China Tours Reviews

William was our guide in Beijing, and our tour comprised 5 people including us. All the guides were very good, but William takes the star prize. He was interesting and informative, but also a laugh. The usual sights in Beijing were awesome and splendid, but the highlight was the Great Wall, as we expected. When we saw the Temple of Heaven, there is an area where people – or their mothers – have their CVs to find a marriage partner. One of the mothers took a shine to one of our party on behalf of her daughter, and when she discovered he was a lawyer, became very interested. The rest of us found this more amusing than he did!

The bullet train was a nice relaxing journey to Xi'an. Our party of 5 split on the second day as we went to different locations next, but we all saw the Terracotta Army, which is another “must see”. The wall at Xi'an is big enough and was getting decorated for the coming spring festival (year of the Rat), but after the Great Wall, was less impressive. We all enjoyed the market and had a lunch in the Muslim area which was great fun, followed by a ridiculously cheap group hotpot that evening involving much use of online translation on our phones!

The next day, Sally took over from Helen, and despite spending only part of a day with her, she was great. Having only two of us going around the Shaanxi museum, she was able to help us with anything we found interesting, going at our pace. We left on another bullet train to Chengdu.

The journey was shorter than before, and we met David, our guide. The next day was an early start to go to the Panda Base. What an amazing day! It was fabulous feeding pandas by hand and cleaning out their enclosures. The park has been designed brilliantly, so we also wandered to see other pandas (including cute red pandas). We were struck how lovely it was to be in a less built up space after our largely city based tours before. David had been to the Panda Base before, so knew what to do, and was a fantastic guide there.

Beijing had had clear blue skies and not at all polluted, contrary to what we had expected, but Xi'an and Chengdu were more polluted. This was the trade off going in winter, although this also meant that the tourist attractions were far less busy.

The next morning in Chengdu David took us to the Pavilion Park, where we sat drinking tea (green obviously) and learning Mahjong. We also managed to have our ears massaged and shoes cleaned, although the locals were most interested in our newly taught Mahjong prowess. It was a lovely way to while away a couple of hours and contributed to our stay in Chengdu being fondly very remembered. We went to the airport to fly to Shanghai.

Shanghai was about as different as anything could be to Xi'an, and even much of Beijing. It is as blingy and modern as Xi'an reflects the ancient part of the country. Our guide Hugo showed us parts of the different concessions in the city as well as the museum, but the Yuyuan Garden was lovely. Later we met up with two of our original tour group for cocktails at the rooftop bar of the Hyatt on the Bund, seeing the spectacular lights. We managed a return trip on the Maglev train which was a marvellous way to bring our China tour to an end.

In summary, the organisation was fantastic. Everything went as planned, and the guides were all very helpful and easy to talk to. The hotels were fine throughout, although in our case, we found the Chengdu hotel – which was the swankiest we stayed in – was less well placed to explore too much for places to eat, particularly as we arrived later in the day and had a long day at the Panda Base. Transportation was fine throughout, too. Bus, car, train and plane were all good.

We originally considered a private tour but went for a small group one at a lower price. This is well worth it in winter, as the group is unlikely to be even close to the 12 maximum. The mix of locations and sights was perfect for us. Prices of meals were similar or lower than we expected, so we spent less than we took with us.

There were so many highlights, so it is difficult to choose which pictures to show, but the attached is a very small sample from what was a truly wonderful holiday.

To avoid the misunderstanding, that could be interpreted as a deception, in the itinerary of the tour, the program details must be utterly succinct and concise, i.e. Day 1: Receive the tour guests from Airport and deliver guests to the prebooked hotel. Tour guide will briefly explain the tour to the guests. This is the first day of arrival, the tour manager would like to leave the guest a resting time for recovering after a long flight. While Beijing and Xi'an stops were very well organized and rich history, the Gullin - Yangshuo and Shanghai stops were shallow. In Gullin - Yangshuo stop, if the tour guide were not as good and friendly, this stage would be very boring. We were very lucky to have Sue as a tour guide, she was so excellent in her English and her deep knowledge of China that shined the tour stop in a very different direction.

