Top 3 Beijing City Highlights All Inclusive Private Tour

Sophie is a great tour guide. Our son was a little disappointed that the wait for Hutong ride was 2 hours so Sophie improvised with a tour of the bell tower. Sophie helped us order a delicious lunch. She also explained the sites and took of our family. We really appreciated that! We booked three tours with Catherine Lu and Sophie was our guide for all 3 tours. She is awesome! Our kids still talk about her.

This is my second trip to Beijing using Catherine Lu tours and my tour guide, Stephen. Stephen is knowledgeable in Chinese history and was able to provide us with good insight on our places of visit. He also has a good command of English and conversing with him was a breeze. He also ensured that the trip progressed smoothly and overall it was a pleasant and enjoyable experience .

We really happy and satisfied with the tour experience.

Amanda, our tour guide is very kind, she is taking our pictures along the way and very resourceful by showing us place to rent our chinese cotume just exactly like we want.

Same goes with the driver, he is so polite and kind.

So far best experience with Catherine Lu tours. Very professional and responsive.

Our group of nine adults and teens had a fantastic day touring Beijing with Sonia. Booking with Jenna and Catherine was so easy—they replied promptly and were very customer oriented and helpful. Sonia is funny and knowledgeable. We all loved her. We would definitely recommend Catherine Lu tours and our guide Sonia.

This is the best tour experience we have ever had. John, our tour guide had perfect english, was very friendly, knowledgeable and responsive to the needs of my two kids (age 8 and 11) who asked some unusual questions! He ensured that the day ran at our pace (it was a private tour) and pointed out lots of interesting things that were not in the guide books. The day ran very smoothly because of the good coordination with the driver (air conditioned vehicle was great!) including a really nice lunch at a nice restaurant suitable for kids. My kids loved the rickshaw tour. I am very happy that Catherine Lu tours was recommend to me and highly recommend John and Catherine Lu tours to others. Thanks John!

Our Catherine Lu tour guide, Jenny, and her driver picked us up at our hotel in a very comfortable van and we proceeded to visit the major city sights, Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven, and the Hutong, which we walked, rather than taking the rickshaw. Jenny had arranged for a good local lunch, which turned out to be one of the best meals we had in China. Jenny was informative and flexible about our desire to spend more time at some places, less at others. Beijing is a fascinating city, and the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven were extraordinary sites. At the end of the day, Jenny and her driver took us back to our hotel and gave us suggestions for what to do on our own the next day.

We had another long layover in Beijing this year, so I contacted Catherine Lu Tours to see what options would be available. We booked our Great Wall tour with her last year and totally enjoyed ourselves, so I knew I could trust that she would deliver us a great tour. Eran, our tour guide, met us at the airport and then proceeded to take us to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. He was very informative, with great English, and he found ways to make the tour very engaging and interesting. He answered all of our questions and gave us lots of fun facts without overloading us with information. We then went to the Temple of Heaven, and very much enjoyed the experience. If you have a long layover or, even better, multiple days in Beijing, I highly recommend that you book your tour through Catherine Lu Tours. I am sometimes a picky traveler, but they put my mind at ease. They are very responsive, which is very important to me. Every time I emailed them, I received a response quickly and a response which addressed my inquiry to my satisfaction. You can not go wrong booking a tour with this very reputable company!

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Beijing with Amanda in April. Amanda was flexible and responsive to our needs, even though we had to push the first day pick up time back due to our late flight coming in the night before. She adjusted her pace to our group, with my parents who are older and needed some patience :) Amanda's language proficiency was very high on the tour information and high on almost all other social conversations. She was helpful in accommodating our evening when we were meeting a friend after the tour on the same day and even helped us make a reservation for Peking duck for the following evening. Amanda was great at sharing information and history without being too overwhelming.

Driver and Transportation: Very good, comfortable, friendly driver, water provided. They did great coordinating pick up at all the locations.

Restaurants we stopped at on tour: Excellent for my parents' first visit to China, also helped make a reservation for Peking duck the night after the tour.

