Great Wall private tour
Jun 10th, 2008, 02:42 PM
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Great Wall private tour
I am going on a Tauck tour that begins in Beijing at 6pm on June 30th. Our flight arrives in Beijing at 1:50 p.m. on Sunday, June 29th. By the time we check into the hotel and get settled, we'll probably just want to opt for an early dinner and get to bed on the early side so that we can get up and do something before meeting the tour the next evening. Tauck will be taking us to Badaling but many people have recommended that we use our time along on the 30th to go to another section of the Wall. If we have to be at the Peninsula Hotel at 6pm, is there enough time to go to another part of the wall in the morning and which part should we go to? We probably would want to leave the hotel around 9 am or so. Can anyone recommend a tour guide to use for this purpose? Is there something we should be doing with this time alone instead? We will be hitting all of the major destinations with Tauck. Thanks!
Jun 11th, 2008, 01:25 AM
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The message above is, of course, spam from a Chinese tour operator, and one trusts the poster will be banned.
With a whole day to yourself you have plenty of options for getting to various sections of the Wall, and certainly no need of an overpriced tour to get there, even on a Monday (ordinary Chinese bus tours run to many sites weekends only).
The easiest option of all would be Juyong Guan, a little nearer than Ba Da Ling, and easily reached on an express aircon bus from Desheng Men, in about an hour for about (I'm overseas and don't have the prices in front of me) ¥12 each way. Not being on a tour you can spend just as long as you like there, do whatever you like, and not have utter nonsense about the history of the Wall poured in your ear by your 'guide' (but can read the same material on English signs if you really want to).
At Juyong Guan the completely rebuilt Wall (as all the popular sites are) swoops down one side of a steep valley and up the other, and if you make the climb in either direction there's some ridge-top walking and excellent views. Desheng Men is on the north Second Ring Road, less than ten minutes' walk east of the Ji Shui Tan metro station. On the east side of the Desheng Men (a gate remnant of the city wall) you take the 919, which leaves every ten minutes or so. There are several variants of this bus, but you just need to have the characters for Juyong Guan (居庸关) to wave at the conductors and they'll make sure you are on the right one.
You can also arrange for a taxi to take you to other relatively nearby sites, such as Simatai, around ¥350, or even to more interesting and less repaired sites such as Panlong Shan (around ¥400), reached in a little under three hours.
Peter N-H
With a whole day to yourself you have plenty of options for getting to various sections of the Wall, and certainly no need of an overpriced tour to get there, even on a Monday (ordinary Chinese bus tours run to many sites weekends only).
The easiest option of all would be Juyong Guan, a little nearer than Ba Da Ling, and easily reached on an express aircon bus from Desheng Men, in about an hour for about (I'm overseas and don't have the prices in front of me) ¥12 each way. Not being on a tour you can spend just as long as you like there, do whatever you like, and not have utter nonsense about the history of the Wall poured in your ear by your 'guide' (but can read the same material on English signs if you really want to).
At Juyong Guan the completely rebuilt Wall (as all the popular sites are) swoops down one side of a steep valley and up the other, and if you make the climb in either direction there's some ridge-top walking and excellent views. Desheng Men is on the north Second Ring Road, less than ten minutes' walk east of the Ji Shui Tan metro station. On the east side of the Desheng Men (a gate remnant of the city wall) you take the 919, which leaves every ten minutes or so. There are several variants of this bus, but you just need to have the characters for Juyong Guan (居庸关) to wave at the conductors and they'll make sure you are on the right one.
You can also arrange for a taxi to take you to other relatively nearby sites, such as Simatai, around ¥350, or even to more interesting and less repaired sites such as Panlong Shan (around ¥400), reached in a little under three hours.
Peter N-H
Jun 11th, 2008, 02:01 PM
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Thanks! I definitely will ignore the post from the tour operator and follow your advice instead. How difficult are the buses to navigate given that we will have been in China less than 24 hours at that point? I'm thinking that it might make sense to hire a taxi to take us. Is this something I can arrange on that morning? Is it difficult to find a taxi to take us? If we opt to be adventurous (I'm certainly up for it but I will be with my parents who are less well traveled and might be a bit nervous about this suggestion), how often do the buses run?
