Private Great Wall Hiking Tour From Simatai West To Jinshanling

My guide, Neal, was knowledgeable and friendly. The driver knew the streets of Beijing like the back of his hand and was an experience driver. I had a great experience.

We had such a great experience seeing the Great Wall on this tour. It is so worth the extra drive to go to this part of the Wall if you want no crowds and unobstructed, spectacular views! Lisa and the driver picked us up at our hotel and we had a comfortable drive out to this section. Lisa was very knowledgeable about the history of the Great Wall and led us on a great hike across the watch towers. The views were amazing! There is a bit of climbing if you want to go to the highest watch tower but you can choose easier route as well. We saw only 10-15 people on entire hike plus you get to see unrestored sections which was very interesting. After our hike, Lisa took us to a local restaurant where we had our best meal so far. The restaurant owner was very kind and let me into the kitchen so I could watch. Best homemade tofu we’ve ever eaten! On the way home, we saw a photo from the more popular section of the wall from that day and it was a sea of people! Do yourself a favor and book this tour!! We are very grateful to Lisa and our driver for this amazing experience. On the way home, as an extra bonus, we even did a short tour of the hutong district.

It was our final trip on this journey to China and it was definitelly one of the best trips I ever had. Our tour guide Bob took us to a more rural area of the Great Wall to start our trip. We started at a little hiking village and went up the wall by a hiking path to arrive at a partially destroid part of the Great Wall - it was an impressive view and one to behold. For the next hours we walked over this old part of the wall which was mostly bare of any other people; only ocotionally we met another pair hikers on our path. Further and further we went on top and and along the wall to finally make our way to the renovated part for our final descending to our pick-up spot. For every view and and every questions we had, Bob had an interesting and informative answer; we enjoyed our time with him and learned a lot about Chinese history and culture.

No matter how many photos you have seen, to go up there and spend a few hours walking along the wall trying to take in the enormity of it is an amazing experience. Guide Bob Chen and the driver made sure the whole day was interesting, efficient and well organized. The lunch we had near the wall was also some of the best I had in my 5 days in China. Highly recommended! : )

If you like hiking, this is a wonderful way to see the great wall. There were only three of us on the trip (I think the maximum would have been 5) and we literally had the wall all to ourselves at the start of the hike. Our guide Dewit was very enthusiastic. He brought us all snicker bars as snacks and him and the driver provided us with frozen water bottles which they kept in the cooler as it was a hot day! Great day out and a much quieter area of the wall, highly recommend it.

Great tour. Bob our guide was great. Very informative and nice. He takes great pictures and knows the best places to stop for the best views of the wall. Would recommend to anyone who wants to see the Great Wall.

Bob Chen and driver picked me up at my Beijing hotel for the daytrip to Jinshanling portion of the Great Wall. The booking indicated that it would be 90 minutes or a 2 hour drive to this portion of the wall, but due to Beijing traffic, it was longer. No sweat, Bob has a lot of history and stories about Beijing and the Great Wall. The booking also indicated that it would be a small group of 5 guests ... but it was just me. Private tour, which was excellent. What I didn't fully comprehend was how vigorous this tour would be. I'm in decent shape, but the 1500 stairs required to get from the parking lot to the wall itself was vigorous. Then, we hiked on the wall for a couple of hours before an excellent lunch at a local spot. Unlike Badaling, this part of the wall had only a few visitors (maybe because of the high heat and humidity). Bob was an excellent tour guide. He also brought a snack and extra water - which was needed due to the conditions. It was a memorable once-in-a-lifetime kind of excursion.

We couldn't have enjoyed our day with Alex more than we did! He and his driver picked us up from our hotel and Alex spent the drive to the Wall telling us many interesting facts about the history. Once we arrived, we really enjoyed our hike. ALex made it fun and fascinating. We would definitely do it again!

It is a great visit of great wall. Not overcrowded. Many times we were alone on the great wall. The guide Bob Chen was Věry helful And friendly.

