Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen Guangchang)
ATTRACTION Keywords:
Cultural Experience,
Plaza / Square
Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen Guangchang) Reviews
We've found 15 Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen Guangchang) reviews from Viator.com travelers and members: what they loved, what they liked and what they think could be improved. It's all here to help you make the most of your next trip.
Results 1–15 of 15
Review by Bandit, USA, May 2012
Doing what: Imperial Beijing Private Tour: Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Jingshan Park with Lunch
Throughout my two week trip in China, I was most looking forward to the historical side of Beijing, primarily Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. I had learned a lot about China's history and it had always fascinated me. I truly wanted a private experience (where I could pester the guide with tons of questions) and this tour delivered! My guide was an expert on all things China and answered all my questions and gave me more insight than I had expected to receive. All at such a great price too!
Review by Bandit, USA, May 2012
Doing what: 4-Day Private Tour of Beijing: Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Peking Duck Dinner
Great tour at an unbeatable price! I'm so glad we chose this option. It was our first time in China and this was a great introduction for us. It covered all the basics - Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace and Forbidden City. It was the perfect mix between the must-see "tourist" attractions and cultural immersion we would not have been able to do on our own. Great sights, friendly people and amazing country!
Review by Gordon B, March 2012
Doing what: Beijing Essential Full-Day Tour including Great Wall at Badaling, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
My tour with Mr. Jimmy Li was an excellent 1 day tour. I appreciate that I was able to visit all three venues the same day-Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall. There were five other persons on this tour and it was a good group. Mr Li did a great lecture on each venue as well as answering questions. Our Chinese lunch was delicious and the jade and silk demonstrations were good. I would highly recommend this tour if you have only 1 day to spend in Beijing. The time at the Great Wall was adaquate as was the other venues. The transportation and driver was good as well. Thanks for the good communications on the meeting place and pick up time. Arrived back at my hotel on time.
Review by Steven E, United Kingdom, August 2011
Doing what: Beijing Essential Full-Day Tour including Great Wall at Badaling, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
very busy day started at the wall was very busy, then visited Tiananmen square and Forbidden City was brilliant so much history
Review by MEGAN J, Australia, November 2006
Doing what: Beijing Essential Full-Day Tour including Great Wall at Badaling, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
This trip was fantastic. The adventure to both Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall was breathtaking. The experience was made so much better for the excellent local guide. An absolute definite if you're ever in these parts.
Review by Michele, January 2013
Doing what: Beijing Essential Full-Day Tour including Great Wall at Badaling, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
Tour was great, our guide was informative and funny. The Great Wall was amazing (must go again in spring time). Forbidden city and Tiananmen Square was an experience. No waiting in lines for passes, transport or security. Went to a silk house and tea house, interesting, but they try to sell things.
Review by Vickramjit S G, January 2013
Doing what: Beijing Essential Full-Day Tour including Great Wall at Badaling, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
The Great Wall was the highlight and the tour overall was good. We would have liked more time understanding the significance of Tiananmen Square though. Overall a good way to see everything, well top 3 main sights if you only have one day.
Review by Belmont, United Kingdom, October 2012
Doing what: Beijing Classic Full-Day Tour including the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven
The tour started at 7.00am. We went on one of the first days of the Chinese National holidays so everywhere was packed to capacity. At 7.30am we were standing in Tiananmen Square, overwhelmed by the number of locals that can gathered. The visit to the Forbidden City was good but limited in the sense that we did not really go into any of the internal "temples" as we walked through the F/City on the outer footpaths, which were still within the F/City so as to avoid the crowds. We arrived at the Summer Palace at 2.30pm by which time over 110,000 people had entered so that will give you a feel on numbers! Likewise, in order for the small party to keep together, we were constantly on the move, so little time to really look at anything. We visited a Chinese Medicine Hospital (waste of time), as well as a silk factory (quite interesting) and a pearl factory (great if you wanted to buy some very reasonable priced pearls). Obviously the latter three stops were purely there to part with some cash! Our guide, Mr Jacky Lee, was excellent as he took time to take photos of the couples in the group and he knew the best places to capture the photos so well done to him. Lunch provided was good. Apart from the crowds, a really good day was had by all.
Review by Martin M, USA, October 2012
Doing what: Beijing Historical Tour including the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Temple of Heaven
Very busy day. We did not actually go into Tiananmen but viewed it from across the busy street. Our guide Mr Jackie Lee was very knowledgeable, and very enthusiastically pro-China. The Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven were jammed but we made the most of it
Review by Stephen V, USA, August 2011
Doing what: Beijing Historical Tour including the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Temple of Heaven
On the whole it was very good but I felt short-changed at Tiananmen Square. We basically walked across it without an commentary or getting to stop to look around. That could have partly been because of the weather which was very, very cold and windy. Thoroughly enjoyed the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven. A little more time to explore on our own would have been nice and less time at the Silk Factory. The buffet was horrible. Thomas, our guide, was very informative and helpful.
