Beijing arrival day

Pick-up by local guide upon arrival. Transfer by car to the Hotel for check-in (early check-in not guaranteed). In the early afternoon we drive to Tiananmen Square and walk over the largest Square of the World. Afterwards we enter the Forbidden City through its South Gate with the famous Mao picture.
Built from 1406 until 1420 by 3rd Ming Emperor Yongle, the Forbidden City served as home for the Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasty. The name Forbidden City exists, because this place was off-limits to the population for more than 500 years. This rule only was changed in 1924.
With 720´000 square meters total area and 150´000 square meters of buildings, all buildings of the Forbidden City have a total of 9999 rooms. Only celestial temples were supposed to have 10´000 rooms, so that´s why the numbers of rooms are somehow limited.
We leave the Forbidden City through the North Gate, cross the Street and climb on the so called “Coal Hill” which allows a fantastic view over the whole city of Beijing.
Transfer back to the hotel for refreshing and then we go for a Chinese Welcome Dinner at the South Beauty Restaurant in Sanlitun. For dinner our gay Beijing nightlife experts Dao and Rob will join and explain some details about the gay history of China. More explanation about the development of the gay scene in the past decade follow and after dinner, our guides will take you out to discover the gay nightlife in Beijing.
It might be a lot for a first day, but in this way you will know the venues and how to get there in the following evenings.