China Tours Reviews

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.

Bryan B

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

markalbert60

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!

b1bayer

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.

dubiousrbf2

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.

Teachertravelfun

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

Daniel P

Great private tour, very skilful driver and thoughtful guide. Day one picked up from International Cruise Terminal (Boashan), we saw the sights of Shanghai, the Bund, Nanjing Road, Peoples Park, shanghai museum, and acrobatic show. Day two, Suzhou, Master of the Nets Garden, and Tongli Water Town. John, our consultant, worked with us to organize the tours according to our needs, the driver was very skilled, the car clean and roomy, our tour guide Jacki made sure he accommodated all our needs, the sightseeing pace very easy. Day three we were driven to Shanghai Pudong Int. airport, where our guide stayed with us until all formalities were completed. Highly recommend China Tours.

agedtravell

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!

CCC6688

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.

sroldan2016

Overall we can say that we had an excellent trip and that is for a big part because of ChinaTours. We travelled several times in Asia on the same concept (private tour driver/guide) and this was one of the best organised.

Johan Braet

We could not recommend China Tours highly enough, our drivers, guides and hotels were amazing. Our tours were very well planned and we were given ample free time to explore the wonderful sites we visited. Our guides were very knowledgeable and only too happy to help make our holiday very special. We will never forget our wonderful China Tour and would like to thank Wynn, Sara, Summer and Warren for looking after us so well.

Ken And Colleen Green

We had such a great time in Xi'an - local food, knowledgeable guide, free time to explore, so many excellent experiences. I have no hesitation recommending ChinaTours to anyone looking to explore this awesome city.

James McLean

From collection at the Airport, to the hotels, and each days sights, China Tours was excellent. We especially appreciated Maggie's insights in Beijing. So much more to see, we will be back and will use China Tours.

Joseph I Hungate

Helen has an obvious passion for what she does, is highly knowledgeable and knows how to take care of guests. Every aspect of this tour met or exceeded expectations. Travel with confidence!

Ms. Corinne Marshall

I used China Tours for a small group tour of Beijing the surrounding area (i.e. the Great Wall). From the initial contact where I inquired for information, their staff was very focused on making sure my questions were answered and even customized my tour to accommodate my work schedule. Not only did they arrange for the actual guided tour of my small group (there were six of us in all), but they handled the transportation to and from the airport, and even assisted me in finding the quickest and most appropriate path through the rather confusing Beijing airport when I departed. Their tour guide (Jack) was very knowledgeable and easy to talk with, and made the journey through China very enjoyable. The food was amazing too - the restaurants Jack chose were priced very reasonably and offered an amazing selection of foods. The drivers were excellent too, gently navigating the crazy Beijing traffic. Everyone I met from China Tours were kind, friendly, and very helpful. I cannot think of one negative thing or area upon which China Tours needs improving - I can assure you they are very good at what they do. I hope to return to China (I have the 10-year visa) and when I do I will make arrangements through China Tours again.

Jake LaForet

China Tours helped us plan and execute a private personalised 28 day tour across China. They were able to tailor the tour to our requests for several hiking trips during the 4 weeks. They were very efficient and everything went as planned and promised. Had some lovely guides along the way. Saw all the things we wanted to and managed to get away from the crowds some of the time.

Mr. Peter Mills

We had 16 days private tour with China Tours.Guides were excellent,Helen in X'ian was outstanding we learn so much about X'ian history with her and the terra-cotta warriors are impressive. We did also Shanghai, Guilin ,the Li river cruise is a must, the cruise on Yangtze river also was very relaxing with gorgeous scenery and Beijing ,each stop was fantastic. I highly recommend China Tours if you plane to visit China. I was able to custom made my circuit ,hotel, bullet trains, airlines, length of stay in each city without any problems with the help of Kote who always was answering in the next 24 hours.

