Reviews

Your Words – We tell it like it is! Holiday Reviews by previous Exodus travellers

Here at Exodus we thrive on feedback from our customers. It’s the only way we can ensure our trips continue to be the best they can be. So, for the real tales, twists and turns of the trip you’re interested in, look no further than the reviews from our previous travellers.

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127 Reviews

4.6 out of 5

Davina Farrer

Reviewed June 2024

Amazing views of the Great Wall of China

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

Most Inspirational Moment

The best days were the 2 days along the Jingshanling and Gubeikou sections as it was challenging, wild and beautiful, and across 2 dynasties

Thoughts on Group Leader

Group Leader, Jerry, was very knowledgeable and informative, with a great sense of humour too. He organised the group well, and matched our expectations of accommodation through the holiday

Advice for Potential Travellers

This is a great trip for those who like walking, be it challenging in places, and appreciating the views whilst being in one of the 7 wonders. For those who struggle with vertigo they need to consider that sometimes there are high narrow paths in places

Donald Moffatt

Reviewed June 2024

Walking the Great Wall

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

Most Inspirational Moment

Many of them, but knowing you are walking on history was a blast

Thoughts on Group Leader

Gerry was fantastic - informative and nothing too much trouble

Advice for Potential Travellers

It's in no way moderate to challenging. Moderate does not apply - rate it higher

Kathleen Goodey

Reviewed June 2024

Amazing Views and Fantastic Guide

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.

Most Inspirational Moment

First glimpse of the wall when away from the tourist section - the views were endless. Climbing the spider man wall and some of the tougher sections that needed scrambling and a head for heights!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our guide Jerry did an amazing job. He looked after all of us ; we were quite a mixed bunch of ages, backgrounds and fitness levels but he clearly wanted to make sure everyone had a good time, kept us safe and gave lots of insight into life in China for ordinary people as well as covering the historical story of the wall and the Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Enjoy! As a group we were quite adventurous and it's worth having a go at all the tougher bits while you are there.

Julia P

Reviewed November 2019

A lovely introduction to the Great Wall of China

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).

Most Inspirational Moment

The highlight was undoubtedly the sections at Jiankou and Panlongshan, really beautiful and well away from the crowds. They were also the most steep and challenging, but eminently doable if you have a reasonable level of fitness - you get to challenge yourself and work as a group.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Jack was lovely, he was helpful and considerate and looked after us really well. He sorted out little extras like a Kung Fu show, tea ceremony, paper cutting and even making dumplings at a homestay. He even arranged for us to have a Chinese massage in our hotel, which helped with our stiff legs!

Advice for Potential Travellers

There's lots to see in Beijing in the free time available and the subway is very easy to use (in English as a well as Chinese) so don't duplicate what you'll see on day 9. As a vegetarian I found the food better than I expected but not always very substantial. I was never hungry but ate a lot of cabbage, spinach or courgette with rice. By the last day of walking I felt quite tired and came back 1 kg lighter than I arrived. It's not a problem but do consider taking some protein bars, nuts etc. for a bit of a boost. Food at the Mutianyou homestay was the best with lots of good and varied veggie options. You won't be able to access Google, Twitter, BBC or the Guardian but we found that WhatsApp worked (though not for photos) and we managed to keep up with the news headlines as much as we wanted.

Cathérine Delnooz

Reviewed November 2019

Not off the beaten path, mainly just strolls

In part beautiful walks over wall and with views. In part disappointment: strolls, not off the beaten path, no local rural life.

Most Inspirational Moment

Walk at Gubeiko and Juankou are great!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Jack: touristy leader, good English, does not follow itinerary - lunch is more important than hike.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Do not go on this trip if you want an all off the beaten holiday. Day 2-3-7 are a real disappointment. There is no real experience of local life in villages. Hikes are often just strolls and much shorter than stated in the itinerary.

Joseff Rees

Reviewed August 2019

Great trip, great company and a plenty of sticky rice!!!

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!