Review by Sari L, May 2011
Doing what: Beijing Essential Full-Day Tour including Great Wall at Badaling, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
There were supposed to be 5 people on this tour but 3 canceled so it ended up being just my husband and me! Our guide Tony spoke English fluently and was very knowledgeable! We didn't end up going to Badaling because it was a Sunday and a lot of people would be there so we went to a quieter part of the Great Wall instead although it was steeper to climb. We were given a choice and chose this one, the right choice I think but there was still quite a lot of people there! Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square were also great places to visit but be warned as there is about 4km worth of walking on this part. If you tire easily, especially after climbing the Great Wall, you might want to think about saving this visit for another day. We visited a jade, silk and cloisonne gallery which was interesting. No pressure to buy at all but we did grab some nice souvenirs!
Review by Linda M, Australia, August 2008
Doing what: Beijing Classic Full-Day Tour including the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven
Tiananmen Square simply immense and imposing, although Forbidden City involves a demanding 4 hour walk. Excellent knowledgeable, English-speaking guide, very enlightening insight into ancient Chinese architecture & cultures. Because of tiredness, cut tour short and didn't see Temple of Heaven. Too much in one day.
Review by Sharon A L, May 2012
Doing what: Beijing Historical Tour including the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Temple of Heaven
Jackie Li was our guide for this tour which we completed with one other couple. He willingly shared his detailed knowlegde of all the site's seen and is obviously a very proud Chinaman. Unfortunately, at times, we found his pronounciations of some English words difficult to comprehend, and his practice of giving us his 'orations' then quickly turning to head off to the next point of interest, left very limited opportunities for us to seek clarifications of what he had said and /or to ask questions. That said, both Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are much larger than I had expected and well worth seeing. Both my wife and I found the tour to be most informative.
Note from Viator: Note from Viator: Thank you for your review. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced during your tour. We have contacted the tour company and have addressed your concern about guide's English skills with them. Thank you for helping us ensure the quality of our tours.
Review by Claudia K, May 2012
Doing what: Beijing Essential Full-Day Tour including Great Wall at Badaling, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
The guide -another Michael- was quite nice. It was a VIP-Tour ;) Only me, the driver and Michael! First we visited the Tiananmen-Square, then the forbidden city. He arranged it very interesting. Next stop was a silk-factory. Also very interesting and they didn´t force you to buy something. Then lunch - combined with a jade-factory in the middle of nowhere! It was awful!!! I have been left alone with the most horrible food I ever had. I felt like caged in this factory! After 15 minutes I left the room with the workers through a servants` exit. Then I had to wait 15 minutes for the pick up through my guide, HORRIBLE - never would do this again. After this we went to a different place of the wall (he told me in the car - Badaling would be crowded!). In Juyongguan I climbed the wall and it was worth whole day suffering ;)! To come to a conclusion: Be sure not to visit the Jade factory and all will be fine!
Note from Viator: Note from Viator: Thank you for your review. We apologize for the dissatisfaction of meal you may have experienced during your tour. We have contacted the tour company and have addressed your concern with them. Thank you for helping us ensure the quality of our tours.
Review by Carlos S, February 2011
Doing what: Beijing Essential Full-Day Tour including Great Wall at Badaling, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
For those tourists who want to visit Beijing and take home many souvenirs, this tour may be excellent for you.
But as this was not my family nor my intention, we did not enjoy this tour as much as others might.
We felt very pressured by out tour guide to purchase at the myriad of stores and factories we stopped at during our 'Beijing tour'. I was even thrown into an argument at the tea house we visited because the attendant was outraged that we didn't want to spend our money in her tea house, even though we'd already paid for a tour. At another point in our tour-- in the jade factory-- our tour guide began negotiationg prices with us as if he were a salesman and not a tour guide.
I felt a little like an exploited American during this tour.
I think we spent a combined total of three hours at the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden city-- the 1.5 hours we had to spend at the Great Wall was certainly not enough. The rest of our time was spent shopping.
We went along the Great Wall by ourselves, without the insight of a guide, it would have been nice to have his insights during that time.
I would not recommend this tour to those tourists who are genuinely interested in learning about the history of Beijing.
One redeeming quality about our tour guide was that he did provide some insight for us while we were at the Forbidden City.
Results 1–15 of 15
