We found Qing’s , Discover Beijing Tours, through TripAdvisor, and unlike many people we contacted, she was friendly and keen to make sure that we had a custom made experience in Beijing. She was prompt with correspondence, flexible and apart from the day when her son accidentally switched off her phone, easy to get hold of!
We planned to spend 2 days in Beijing, arriving at the port of Tianjin on a cruise. Qing arranged for a minibus to collect the four of us from the port, and as we drove into Beijing, we collected Bella who would be our guide for the duration of our stay. Bella was delightful, with excellent English and a great knowledge of the city and its heritage. She adjusted her tour to suit us, so on the first day we started off at Tiananmen Square then moved onto the Forbidden City, and finally the Summer Palace before we were dropped at our hotel. At each stage, Bella explained the history and interesting points about the venues. On the second day we started with a rickshaw (a pedalled version!) ride around some of the older streets in the city, and visited a private house to hear about its history. We then drove to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China (chosen because it is well preserved and not too busy) – we took a shuttle bus to the cable car, at which point Bella left us. We spent two hours on the wall then rejoined her, although we could have stayed for longer had we wanted to. After that, we were driven back to the port.
In all, we had a wonderful time, knew we were in safe and reliable hands, and we would highly recommend Discover Beijing Tours to any visitor to the city.
Florins
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