Private Custom Tour or Private Tour: Beijing in One Day

Beijing, China

8 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Group discounts
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

Overview

See the spectacular sights of Beijing according to a personalized itinerary on this full-day private tour of the city. Accompanied by a private and knowledgeable guide, tailor your tour according to which landmarks interest you most; perhaps see the ancient mystery of the Forbidden City; venture to the iconic Greet Wall; or admire the exquisite exterior of the Lama Temple. Follow your guide around the narrow alleys and ambient streets of the city to purchase special souvenirs, or sample some sumptuous street food in bustling markets.

Customize your own full-day Beijing tour
Put together an unforgettable itinerary that will suit your needs
You'll get an English-speaking guide for eight hours
Includes hotel pickup and drop off

What's Included

Professional English-speaking guide for 8 hours
Personalized day tour for cusom tour option
Admission tickets for private tour option only
Private tour vehicle with a professional driver for the private tour option only
Chinese style lunch for private tour option only

Entrance fee - Temple of Heaven

$6.00 per person
Entrance fee - Forbidden City

$10.00 per person
Entrance fee - Great Wall

$10.00 per person
Entrance fee - Summer Palace

$10.00 per person

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

A guide will meet you at your hotel located within 4th ring circle highway at a prearranged departure time.

Operating hours
.9:00 am

Itinerary

Before your tour, contact your knowledgeable, English-speaking guide and devise your ultimate itinerary according to your interests. Personalize your fascinating full-day depending on what you want to explore and allow your guide to organize the logistics, including transportation and where to sample the finest local delicacies.

When the day arrives, greet your guide at a pre-arranged location in Beijing and set out on your enriching exploration of the city. Ascend the stone steps of the mind-blowing Great Wall of China; absorb the sacred majesty of the Lama Temple; watch world famous Chinese acrobats perform in the Forbidden City; and feast upon a bounteous banquet of Peking duck in an elegant restaurant. Whatever you want to do, your guide will arrange it in meticulous detail to ensure you conclude the tour with magical memories of your day in Beijing.

Please note: The tour offers an English-speaking professional guide only. Additional charges such as taxis, subway tickets, entrance tickets, bus fares and food must be purchased at your own expense.

Please see the Itinerary section below for a list of sites you may want to visit.

Forbidden City-The Palace Museum

2 hours • Admission Ticket Not Included

Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen Guangchang)

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Temple of Heaven

1 hour • Admission Ticket Not Included

Summer Palace (Yiheyuan)

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Beijing

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

The Great Wall at Badaling

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Mutianyu Great Wall

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Infants must sit on laps
You MUST contact tour operator at least 48 hours prior to arrival to arrange your personalized itinerary requirements, sightseeing and things to do.
Not wheelchair accessible

Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

Supplied by

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

4.3

based on 120 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Comfortable day tour

Timothy_H, Feb 2026

Easier than trying to do it yourself. Could skip the tea demonstration unless you want to pay too much for tea.

Friendly Guide and Personalized Experience

LauraMarie_H, Dec 2025

I booked this tour for my parents and brother while they were visiting. They really enjoyed the personalized tour and it gave them a lot of context for the temples they went to see. The tour guide was very helpful with my father when he wasn't feeling well and even made sure my mother and brother made it to their next destination at the end of the tour. We really liked that we could work with this company to see the exact things we wanted to see. My mother and brother were very pleased and had a good day out.

Excellent tour and a very positive experience!

Michael_A, Oct 2025

We had an amazing experience! She took us around the hutong and showed us the drum tower and the lama temple. Lots of historical context, knew the fun spots to visit, and indulged our interests on the trip.

Excellent van, driver and tour guide!!

Linda_F, Jul 2025

Very nice brand new van to drive us around and excellent t driver. Murphy was out tour guide and he was wonderful and very educational. He helped us find bathrooms and helped with food choices. His English is wonderful and loved his history stories!

A good trip

Neelege_E, Apr 2025

Nina our tour guide was very knowledgeable and personal. It rained during our tour, I think Nina was sadder about it than us.

