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.
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Epic tour, exceeded expectations
