One-Day Tour of Gubei Water Town, Beijing

My trip with guide Ian was fulfilling and enjoyable. Since it was Labor Day weekend, the bus was completely full, and there were many Korean groups. He explained in English and Chinese, so I focused on learning history as if I were taking a listening test. If you come to Beijing, you must take the Gubei Water Town tour. It's truly vast, unique, and every spot is a photo opportunity. I was also surprised by how massive the Great Wall was when we went up by cable car. I was worried I'd only see the backs of people's heads due to the Labor Day holiday, but it was actually great because there weren't many people, perhaps due to the rain and cold. It's a place you can thoroughly enjoy even without a Korean-speaking guide.

Christina is a very detailed and helpful guide. she explains everything in both English and Mandarin with clear instructions and even went to each families to check on their preferences on the itinerary. she also shared valuable knowledge on China history. All in all, trip is well excuted and planned with minimal delays on logistics. we are blessed to have Christina as our guide. Highly recommended

Roberta, the tour guide was very knowledgeable. she’s very helpful and pleasant to communicate with. Since we already toured the Great Wall in Mutianyu, on this package we chose to get the Hotsprings to relax our body after yesterday’s hike.Plenty of time to explore the Water Town during the day and in the evening the park will Lights Up at 5:30pm! Amazing 10 minute Fountain Show that would end up the tour. I highly recommend this tour.

We had hiccup at Guomao subway station to find the F exit gathering point. Ended up we took DiDi to catch up at another meet up point. It was a free and easy tour once we reached Gubei Town. We strolled around the town, climbed up Gubei Church to see sunset and hike Simitai Great Wall in the evening. The view was spectacular. It ended with drone presentation.

100% recommended. the guide will explain in both english and mandarin. the price does not include the boat from the entrance to the other side of the town for RMB 120, one way only. also, if you want to use cablecar to the great wall post 7, need to pay for the RMB 150, round trip, i advise you to buy this because the view from post 5-8 are truly great wall. although you can also walk or hike from the town to the post 2, then hiking, truly hiking to at least post 5 then go down again. just get the cablecar, its worth it. the guide will also sell water before drop off, if you are not bringing enough water especially when you are going to hike, buy it, the water in the town is truly double the price.

It is recommended to directly buy "Water Town Ticket + Tour Guide + Round Trip Car to the City and Ancient Town + Day Tour of the Great Wall + Round Trip Cable Car". We originally bought the Night Tour of the Great Wall, but on the day of the tour the tour guide told us that the Night Tour of the Great Wall is open at 6:00, and everyone must gather at 7:30 to watch the drone show, so even if we take the cable car to the Great Wall, there is not enough time to visit. Apart from this accident, the tour guide was great. Knowing that we bought the Night Tour of the Great Wall, he also actively helped us coordinate with the third party. If you are elderly, you should buy a round-trip cable car to the Great Wall, which can save you a lot of time and be less tired. The ancient town and Simatai Great Wall are really worth a visit. They are my favorite places in my entire trip to Beijing, but in fact, one day is enough. If you have limited time, you don’t need to stay overnight. You can also go back and forth on the same day.

Highly recommended if you want to see the original Great Wall. Do note that the sides of the walkway is really low (lower than knee height) so stay safe ✌️

Laid back tourist destination, I'm glad I booked this tour in short notice. However this package does nit include simatai entrance. you might consider adding it in the future!

Was a nice day trip but felt that we didn't have enough time to spend at the water town. By the time we started lunch it was around 1pm and by the time we finished, it was almost 3pm. Would have been better if we started the day earlier than 9.30am, although we are grateful not having to wake up too early haha quite conflicted. It was pretty cold while we waited for the sun to set on the top of the tower (it was early April when we were there). Also a rush up and down as we wanted to catch the water show. Didn't manage to wait till the end of the show and had to take the shuttle back to the square to catch our bus back. Note that the shuttle bus is a separate cost, children and adults alike 10 yuan each. Also, the hot pot lunch is excluded but you can buy on the bus at 80yuan/pax (the photo shows the meal for 2 adults, so 160 yuan). There's also an add on for (half) boat ride (to the middle of town) is 80yuan/adult and 40yuan/child but our guide refunded us as there was a queue.

To avoid commuting to Gubei and Simatai Great Wall, we took this tours so everything will go smoothly and it did. Despite the fact that there was no pick up from our lication directly, it was easy to look for the meeting point. The tour guide Lulu was friendly and spoke understandable English. She guided us well and informed us of things we need to do to maximize our trip. The tour has an optional hotpot meal you can avail when Lulu opens about it during the bus ride to Gubei Town. The experience was good and we had a great, fun time.