Obviously, the sites we visited were amazing, however a few notes of caution. We had three shopping stops which, in our opinion, took time away from seeing the historical sites. We could have done without so much time at the Silk and Oyster shops, and more time seeing the Summer Palace. Our guide, Cherry, was okay, but we've had better English speaking guides on this trip. Overall, you must see these very important sites while in Beijing.
Review by: Sunil D, May 2018
Great tour, specially when you have a short stay in the city
Review by: GP Tours, May 2018
Cheryl was my guide for this tour. She was engaging and knowledgeable. She was also great at keeping her group together and getting us ahead when possible. Having gone to the Fobidden city, the day prior, I initially thought I wouldnt want to see it again but Cheryl used the side walkways and corridors to show us the site. This made for better pictures and less interruption. She also gave great advise on how to improve your photos..She always offered to take photos of you at the various sites. Cheryl kept a tight schedule and even when I had a mishap at the Temple of Heaven I was unable to regain entry to the courtyard all hampered by the language barrier she made sure that I was comfortable.. At the Summer palace we opted to utilize the boats at an additional cost and that was a great addition. _br/_ It was a lovely day which culminated with shopping for pearls and silk. A lovely day with a great guide
Review by: Michael M, May 2018
perfect
Review by: chocolatelinda3, April 2018
Not recommended. The tour stopped at two sales stops, which were not on the agenda we signed up for. Because of the significant time spent at these stops, we were rushed through the stops we did pay for. The additional stops were silk museum, and traditional medicine, which was incredibly high pressured to buy hundreds of dollars worth. So high pressured, it was very uncomfortable. It was around 90 minutes for these sales stops, plus any additional driving time to get there. Leaving us only 1 hour at the Summer Palace, which we were left by ourselves to walk around. Look into other tours groups, and ask before booking how much time is spent on extra stops.
Review by: Crystal B, April 2018
It was a beautiful clear day. I was lucky and there was only three other people on my tour. It was nice to have a small group because it felt more personalized. We went to four locations plus a silk shop and pearl shop. With so many places to go I would have suggested we skipped both of the shops and spent more time on the historic spots. Maria was our guide and she was awesome. Very attentive and informative.
Review by: ROTEM S, March 2018
Beautiful attractions and a way to see a lot within a short time. Too much time spent in pressure shopping in partner shops. More time should be spent in the attractions. We had a knowledgeable and funny guide - Jackie, though sometimes we were not sure if he is laughing with us or at us. Biggest disppointment was that our return bus was merged with a different group, which made the trip longer for us but shorter for the guide. The excuse was that the bus needs fixing, but the same bus and driver arrived the day later for the next tour with no problems. It was an obvious lie, they just wanted to go home quickly and didn't feel like going through traffic to drop us off.
Review by: William B, March 2018
okay tour, saw everything I wanted to see, but felt very rushed. wanted to spend more time in areas, but was told we didn't have enough time, but we had time to go shopping?? we felt like we should have spent more time at the temples we paid to see not going shopping. that was a huge let down..
Review by: Excursions, March 2018
Amidst all the pollution and political overtones, the tour was actually quite fascinating. Tiananmen Square was cordoned off due to a passing of a presidential constituion, but we can see it from the Forbidden City. Alice, our tour operator was wonderful and very knowledgeable and spoke English well. it was a full day of walking thru the Square, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven. We also had a nice lunch in town before heading to the Summer Palace. We were also treated with a complementary foot massage at the Chinese Medical Center just leave a tip. We also did a side trip to the Silk factory, where we were shown where silk came from and you may choose from a variety of silk merchandise for sale. All in all, it was a great tour and is highly recommended.
Review by: bkilmarx, March 2018
This was one of the worst tours I have ever gone on. We were rushed through the sites, had countless photos of ourselves taken when they were not wanted, and wasted an enormous amount of time at a silk shop, a pearl shop, and a traditional medicine shop where they wanted me to spend 225 on traditional medicines. And, the tour guide kept patting on the back and letting me know how old I am. Do any tour but this one.
