26 May 2019
A group of three of us booked this tour and were the only ones on it, which was awesome. Miko was our guide for the day, and although we've been on some great tours with GREAT tour guides, Miko was the best guide we've ever had. His English was perfect, and from the very beginning of the tour he was honest and hilarious. He entertained us during the drive to the Wall with stories about himself and about China, and the two hours went by super fast. The route we took once we got to the Wall was 10 km and had a lot of stairs, descents, and some slippery areas in trails away from the part of the Wall we had to bypass because it was still being used by the military. I am a terrible hiker, but Miko was patient, slowed down when I needed to and helped me balance during the super slippery areas. Every difficulty of the terrain was worth it, though, because we were the ONLY people on the Wall until the very end of our trip. It was hot and sunny for our trek, so we had incredible views. Lunch was delicious and it was great to have more time to talk with Miko about life in China. He even helped us set up another private tour for our last day in Beijing, which was so appreciated and made our vacation that much better. We couldn't have asked for a better Great Wall experience with a better guide!