VariArts Travel

Your English-speaking guide will pick you up at your hotel lobby between 6:30 am and 7:30 am depending on other customer’s hotel pick-up. The exact time will be informed by your guide a day before the tour starts, normally after 6:00 pm, by a phone call to your hotel.

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The first stop of the tour is the Ming Tombs, the well-preserved Chinese imperial tombs with 500 years’ of history behind it. We will visit Changling Tomb, which is the tomb for the 3rd Emperor of Ming Dynasty. Emperor Yong Le also made the biggest contribution to the formation of the old Beijing City.

After exploring the Ming Tombs, you will have the opportunity to visit a Jade Carving Factory for 45 minutes. Jade carving is a very popular product in China, not only for the excellent skills artists need to do the carvings, but also because of the cultural background behind. A traditional Chinese cuisine lunch will follow the visit.

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The next activity is the Great Wall, the longest piece of architecture in the world, stretching from China’s east coast to China’s west desert. This section of the Wall called Mutianyu is known for its beautiful surroundings like dense woods and rich pastures changing colors with the seasons of a year. At Mutianyu, you can hike up the side of mountain to the wall or take a cable car (at your own expense). Then you can walk over the wall passing several watch towers for different views. On the way down, you can either walk, or take the cable car or toboggan (at your own expense).

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After this 2 hour visit, you will return to Beijing downtown, where you will have the chance to learn about Chinese traditional tea ceremonies at a Tea Shop. Finishing the tour, you will be transferred back to your hotel around 6:00 pm, depending on the hotel drop-off order.