We enjoyed the 1-day bus tour covering the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace and the guide (Forest Song Yu) was fabulous...
Me and my wife took this private tour on March 6, 2006. The guide spoke very good English and was easy to understand. He also had a lot of knowledge of Chinese history. The tour started from our hotel at 08.00.am. The Forbidden City was impressive, Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace some places were under renovation, luckily the weather was sunny. The organiser had included visits to a silk shop (Yuanlong Silk Corportion) and a Chinese tea house. The first one was not in the heart of the city but the prices were high. The visit to a Tea House and joining a Chinese tea ceremony was very interesting and of course, we ended up buying Chinese tea and a few tea pots. At around 11.30am we were taken to a local self-service chinese restaurant which offered food and one glass of drink (if you wanted more you should have paid extra). For the sake of a polite and happy guide who spoke proper English this tour can be recommended. As to the places - take the tours in Beijing when the 2008 Olympics are over and most places have been renovated (hopefully) and you can see something more impressive...
