参观(cān guān) - to visit (a place), to tour in Mandarin

参观 (cān guān) means to visit a place in order to look round it: a museum, a school, a factory, an exhibition. It is not the verb for visiting a person - that job belongs to 看望 (kànwàng) or the plain 看 (kàn) - so keep 参观 (cān guān) for buildings and institutions, never people.

The object slot takes the place, not the activity: 参观博物馆 (cān guān bówùguǎn), "visit the museum", 参观工厂 (cān guān gōngchǎng), "visit the factory". 欢迎参观 (huānyíng cān guān), "welcome to visit", is the standard line printed at the entrance of anywhere that takes tour groups.

参观 (cān guān) is close in feel to English "have a look round", carrying a sense of guided, purposeful looking rather than aimless wandering. Compare it with 参加 (cān jiā), "to take part in, to attend" - both start with 参 (cān), "to take part", but 参观 (cān guān) is about looking and 参加 (cān jiā) is about joining in.