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

Took a 1 Day Tour : Great Wall and Ming Tombs. Nice tour, but be advised that it also includes visiting a Jade factory and a tea house I had read some of the bad reviews on tripadvisor, and was a little worried how things would go on. In the end i would say that everything was ok. Kathy, my guide, contacted me the day before by SMS and we setup the pickup time. Me and wife joined a small group (6 people total). We first visited the Ming tombs; on the way, and on the site, Kathy told us about the history of the place, and seemed committed at her job. After that we went to the Jade factory; we did small tour on the shop, but no one tried to force us to buy anithing. Lunch was served on the restaurant upstairs; the food was nice, and in plenty of quantity for 6 people. After that we went to visit the Great Wall. Here was the part that i disliked. On the way, Kathy, told us that we had two options: access the wall on foot or use the cable car. The other two couples want to use the cable car (not included in the price), so we had to agree with them. In the end i felt it was a good option (the wall is steep!), but i felt that i didn't really had a option. I would advise Chinatour.net to try to allow people to trully make an option, even if it means that there has to be two stops (according to the option there is a diferent entrance, and they are not so close), or make people choose during the booking process and group them together. Our guide went with us to the top, but after that she left us alone. For me this was great, and i was able to enjoy the spot my own way. On our way back to the city with did a small stop in a the tea house (Dr. Tea) and saw a Tea demonstration, where they served several kinds of tea. It was nice. In the end they tried to convince us to buy something, but if you don't want you just say no. Prices seemed a little up.