Most Inspirational Moment

The Great Wall of China is truly amazing. Approximately 90% of the time we were on the less touristy sections of the wall with our group being the only people on the wall. To have one of the wonders of the world all to yourself is something not many can say and was really special I thought. Even though walking along the restored sections was beneficial in understanding how the wall looked a few hundred years ago - or in 'Mulan' - I really enjoyed walking along the original/unrestored parts as it gave you a sense of the history regarding the wall but also the people who worked/served on it.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Jerry!!! This was my third exodus trip and like all Exodus guides I have met, Jerry clearly loved his country as he was very passionate and knowledgeable about all things Chinese ranging from culture, food, history and language. Jerry had a good sense of humour which ensured a positive group atmosphere throughout.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Don't be fooled by the distances listed in the trip notes. It may look as if the distances are quite short if you are a keen walker, however the constant up and down of - at times steep - steps in almost constant 30+ heat and 90% humidity ensured it is challenging even for one who may consider themselves very fit. I took a pair of walking boots and trail-running trainers, my advice to future travellers is to take a pair of trainers with good grip because on the one two occasions I wore my boots they were too warm meaning I wore my trail-running trainers for the rest of the time. Also you will need trainers with good grip because the wall is very steep in places and on the one day we had rain the wall was also very slippy! General travel advice, be prepared for plenty of sticky rice and practise using chopsticks before you go if you are afraid of looking like an amateur.

Philip Atess

Reviewed August 2019

Fantastic trip

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.

Most Inspirational Moment

Walking the various sections of the wall and getting to shake hands and get a signed book from the person who discovered the Terracotta warriors.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Passionate and knowledgeable about his country. Tried his very best to make sure the group enjoyed the trip.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Do the Terracotta extension as you see a more authentic China than Bejieng. Xi-an is much cheaper £3-£4 for huge meal and drink and overnight train journey is certainly an experience. You can get away with shorts on the walks and certainly only need summer walking boots but ensure they have good grip as some sections of the wall are steep. Only take very light waterproofs, Chinese just use umbrellas. Practice using chop sticks before you go.

Catharine and David Finn

Reviewed June 2019

Fantastic walking trip

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.

Most Inspirational Moment

The whole of the wall was more amazing than we imagined but particularly the 28 Towers walk.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Alan was outstanding.....really knowledgeable, enthusiastic and organised. Nothing ever seemed to be a problem or too much trouble as he just sorted things out.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Take toilet roll and hand gel as not always available. Download VPN before you go if you want to access internet as some sites are blocked.

Peter Kenny

Reviewed June 2019

The Great wall, a great holiday

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.

Most Inspirational Moment

Standing on a hilltop and seeing the great wall stretching out for miles over mountain peaks that look so steep that you'd think they would be impossible to climb let alone build a wall over.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our leader in Beijing was Alan, he really was excellent. Nothing was too much trouble for him, on numerous occasions he went out of his way to help us, I really can't praise him enough. Our guide in Xi'an was Chris, he was OK, nothing more than that.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Having done a number of treks with Exodus don't underestimate the physical challenge that this trip offers. Don't be fooled by the distances in the trip notes, it is very up and down with hundreds and hundreds of steps. When we were there the weather was very hot and that also played a part.

Gina Crowcroft

Reviewed May 2019

Great concept but, on this occasion, poorly delivered

The basic trip concept is excellent. However, a group of 16 with only 1 main group leader was wholly inadequate – it meant that we had a lot of wasted time hanging around for the slowest person and our itinerary was unilaterally changed by the tour leader to ensure that the needs of the slowest person out of 16 was met. Unfortunately this meant that 15 out of 16 people were left short changed and did not get what they paid for.

Additionally, most days we were rushed to ensure that the group lunched at a specific restaurant off the wall. Given that people would have signed up for this trip due to an interest in the Wall it seems strange that we were always being rushed everyday to get off the Wall. This meant that most days we could not linger and savour the amazing views nor take our time to get that non-touristy photo!

We also had itinerary changes due to local factors. Whilst it is appreciated that these are unavoidable the revised itineraries, each time, resulted in less trekking time never more trekking time – very frustrating and left a feeling that we did not receive what we paid for.

Most Inspirational Moment

Being on the less touristy parts of the Wall.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Jerry is clearly a lovely guy and a more than adequate tour leader. I think if our group had been more evenly matched re fitness he would have been perfect. However, I believe he was too nice to actually deal with some of the issues on our trek and tried to please everyone but thereby actually not pleasing a significant number of the group. We had our trekking time severely curtailed by a combination of local reasons and a disparity in the speed between the fastest and slowest members of our group but this was not discussed properly with the group and conflicting reasons were given.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Do not underestimate the unrelenting steepness of the Wall trekking. Be prepared for a lot of "wasted" time away from the Wall due to where the restaurants are etc. It would be much better if picnic lunches were provided most days so that time on the Wall could be maximised. Be brave enough to question how the group kitty is used! Our bus driver ended up being tipped a huge amount (the balance of the kitty) due to our guide leader asking in front of the bus driver if it was ok to give him the balance of the kitty - strangely none of us felt that we could object! But we were all wondering why the balance of the kitty was not redistributed to us after a sensible tip taken for the bus driver.

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