The best way to experience Beijing!

Guest: Marge and Frank (Apex, NC, USA)
Date of Stay: 06/30/11 Review Submitted: 07/31/11

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed Lui Pei (the condo owner), Alex (the knowledgeable tour guide), and the condo. The condo was spacious, clean, well-equipped, and located in a wonderful, safe neighborhood. We often made requests to go to specific sites, restaurants, and shops--Lui Pei and Alex graciously accommodated us. They were personable, generous with their time, and let us set the schedule. They freely shared their intimate knowledge of Beijing, giving us experiences we would never have had if we'd gone with a group tour. We highly recommend staying at the property and letting them show you their beautiful city and surrounding sites. They were fun, hospitable, and charming.

Recommended for:Girls getaway, families with teenagers, adventure seekers, romantic getaway, age 55+, tourists without a car, people with disabilities, sightseeing.

Loved it - treated like royalty

Guest: GHolstead (Ottawa, Canada)
Date of Stay: 03/11/11 Review Submitted: 04/14/11

This was my first trip to China and I wanted everything perfect. I took time to contact many of the vrbo owners in Beijing but at the end I was very happy I selected this place. It is a very comfortable place. It could easily handle 2 couples or a family with 2 kids. It is a 1 bedroom place but has 2 large beds in two separate rooms. The living room is large with a large LCD TV. It has a DVD player and there were movies we could watch. The book case had plenty of tour books. The window overlooks at a distance the Birds nest. The kitchen was small but we used it for breakfast only. The refrigerator is outside the kitchen but not a problem. You cannot drive the tap water but there is a large tank available for drinking and cooking. The bathroom was clean . Shower was in the room so everything got wet. Also take time between showers so you will be getting a cold one. ie as a small water tank. We had 4 full days of touring and we kept quite busy. The owner Liu Pei is a very nice man and always on time. He has Alex, an officially trained and excellent speaking tour lady guide that joined us. She was excellent. She had so many stories and was very funny. They took us into restaurants and helped us order. They took us out a couple nights to a show and they both waited around for us and took us back to the apartment. There is a local restaurant I would recommend but cannot remember the name. They were also kind enough to take us to a grocery store and we picked up some breakfast, drinks and snacks. They even took us to a less busy part of the great wall. We finally got to see things we would have missed if we travelled on our own. As a bonus they had a cell phone for us to use. If we had any questions we could call Alex. Overall we were really taken care of. Note the car LuiPei has is small and may handle a couple and a small kid. It would be tight with 3 in the back and I guess do-able.

Recommended for:Romantic getaway, age 55+, tourists without a car, sightseeing, families with young children.

The Beijing Experience

Guest: mountain cool (Panama City Beach, Florida)
Date of Stay: 01/17/11 Review Submitted: 02/06/11

Lui Pei and Alex were excellent guides. Lui Pei was an excellent driver and very knowledgeable about the city. Alex can speak English very well and also knows the city. The traffic in Beijing is horrible so having a driver is the only way to go especially if you want to see the Great Wall. The condo was clean and has a big screen tv and dvd player. There are no English tv channels. There is a washing machine but no dryer as most condos do not have one. The shower is open, so the water goes all over the sink and toilet like an RV. There is a water cooler in the kitchen which is nice because the water is not potable. There is also wifi, so we were able to skype our family back home.

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, age 55+, tourists without a car, sightseeing.

Awesome Experience for Our Family

Guest: Carolyn (Conyers, Georgia USA)
Date of Stay: 11/04/10 Review Submitted: 12/02/10

We spent 6 nights in this condo in Beijing. Our family consisted of my husband who walks with a cane, myself and two children, a 9 yr. old and a 13 yr. old. These kids are adopted Chinese children. Mr. LiuPei and Alex were so extremely polite and accomodating to our wants and wishes. The condo was exactly as advertised, was clean and was quite comfortable for us to stay in. We had fun while we saw the sites and always felt as though we were being treated as you would a friend, not a customer. LiuPei and Alex were entertaining and very interesting to share with. If you want to travel and not be in a hotel while you are in Beijing, this is a great place for you to stay. If you want to be in a neighborhood - this gives you that opportunity and enhances your view of the big city. The host could not have been nicer to us while we were there. The guide, Ms. Alex, was very entertaining and very delightful to spend time with. My children truly enjoyed her company immensely.

Recommended for:Families with teenagers, age 55+, tourists without a car, sightseeing, families with young children.

Beijing Spectacular

Guest: Steve & Jan1 (Reno)
Date of Stay: 10/17/10 Review Submitted: 10/26/10

We would like to be able to say something more or better than the other reviewers have said but cannot - they have said it all very well. Read the reviews, they are right on target. For our part, we will just confirm that Liu Pei and Alex (Alexandra) are the "Dream Team" of driver/guide services. You will see 4 times more than you would otherwise and never feel rushed as Liu Pei will drop you off at the front door of everywhere you go and be waiting for you and Alex when you return. We should mention that Alex's english is excellent which was critical as our chinese was rather weak (non-existant). The apartment is spotless. This is the only way to travel!

Recommended for:Families with teenagers, adventure seekers, age 55+, tourists without a car, sightseeing, families with young children.

Living/Sight-seeing Combo

Guest: S. Family (Cambridge, MA)
Date of Stay: 08/30/10 Review Submitted: 09/06/10

As stated in many previous reviews, the apt. is clean and comfortably met all the needs of our family of 4 (including 2 teens). The apt is located in a non-touristy residential neighborhood that is also convenient to restaurants and markets. Liu Pei rented a van for our stay (and we do not recommend driving on your own in cities in China) and helped us form an itinerary that included the major tourist attractions, some of our ideas, as well as very good and varied dining recommendations. Alex, our bi-lingual guide, taught us a lot wherever we went. She also assisted us in many ways including ordering at restaurants (which proved to be challenging when we were on our own in another city in China where we encountered "surprises" in what and how much we had ordered!). Both Alex and Lui Pei were prompt, helpful and enjoyable to be with on a daily basis. Beijing is very big and we highly recommend this combination of living, transportation and sight-seeing navigation with knowledgeable locals to efficiently make the most of your time in the city.