From a rating of one to five, (five being excellent), what’s your rating of our guide? 5
THANKS FOR A GREAT EXPERIENCE IN BEIJING! WE WILL USE CATHERINE LU AGAIN WITH OTHER VISITORS.

We had a great first day tour in China~Jeremy recited history with stories and was able to keep our attention with periodic jokes. It was freezing and he was mindful and accommodating of our need to keep warm. He dropped us off at 978 art district which was a good end to the day.

My girlfriend and father did a 4 day tour of Beijing with Cathrine Tours. Our tour guide was Peter and he was was a great tour guide to have. My father speaks mandarine and cantonese but my girlfriend only speaks english. Peter our tour guide spoke mandarine and english. I speak cantonese and english. So the different languages flying around the car and who could understand was fairly funny.

Anyways, Peter was very knowledgable about all the places we went to and not only was he knowledgeable he was also very passionate about the history and the culture of everywhere that we visited. If you have not been to China, something you should know is that Chinese people come off very rude, they are pushy and always in a rush, cut people off, etc. Sometimes it's hard to even get food ordered if you are not pushy in a non-westernized area of China. Peter seemed to be able to balance out how to get us what we needed without being rude. Which to me was great. Seeing how he acted and was able to navigate the sites around throngs of people who are too busy cutting in front of you so they can have their next great selfie was a nice change of pace.

His knowledge of Chinese/religious culture at all the temples and palaces we went to were very eye opening, along with having throngs of cultural stories and understanding of how those stories came to be were great.

In historical sites Peter knew so much of the history behind each location (he was a history major in "University") and could relate all of the Chinese history to world history and what was going on in the rest of the world so you could have an understanding of the big picture of how things got to where they were.

Their tours are also arranged so that you don't have to walk a step more than you have to. Which is kind of funny, there is a driver who is constantly on call and waiting to come pick you up and shuttle you off to the next location to waste as little time as possible . I wouldn't have minded walking more but I guess it was efficient.

Also we visited in "shoulder" season in early/mid November and it was a little chilly but I think well worth it for the lack of thongs of people that I've seen pictures of. I thought people were pushy and annoying now I can't imagine what it would be like during high season. So I definitely suggest going during the off season. It was nice to actually be able to get away from some people to take a picture and if you were patient enough maybe even get a picture with less than 10 other people in it.

I haven't processed my pictures yet but I will try to share if I can edit my post after I do.

After a Three Gorges Sanctuary cruise, we only had a very short time to see Beijing.
We had contacted a different tour agency for a private tour for a tight, less than 1 1/2 day schedule to include the above as well as the Great Wall. They said it couldn't be done, so we approached Catherine Lu Tours who were very can do and made it happen! Sonia met us at the airport, got us to the Great Wall, and then to our Rosewood Hotel (outdoes any Four Seasons we've been to). The next day we did the Beijing Cultural Tour and didn't feel it was too much or rushed, although the time went fast due to the really interesting conversations with Sonia, whose English was terrific; which was not always the case in China. She is professional, enthusiastic, informative, and easy to understand/converse with, which made our Beijing phase perfect. I highly recommend this agency, and in particular, Sonia. I would most definitely ask for her again.

<p>We had a great time! We were only in the Beijing city center one day and this tour hit all of the main attractions in a fun and efficient way. The highlight for me was seeing the large community of men and women over 60 playing games, exercising, and dancing at the Temple of Heaven in the morning. It was inspiring to see them enjoying the good life! as our guide said. </p>

<p>We told our guide that we wanted to try Hot Pot and Beijing Peking Duck before we left China. He recommended a place near our hotel to have duck for dinner and then for lunch he took us to trendy/modern spot for Hot Pot in the mall. It was delicious, inexpensive, and very handy to have him there to order for us and tell us what to do!</p>

<p>The Hutong area was very fun to see and the rickshaw ride made it even more enjoyable. It was a great day!</p>