Mr. Tarak Akrout

We had 18 day tour with China Tours. Each stop was fantastic, from Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu, Shanghai, Suzhou , Wuzhen, Hangzhou. We had a private guide each stop & all were fantastic. Hotels were 5star, & guides recommended the best restaurants. We saw all the best tourist attractions but was glad of our guides to organise tickets etc. a must I think as not a lot of English was spoken. I organised this trip from Australia via email to the lovely Virginia from China Tours. I’m so glad we did this type of trip as we could tell them what time to pick us up each day when possible. A must organisation

Karen Greer

We had a private tour covering Beijing, Xi'An and Shanghai. All three guides had a good command of English, and had an obvious set of knowledge about the local culture and history. We arranged the tour to have a free day for additional exploration on our own. I highly recommend doing that. The spefic activities were well chosen to match our interests. All of our guides also took special care to adjust to the needs of this 85 year old traveler. In addition to our guides we had great support from Wendy at the home office including changing our trains on short notice. I would use China Tours again without any doubt.

Mr. Norman Goldsmith

I was in China for my son and daughter in laws wedding celebrations for a week and I had limited time extra to tour. I had very specific dates in mind which my usual agent could not help with. I found China tours online and was a bit nervous not knowing anything about them. I gave my dates and requests for where I wanted to visit. Within a short period Wendy came back to me with a perfect itinerary. I caught a boat down the Yangtze from Yichang to Chonxing, caught the train to Chengdhu for the amazing pandas, train to Xi'an for the wall and the warriors then Beijing for 2 nights for all the usual attractions. I still was nervous paying a company I knew nothing about but the communications before, during and after settled my mind. All the guides and drivers were first class and attentive and punctual in picking me up from stations and the boat. They ensured I knew exactly where I had to go when tackling the trains and they became friends. I was travelling on my own yet it seemed like I had friends there. Even whilst I was away I contacted Wendy on wechat and she was very quick to reply. China could have been difficult with the language barrier but all the guides spoke perfect English. Thank you so much China tours for squeezing everything I asked for and more. I would highly recommend you.

Mrs Sharon Craig

As a professional travel agent for 30+ yrs I have worked with many tour operators and guides and I can categorically tell you that China Tours is the top of the line! This was a private luxury trip for my husband and myself for our 20th anniversary to Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai and Beijing and I had some unusual requests! I started off with 4-5 other companies but the rest fell by the wayside as they could not comply with my itinerary but Ellen from China Tours was consistently patient and answered all my inquiries with full details. Since I had access to booking hotel rooms on my own, I just needed to have China Tours book daily tours with car and guide and they sure did come through! From start to finish everything went super smoothly without a single hitch! Thanks to our lovely and competent guides, Kenni in Hong Kong, Zoe in Shanghai and a special mention to Shirley in Beijing. Everyone spoke beautiful English and knew their city & history well and there was never a dull moment on our long drives. Our drivers Chi and Huang were also very polite and we felt safe in every city.  

Mrs. Mandy Doda

Visiting China has always been top of my adventure list so I wanted to see all the main sites and for it to be a holiday of a lifetime - this 14 day tour certainly made that happen! We visited Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin, cruise down River Li to Yangshuo, Chongqing then 3 night Yangtze River cruise to Yichang, finishing in Shanghai. At each place the lovely China Tours guides met us off the plane or train - they were all friendly, helpful and knowledgeable and we would have been completely lost without them as the language barrier is a problem! They were all great but especial thanks to Ginger in Guilin/Yangshuo who thought of everything and really went the extra mile to make our stay a happy one and John in Shanghai who gave up his own time to show us round parts of the city and how to use the subway on an afternoon when we had no formal sightseeing scheduled. Do bring extra cash to tip the guides, we hadn’t factored this in when ordering our currency. The itinerary though full, worked perfectly. I was concerned I would find all the constant moving between places too much but the way it was organised meant there was free time as well as full on sightseeing days. As someone else has mentioned, the only thing I would change is to add another night in Shanghai as we only had 1 full day there and Shanghai is WONDERFUL! All the travel arrangements were seamless, the cars were all comfortable and air conditioned, the hotels were luxurious (and I am not a lover of hotels). I couldn’t imagine trying to do all this on your own, it just wouldn’t be possible to have the same experience. We had a mixture of small group tours and some time when it was just me and my daughter with the guide as people peeled off to do different itineraries. We met some great people! I am so pleased we decided to include the Yangtze cruise as it was a chance to really kick back and relax after some of the busier days. I’d read mixed reviews of the boat we were on - Century Sun - but we found it clean, very comfortable, great food, lovely staff members and our cabin was huge! The initial booking and follow up communications with the China Tours office was extremely efficient. Especial thanks to Wynn who was always so prompt to respond and very helpful! I’ve no hesitation in recommending China Tours and would definitely use them again. PS I NEVER bother writing reviews but really felt I needed to reflect the great experience we had!