Unique Beijing Place

Deborah_O, Apr 2025

We went to some unusual places for Beijing—798 Art Zone, Lama and Fayuan Temples, and walking to the top of Jingshan Park… Viator allowed us to specify where we wanted to go—a self designed tour which was great. If you want to see things off the beaten path they can do it. The private guide we had allowed us to change timing and location as we wanted. These were places that locals go and with fewer tourists.

Excellent Trip

Brenda_H, Oct 2024

We visited the pandas in the zoo first, as Bruce knew that was the best time to see them active, then on to the summer palace which was beautiful. A quick stop for tea tasting (with no hard sell) then lunch. We then visited the Lama temple, Bruce was an excellent guide and made the day more enjoyable.

Absolutely unacceptable. From the...

Jeannette R, Nov 2017

Absolutely unacceptable. From the moment Gale contacted me, she was trying to rip me off. Rude, had a bad tone with me the entire conversation. She tried to sell me a private car via “a friend” for $1k USD. The hotel was offering for 800yen ($125usd). She has snide remarks when I asked anything.

I would not recommend this tour to...

David L, Nov 2017

I would not recommend this tour to others frankly. First, Unlike other tours.. you have to contact your guide first.. however.. our operator Hangtantour could not recieve my emails, calls.. and even Viator's customers service team couldn't reach them. We wanted to cancel the tour.. but Viator said that there was nothing that they could do. It was when we arrived at the hotel at beijing when we got the call. Very dissapointing and unconvinient. Also, our guide, Carolin.. was nice and fun but didn't possess any real tour knowledge. Rather than i certificated guide.. i think they just send beijing locals.. to have a good trip. Also she forced us in to some souviner shops in the forbidden city and other places which we didn't know want to buy. We did have a Fun time.. but did not have Fun Tour.. it was okay.. but we really wanted to hear about the history and other things that we couldn't get out from our guide book. It was mostly about just friend talks.. or chit chatting all the time. I would recommend to go on a group tour or a professional tour.. rather than this tour.

great guide. very professional and...

Carmenmaria_A, Nov 2017

great guide. very professional and knowledgeable. we enjoyed every minute of this tour.

Fantastic deal overall. We were able...

erikacoppola, Nov 2017

Fantastic deal overall. We were able to see and do everything on our list. We definitely would not have been able to do everything with a traditional tour. Would highly recommend!

We again arranged this individual...

Lady in Pink, Nov 2017

We again arranged this individual tour thru Viator and fortunately we got William from our first tour of Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, etc. They way it works for individual tour, William met us at the hotel and we told him what we had already seen and what did he recommend. You pay his way as well as yours to the attractions or restaurants. We told him what we had already seen and said we wanted to see the Pandas. He took us to the zoo by subway. Again William was informative, was patient with us with our questions and an overall joy to be with. He was a wealth of information and proud to explain about his country's history and accomplishments. After the zoo we went to the old Beijing where he booked us a rickshaw ride while he narrated on a rental bike from the street. We entered a house of one of the inhabitants who was so proud to show how he lived. He obtained tickets for us for the Circus which was colorful and amazing. He stayed with us the whole time and ensured we enjoyed ourselves and returned us to our hotel. It was a wonderful experience traveling through the different modes of transport with no worries. We met many folks who just wanted to take their photo with Americans. I would highly recommend Viator's individual tour if you can get William.

The tour was supposed to be...

Felipe C, Oct 2017

The tour was supposed to be customized but despite the fact I sent several emails to the email register during our booking, I received response the night before the tour. So for that reason we did not have time to plan the activities we wanted to enjoy. The guide was very good but since we failed to plan the entire tour she could not give us the best services she wanted for the lack of planning. I think wendy has answer more prompt the messages so clients can plan much better the activities they want to do. I think the more critical factor here was the delay when we contacted the tour company and from there everything was destined to not comply with our expectations. I wont recommend this tour unless the company answers the messages with promptness before the tour starts, not a night before, as it was advertised 48 hours before, but this condition was not met for the tour operator.

gail was wonderful, customized...

alanj_S, Oct 2017

gail was wonderful, customized everything to our needs...

We packed a lot into the day and our...

