Hello,
Wondering if anyone has has any experience with hiring a guide to the Great Wall from Beijing?
The tour is for 2 adults and one teenager (age 17).
Any help appreciated.
I thank you in advance.
Posted by
Pacific Northwest
2684 posts
This company would be fine: http://www.chinahighlights.com. We only used them for a transfer but they do tours as well and I emailed with them extensively and found them helpful.
Posted by
Medford, OR, USA
5837 posts
Assuming that you are staying at a "Western" hotel, the hotel concierge can arrange for a guide/car service for day trips.
Posted by
US
402 posts
The Great Wall spans many sections.
http://www.chinahighlights.com/greatwall/section/
Most tour operators and visitors will likely go to the sections that have been restored. These sections can look like recently built structures. There you will find swamps of tourists and buses, gift shops and vendors. Find a guide to take you to the less visited sections, and you will be rewarded with a very different experience.
Posted by
Los Angeles
220 posts
I would 100% encouraging hiring a guide. You can do this for around $100usd-200usd (200 being really expensive over there). You want to avoid BaDaLing --- that section of the wall is a tourist trap. Try MuTianYu or JinShanLing. Your driver should wait for you to visit the wall and take you back to Beijing. Pay cash on your return, some require a deposit. If you don't speak Chinese, make sure your person speaks English.
Check out this forum on trip advisor:
Great Wall Mutianyu
Posted by
OP
WA, USA
330 posts
Thank you everyone!
Posted by
Medford, OR, USA
5837 posts
If you visit the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, have your guide book a lunch at the at Xiao Long Pu restaurant below the parking area. Our group lunched at this restaurant, mentioned in the following:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christine-negroni/walk-on-chinas-great-wall_b_1574004.html
...we headed for lunch at Xiao Long Pu — the Dragon Waterfall
restaurant in the town that serves as launching pad for Great Wall
hikers.I didn’t like the donkey meat, but our driver did. The corn cake
dusted with sugar and sprinkles went down fine as did a bottle of beer
big enough to swab down a mighty portion of the wall and still have
enough to float a DC-3. This I found entirely fitting with the mood of
the day.
I don't think we had the donkey meat but he corn cake/fritter was popular with our group and memorable to the extent that the corn fritter is being served in one of the images in my trip photo book.