China Tours arranges a wonderful 21 day tour of China for our family, We visited Beijing, Datong, PingYao,Xi’an, Lhasa (Tibet), Chengdu and Shanghia with a 3 day Yantze River Cruise for a little relaxation. Ms. Martha was very helpful with arranging all of the details. Every accomodation (hotels and transportation) was excellent ready for us. We chose the 4-star option and can’t imagine needing a higher level of service.
Every guide (a different guide in each city) was friendly, knowledgable and always on time. We did not have to wait a single minute for a guide throughout the entire trip. The guides were also helpful in providing dining options and more importantly, assured that we seamlessly passed through security at train stations and airports.
The experiences (Great Wall, Hanging Temple, Terra Cotta Warriors, Yunggang Grotto to name a few) were everything we expected. Be ready for lots of walking !
We would certainly recommend China Tours to anyone.
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
I did a a lot of research into a tour company to prepare for a first trip to China with my brother and father. Eventually, I decided on China Tours, and I am very glad I did.
From the initial planning phase, the company was very responsive with emails and questions. Martha worked with my father to work out a trip during our time frame and to accommodate a side trip to Jinhua. Our guides were great (more on that below) and our accomodations were altogether terrific as well.
In an nutshell, our trip was amazing. While we signed up for a small group tour, it ended up just being the 3 of us on our trip so we thoroughly enjoyed our private tour. Since you spend so much time with them and almost become dependent on them, tours are largely made up by the tour guides, and I was so impressed by the ones we had during our stay. We were met promptly at every airport and train station by our guide who got us to our van and driver. The guides checked us in at every hotel, walked us as far as they could into every train station or airport, helped us find and order the local food at the best places to eat, and all around assisted us in every way they could to make our trip as easy and pleasant as possible. Each guide was so knowledgeable about the city we were in and made the history and culture of each locale come alive.
Thank you especially to Nancy in Beijing, Helen in Xi’an, and Rainbow in Hangzhou. Nancy was just what we needed upon arriving – kind, poised, relaxed, and very knowledgeable. Every day, Nancy led us with grace and kindness and really made our stay in Beijing special. In Hangzhou, Rainbow was a dynamo. Her ever-present smile and bubbly personality made our stay in this beautiful city that much more enjoyable. We made such a connection with them that we told them we hoped to see them again down the road in the future, either in China or when they visit the U.S.! Thank you to all our guides, we will miss you, you were so great!
All in all, I would absolutely recommend China Tours to anyone looking to visit China. We were wowed by the grandeur, history, and immensity of this nation and are so grateful to China Tours in making our trip of a lifetime a reality.
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.
We had a very positive experience with China Tours. From the initial contact and throughout the planning process they were very helpful and quick to respond to my emails even booking a restaurant for us in Shanghai.
The tour itself involved several flights and bullet train journeys and meeting different guides at each destination; 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 and of the places we visited.
A great tour made all the better by the guides.
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.
