Forbidden City & Jingshan Park Walking Tour

The Forbidden City is huge and beautiful, but without context, it can easily feel like one grand hall after another. On this tour, I’ll help you understand how the palace was designed, how emperors and their families lived, and the meanings behind its buildings, colors and details. After exploring the Forbidden City, we’ll continue to Jingshan Park and climb to one of Beijing’s best viewpoints. From the top, you can look back over the entire palace and see Beijing’s historic Central Axis stretching through the city. It’s a great way to experience the Forbidden City from both inside and above — and better understand what old imperial Beijing once looked like.

We’ll meet near the East Gate (Donghuamen) of the Forbidden City and walk together to the Meridian Gate (Wumen), the only entrance for visitors. We’ll then spend around 3 hours inside the Forbidden City, exploring its main halls, courtyards and imperial living areas while learning about palace life, architecture and the stories behind what we see. After exiting through the North Gate (Shenwumen), we’ll cross the road to Jingshan Park and climb to the viewpoint overlooking the entire Forbidden City and Beijing’s historic Central Axis. The tour will finish at the East Gate of Jingshan Park.