Old Summer Palace (Yuanming Yuan) Tours and Activities

Visit two of Beijing’s most impressive imperial palaces on this private full-day tour. Marvel at the UNESCO-listed Summer Palace with its idyllic gardens, stroll around the picturesque parks and gardens of the Old Summer Palace, then enjoy a traditional Chinese lunch at a local restaurant. Hotel pickup and drop-off is included.

Designed to delight lovers of garden landscapes, this private tour covers the gorgeous grounds of the UNESCO-listed Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) and the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) in Beijing. Alongside your personal guide, explore Chinese gardens characterized by reflecting lakes, Qing-era architecture, and exotic flora, and learn about Beijing’s regal heritage. All entrance fees, lunch, and hotel pickup and drop-off are included.

During this visual tour, not only I will guide you to many must-see Beijing attractions, but also we will go deep into local people's life, and take a close look at things like traditional houses where they live, authentic breakfast they eat, and what they do for fun at their spare time, and many more things you normally don't see on TV, food people normally don't eat, such as " crickets fighting", "deep-fried scorpions" etc.

1) Visit the best preserved Imperial Garden-Summer Palace 2) Enjoy the leisurely walk along the Old Summer Palace 3) Listen to the stories of Dragon Lady Empress Dowager Cixi 4) Enjoy the Lotus flower in Summer

This private customized garden tour designed for travelers looking to escape the city to enjoy classical imperial gardens at their own interests and pace. Choose 1-2 gardens to visit in Beijing, such as Beihai Park, the Summer Palace, the Old Summer Palace (Yuanminyuan), The Botanical Garden, The Fragrant Hill, The Badachu Park. Get an idea on how to form a perfect garden in old days; Explore the dozens of ancient sights that dot the gardens; Learn the history of different gardens with your guide; Lunch, entrance fee and hotel pickup and drop-off are included.

Beijing is a historical city with many old things to see. This private Beijing day tour will let you visit Summer Palace, Lama Temple, and Old Summer Palace with a local guide by private vehicle. Chinese lunch and drinks are included. Pickup time from your centrally located Beijing hotel is at 8am.

Explore one of the UNESCO World Heritage site in Beijing-Summer Palace with a professional tour guide (different languages available). Combined with another impressive imperial palace, Old Summer Palace. Stroll around ancient pavilions, temples, bridges and huge lake. Enjoy a Dragon Boat ride in Summer Palace between April to October. Hotel pickup, entrance fees are inclusive.

This all inclusive private day tour combines 3 gardens. You will enjoy the beautiful sightseeing in Summer Palace (the emperor's garden during the summer time in the past in the morning, and visit the ruin site of the Old Summer Palace, the end stroll around the picturesque Botanical garden. The entrance fee, guide, private car, local food lunch are included.

Beijing Summer is not a joke, we didn’t have air-conditioning 110 years ago unfortunately, so our smart majesty built himself gardens to cool himself down, to make this outdoor air conditioner looks pretty, he sent 100 imperial painters travelled to the most beautiful places in Southern China, painted the view down and built the same back here into his imperial gardens, in this way, he could enjoy the wonderful landscapes of his country just in Beijing, how creative! In this tour, we take you to the New Summer Palace where you can get the experience feeling like an emperor indulge himself in the past + the Old Summer Palace, where was invaded, robbed, burnt. You are more connected with its incarnation, to see what’s it like during the most prosperous time, to imagine if you would feel heartbreaking like the emperor when he saw his favorite garden was burnt and gone forever. And what’s more, you will get the idea of their fantasy life and royal family’s gossips from us...