dgunbug

Are the audio guides worthwhile at the Forbidden City and other national sites in China or is a tour guide preferable? We used audio guides throughout India and found them better than having guides.

dgunbug

Also, is one allowed to carry small backpacks or do they need to get checked into stored luggage area? Are the audio guides returned to the original gate or can one return them at the northern exit?

kja

Things can change so rapidly in China that I hesitate to answer, but ...

I believe that everything must be checked for the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, but with that exception, I think you can carry a small bag / pack into other destinations. I don't remember having to check my purse or day pack any where I visited on my trip in 2010. (I didn't go to the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall.) BTW, you will need to pass these items through an Xray scanner every time you enter the Beijing subway system. I was impressed that people and their bags moved through so quickly that it was a barely noticeable step.

The question of audio guide vs. tour guide is more complicated, as it may depend on preferences that go beyond their information value. So for perspective, please note that as a rule, I prefer audio guides to tour guides as long as the audio guides are reasonably well prepared. Part of that preference is based on the fact that I generally do a lot of advance research and have printed information with me when I visit sites. I don't have the counterfactual tour guide experiences, but I can say that I thought the audio guide to the Forbidden City sufficient for my needs. When I was there, one could return the audio guide to a different gate than the one from which you obtained it.

I think the only places where I used a tour guide in China were ones where I doubt an audio tour is available (a full-day tour from Xi'an to various sites west of the city and a full-day tour from Beijing to the eastern Qing tombs plus).

As I recall, I quit using the audio guide at the Capital Museum in Beijing because it had too much detail for my interests - and I'm pretty willing to spend time absorbing info about museums. That particular audio struck me as providing WAY too much info about WAY too few items.

Hope that helps!

JPDeM

The audio guide at the Forbidden city is returned at the exit (north side). I think that it is pretty good although the GPS function was not always working perfectly. There are many guides at the entrance offering their services. If there are a few of you, this could be a more interesting choice as you can also answer questions.
You do not need to check your backpack.

dgunbug

Thank you both for this valuable info. As we also do months of research and don't care for info overload, it is nice to hear that the audioguides are generally good.

Cicerone

In the Forbidden City, the only place you need to check all your bags is if you want to go up onto the Gate of Heavenly Peace and look out onto Tiananmen Square. (This is to prevent people from unfurling protest banners on the gate.) After that, you can re-collect your bags and go through the rest of the Forbidden City.

I have done the Forbidden City several times, sometimes with a guide and sometimes with the audio tour. There are benefits to each. The audio guide is very good. Unless you have hired your own guide who you know to be well-informed, I would probably go with the audio guide rather than just someone you pick up outside the gates. The audio guide lets you go at your own pace. Get something like the excellent DK Eyewitness Guide which has cutaway drawings and a good map and you can get a lot out of doing this on your own.

As mentioned above, if you go into Mao's Tomb, which is in the middle of Tiananmen, you also need to check you bags. This is an eerie hoot, and I recommend it. It takes about 15 minutes to go through the tomb, but lines to get in can be long.

I also highly recommend going for the sunrise flag-raising on Tiananmen. Complete with goose-steeping soldiers. For a good viewing position at the ropes, you need to be there about 30 to 45 minutes before sunrise. Bring coffee. You can then walk to the Hyatt for a nice breakfast. Go to sunrisesunset.com to see the time of sunrise during your visit.

JPDeM

The flag raising is mostly attended by patriotic Chinese. Getting up at 4am is not my definition of a relaxing vacation. If you wake up early, go to the Temple of Heaven instead.

dgunbug

As a follow-up to the question about the audioguides at the forbidden city...we are currently in Beijing and I decided to use the audio guide. While the information was clear and informative, my audio device did not pause or go backward so I found it frustrating and a waste of my time. I am generally a big advocate of audio guides but don't recommend it here. We had a guidebook which gave us all the info we needed.

kja

> my audio device did not pause or go backward so I found it frustrating and a waste of my time

That would be frustrating! They must have changed since I was there. Hope you are otherwise enjoying your trip!

JPDeM

The audio guide has some kind of location finding device in it so that when you approach some landmark, it starts automatically to tell you about it. All these locations are shown on the map on one side of the audio guide with red dots. After you have been there and listened to it, the light turns green.

dgunbug

The problem is that you can't pause it or go back to take pictures.