In Shanghai stop, I would expect the tour guide would lead us to the Shanghai historical museum where we would learn the bitter lessons of the 1930 - 1945 chaotic period in Chinese history, we were taking to the Parks which we could find them ourselves. Shanghai has so many historical monuments to attract international traveling guests, not the riverside where it showed the newly built highrise skyscrapers, we have seen them enough in New York, Singapore, or even in KL. We would like to know the history of Shanghai club, the details of the day when the Japanese planes dropped bombs over the city's residential areas, etc.

It would be very useful to prepare a china-tour booklet in advance, such that the details of the 2020 tours include detailed programs of the year i.e. how many stops of the tour, cities, historical locations, etc.

I am a travel agent and I booked my clients ( 2 families including 4 adults and 5 teenagers) for a customized 7-day private tour of Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai. China Tours was wonderful to work with in the planning stages. When my clients returned, they had extremely glowing reports about their experience. The tour guides were wonderful, knowledgeable, helpful, and timely. I would recommend using China Tours for any tour in China from a small itinerary to a very extensive one.

Just visiting (and climbing 5 Towers of) the Great Wall of China would've made this trip unbelievable but throw in Terracotta Warriors, Baby Pandas, Ancient Temples & The Bund & it was MAGNIFICENT!!  My only gripe was that the food on the Cruise Boat was really quite poor.  All the Guides were fantastic giving their own little pieces of knowledge across, Rosie in Chengdu was particularly good.  So enthusiastic & lovely.  The hotels were wonderful!  Got upgraded twice to suites :-) I would highly recommend using this company as it's got very VERY high standards.

10-days Beijing-Xi'an-Gulin-Shanghai: Every promise ChinaTours made they kept! They met me at airport at 1am with a smile and private comfortable car. They promised a tour group with no more than 12-people. Our tour group had a total of 7-people (perfect size) and the van was roomy, comfortable and climate controlled. The tour guide in Beijing was named King Kong and he was incredible. He was very knowledgable about "all things Beijing, Great Wall, Tiannamen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, etc" he also suggested GREAT authentic Chinese lunch venues for the group. The train from Beijing to Xi'an was a 4.5 hour smooth comfortable bullet train. Our next guide, Helen was right there (smile on her face) on schedule, waiting at the train station with a roomy, comfortable,climate controlled van (plenty of room for 7-people). The terracotta warriors were amazing and Helen knew how to get us in the "side door" rather than wait in a long line. She also recommended great lunch venues. The flight from Xi'an to Guilin was perfect and the Longji terraced rice paddies were unbelievable. Finally, John (another gem) was our tour guide in Shanghai. He personally put me on the bullet train from Shanghai to Beijing. I choose 4-star hotels and all hotels that China Tours used were "Accor" hotels (very comfortable, clean and perfectly located. I will return to China in 2020 and plan to use ChinaTours again!!

The first comment I would like to make is regarding the misnomer that our travel party was a group of "customers" or were treated as "customers." Our group consisted of an Aussie, a Kiwi-born Aussie, two generations of family from the Chinese enclave on Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island off the coast of Africa, a Hong Kong Mom, three young adult ABCs (American-Born Chinese) and a Sicilian-Cuban American Dad. From the moment we set foot on Chinese soil, we were greeted warmly by China Tours and were treated to kind hospitality by all. Our Guide in Beijing, Michael, has a knack and a talent for bringing "strangers" together and weaving them into a tapestry and creating the fabric of a strong family group. He accomplishes this through our communal meals and through our shared experiences together. We were then whisked off by bullet train to Xi'an, where we warmly greeted at Xi-an Station by Helen. In the days to follow, her knowledge of Chinese history and culture mesmerized us all. We were so impressed by her brilliance, her intelligence, and her grace and charm. We then proceeded on to the natural beauty of Zhangjiajie National Park, where "Super" Sarah guided us for the next two days. She hikes like the best, a truly seasoned veteran. Yet, she delicately held on to each one of us as we braved Heaven's Gate and Tianjin Mountain in the fog and during a brief rain storm. Our trip was capped off by a whirlwind tour of Shanghai with Karl the "Chinese Swede" as the leader of our pack. What a journey these ten days were. Thank you, China Tours for the memories, for the professionalism, and for the love and care shown to all of us.

