15 May 2019
We had an outstanding hiking tour with our guide David Liu from China Adventure Travel. David and his driver picked us up from our hotel in Beijing and drove us to the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall, a little over 2 hours drive including a bathroom stop. The overall hike was about 4 miles including climbing the stairs/trail to get up to the Great Wall and the walk down. We had a beautiful sunny day in May and David really made the experience fun and comfortable. He speaks English well, and is also a good photographer, as we stopped many times so that he could take our photo during the hike. David provided a lot of very interesting information about the Great Wall and China in general. He is a native of Beijing and has been a tour guide for over 10 years so he knows what he is talking about. We spent about 3 hours total hiking the 4 miles, so it was a very relaxed pace with several stops for photos, rest, water, or snacks along the way. At the end, we went to a local farmer's guest house where they prepared us a great meal with local Beijing food. It was honestly one of the best meals we have had during our 2 week China vacation. The Great Wall of China is something that I have always wanted to see and I was not disappointed. Definitely the highlight of our trip. Thank you to David from China Adventure Travel for making it such a wonderful, memorable experience!