All Inclusive Small Group Tour to Ming Tomb and Mutianyu Great Wall from Beijing

This was very poorly done. We went to our first two stops which were ok, and then headed of the wall. We were then told the other van had broken down and so we went back for them. We get back down to the previous stop and the van hadn't broken down, there were tons of police interviewing the driver, and it seemed the other van's driver didn't have the correct license. They were interviewing the passengers from that van and there were quite a few police. This took over an hour. We could only fit 7 more people in our van, and then we went to the great wall. Because of the delay and the lines to get up and down we only had about 40 minutes there (other than waiting in line to get down), which is less time than we spent at the Jade factory. Then because of traffic we were only getting into Beijing 2 hours after the tour was supposed to be over, but we were forced to go to a tea shop and sit though a demonstration. I finally got dropped off about a 15 minute walk from where I was staying 3 hours after the tour was supposed to be complete. Only one group was let off before me, so I'm sure others were 4 hours late getting back. Additionally, this listing says the ride to the top at the wall is included and water is included, but they had us pay for both. 3 of us argued and managed to get the lift refunded after much hassle. Overall, pretty terrible since the reason for the tour is the wall and we got so little time there, because of their use of an improperly licensed driver. The remaining people from the first van waited 2 hours to be picked up and got about 15 minutes at the top of the wall. I followed this link directly from my purchase so I know this is the tour I bought.

The staff were OK, kindly and punctual but after the ming tombs, another bus had a problem. Initially they said that was broke so we should return to pick another people, but the real problem were that the police stop the bus and it seems that the bus driver has not updated licence (maybe not allowed for tourism purpose). After that we were late to great wall, have not enough time to enjoy. We need to pay the water and the cable car that supposedly are included in the tour.

We did this tour on our first day in Beijing after arriving late the night before from Australia. This tour was a great introduction to Beijing and we thoroughly enjoyed it - the driver was amazing (navigating Beijing traffic is not easy!) and our guide was lovely. The Great Wall is spectacular!!! We did stop at a government-run Pearl factory and Tea room, but we were happy to do so - learnt about Pearls and Tea and did not feel pressured to buy anything. The next day we did the Forbidden City and Summer Palace Tour with the same company. Our Guide, Catherine was extremely knowledgeable and we had another wonderful experience in Beijing!