Walking the Great Wall

This trip was a brilliant time; every day you're walking on the Great Wall of China, mostly in areas with few other tourists and amazing views. The weather was kind to us so the panoramas are spectacular. Our tour leader Stone was so organised and an incredible help in a country where most locals don't speak English (my Mandarin isn't too good either), and the food and hospitality at the local guesthouses was great too. Accommodation was better than expected having been described as basic!

A great hiking holiday walking different parts of the Great wall, from fully restored to original bricks. A mixture of tourist areas and wilderness.

What a fab 10 days!! Great walking, excellent guide, fab food ..

Walking was moderate to challenging in places for some people, the very fit may have found the pace slowed down a bit but more time to take in the views! The less walked sections were the best and we met very few other people unlike the more tourist sections but it didn't feel too over crowded in May. The guest houses were mainly better than we had anticipated, all were clean and the hosts were exceptionally welcoming and the food was plentiful.

The Great Wall is even more mind-blowing than in your imagination and doing this fantastic trip at the end of October is a great time to see it. We had beautiful autumn colours, with pleasant, warm days and slightly cooler mornings and evenings, and it's not crowded with visitors. It's suitable for people who are fit and enjoy walking, but it's most definitely not a trek, so if that's your thing you may not enjoy it as much as we did. You get to visit different parts of the wall - from the restored and more touristy, to completely wild and unrestored and we appreciated seeing these different facets. The toboggan at Mutianyou is a hoot so it's well worth giving yourself time to fit that in. The food was good quality and varied (though see below if you're veggie).The hotel in Beijing (Golden Sun Commercial Hotel) was very nice; a little away from the city centre but we enjoyed wandering the local hutongs, parks and temples and we easily got into town via the subway (Guang'anmennei station is an easy walk from the hotel).

Excellent trip from beginning to end and thoroughly recommend it. This was my third Exodus trip and I can not recommend Exodus enough as a travel company!

Another well organised and memorable trip by Exodus. Varied activity and ran very smoothly including transport, accommodation and food. Guide very knowledgeable and passionate about his country. Would definitely recommend.

Fantastic holiday walking the Great Wall .... great group leader and lovely group of people. We both found The Wall absolutely amazing and China is such an interesting country to visit. Would love to go back to visit another part.

An excellent overall experience, really enjoyed the walking, especially the less touristy parts of the wall. The hotel rooms in Beijing and Xi'an were looking a little tired but, they were clean with comfortable beds and good showers. The homesteads were fine with very welcoming hosts. The food overall was very good, although breakfast was a little limited if you like your traditional "English" style to start the day.

Walking the Great Wall in the less touristy sections (in fact almost no other people at all) together with the Xi'an extension to see the Terracotta Warriors surpassed my expectations. It also opened my eyes to a whole new positive side of China that my preconceived ideas had not imagined. A wide range of walking from the flat in Beijing to the undulating and steep on the Wall, on even paths to shingle and scrambling. Delicious food throughout, far superior and less salty than in the UK and friendly, curious locals. Topped off by an absolutely superb Leader/Guide Jerry, whose infectious enthusiasm, wide knowledge of all things Chinese, sense of humour and ability to tell jokes in English made for a truly memorable experience.

Fabulous trip but, as with all Exodus holidays, the success is dependent on the tour guide. We had Jerry and he was faaaantastic! What a guy! Knowledgeable, committed and with a wonderful sense of humour. Thank you Jerry - you made the trip gloriously memorable.

Walking the great Wall of China is invariably on lots of Intrepid travellers wish lists or objectives - simply just do it. You will not regret making the decision. If you have not been to China before it is both an introduction to the country (especially Beijing) and walking one of the most documented locations in the world. The majority of the meals are inclusive but this is a bonus as it includes both restaurants in Beijing and and more authentic Chinese cuisine in the Home stays. I do not think I will not bother with a Chinese restaurant again in the UK.

I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the trip. The scenery - the wall and the surrounding mountains - was stunning and constantly changing. The weather was perfect with mostly warm sunny days with cool evenings. Everywhere we stayed from good quality hotels to basic rural homestays provided great food and hospitality. Our group leader, Jerry, was excellent and I felt very lucky to be away with such a lovely group of fellow travellers. Finally and perhaps most importantly the Chinese people I met were warm, welcoming, interesting as well as curious about us and almost without exception delightful.

Space, and the (temporary) frontier abound provided that you go boldly, up, more up, and even more up; cast aside fears of teeming hordes, and remember, the people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history. At times, you become the 'attraction' - videoconferencing a chap's wife on her drive home so she could practice her English (at the top of the Wall, naturally). That was a first. High fiving hundreds of school kids, while teachers convulsed with laughter (on the wall too), in a society where physical contact is not a thing, also a first. Underpinning it all, a long past with, to quote a fellow traveller, "zero history of democracy". And the kittens really do want their fluffy tummies tickled, oh yes they do.