Published on Mar, 2025
We booked an evening food tour and also a full day tour of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Sq. We had "James" for both tours. He met us at our hotel and always asked if we preferred taxi or metro (metro much more fun, and good to work out with a guide when you arrive - but your choice!). The evening food tour was a great intro to the city on our first night and he took us to small places we would never have seen or found on our own. Plenty of food - James explained that it was a tried and tested "safe" selection not likely to clash with western palettes. The option to try new things might have been nice - even at the risk of some food not being things we try again - but understand tripe and intestines not everyone's idea of great food. As it was everything we had was delicious. We didn't get the craft beer even though we ended up next to the Great Leap Brewery - not sure why, but we went back for that! On our second trip James really excelled, we had a full day in the Forbidden City. His good English and in depth historical knowledge made the experience great and he answered all our questions - he knows his history. He also adapted the tour for us, we had seen some things on our own, so he took us to the Temple of Heaven (that we had not seen) via an excellent spot that he recommended for lunch. We also got pointers for places to eat and visit for the rest of our trip. If you want a guided tour in Beijing I would be happy to recommend both of these.