Our tour was very good. We were so pleased to be at the Great Wall at an early time because there was almost no-one else there (8:30-9:00). An hour later and it was full of people. Our photos looked like they were from National Geographic! This was the highlight for us of the day. An amazing experience. Truly wonderful. 

The Jade Factory was very interesting, with a lovely lunch. I would have liked to have lunch with our tour guide to talk more about China, Beijing and the people. Our lady guide at the factory was very nice. Very kind, friendly and knowledgeable. We weren’t hassled to buy and staff left us to look around and answered any questions about the grade of things we looked at.

The Tea House was also interesting but I felt the lady giving the demonstration was trying too hard to sell tea and products. I said no to her several times and yet she persisted. We did buy some things, but she kept pushing to buy something else too. 

The quick stop off at the Birds Nest stadium was a surprise and an inspired decision! Again, a fabulous building and great to see. 

Finally, the Summer Palace. We walked the corridor and I had a lovely conversation with our guide. I would have liked perhaps a further 30 minutes there, but I understand time is tight in just a single day and besides, the Birds Nest was a modern surprise worth seeing. 

Our guide was knowledgeable about the things he showed us, his English was very good (I heard others who were difficult to understand) and he was very patient. I would have liked to exchanged telephone numbers to WhatsApp with him to exchange information about China and our different ways of living, but I don’t know if that would be allowed so I didn’t ask.

I would highly recommend tours with this company and we hope to come back to China for a longer visit, so will certainly book again!