China tours was a great tour group to visit China with. Our tour guides were very friendly and knowledgable. I enjoyed visiting the Great Wall, Terracotta warriors and Forbidden city. Peking Duck was a food highlight. I would highly recommend this tour group

We had two amazing tour guides. First Nancy showed us around Beijing which was amazing. Then Ms Gao showed us around Xi’an. They made the trip.

We had the best tour guide and driver in Beijing. Nancy made sure we saw everything that we planned to see. She was extremely knowledgeable. Nancy made sure we were comfortable and gave us great recommendations for our dinners. If your able to request Nancy she did an amazing job showing us Beijing!

A private tour from 9th June 2019 to 16th June2019, we went to Kunming,Dali,Lijiang,Shangrila and back to Kunming. Had a wonderful and enjoyable trip.The tour was very impressive and we have good caring drivers and experienced, knowledgeable tour guides to bring us around. Finally we have got the China Tours through the website and they are #1 tour agent! keep it up! stanley and jessie. (singapore)

My wife and I just completed the 15 Days China Highlights with Yangtze and Pandas organized by China Tours. We selected the private tour in order to have a little bit more flexibility on our schedule. It was an absolutely amazing trip in which we were able to experience a very comprehensive cross section of China, including visiting some of the main cities, some smaller towns and villages, as well as some of the wonderful beauties of this land. We also had an opportunity to get immersed into the extremely rich Chinese culture and history. It was a tremendous experience to be able to see and learn so much about Chinese civilization and its people. In general, we found the guides to be very professional, courteous, and knowledgeable. The accommodations were quite satisfactory. The itinerary and schedule were packed with activities and we think we would have liked to spend a little more time exploring some of the large cities on our own. My wife and I have done a good deal of traveling and we think that this China Tour is one of the most beautiful and memorable trips that we have completed so far.

We have just had an amazing & very positive experience with China Tours.It was a Trip of a Lifetime! From the initial contact nearly 2 years ago and throughout the planning process they were very helpful and quick to respond to my emails. I regularly changed or added visits etc and Martha our Representative was permanently helpful, informative and understanding during the process. The Tour itself involved several flights, bullet train journeys, a Cruise on the Yangtze and an overnight sleeper train. We met different guides at each destination so all the arrangements worked perfectly. We were accompanied to the hotel check in desks, and even on and off the boat for the river cruise (including porters organised by the guide) and to the security gates at the airports/train stations. All the guides spoke very clearly and had a comprehensive knowledge of the English language. Their knowledge & passion of the places we visited was exceptional. A great tour made all the better by the guides.I would thoroughly recommend China Tours for any trip but especially a bespoke trip of your own making with their help.

Xi'an was our second stop after Beijing. I am a Chinese native but my husband is American and this was his first time to China. Hence we booked a tour as it seemed a great compromise in terms of language and convenience. At first I was quite apprehensive but China Tours delivers on every aspect, truly they do. We were never confused, never ever lost, told when to be back at what time, had plenty of free time after 4:30 pm to do our own activities. We had a lot of fun. In Xi'an, our tour guide was Helen and she has so much charisma. It was just a pleasure listening to her talk and seeing her appreciation for Chinese culture, which even for me, who has been to Xi'an before, was refreshing and new. Helen gave us the option to go to dinner with her and the group or do our own activities. She is very flexible, kind and considerate, not to mention funny. I would certainly use them again. You don't lose the Chinese flavor of things but you also maintain a western level of professionalism.

We were a group of three (71f, 75f and 73m) who took the small group tour with ChinaTours.com in May 2019. In short, the tour was well worth the price with one caveat. Here is what we liked:

1. COMMUNICATION - China tours communicated reasonably well through the pre-planning by email with very complete information and a good response to questions. During the trip there was a need to contact ChinaTours and the response was good.

