Summer Palace Exploration: 5-Hour Private Tour with Boat Ride in Beijing
5.0
1 Rating
Beijing
Embark on a 5-hour private tour of the Summer Palace in Beijing, exploring its heritage architecture, fascinating museums, beautiful gardens, and more. Enjoy a relaxing boat ride and learn about the historical events of the Qing dynasty.
Duration:
5 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
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Highlights
- Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) - Choose the start time suits your best and await pickup from your Beijing City accommodation, where you board a vehicle destined for the west gate of the Summer Palace.\n\nAlong the way, your knowledgeable guide is on hand to provide expert insight and interesting historical anecdotes. Feel free to ask questions if you have.\n- Seventeen Arches Bridge - After enter the Summer Palace, immerse yourself in a spectacular view of this beautiful garden, learn all the elements required to built the most amazing and beautiful paradigms of what a garden can be in the Qing Dynasty.\n\nFrom here in Summer Time you will take a relax boat ride to the South Island, if there is no boat you will walk along different bridges and passages to reach the north. \n\nYour boat cruise concludes at the south island, stroll around the courtyards and halls here, explore the largest bridge inside the Summer Palace at Seventeen Arches Bridge which was built in the 18th century. The Seventeen Arch Bridge looks like a rainbow arching over the water. There are 544 distinctive lions on the columns of the white marble parapets. Learn the stories behind them from your tour guide’s commentary. \n- Hall of Benevolence and Longevity - Stroll along the Kunming Lake then reach the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity where Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu took charge of state affairs. Gain deep insight into the histories happened here. \n\nContinue to explore the Garden of Virtue and Harmony which was the largest stage in China at the time. Check out different exhibition rooms, in which many national treasures as well as the daily articles of the Empress Dowager Cixi are on display. \n- Long Corridor at the Summer Palace - Stroll through different courtyards and halls, listen to the detailed stories about Express Empress Dowager Cixi, get to know how did she controlled the country by put the little emperor on the throne. \n\nMove on to the Long Corridor. First built in 1750 with 273 rooms, the corridor was fully painted with colorful designs and pictures, winding its way along the lake like a colorful ribbon. Four octagonal pavilions with double roofs were built at regular intervals to represent the four seasons. The gallery has about 8000 colorful paintings, which, as the most charming part of the gallery, depict landscapes, human figures, battle scenes, flowers, birds, etc.\n- Tower of Buddhist Incense(Summer Palace) - Next, explore the middle axis of the Summer Palace, which including the Hall of Dispelling Clouds where Empress Dowager Cixi celebrated her birthday and received birthday gifts from officials and foreign envoys.\n\nClimb up to the Tower of Buddhist Incense, which Empress Dowager Cixi held praying ceremonies on the 1st and 15th of each lunar month.\n\nFrom here, you will enjoy a bird’s eye view of the scenery of the whole palace.\n- Kunming Lake - Your next stop is the Marble boat, which was first built in 1750 by Emperor Qianlong which taking the implying meaning of “the water can hold the boat as well as topple the boat”, he want to use the the Marble Boat symbolizes the steadfast rule of the Qing dynasty.\n- Suzhou Market Street - The rest of your trip will explore the other side of the Longevity hill, you will stop at the Suzhou market street. \n\nBuilt after the market street in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, the street gave the imperial family an illusion to take part in the daily life of ordinary people which was forbidden to them. When imperial nobles came to visit the street, eunuchs, aiming to please their masters, would act as tradesmen and customers to produce a prosperous scene in the street.\n\nYour wonderful tour will ends here, after the tour you will be transferred back to your hotel in Beijing City.
What's Included
- Private tour for a more personalized experience
- Enjoy the charming Summer Palace with a boat ride (seasonal)
- Convenient transportation by private vehicle
- Stress-free hotel pickup and drop-off (within Beijing’s 4th ring road)
- Knowledgeable English-speaking guide
- Bottled water to keep you hydrated
- All entrance fees included
What's Not Included
- Gratuities
Additional Information
The Summer Palace in Beijing combined political and administrative, residential, spiritual, and recreational functions within a landscape of lakes and mountains, in accordance with the Chinese philosophy of balancing the works of man with nature. This comprehensive 5 hour guided private tour will take you to discover the many charms of one of China’s most beautiful garden: heritage architecture, fascinating museums, amazing gardens, relax boat cruise, all kinds of bridges and pavilions, important historical events. Your experienced tour guide will bring the Qing dynasty in front of your eye.
Location
Summer Palace (Yiheyuan)
No.19 Xinjian Gongmen Road, Haidian District,
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
5.0
(1 Rating)
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Jeffcypress
Oct 8, 2023
Top quality tour and guide - We really loved our tour. Lucy was a great guide who made the Summer Palace come alive for us - full of history and interesting facts. She also speaks superb English. We had visited before but she took us to see lots of new t parts of this vast site and we had a two stage boat trip.
Very punctual pick up from the hotel in a super smart comfortable car. Really enjoyed the whole thing.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