Many people from all over the world think someday they would like to see the Great Wall of China. I was one of them, and at age 65( retired male firefighter) I decided this would be the year. But where to start, first of all i had never traveled to Asia and had only traveled without my wife once in 15 years of marriage( I think fear of the unknown made her not want to make this trip) I myself was filled with fear of the unknown, I began to research what i needed to know, 1. I needed a visa to enter China 2. I needed to have a itinerary in order to get the visa. Once I decided what days and what hotel i would stay at, I looked at ways to see the Great Wall( as well as the Forbidden City) one year on a trip to Barcelona i discovered tripadvisor reviews and found a highly rated tour guide, booked a tour for five people and everyone enjoyed it, so for my China tours i went straight to trip advisor( yes i still had concerns about the reviews i was reading being legit) Reviews read concerns and fear still present I took a leap of faith and booked with the Trippest tours. Correspondence with them from home was easy which helped alleviate my fears. The day before my scheduled tour I received a text from Bob Chen while at the hotel( I only had phone service over wifi, which was another story all together) Bob Chen my tour guide let me know that we would be meeting in my hotel lobby the next morning at 7am(smile from me, my Great Wall tour was going to happen.) I met Bob the next morning and after a warm greeting he escorted me outside to our car and it's driver, Bob informed me we would be picking up one more person before leaving Beijing. It was a really nice ride to the mountains and on the way Bob gave us so much information and history it was a real plus. The date of my tour was 20 May 2019 the weather was extremely nice and it was a windy day.Full disclosure as a 65 year old I initially questioned my decision to take the hiking tour when we started taking the stairs up to reach the wall( Bob and the other tourist we both in their 30's) but I persevered got my second wind and after reaching the wall I was completely driven by the experience of just being there. As in the ride on the way there Bob gave us information and history as well as some good stories. Half way we stopped to take a break and have some snacks that were provided to us. I sure each person experience will be different but if you get Bob as your guide I'm sure it will be a great one. There as restrooms along the way but plan your drinking accordingly if you'er and older male like me.At the end of the hike we we treated to a really nice lunch( me being a lacto-ovo vegetarian) really great vegetables and tofu for me and meat choices for everyone else.They even had really good wifi there. I could go on about my experience but i sure my writing is getting boring. I"ll finish by saying I don't think you will have any regets picking Trippest Tour Group and if you are lucky enough to get Bob Chen as your guide you will have one of the best guides available he will help leave you with many memories. Enjoy the Great Wall.

Although farer from the other typical locations, the Jinshanling section of the wall was ideal since there were very few visitors and we could really enjoy the wall for ourselves. The pick-up and travel were great, in a very comfortable car. The guide, Colin, was superb: very kind, competent, and careful, and he could speak very good english. I could not have dreamt a more beautiful experience on the wall.

Jin was the best tour guide ever, he prepared our Moment carefuly and made this moment very spetial. 100% recomendable!!!

" Micky from China Highlights you were really great in your timely response and assistance in getting our tours organised on the go. Even though our requirement came to you at the last minute, you did your absolute best to accommodate us and give us the best service possible (tour costs could have been a bit less :)) However, both my friends and I are very happy with the overall service provided by you and your team members. All the guides ( Colin, Catherine, Cactus and Allen) were fantastic and did their best to assist us. I would highly recommend you and your company to my friends for their future travel to China. Thanks once again for making our trip a very memorable one." Good Luck.

We organized a multi-city tour with China Highlights starting with three days in Beijing. Our Beijing tour guide Jimmy was exceptional. We were warmly greeted at the airport and Jimmy provided information about the area and history throughout the drive to our hotel in City Center. The next morning, Jimmy gave us good historical and cultural tours of Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City including gardens, and Heavenly Temple. The following day we drove about 2 hours to hike on the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall. He told us that was one of the most scenic portions of the wall and he was right. We hiked up to the ridge top to get on the wall and had fantastic views the entire time. Even better, we basically had the wall to ourselves during the first 3 km. That evening when we were dropped off at our hotel, Jimmy recommended a pedestrian market near out hotel that we might enjoy – we did. On our last day in Beijing we toured the Summer Palace and learned about the colorful history of Empress Dowager Cixi. It is a pretty place with lake with interesting history. After a good lunch Jimmy helped us to catch the train to Xian. Jimmy was well informed, commands strong English, and was very helpful with our logistics and interests. He helped us make the most out of our time in Beijing and made a new friend.

China Highlights, under Ruby Zhao's direction, was an absolutely wonderful experience. My son and I arrived Beijing in October, which turned out to be a beautiful time of year to visit - and were met at the airport by Ruth Zhang. I've traveled a lot over these past 70 years, but have never known a guide who approached her job with such enthusiasm and dedication. Ruth was not only our guide, she was our travel companion - not only was she informative, she was fun! Full of energy, knowledge, and suggestions. It would not have been the same delightful experience without her. Together we toured Tiananmen Square and discovered the Forbidden City, had tea at the Laoshe Teahouse, hiked the Mutianyu Great Wall, explored the Gubei Water Town at night, walked the candle lit Simatai Section of Great Wall and finally spent much of our third day hiking the Jinshanling section to Simatai West. We were about the only 3 people hiking there that day (perhaps going to the wall after the Chinese National Day is the perfect time of year to go, both for the weather and for the crowds). Ruth then traveled back with us to Beijing and helped us find our train to Xian. If you go to China, go through China Highlights (and request Ruth as your guide).