Castles · Tour
The Boat Built With the Navy's Money, and 14,000 Paintings Overhead
The Summer Palace with a private English-speaking guide, in eight packages running from two hours to eight. A guide matters more here than at most sites, because the garden gives up nothing on its own: the halls look alike until someone tells you which emperor was confined in which, and the Marble Boat is a curiosity until you know it was paid for with money meant for the imperial navy. The other subject is Cixi, who governed for 48 years and rebuilt this place around herself. The longer packages add other Beijing sites, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Ming Tombs among them, and you can travel by public transport or by private car.
What's included
- Professional guide
- Private Transfer if you choose the related options
- Entrance fee
Itinerary
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Haidian District
In front of the ticket office at the East Gate of the Summer Palace, if you are making your own way there.
Summer Palace
Eight one-day packages, by time, comfort and depth. Package 1: 2-hour guided tour, meeting the guide at the East Gate and making your own way there. For tight schedules. Package 2: 4-hour budget tour, with subway transfers from downtown hotels. Package 3: 4-hour comfort tour, with private car transfers from your hotel. Taxis are hard to hail near the Summer Palace, which is the practical argument for this one. Package 4: 6-hour in-depth tour, with hotel pickup by guide and driver, and the on-site museums included.
Beijing
The remaining packages pair the Summer Palace with other Beijing sites. Package 5: Summer Palace, Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City, 7 hours. Package 6: Summer Palace and the Great Wall, at Mutianyu or Badaling. Package 7: Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City. Package 8: Summer Palace and the Ming Tombs.
Hall of Benevolence and Longevity
You meet the guide at the meeting point or at your hotel, depending on the package, and the visit starts at the East Gate. The guide sets out the ground by the map first: where the garden came from, what it was for under the Qing, and how the layout works. First stop is the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, the main administrative hall, where the Qing emperors held court and received officials. The decoration is still in place, and the guide covers how Guangxu and Cixi used the room.
Hall of Happiness and Longevity
Then Magnolia Hall, a quiet courtyard building used by the Emperor Guangxu and named for the magnolias that flower there in spring. After the Hundred Days' Reform failed, it became the place he was effectively confined. After that, the Hall of Joyful Longevity, where Cixi lived when she was here. The furnishings and the garden around it are the setting for her daily routine, and for the way she ran the Qing court from it.
Long Corridor at the Summer Palace
Then the Long Corridor: the longest covered walkway in the world, over 728 metres across 273 bays, with more than 14,000 painted panels overhead drawn from Chinese mythology, history and literature. The guide picks out particular paintings and tells you what is happening in them.
Tower of Buddhist Incense(Summer Palace)
At the central axis of the garden, the climb to the Tower of Buddhist Incense on Longevity Hill, which is the visual and religious centre of the whole design. Inside are Buddhist statues and architectural models; from the upper levels you look over Kunming Lake, the Seventeen-Arch Bridge and the gardens, and the guide explains how the symmetry works.
If you’ve opted for the 6-hour in-depth tour
On the 6-hour in-depth tour there is more. The Garden of Virtue and Harmony holds one of the largest ancient opera houses in China: three tiers, with stage machinery, built for Cixi's birthday celebrations. The acoustics carry a performance to the back without amplification, and the guide covers the scenery, the machinery and the operas staged for the court.
Suzhou Market Street
Then, depending on what interests you, either Suzhou Street, a recreated Qing commercial street along the north bank of Kunming Lake, built in the style of the Suzhou water towns, or the Seventeen-Arch Bridge at the eastern end of the lake, which the imperial family used to cross to Nanhu Island. Either way the guide ties the stop back to the late Qing: Cixi's spending, Guangxu's position, and what was happening to the dynasty around them.
Kunming Lake
Back to the central axis and along the Long Corridor to its western end, where the Marble Boat stands: a stone vessel with a Western hull and a Chinese roof, which is why it looks wrong among everything else. The story is the point. Cixi had it built with funds earmarked for the imperial navy, as a ship that could never sink, standing for a dynasty that would not fall. The pace is not rushed. When the tour ends near the Marble Boat you can carry on through the gardens on your own, or the guide will tell you how to reach your next destination. On the packages with transfers, the driver takes you back to your hotel.
Beijing
Beijing, China
Your hotel in Beijing, on the packages that include transfers.
Haidian District
Haidian District, China, 100091
The north gate of the Summer Palace.
Not included
- Additional entrance fees inside the Summer Palace to the museums
- Gratuities
- Hotel pick up or drop off if you choose to meet the guide at the Summer Palace option
- Meals
Good to know
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
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- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Up to 15 travelers per booking.
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Guiding available in: en.
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