifice to God and prayed for good harvests. Then we will go on visiting Tiananmen Square, the biggest square in the world that lies in the center of the city and can hold about one million people. It's the symbol of Beijing and is ranked as the No. 1 among the 16 new scenic highlights of Beijing. Then you will have the privilege to experience ancient emperor's daily life. In the afternoon, we will visit the Forbidden City, in which the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties governed for over 500 years. It is the essence as well as a must for sightseeing in Beijing; the magnificent and solemn palaces can arouse your imagination of the ancient Chinese emperors’ life. In the evening you will be transferred to the Liyuan Theatre to enjoy Beijing's spectacular Peking Opera Show.

Day 3 Beijing (B, L, D)

Sightseeing: Badaling Great Wall, Ming Tomb, Sacred Road

pecial Dinner:Peking Duck Dinner

Today we will depart from your hotel after breakfast and spend about 1.5 hours transferring to the surrounding countryside to visit the Badaling Great Wall, one of human being’s remarkable feats built over 2,000 years ago. You can climb and walk on one of the best preserved sections of the ancient wall, admiring the splendid mountain scenery.

After having lunch at a local restaurant, we will continue to visit the Ming Tombs, the resting places of Ming Dynasty’s thirteen emperors and their splendid treasures. Passing down the Sacred Way, a road lined with statues of dignitaries as well as huge elephants, lions, camels and horses, we will see the marble tombs of the Ming Dynasty emperors and visit one of the spectacular tombs – Dingling.

Later you will be transferred back to Beijing city. On the way back to your hotel, you will be transferred to visit the main 2008 Beijing Olympic venues to take an exterior visit of both the Beijing National Stadium (Bird's Nest/Olympic Stadium) and the National Swimming Centre ('The Water Cube'), and feel free to take some photos of the stadiums. In the evening, enjoy the famous Peking Duck Banquet for dinner.

Day 4 Beijing (B, L )

Sightseeing:Hutongs Tour by Rickshaw, Summer Palace

Special Lunch: Traditional Chinese Dumpling lunch

Today we will start the visit with Hutongs tour by Rickshaw, a maze of historic alleyways between old single storey traditional courtyard houses. Dotted around the Hutongs are the Drum and Bell Towers, Tea House, and local people's houses. You will sit in the rickshaw to enjoy the local common Hutong life. The tour also includes a visit to a local family and enjoying the dumplings lunch; the housewife will teach you how to make dumplings if you are interested in that. Dumpling is a kind of main food for Chinese people, and it is also the traditional food for Spring Festival.

Then we continue to visit the Summer Palace. The palace is positioned in the west suburb of Beijing, about 12 kilometers northwest of the city center. Equally famous as the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace is called 'Yiheyuan' (Garden of Nurtured Harmony) in Chinese. It is up to now the best preserved and the largest imperial gardens in China. One may regret it if he comes to Beijing without visiting this grand imperial garden.

In the evening, it is your own leisure time; you can walk around to the famous Wangfujing Street.

Day 5 Beijing (B, L )

Sightseeing:emple Fair, Xiushui Market

Unique Visiting: Spring Festival Temple Fair

After breakfast, you will be arranged to visit a famous Beijing Spring Festival Temple Fair. The ancient temple fairs in Beijing now are only held during the Spring Festival, reliving the traditions of the past as well as being the opportunities for celebration and entertainment in the present day. You can expect folk performances such as stilt-walking and drum performances, etc. You can also taste many kinds of snacks displayed in lines of booths; Shop around: most of the temple fair places are full with stalls providing various cheap products. It's a great insight into the lives of Beijing people in the past and present.

Then after a typical Chinese lunch at a nice restaurant, you will enjoy a very popular shopping site in Beijing – Xiushui Street. The market near the embassy area where you can find a number of duplicates of clothing in traditional Chinese style such as clothes, caps, gloves. Enjoy bargaining with the sellers and pleasant surprise of finding some baubles you like.

Day 6 Depart from Beijing ( B )

Transfer via: International Flight on your own arrangement

Today you will be free until the guide escorts you to the airport for your flight to your next destination.

Your special Chinese Spring Festival tour ends here.