Review by: Shannon J. H, March 2018
The square was closed due to parliament reelection but otherwise good tour. The only think the 2 selling tours where bad. Good driver
Review by: Lili, February 2018
Tour guide was very good and knowledgeable. Made the experience very worthwhile. Felt that we were going back in time and experiencing life in the Forbidden City. Well done! Ask why the lions at the entrance of the Emperors Palace have floppy ears pointing down?
Review by: elgingreen, February 2018
William, our guide was excellent. Good English. Knowledgeable. Genuine. _br/_ Because of a cancellation, we were the only two on the tour, which made it special and very personable. _br/_ HOWEVER, there were two problems:_br/_ 1. The first stop was supposedly Tirn’enmen Square, but we didn’t actually go on the Square. We saw it from across the street! It should NOT have been listed on the itinerary. (I went back on my own later. It was quick and easy. It should have been done as advertised.)_br/_ 2. Two undisclosed high pressure ”shopping” stops. They were pitched as educational. The first was “We’re going to show you how they produce all the wonderful silk and silk products that China is known for. It was three minutes of silk worms and the process, then 20 mins of how to buy our silk products in our showroom. The second was pitched as “learn about traditional Chinese Medicine”. The “Doctor” gave a 30-second exam consisting of taking my pulse and looking at my palm, declaring that their expensive natural meds would cure ailments that I didn’t even have. While the “exam” was going on we were treated to a foot soak and foot massage. But when it was finished, they each wanted a tip. I said NO. It was totally a scam and I complained to William. He also seemed truly surprised by this new foot massage-for-a-tip thing and told the masseurs to get lost. He apologized to us. _br/_ Our guide was great, but seemed to be constrained by the company to include the (non)optional stops.
Review by: Kevin D, January 2018
Was part of a small group of 4. Our tour guide was spoke good english and was very informative. She even happily took photos of us so we didn't have to rely on selfies the entire time. Unfortunately, when we were at the Forbidden City there was a foreign political visitor that basically shutdown the city for a private tour...as a result our tour of the place was cut short due to limited access.
Review by: Ann G, January 2018
Cynthia was a well informed and really helpful guide. She took lots of photos of us and was great at explaining things.
Review by: Jason Edward L, January 2018
Surprise Visits to Tourist Traps and Hidden Expenses
Review by: Douglas G, January 2018
Michael was our tour guide for the day, a nice young man who spoke good English. There were only four others on the tour which made it nice. The van left something to behold standard shift in very heavy traffic so constant stopping and shifting but not bad. _br/_ On the way to our first stop we had plenty of time due to heavy traffic never ending so it took a while to get to Tienanmen Square, our first stop. But there was no overall commentary about Beijing itself, its history, current facts or layout. No commentary until we got to Tienanmen Square followed by the Forbidden City. Some background on Beijing would have been nice. Once there Michael was very knowledgeable and especially in the Forbidden City where he stopped at several spots and made comments. _br/_ Unfortunately as walked to the van to drive to the next stop my wife tripped trying to get out of the way of a scooter, fell and broke her arm so we had to leave the tour. Long story short it was a real challenge figuring out where to go and how to get help. Although we didn't expect the guide to stop the tour we thought he could have been much more helpful in where a hospital was etc. We ended up taking a cab to the hotel and then got help as to what to do..
Review by: rosaleen a, December 2017
This is a good trip, though be prepared for a lot of walking._br/_ Our main issue was with the visits to local businesses selling e.g silk, tea and pearls. Beware of extortionate prices around 400 higher on two items we bought elsewhere and the tour guide trying to us sell as they get commission._br/_ We felt like targets to be ripped off rather than paying guests to be respected.
Review by: Veronica K, December 2017
I took this trip with my 7yo son. He's not into lengthy explanations or history at the moment, so this whirlwind tour was great. Just the right amount of exposure to each site. If you want to spend more time at each of these fascinating locations, it would be better not to pack all 4 sites into one day. We also had a great guide, Gale. She was very knowledgeable and was able to provide answers to all our questions. We also had a nice driver, Mr An.
Review by: Alex Joseph F, December 2017
We had a great experience. The other people who were supposed to be with us cancelled so it was basically a private tour. Our guide was very informative and spoke great English. Very convenient with hotel pick-up and drop-off, avoid all lines and makes the entire experience awesome and easy. Highly recommend and great value!
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