When we started to plan a one-week trip to Beijing, we looked around at a lot of tour agencies to see what types of guided trips they offered in Beijing to the Great Wall and Forbidden City. We did an awful lot of research on Trip Advisor to compare each so that we could maximize our time while minimize costs. We compared lots of tour agencies to see what they had to offer for an overall package, finally zeroing in on Catherine Lu because of what she offered and her overall prices. Since she is currently rated #1 for private guide trips in Beijing, so being a loyal Trip Advisor traveler, we gave her a try and were “extremely” pleased with her services. From the outset, every time we sent an email to her, she “always” responded within a few hours, answering each question and providing recommendations that we never thought of. No other guide service that we have used during the last 8 years of international travel provided the same level of service. She was clearly in a class by herself.

A few months before the trip, we narrowed down two days of guided trips that we wanted to take during an 8-day stay in Beijing. They included a trip to Mutianyu section of the Great Wall (a bit further from Beijing than the Badaling section, but will less people), Ming Tombs followed by a Kung Fu show. The second day consisted of Tian’anmen Square, Forbidden City, Hutong and Temple of Heaven. We paid for everything by PayPal before the trip, which was nice so that we didn’t have to do it during the trip. Also included in the price was a car with driver, guide, lunch each day at a local Chinese restaurant, and entrance fees to each sight. We exchanged over 12 e-mail to iron out specifics into exactly what we wanted. In each case, she was extremely accommodating and provided follow-up costs & itineraries. Doing a private tour, versus a bus tour where you are just one of 50 people, affords the opportunity to tailor each day around what you want to see, thereby maximizing one’s time and effort. If you can afford it, taking a tour such as this is the only way to go to high value sites.

We were told Catherine Lu has 15 private guides working for her. The guide she provided us for the two day’s we used her services was named Cindy. We found Cindy to be extremely knowledgeable about the sites we visited, providing historical context and answering questions. She also took pictures of us whenever asked, which for us is a big deal because it helped document everything for future reference. The pictures she took at the Great Wall were fantastic because it was a beautiful day, sunny with very few people there, which doesn’t happen all the time. We can honestly say we got some awesome pictures because of Cindy, not only at the Wall, but at every other venue. The restaurants she took us to for lunch served great local Chinese food, with reasonable prices. We also changed our schedule throughout the day to maximize what we wanted to see; Cindy was very accommodating and was able to incorporate these changes on the fly. Our drive, Mr. Liu didn’t speak English, but the van he drove was very clean, comfortable and he provided water for our use at all times.

The trip to the Forbidden City went smoothly too. To get into the Forbidden City, you have to get into a long line and provide a passport. However with Catherine Lu, we provided all the necessary passport information by e-mail beforehand, so when it came time for the tour we literally walked by all the ticket lines into the compound. Cindy then took us around the top sites inside the Forbidden City in a very logical manner. The same went for all the other sites she took us to which included taking a 15 minute bicycle rickshaw ride through a hutong, which was an experience by itself. Then for the Kung Fu show, she got some great tickets to an event that lasted about 75 minutes, and was an enjoyment to see. All I knew about Kung Fu was from the Disney movie Kung Fu Panda or Bruce Lee, but this was much better and with class. The show combined traditional Chinese arts with modern dance, providing a must-see for visitors and Kung Fu enthusiasts. We absolutely loved the show and would recommend it to anyone wanting to get more culture about Chinese society. The actors did amazing acrobatics that was a joy to watch. Let me say everything Catherine Lu and Cindy recommended was top notch, well thought out, and exceeded expectations.

Going to China to see the Great Wall has always been a top bucket list item. Getting a good guide service after spending lots of money to get there plus hotel was a big priority. That is why we were very happy to find Catherine Lu since she is totally customer oriented. Responding the numerous e-mail with requests, she set up a two day itinerary that couldn’t be surpassed. Providing a talented and knowledgeable guide in Cindy, plus a good driver, they delivered some of the very best tours that we have taken in 8 years of extensive international travel. Take my advice, secure her services should you be in Beijing with the intent of seeing the top sites with ease. You won’t go wrong.