Beijing Sideways is expensive compared to most tours I have been on but it was well worth the money. My tour guide, Andrei, was a great guy to spend the day with and I saw a lot of the city in our 9+ hours. We made 8 stops at very different places and the pacing worked perfectly for me. I was always in charge of how long we spent at any location. On the next day I went with Andrei and two other motorbikes to the Great Wall and it was amazing. They take you to a very private and beautiful section of the wall. We only saw about 8 locals on our 3 hours on the wall. Best of all the bikes were moved during our hike so that we did not have to retrace our route. I appreciated that on my tours all the entrance fees were paid for, a wonderful lunch was provided, and Andrei was always buying me water to keep me hydrated. These tours were the best part of my month traveling through Asia.

Beijing as a city is a whole lot better than shanghai, for tourists. It has culture all over, traditional houses, ancient temples, greeat food, hutongs, the lakes, olympic sites, the great wall, this is a city unlike any other, for sure. Think Paris.
Naturally, doing a tour or being a tour guide in this city must be heaven. And it was. I have been to Beijing and stayed there for 8 nights, and saw evything that there is to see about this city. When I take this sideway tour a few months after, clearly there are much more to see! One thing to remember, this is a tour from the eyes of an expat. Not that it will take you to hooters or planet hollywood, but still this is different from a tour with a local. Not that it is a bad thing. Local tour guides often take you to silk markets or jade markets and just camp there until you buy something. They also overemphasize on the history lessons that your tour will feel like a summer class. Expats cannot speak or read chinese fluently, so they won't know what that huge sign on the temple means but they make the tour very enjoyable. Their jokes are funny, their personality are fresh and they are friendly. Don't be uptight when you take this tour, this is a very relaxed session with guides wearing shorts and sometime smokes. Mine smoke too often for my taste, although he DID ask for my permission. If you require special care, special attention or just special everything because you are a ceo of a big company, prepare to be disappointed. The guides won't neglect you or anything but these are the 'adventurous' and 'free spirited' bunch not the polite, proper and 'concierge' kind like mr belvedere. Just relax yourself, hop into that 1930's motorcycle and enjoy Beijing.

Whilst visiting Beijing, I wanted to a trip that allowed me to see the Summer Palace (as it is a bit of a drive from central Beijing), but also some of the older parts of the city. Thanks to the reviews on here, I opted for the whole day trip with Beijing Sideways.
Booking was very easy, with very prompt responses (which was much appreciated as this was something of a last minute booking).
Yves picked me up outside of my hotel, and along with another guest on a different bike, we spent a brilliant day seeing every corner of Beijing. Hutongs in the North & South of the city, Summer Palace, Olympic stadium, lunch at a great dumpling place down a Hutong, CBD, Drum and Bell tower, Silk Market, street food to finish. So much in one day!
Yves was a great guy, and very knowledgable, making this an absolute highlight of my trip.
Highly recommended.