A Glimpse into the Past and Future of the Middle Kingdom

• Get lost in Beijing's quickly disappearing traditional neighborhood - the hutong
• Hike a customized route on China's most famed landmark: The Great Wall, where you will be led by our expert guide through centuries of Chinese history and tradition
• Walk around the center of Imperial China, the Forbidden city, a monumental palace complex containing over 800 buildings and upwards of 9,000 rooms!

The superlatives of Beijing's attractions run far and wide, encompassing everything from monolithic landmarks with thousand year histories to quaint glimpses of everyday modern Chinese city life. On this specially crafted tour, we take you on a 5 day journey to visit the city's classic sites and scenes, from its most impressive historic monuments to a private Peking Duck banquet. For the first time visitor to China, this is the ultimate introduction to life in the Land of the Rising Dragon. For frequent returnees, we guarantee you moments of new surprises and delightful discoveries that will provide yet another layer of depth and appreciation to this most fascinating of capitals.
We begin shortly after your arrival in the capital and start with a visit to the pleasant Ri Tan Park, where we spend a leisurely afternoon observing the locals around us engage in everyday activities such as tai chi and chess. The next morning, we make a brief stop at Tiananmen Square before spending several hours exploring the vast corridors and courtyards of the Forbidden City, one of China's premiere historical attractions and the site of the Imperial Palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Altogether more than 800 buildings and 9,000 chambers make up this complex, and with the help of our expert guide you will be awed and enchanted by stories of imperial extravagance and political intrigue that go back more than 500 years. We spend the afternoon exploring by bicycle the city's original hutong residences, admiring their charming architecture while catching glimpses of local home-life. We also take an opportunity to converse with a leading local non-government organization on their efforts to preserve hutong culture in the face of the capital's drive to modernization. For dinner, we drop into a delightful Peking duck restaurant, known to locals and located on the enchanting Ghost Street.
The next day we make for the Temple of Heaven, a vast religious complex containing masterpieces of Chinese architecture, used by past emperors for offering sacrifices. Today, such grisly activities are no longer in evidence, and the area has been opened to locals for recreational use - a fact we put to good use by conducting a private tai chi (a traditional form of Chinese exercise) class with a local master on the premises. Afterwards, we take a long car ride out to view another of China's signature monuments, the Great Wall. You have the option to choose one of several sections of the Wall to visit, depending on how adventurous you are feeling (and whether you consider a brief walk or a 4 hour hike more your idea of traveling). But regardless of which you choose, we assure you that the parts you explore will be relatively uncommercialized, and that you will be stunned by views of the Wall snaking over precipitous mountain ridges into the far distance. In the evening, we check into the Red Capital Ranch, Beijing's first and only eco-tourism resort, and enjoy sunset over the Great Wall as we look out from the ranch's expansive Tibetan Tiger Lounge.
On the return to Beijing, we make a detour to Sancha village, a traditional rural village where the residents are still mostly farmers living off the land. We spend time in the townspeople's homes, sharing tea and learning about their way of life, and also enjoy a traditional lunch at a renovated chic school canteen. Arriving back in Beijing, we spend the afternoon touring the Summer Palace, which is an expanse of gardens and Imperial style buildings that was the favored by Empress Dowager Cixi. Our final day of the tour is set aside for your free exploration, which we help facilitate with helpful suggestions and problem solving for any one of the capital's many antique markets and contemporary art areas.