2. SMALL GROUP - The group started out with 7 amiable members and half-way though reduced to 5 as two members went to other sites. We had a guide and driver at each city.

3. GUIDES - All guides were efficient, friendly and competent. English was understandable at all times. Three guides stood out: Shirley in Beijing was so kind and helpful even assisting getting a sim card for our cellphone In Guilin Tony went the extra mile to recover an item we left at the hotel. John in Beijing was extremely knowledgeable and helpful in getting travel arrangements.

4. SIGHTS - Two of us had been to China five times previously. One was a newbie. We all enjoyed seeing the main tourist sights and just as much enjoyed the high-speed train, van and air travel. We saw what many tourists do not see including a rural village, and the incredible madness of chinese construction projects. Some guides answered our political questions as well as normal tourist things.

5, FOOD AND ACCOMMODATIONS: The tour provided meals were all good in terms of quality and variety. The hotels were all high quality and clean. Location was good for all the hotels except in Shanghai where a taxi ride or metro was needed to get to the sights.

The one caveat is that the three of us are experienced travelers with one having visited 80 countries. Group tours require doing the group schedule and do not leave much time for creative exploring. We could not have seen everything we saw without the arrangements by ChinaTours, but a little more free time would have been nice.

All in all we would recommend this tour by ChinaTours.

Visited with my 35 year old daughter. Thought we were on a group tour but to our pleasant surprise we had exclusive use of guide and driver in each of the cities. China tours does not have a guide that travels with you throughout the trip. One guide driver team take you to the check-in desk (airports) or departure gate (high speed train) and the next is waiting for you at your destination. The system worked flawlessly with guide and driver always there to meet us at our destination. Signs in the airports, subway and railway stations are also in English and we had no problem navigating from check-in desk through security to the gate The guides were very helpful and really made each place come alive. The hotels they booked us in were new, or newly refurbished and of 4 Seasons quality with duvees, high tech bathrooms and a good selection for breakfast including western breakfast foods. My daughter has many food allergies and each of the guides explained this at length in the restaurants we visited.

Had a wonderful 3 days of being shown the highlights of Beijing. Nancy was excellent and got me to all the places i wanted to see. Nancy also gave me some good advice on where to eat in the evenings Thoroughly recommended China toursfor organising your visit to Beijing. Really looking forward to my return to do more

Yes, China Tours is more expensive, but every penny is worth it!. Imagine.... picked up at the airport by your private guide. Personal driver in nice car. No standing in line after line to get on/off the bus. No following someone you can’t hear holding up a stick with a flag. Imagine telling that guide things “on the side” you want to see and having that happen. Imagine being the only non-locals at restaurants rather than stock meals with 60 other white folk. Imagine not being dropped off at “mandatory” shopping areas. We went Beijing - Xi’an, -boat on Yangzte - Shanghai. Perfect! Thanks, especially to our guide in Beijing Jack. You are a rock star!

After having looked into several tour operators, I settled on Chinatours.com. They helped to put together a 16 day travel adventure starting in Beijing and progressing to Xi'an, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guilin, Yangshuo, and ending in Hong Kong with side trips to Macau.

We visited the Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors, Pandas, and many other attractions including a trip down the Li River They scheduled all in country transportation, tours, and hotels. The guides were very good to excellent. They took care of transfers, shows, and anything that were arranged per the itinerary and made sure we were on the correct train or flight.They are professional and did exactly what they implied they would do.

I have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone who wishes a private or group tour in China and Hong Kong. Many thanks to them for a great trip.

Bob F.