Jun 11th, 2008, 05:26 PM
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While waiting for Peter to reply, my 2c worth: getting a taxi to take you anywhere within reason at short notice is no problem at all in Beijing.
As your chance of getting an English-speaking driver will be on par with winning the lottery* I'd ask your hotel concierge or front desk to make the arrangements, and ask for a larger model car. (Sorry, it's been 3 years since we were there, so I don't know what they're using now. They were nearly all VWs at that time, some being newer, a bit bigger and a little more expensive than the others. But you don't need a limo, of course).
You'll need to know exactly where you're going (obviously) and how long you'd want the driver to wait for you. Obtain a firm price and agreement to pay on conclusion of the trip. We found Beijing cabbies to be pretty good.
* I've read that the Beijing authorities are giving cabbies crash courses in English. Such a plan strikes me as almost certainly doomed and worse than useless. We had few problems getting anywhere in Beijing as long as we carried the name of our destination written in Chinese (characters) and/or a city tourist map to point to. Except for one experience with an unlicenced cab (my silly fault) we found Beijing cabbies to be efficient, cheerful and honest.
BTW - it's always a good idea to save the printed receipt the driver should give you, just in case you leave a valuable in the car. If you negotiate a price in advance you probably won't get a receipt, so I'd write down the cab/driver number, which will be affixed to the dashboard.
As your chance of getting an English-speaking driver will be on par with winning the lottery* I'd ask your hotel concierge or front desk to make the arrangements, and ask for a larger model car. (Sorry, it's been 3 years since we were there, so I don't know what they're using now. They were nearly all VWs at that time, some being newer, a bit bigger and a little more expensive than the others. But you don't need a limo, of course).
You'll need to know exactly where you're going (obviously) and how long you'd want the driver to wait for you. Obtain a firm price and agreement to pay on conclusion of the trip. We found Beijing cabbies to be pretty good.
* I've read that the Beijing authorities are giving cabbies crash courses in English. Such a plan strikes me as almost certainly doomed and worse than useless. We had few problems getting anywhere in Beijing as long as we carried the name of our destination written in Chinese (characters) and/or a city tourist map to point to. Except for one experience with an unlicenced cab (my silly fault) we found Beijing cabbies to be efficient, cheerful and honest.
BTW - it's always a good idea to save the printed receipt the driver should give you, just in case you leave a valuable in the car. If you negotiate a price in advance you probably won't get a receipt, so I'd write down the cab/driver number, which will be affixed to the dashboard.
Jun 12th, 2008, 01:48 AM
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If you're talking about Juyong Guan the bus is the *less* adventurous option (and will cost you less than one quarter of the taxi price without the need to bargain).
As mentioned, all you need to do is go to the bus stop and wave around the characters for your destination just to make sure you get the right version of 919.
Message above should have read Mutianyu for ¥350 (Simatai is further). Arranging a taxi same day will involve stopping a few and haggling, using characters written down. Pay only on return.
Taking a hotel car may be easier, but will cost two to four times the price.
Peter N-H
As mentioned, all you need to do is go to the bus stop and wave around the characters for your destination just to make sure you get the right version of 919.
Message above should have read Mutianyu for ¥350 (Simatai is further). Arranging a taxi same day will involve stopping a few and haggling, using characters written down. Pay only on return.
Taking a hotel car may be easier, but will cost two to four times the price.
Peter N-H
Jun 12th, 2008, 03:25 PM
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yes,Badaling section is more tousity.Penisular concierge do the tour,but their quote always very high.last time,my clients asked a drop off at the airport,the charge 800yuan for 4.
just do a serch konglin,you will find many comments about his service.
just do a serch konglin,you will find many comments about his service.
Jun 12th, 2008, 03:50 PM
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Peter, perhaps naively I imagined that getting the hotel doorman to pull a cab off the rank and agree a price wouldn't involve a big premium. But if it's anything like the hotel-booked airport transfer racket I'd be dead wrong.