Recommended for:Families with teenagers, age 55+, tourists without a car, sightseeing, families with young children.

Beijing and Sightseeing made easy!

Guest: Don and Jane (Panama City, FL)
Date of Stay: 07/03/10 Review Submitted: 07/26/10

We primarily went to Beijing to visit our daughter while she was at Tsinghua University for the summer studying Chinese. In planning for the trip and figuring out how to coordinate a little sightseeing into our visit we found Liu Pei on vrbo. The reviews as you can see are excellent and I thought his condo/driver package might make life a little easier. This was undoubtably one of the best traveling decisions I have ever made. Liu Pei and Alex met us promptly at our hotel at 1130 as scheduled and all of those coordination issues that I had been concerned about vanished. They took us to the condo to drop off our bags and then we went to Tsinghua, picked up our daughter and went on our first sightseeing visit. Liu Pei and Alex were a joy from the beginning and because of them we spent maximum time with our daughter, she made all of her classes (hopefully we weren't too much of a distraction) and we saw more in and around Beijing than I could have ever managed on my own or with a tour group. Beijing is the "safest feeling" large city that I have visited and having Liu Pei and Alex in charge made the trip unbelievable. Liu Pei and Alex had already prepared a schedule to cover the whole time that we were there since I hadn't provided anything in advance. After we arrived we discussed our daughter's class schedule and Liu Pei and Alex went through the schedules and made suggestions to coordinate everything. Their knowledge of the city is extensive. Several times while we were driving to different areas Liu Pei would pull over so we could see/visit sites that we randomly had asked about earlier in the trip. If you create your own schedules ahead of time don't forget "rush" hour traffic. While Liu Pei is an excellent driver, a traffic jam is a traffic jam. I would recommend giving them your wish list of places to visit and let them come up with the schedule. The condo is in a building/development of family owned/occupied condos and the area has several restaurants shops nearby. I would highly recommend the condo/driver/tour guide package to anyone coming to Beijing and will try to stay with Liu Pei again if/when I come back to Beijing.

Recommended for:Girls getaway, families with teenagers, romantic getaway, age 55+, tourists without a car, sightseeing, families with young children.

We couldn't have asked for more!

Guest: John Thorp (Victoria BC Canada)
Date of Stay: 04/23/10 Review Submitted: 05/23/10

We stayed at the apartment for 7 nights at the end of April. The apartment is exactly as advertised - it is very comfortable and clean, and had everything that we needed. It is in a great location with a view of the Birds Nest and close to a good selection of inexpensive restaurants. We cannot say enough about how we were looked after by Liu and Alex - from the time we were met at the airport and driven to the apartment - Liu is a very good driver and Alex is very lively and speaks excellent English. We were helped with our luggage up to the apartment, shown around the apartment, taken to an ATM and then to the local Carrefour supermarket where Alex helped us get basic provisions. We had six days of wonderful sightseeing - we would not have seen half of what we did without them - we also learned a lot about China and had a lot of laughs along the way. Nothing was too much trouble from booking our train tickets, finding us a corkscrew and a few other things we needed to gluing the stamps on our postcards. They were with us until Alex had helped us with our luggage on the train to Tanggu to board our cruise ship back to Canada, and ensured that we were in our seats. It was a great experience - one that we would not hesitate to do again and recommend to others. John and Diane Victoria, Canada

Recommended for:Age 55+, tourists without a car, sightseeing.

Beijing's Perfect Package

Guest: Dan & Rhonda (Evansville, Indiana, USA)
Date of Stay: 04/16/10 Review Submitted: 04/27/10

We only had 3 nights in Beijing but thanks to Lui Pei and Alexandra we were able to see and do all the things on our list. They had an itinerary planned when we arrived but were very flexible when we had to make two trips to the train station in addition to the airport. Alex speaks fluent English and has a strong knowledge of Chinese history. She was always willing and able to answer any questions we had - that is just one of the perks of having an individual tour guide instead of going on the group tours. We were able to customize each site visit according to our time and interests. It was great to have the condo to return to each evening instead of a hotel room. We were able to spread out, fix something to eat, and even do a little laundry. The condo was exactly as pictured and staying in a neighborhood, instead of touist hotel, was part of the whole experience. Lui Pei is a wonderful driver and it was much nicer getting around in his private car verses a big bus. Both Lui Pei and Alex made it a priority to make our trip extraordinary...and they succeeded. We would recommend the whole condo with tour guide and driver package to anyone visiting Beijing. We will definitely stay with them again if we ever return to Beijing. Thank you Lui Pei and Alex!!! A special thanks for accommodating Nathan and Alyssa. It was a special time for our family and you were a big part of it. Dan & Rhonda

Recommended for:Girls getaway, families with teenagers, age 55+, tourists without a car, sightseeing, families with young children.

Guest: Robert Lorenz (Glenview IL)
Date of Stay: 11/14/09 Review Submitted: 11/14/09

Anyone wanting a vacation where you feel your best friends are taking care of you- These are the people that you should meet. Always on time,friendly, make it a custom tour tailored to your specific hopes and expectations. Monica is worth her weight in gold, for knowledge and english ability. Very safe city,and Lui Pei is a very good driver. With them relax and enjoy your vacation,they will take care of you as if you are family. R. Lorenz

Recommended for: