3-Day Beijing Family Tour: Forbidden City, Great Wall, and Summer Palace

A short walk north of the Forbidden City, Jingshan Park's summit pavilion offers the finest aerial view of the palace's golden roofline — a perspective that lands differently after a morning spent inside those walls. After the viewpoint, the afternoon moves to a hands-on cultural workshop. The workshop is the creative counterpoint to the morning's history, and tends to be the part of Day 1 that children remember most vividly.

Custom options:

• kite-making
• Peking opera mask painting
• Chinese calligraphy
• paper-cutting

After breakfast at the hotel, your guide and driver pick up the family for the approximately 1.5-2 hour drive to Mutianyu. Your guide builds anticipation during the journey with age-appropriate stories about the Wall — how it was built by hand across mountain ridgelines, how soldiers lived in the watchtowers, and what it felt like to guard the northern frontier of the empire. By the time the forested hills come into view, children are ready.

On arrival at Mutianyu, the family sits down for a relaxed, family-friendly lunch near the entrance before heading up. Everyone goes to the Wall with energy, and the morning stays unhurried.

Explore the restored Mutianyu Great Wall at your own pace, with time for walking, photos, and enjoying the sweeping views across the Huairou valley. Your guide will share stories about the Wall’s construction, history, and watchtower system along the way. Cable car access is available for guests who prefer a more convenient ascent or descent, while the optional toboggan slide offers a fun and memorable way to come down. After the visit, your driver will return you to your Beijing hotel.

Custom options:

• Cable car for ascent or descent
• Toboggan slide for descent

After breakfast, your guide and driver transfer the family to the Summer Palace — the Qing dynasty imperial retreat on Beijing's northwestern edge, built around the vast expanse of Kunming Lake. The tour focuses on the most rewarding and accessible sections: the Long Corridor's painted gallery, the lakeside promenades, and the marble boat at the water's edge. Children respond strongly to the sheer scale of the place and to the stories of the emperors and empresses who lived here in the summer months. An optional boat ride across the lake adds a different perspective and a natural highlight for younger visitors.

Custom option:

• Boat ride across the lake as an optional experience.

Lunch is arranged near the Summer Palace — a comfortable, unhurried meal that gives the family time to rest before the final afternoon.

The final afternoon is adapted to the family's children. For families with younger children, the Temple of Heaven offers a compelling combination of imperial ritual architecture and living park culture — the circular Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the Echo Wall, and the morning park life of local residents practising tai chi, singing, or playing chess. For families with older children or teens, a visit to the Natural History Museum or the Science and Technology Museum provides an interactive, hands-on alternative that keeps energy and curiosity high to the end of the trip.