Review of 1 Day Tour : Great Wall and Ming Tombs by Charles

I did a half-day private tour of the Great Wall and have the highest praise for both ChinaTour.Net and my guide, Cherry. I\'m told my private tour was unique, so you may be interested in the details: I arrived in Beijing on a layover and had only the morning to spend there, with an international flight out at 2:00pm. I contacted four online tour agencies and explained what I wanted, and two of them told me that it wasn\'t possible: not enough time. ChinaTour.Net, however, seemed entirely confident that it wouldn\'t be a problem. They were right, it was not a problem at all. Email communication with ChinaTour.Net was excellent, and everything was arranged well ahead of time. I received a mobile phone call from Cherry the day before I was due to arrive in Beijing, and again at the hotel when I checked in (in addition to a written confirmation). At 5:30am, I met Cherry and an anonymous driver in the lobby of my hotel, and we took off in a plain but well-appointed sedan to the JuYongGuan section of the Great Wall. Cherry pointed out a number of Beijing landmarks as we drove along, with excellent English . . . and by 7:00am, I was standing on the Wall. Terrific! The crowds were already substantial. I spend 2 hours walking up and down, which took me to the very top of that section (Beacon 13) where I enjoyed a flawless view on a flawless sunny day, and virtually no other tourists. Sidebar: I\'ve read online about how sections of the Wall are so terribly crowded, and how visitors should try to visit the sections further away from the city in order to avoid the crowds. My belief is that is not true: the first section of the JuYongGuan Wall, between the entry gate and the first Beacon (#9, I believe), was crazy crowded (and steep). Waiting in line, pushing through people . . . not fun. But like everywhere else, tourists on the Wall are lazy and out-of-shape (lot of cigarette smokers in China!). If you push through the crowds to the upper Beacons, the crowds thin DRAMATICALLY. By Beacon 11, there are no crowds and in fact no tourists at all, really - very rare for anybody to walk up that far. Do it. Totally worth it. By 9:30am we left the Wall. I was totally satisfied with the length and quality of my visit, and would not have chosen to spend much more time there than I did . . . but all I was looking for was some sense of the experience. I achieved that easily in 2 hours of uninterrupted walking and sight-seeing there. Next we drove to a close-local \"Jade museum\" which was really a very large Jade retail store, where I was given almost 40 minutes to walk around and observe . . . this was a little cheesy since it was clearly an attempt to get me to buy jade . . . but as it happened, I needed a gift for my wife and it was easy (and cool) to find a Pandora charm there. Here, again, Cherry proved herself to be a more than capable tour guide. Even though it was only 10:30am, she arranged for us to have a very nice lunch (probably the best Chinese food I\'d enjoyed all week) in the massive, formal dining room upstairs even though it was 90 minutes before the restaurant was supposed to open. Since I\'d been up since 5:00am, I was ready for lunch! Cherry was polished, professional, and accomplished throughout. After lunch we drove directly to the airport for my drop-off (second side-bar: I left all my luggage, including my laptop and passport, in the driver\'s car. When I was standing on the very top of Beacon 13 on the top of the mountain, I did pause to reflect on how isolated and unsupported I was, with all my docs and life in some car, but of course I needn\'t have worried: these guys are truly professionals). I arrived at the airport by 12:30pm, in loads of time to check in, clear security and make my flight, even with horrific Saturday afternoon traffic in the city. All in all, an astonishing deal and value for money at 960 RMB (including the airport drop-off). My highest compliments to Cherry, who distinguished herself as an excellent tour guide: I won\'t hesitate to book my next Beijing holiday/sight-seeing tour with ChinaTour.Net, and I\'ll be asking specifically for Cherry. Thanks!