Fantastic introduction to Beijing - This review is actually for a 5-day version of this tour covering Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Ming Tombs, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall and Hutongs (with calligraphy class) because my husband and I wanted to take it slow. Our tour guide Angela was a delight! She's: 1) Very knowledgeable: My husband is a bit of a history buff (I am not), and she skilfully tailored her tour to both give me the broad overview of the location's history and context, while including nuggets of little-known information and anecdotes that my husband found novel and interesting. She had also been a museum docent some years back and thus had unique insight into the small details of the artifacts on display at many of the attractions which many tour guides would have glossed over. 2) Effectively bilingual: We are only partially bilingual and hence opted for an English tour, but her ability to switch seamlessly between English and Mandarin made for a very unique introduction to Beijing - a purely English tour would have missed some important cultural nuances, whereas a purely Mandarin tour would have been incomprehensible at my reading/listening level. 3) A foodie: Angela's recommendations for lunch/dinner places were spot-on and affordable! Beijing's not exactly a foodie paradise but we ate very well regardless :) 4) Attentive to photography: Angela knows the best locations and angles to take photos with minimal people in the background even in crowded locations so that guests can capture the best memories from their trip! The process of booking this custom tour with Catherine was also very smooth (primarily over email), and she was able to arrange for the necessary accomodations I needed for a medical condition. I would definitely recommend her services (and Angela as tour guide!) to family and friends who're in want of the comforts of a private tour in Beijing!

Beijing and Great Wall - YES Reliable and Fun - Kept all promises. On time. Reliable. Professional. FUN. We had the pleasure of working Sonia for 3 days in April 2024. My experience booking with Catherine was seamless. Very smooth. Sonia led us to all the top sights over 3 days. We chose a longer hiking day at The Wall. Sonia took us to a place where there were very few tourists. We walked for 3 hours - point to point with the driver dropping us off and picking us up at the end. Excellent, casual lunches - very authentic. ADVICE::: 1) ask for Sonia 🤩 2) book far in advance 3) work direct with the company owner Catherine. Also, they are very open to customized tours and schedules. 100% recommend - made our Beijing visit a huge success.

Amazing three day tour of Beijing! - What an amazing three day tour of Beijing with Angela, the most amazing tour guide. Angela made the history of Beijing China come alive and we thoroughly enjoyed her knowledge of every part of the city. Would highly recommend this to tour for anyone visiting Beijing for the first time. The restaurants we visited were authentic and the food was fantastic.

Insightful 3 days deep dive into the magic of Beijing - Excellent tour of Beijing. Rita’s extensive knowledge and articulation brought all these historical sites alive with color and meaning. Couldn’t recommend a more engaged and passionate tour guide. Highly recommended.

Enjoyable Trip - Nancy took us around Beijing for 3 days. She is very nice and helped us take a lot of nice pictures. We were able to have a great time visiting.

Great tour and will surely come back! - Peter is our tour guide for our short trip to Beijing with two kids. He is very knowledgeable and told interesting stories happened in the Qing Dynasty. Kids enjoyed a lot.

Great tour in Beijing! - Great tour in Beijing with my family. The arrangement was reasonable. We were able to go to all the famour sites in Beijing. Our tour guide Sonia speaks great English. She is knowlegeable, friendly and fun. She also helped us take great photos. The driver was nice and arrived on time. It was a great trip and would use them again if we go to Beijing again. Highly recommended!

Fun Beijing Trip - I highly recommend Catherine Lu Tour for everyone who is looking for private tour guide in Beijing! Arranging the tour with Catherine was really pleasant, she was informative, polite, and patient, so the communication was easy and clear. She is easily contacted via wechat or whatssap. Sonia was our assigned guide throughout our trip, we really love our time with her! She was fun, engaging, and she really knows her history! We had so much with Sonia, and we thank her alot for this enjoyable experience. Our first day was Tianamen Sq and Forbidden City, and we were so so glad to opt for private tour instead, as the place is really massive and without company of licensed tour guide, the entrance to the compound is super long, so we saved a lot of time by having private tour guide, as we could enter the compound directly. Our second day was Great Wall, we asked for recommendation from Catherine which one was easier for elderly, as my mom who is 68yo was with us in the trip, she recommended Mutianyu section, it was definitely easier path for small children and elderly, and it has cable car, ski lift, and tobbogan option. So alot of choices for all ages. Sonia always recommended restaurant that had good foods! We are totally enjoying many delicious Chinese foods during this trip. Thank you Sonia and Catherine, for this wonderful experience!

5 stars experience that we will never forget ❤️ - We had a great time. Catherine has been very helpful arranging our itinerary and we had Peter is our tour leader. He has been such a great tour leader for our family. A university graduate majoring in History, Peter is very knowledgable about history and backgrounds of various Chinese dynasties, making his stories very interesting. We could relate his stories to the ancient sites we visited. He is also very knowledgable about today’s China. We highly recommend Peter as your tour guide in China and Beijing in particular 👍👍👍👍

Amazing experience.... - This is our first time in Beijing and lucky that we are handled by such a wonderful tour guide like Justin, not only that he can speak english fluently but he also has so much knowledge about the history. We enjoy so much our stay in Beijing and thanks to Catherine Lu we feel like to come back again someday.