The trip exceeded our expectations. The country was beautiful and the history was fascinating. We were impressed with all of the accommodations on the trip. The tour was very informative and enjoyable with an outstanding knowledgeable guide who was #1. She knew about the history of Xi'an, both ancient and modern, and the Terra Cotta Warriors. She was helpful in directing us to specific locations we desired to go on our free time in the evening to connect with a friend, and even gave us her personal phone number so we could call in case we needed help during that time. She was a personable guide and enjoyable to talk to. We were glad to be met and dropped off at the train station, and hotel by all concerned staff. We felt secure in China as foreign travelers mostly due to our guide’s eagerness to make sure that we were well cared for in every aspect. Suggestions for restaurants and activities were useful to us. We enjoyed eating in the city with the local residents.

The program schedule was well designed to give you a good knowledge of the cities and country side with a good cruise to see amazing sites and relax when needed. The planned schedule was fully executed. Guides, drivers and hotels where as offered, most exceptional. Some took their off time to check on you. China is a country that must be visited and China Tours small group policy and no shopping stops makes your visit go a long way. The administrative personnel you never meet are permanently at your service. Good job John, Carrie and others that arranged my multiple requests so fast, making it almost a tailored trip. My advice, try them. You can’t go wrong. Daniel

Here I want to give some credits to the office associates Martha and Carrie, and our tour guides for taking care of our family trip this time. Benny in Chengdu, Li-ping in Zhangjiajie and Tony in Guilin. Our family from San Francisco travelled to the above places for a week.

We stayed in Chengdu for a day only. The major task for Benny was to bring us to the panda base for that day. Benny was very knowledgeable and familiar with the panda base that we visited, so we could efficiently take short ways to visit more sites in couple hours. My son wanted to buy a Hwa-Wei new phone as a souvenir in China. Benny was very helpful to bring us to a nearby Hwa-Wei boutique, but the boutique sold out the newest model my son wanted. My son decided to buy a Xiao-Mi phone instead, so Benny brought us to a nearby Xiao-Mi boutique to get a phone my son wanted. Benny even reminded my son to get a screen protector, but the boutique sold out of it. Benny was again efficiently use our little time in Chengdu to bring us to buy a screen protector for my son’s new phone!

The guide in Zhangjiajie Li-Ping was great, too. Out of her own working hours, she brought us to visit Feng Huang Old Town night view. The night view of Feng Huang was one of the remarkable view I experienced so far! Li-Ping also explained very well for the Miao culture while we were in the tour van traveling to Feng Huang, so my son had great interests about the old town we were going to visit. On our request, Li-Ping brought us to two wonderful restaurants, which allowed our family to try many delicious local dishes in our short staying!

Tony’s a great tour guide, too. My daughter liked Tony the most because he spoke in a slower path of Chinese Mandarin, which allowed my daughter to understand better in the trip. My sister and husband are not fluent in English. My Children were born in the USA and we speak mainly Chinese Mandarin at home; therefore, their understanding about Chinese local culture is limited. My daughter specifically wanted to give extra credit to Tony because Tony’s bilingual explanation in the trip made her feel more motivated to learn about Chinese local culture.

The office associates Martha and Carrie were very kind whenever I contacted them. They would answer my questions in couple hours. In addition, because I am handicapped, they would try their best to plan a trip to accommodate my needs. For example, my needs to have hotel rooms close to the elevators, my needs to have bilingual tour guides, my needs to finish my trip in a week for traveling to many places our family members wanted to go....

Anyway, I just wanted to explain here why I rated ChinaTours 5-star. They provided excellent services to our journey! We will look for their further help for our future trips in China!

We had a wonderful vacation in China and the trip exceeded all of our expectations. It was truly an adventure for my wife and I to travel around to so many cities in China and know that the ChinaTours had every accommodation taken care of for us. The itineraries, excursions and sites that were selected by ChinaTours were perfect for experiencing the culture, history, landmarks and people of the region. By traveling via plane, bullet train, sleeper train, van, bus and taxi, we were able to really experience the many modes of transportation that China has to offer. Our tour guides were excellent and very knowledgeable about their respective city. The small group experience meant that we could take as long as we liked at a particular site as well as get to know the the other families that join you along the way. I highly recommend ChinaTours.com to everyone that is interested in traveling to China. Thank you very much China Tours for a memorable vacation.