Good afternoon everyone, I hope you are enjoying my 10 Day Asia Trip so far.  After my relaxing 1 night stay and filling breakfast at the Hilton Beijing Capital Airport, I set off to see as much of Beijing as I could before my evening flight to Yangon, Myanmar.  Luckily, I had arranged a private tour of Beijing with Coco’s Beijing Tours.  Why did I go with Coco’s Beijing Tours?  Because Greg the Frequent Miler used them on a recent trip to Beijing.  If this tour was good enough for Greg, it was good enough for me.  I reached out to Coco, stated that I only had 1 day in Beijing and wanted to see the major sites.

A few hours later, I received this response from Coco:

Happy to see you email. Please say hi to Greg :).

And pick you up from airport. Visit Mutianyu Great Wall first. Then after lunch to visit city area. Because 16th is Monday. Forbidden city is not open. So we can see Tiananmen Square and temple of heaven. Then back to airport. Around 4pm. What do you think.

The tour is 1880yuan. For all the list and lunch. Driver and car and guide and entrance fee. And airport pick up and drop off.

Based on my tight schedule, I could only visit the Mutianyu Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, and Temple of Heaven.  Lunch would be at a traditional Chinese restaurant in Beijing, transportation from the hotel around Beijing and back to the airport, and I would have a personal guide with me the entire day.  Based on current exchange rates, 1,880 CNY is ~$265 USD.  That sounded great to me, so I ironed out the pickup details and I was all ready for my private tour around Beijing.

The tour began promptly at 7am from the Hilton Beijing Capital Airport hotel.  Coco (my tour guide) greeted me in the lobby and we walked out to the waiting car.  The driver put my suitcase and backpack in the trunk of the car and then we set off for the Mutianyu Great Wall of China (a specific section of the Great Wall).  Along the way, Coco gave me history on Beijing, the Great Wall, and answered any questions I had about China.

Because we left the hotel around 7am, we were able to get to the Mutianyu Great Wall of China before the crowds.  Coco bought my admission ticket, chairlift ticket (to the top of the Great Wall) and toboggan ticket (to get down from the Great Wall).  It was pretty incredible to be at such a historic place and to avoid the huge crowds.

Not too busy early in the morning…

Great Wall as far as the eye can see…

Here is the toboggan from the top of the Great Wall to the bottom (where the chairlift started).  The ride was fun and took about 5-6 minutes.  Great views from the toboggan track of the green valley below.

Up next, we drove to Tiananmen Square.  We had to go through an extra layer of security, but when we got to the square, it wasn’t too busy.

After visiting Tiananmen Square, we took the subway to a different part of Beijing for lunch.  I have no idea what restaurant we went to, but the food was great.  Coco ordered everything and I trusted her recommendations.  Everything came out very hot and very delicious.  I stuffed my face with as much food as I could eat.

My favorite food was the shrimp dumplings with spicy chili oil.

After lunch, we drove to the Temple of Heaven.  I don’t remember what all the structures were called, but they were beautiful and colorful.

Various temples of different designs.

After we left the Temple of Heaven, we drove to the Beijing Capital Airport (PEK) to drop me off.  The drive was slow and we hit some traffic, but I really enjoyed the drive.  I loved the architecture of the hotels, malls, condos, and office buildings all around Beijing.  I would definitely recommend this exact tour or any other tour offered by Coco.  If you have any questions about the tour, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!