Beijing Private Layover Tour to Temple of Heaven Niaochao and Summer Palace

Your tour guide will be welcoming you at exit of the airport at 08:30 a.m.. Then, we will transfer to Beijing old city center and start the wonderful tour.

It is the Largest Existing Architecture Group For Heaven Worship in the World. Originally, the Temple of Heaven was the place where emperors of the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty held the Heaven Worship Ceremony.

Residents living near the this place enjoy many activities here, such as running, cycling, singing, dancing, playing chess, flying kites, etc. You can become involved personally in these activities and experience the leisure pursuits of local people.

Then, we will walk through the Wangfujing Street and see the most fashionable fancy shopping malls.

Wangfujing is one of the most famous shopping streets, not only in Beijing but in all of China. It is the most well-known and prosperous shopping street with modern and fashion trends.

Wangfujing Shopping Street houses a wide variety of shops and boutiques, some of which are of world-famous brands as well as restaurants. Apart from that, there are also many time honored stores with traditional commodities standing in the street for hundreds of years. Nowadays, Beijing Wangfujing Street is a modern commercial street which can be paralleled with Champs Elysees in Paris.

Another Wangfujing landmark: the Foreign Languages Bookstore.

The store sells books, art supplies, videos and CDs on several floors, but the street level is the place to buy coffee table books about China in a variety of languages as well as cookbooks and books to help you learn the Chinese language.

At noon, we will enjoy a local lunch, with Peking duck and vegetarian options available. In the afternoon, we will visit Niaochao National Stadium, Water Cube and Summer Palace.

Beijing Olympic Park, also known as the Olympic Green. Beijing Olympic Park is where the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympics took place. It also will be where the 2022 Winter Olympics takes place. Afterward, it was transformed into a comprehensive multifunctional activity center for the public.

It contains the main venues used during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, such as the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube. You will be overwhelmed by the architecture of these two magnificent buildings.

The Beijing National Stadium, more commonly referred to as the Bird’s Nest, was built for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at a cost of $423 million. Since the Olympics and all its fanfare, the stadium has become a major landmark and tourist attraction, as well as a venue for both international and domestic sporting competitions.

Though relatively new to the Beijing landscape, the National Stadium has become a must-see attraction.

Not far from the Bird's Nest, there is the National Aquatics Center, also known as Water Cube. Its creative design concept is originated from the arrangement pattern of cells and natural structure of soap bubbles. The huge square box was produced by combining modern technologies with traditional Chinese culture. In the past, Chinese ancestors believed that the sky is round while the earth is square, and that is the way nature keeps harmonious. The square Water Cube together with the round Bird's Nest, embody and interpret this idea very well.

The Summer Palace is the largest and best-preserved of the surviving imperial garden, rich in history and culture. Once a summer retreat for emperors, this 716-acre park is still a retreat for tourist, who can relax here or stroll around ancient pavilions, mansions, temples, bridges and huge lake, stopping occasionally at a shop or tea-house. Much-loved summer retreat of the Imperial families, the lovely landscaped gardens, halls, pavilions and corridors are set around the lake and rivers in natural harmony.

Long Corridor at the Summer Palace

The paths beside the lake lead you under shady trees, or along the roofed colonnade known as the Long Corridor, with its magnificently painted ceilings. Bridges, boats, willows, lotus flowers, and other attractive landscaping make this a pleasant place to soak up the atmosphere and in the views.

Afterwards, enjoy comfortable transfer back to Beijing Capital International Airport to catch your flight or your hotel. Wrap your memories and say good-bye.