Emma P, Aug 2017

We packed a lot into the day and our guide Gale was lovely. Her English was good and being able to customise the trip so we saw exactly what we wanted was perfect

It was the worth experience ever...

Dmitri K, Aug 2017

It was the worth experience ever. When we payed for tour we got an email address of the tour operator. We payed 3 days in advance It was a fake. The email didn't exist. It was bouncing back!!!. Unfortunately we didn't have time to investigate as we were in Moscow and our time was limited. We hopped to contact our guide from airport by phone. In airport we got SMS from Michele What you want to do? We replay that we want him to meet us at 10am in our hotel. He replay that he want to book a car for 2000rnb to drive us around. We wanted to have a walk as our hotel was just 10 min walk from Forbidden City. At 11 am he still was at home telling us that to get to our hotel for him is 2 hours. He didn't want to do the job. He just wanted us to pay for car what we didn't want. So after 1 our of unpleasant communication we told him that we are not required his service. We have a day on our own. The Beijing is not a city that you can see on your own. We have just 3 days and 1 was destroyed by Michele. Very very unpleasant experience. I would not recommended it to anyone.

Our tour guide was great. Started...

lcleve, Aug 2017

Our tour guide was great. Started out seeing the pandas at the zoo than traveled to summer Palace. Her English was easy to understand.and gave us history on the Summer palace. Unfortunately my husband became ill and we had to go back early to the hotel. She was very kind to my husband and very caring. would highly recommend, Linda

Our guide, William, met us at the...

John M, Aug 2017

Our guide, William, met us at the agreed upon time and was our buddy for the day. No other way to describe it. He's there for whatever you need and has a ton of knowledge to share on both the history and current state of China. Great day of sightseeing and conversation!

Tour guide was very respectful...

Gina S, Jul 2017

Tour guide was very respectful, knowledgeable, flexible, and patient. He did take me to the places I wanted to visit and recommended additional places for shopping and gifts. Some of the shops were pushed a little but I only did what I really wanted to do and spent time where I wanted to go. I always knew were my guide was and felt safe traveling alone as a female. I highly recommend the to add the car ad driver to have more time or more places to visit. The price for it was very reasonable. I highly recommend this over the rigid tour because it gives so much more to your interests with the time you have in the location.

We planned this private tour to...

Lynn S, Jul 2017

We planned this private tour to complement missing components of our group China tour. John contacted us the evening before at our hotel. We visited the beautiful Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace at our request. Glad we did not miss them. John was knowledgeable and pleasant although sometimes difficult to understand. John also shared something of his life so we could better understand life in China. We used taxi cabs for transportation so have cash for these. Also admission is not included so be prepared with cash as well for admissions. John also took us to the silk museum. After a short presentation we were pressured in the pleasant Chinese way to buy something. It's very difficult to refuse. Would prefer not to be subjected to these tactics as a way to generate more revenue. We enjoyed our day overall except for this.

I highly recommend using this tour...

Curtis J, Jun 2017

I highly recommend using this tour because its not rushed like more organized tours. Your able to pick and choose where you want to go and see in a more relaxed setting. I highly recommend our tour guide coralin Li. She was was excellent!!!! We told her what we wanted to see and go and she planned it out and offer suggestions to places that not even offered in the excursion section. However you'll have to pay for a driver and fees to get into the tours. But its worth it!! Your not sitting on a bus with 40 other people. Try this! I don't think you'll be disappointed. Remember should you booked this tour asked for coralin LI.

Great choice! Just be aware that you...

Nirvana S, May 2017

Great choice! Just be aware that you will be responsible for transportation for both you and your guide. However, Beijing has a fantastic subway system. Also, our guide was able to call cabs through the Chinese Uber-type system, in which we just paid her back. With this tour we were able to see all of the things we wanted to see, and avoid the sites that didn't interest us. Also, we were able to move at our own pace and choose our own foods to eat. Having a guide in China is a must since many people do not speak English. Our guides were super helpful!

This was the BEST thing I did! I had...

Shimaali G, May 2017

This was the BEST thing I did! I had actually booked a tour through another company that was a disaster. I booked this tour less than 24 hours before it began and Cora Lin delivered beyond my wildest expectations. When booking I mentioned what we had not seen so Cora Lin tailored the day for us. We visited the Hutongs, Temple of Heaven and Bahi Park. The rickshaw ride at the Hutongs combined with a visit to a local family and seeing the unique glass bottle paintings were fun but then we also visited the Bell and Drum Tower. While at the drum tower we had the added bonus of watching a drum performance. Cora also took us to a local restaurant for a Hot Pot lunch of lamb stew that was delicious. She was informative, her English was fluent and we could totally understand her and she filled us in on Chinese history and really connected the places of interest with her culture and heritage. Thank you Viator!

Our guide Jackie Lee was helpful...

LINDA_N, Apr 2017

Our guide Jackie Lee was helpful, knowl dgable and incredibly knowledgable. We attend d all th main tourist attractions but Jackie knew how to avoid the crowded enterences and back ways. Lunch with our group was fun as was the entire day touring in Beijing.

It was a packed day. Gale was very...

George_G, Apr 2017

It was a packed day. Gale was very knowledgable, understood we had a short time to see many things and powerwalked us around Beijing. Definetly worth it, if you have time I suggest splitting Beijing into two full days and The Wall and Summer Palace into a third.

I found this tour worked very well...

Judy_F, Jan 2017

I found this tour worked very well for our family group of 4. We wanted flexibility as we didn't know what we might feel like doing when I booked ahead. I liked the sound of paying as you go for costs, and many reviewers mentioned they thought they saved money that way. I would agree having seen the cost of lots of day tours. So, how did it work? Having booked on Viator, I actually did phone through to China to make sure I had reached a 'real person. I had. That person was Wendy Z. of Han Tang Tours. She was also easily reachable via email. I requested the guide William because he had such favourable mentions on Trip Advisor and Viator Reviews! They were surprised I requested a particularly guide, but I'm glad I did. 24 hours ahead I called the above phone number and in a few moments William's called me to discuss the next day arrangements. William turned up at our downtown hotel and with William we worked out that we were comfortable catching public transport. So we caught a combination of City Metro very easy and I do recommend! The touch screen for tickets has an English option and it's a great metro network, and a taxi when needed 20 Yuan a ride. We paid for Williams fares along with ours - not a problem. William knew exactly where to take us to avoid queue issues, and handled the entry ticket purchases at Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven as an official guide he did not need to pay for entry I don't think. Make sure you take your PASSPORT as that is needed for ID. William was a fount of information. Being minus zero temperatures we probably kept moving and did not want to go too slowly. Between the two sites, William knew where to take us for lunch which we really enjoyed - a novel food court where you purchase 100 or whatever you need Yuan on a ticket then your dishes get debited off this, and you receive a refund immediately if any left. Typical Chinese inventiveness! After the Temple of Heaven we were pretty tired and cold and William suggested a warm-up tea -ceremony at a place he knew. We loved that. No charge for the ceremony and the guide told us all about teas etc. Of course we wanted to buy some teas, but there was no pressure. William recommended some other things we could do, that he could arrange, but our group was happy with the day to finish a bit early and we came back to the hotel at 4:00pm And William is a very nice guy - totally recommend him to you all!

William was great. I am confident...

Richard E, Nov 2016

William was great. I am confident that he saved us more money than he cost. He negotiated deals for us on whatever we wanted to do and steered us clear of any problems. He was knowledgeable and easy going. His English was excellent and he got us off the beaten path. Highly recommend it.

Tour guide was very knowledgeable...

Gavin D, Nov 2016

Tour guide was very knowledgeable and even added extra things to my custom tour itinerary that I hadn't originally asked for.

Best option when you want cheaper...

Jatu A, Nov 2016

Best option when you want cheaper price, but dot want a big tour with strangers. The tour guide was helpful

I had a great time on this private...

Richard W, Sep 2016

I had a great time on this private tour. It was really nice being able to customize my itinerary and see 3 of Beijing's great attractions without feeling rushed. My tour guide was fantastic and knowledgeable.