Mrs. Shirley Thackray

You will not find a better tour company than this one. From the booking process to the tour itself. We did a group tour Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Guiliin, Shanghai absolutely brilliant Lora was our contact at their office and did a great job. Although it was a group tour you can chose your itinerary and we had another couple with us for Beijing and Xi'an the rest of the holiday it was just the two of us .... like VIP's with our own driver and guide. Cannot praise them enough 🙂

David Roberts

I went on this tour with my adult daughter and two friends (all from USA). There were five other people on the tour (3 from Australia, 2 from UK) that we did not know but ended up being friends with. We could not have had a better experience! The hotels were absolutely THE BEST...five stars without a doubt. The included breakfasts were totally incredible huge buffets of the most high quality, delicious food. In each city, our guide was there waiting and our private mini-bus was always there when needed. All guides - Andy in Beijing, Linda in Xi-an and John in Shanghai were wonderful. John, especially, went out of his way to show us how to use the subway - truly above and beyond as not strictly on this tour! We travel a lot and by the end of the trip we added up how much it would have cost us to do this on our own (hotels, breakfasts, taxis to sites, entrance fees to sites, 1st class seats on bullet train, flight to Shanghai, not to mention private guides) and we came up with almost double the price!!! Plus a LOT more hassle. Wendy at China Tours staff has been professional, efficient and helpful every step of the way. I recommend China Tours 100%! My only piece of advice is - if you book this particular tour - add an extra day in Shanghai at the end of the tour. We really only had one full day there, which was packed with sites and tours, and we would have liked another day to explore on our own. Overall a fantastic experience!

Carolyn Dilena

I think you get what you pay for. We wanted a private tour, with flexibility, with a guide who knew the history, in order to see as much as we could in 2 days. We got exactly that and we could therefore relax that things would be taken care of and we could just have a good time seeing the sites of Xi'an. Our guide, Cindy, also went out of her way to help us to eat local food, which was important to us. She took us to a restaurant she knew and also recommended a really good one for the evening. Our driver was extremely safe and reliable. Dora arranged it in advance with professionalism. I would definitely use Chinatours again to go to other places in China. Very high quality service.

Jennifer Kerns

You will not find a better tour company than this one. From the booking process to the tour itself. We did a group tour Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Guiliin, Shanghai absolutely brilliant Lora was our contact at their office and did a great job. Although it was a group tour you can chose your itinerary and we had another couple with us for Beijing and Xi'an the rest of the holiday it was just the two of us .... like VIP's with our own driver and guide. Cannot praise them enough 🙂

David Roberts

As a professional travel agent for 30+ yrs I have worked with many tour operators and guides and I can categorically tell you that China Tours is the top of the line! This was a private luxury trip for my husband and myself for our 20th anniversary to Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai and Beijing and I had some unusual requests! I started off with 4-5 other companies but the rest fell by the wayside as they could not comply with my itinerary but Ellen from China Tours was consistently patient and answered all my inquiries with full details. Since I had access to booking hotel rooms on my own, I just needed to have China Tours book daily tours with car and guide and they sure did come through! From start to finish everything went super smoothly without a single hitch! Thanks to our lovely and competent guides, Kenni in Hong Kong, Zoe in Shanghai and a special mention to Shirley in Beijing. Everyone spoke beautiful English and knew their city & history well and there was never a dull moment on our long drives. Our drivers Chi and Huang were also very polite and we felt safe in every city. We also had an issue regarding a double entry to China and Ellen gave us detailed information regarding that. I cannot stress enough what a fantastic company this is! Nothing was too much trouble! I wish all the companies I dealt with on a daily basis were like this!

Mrs. Mandy Doda

Private tour Beijing 3 nights, Xi'an 2 nights and Shanghai 2 nights. Excellent! Always got prompt and courteous replies to emails by Carrie and Lora. Everything in China ran like clockwork - cannot beat being taken around with a private guide - the flexibility is wonderful. All 3 guides were very caring and looked after us well, especially Sophia in Xi-an. We chose the 5 star hotel option - it was great to retreat to the calm of the hotel after a busy day sightseeing and the breakfast buffet was extensive in each hotel.

Patricia Brailey

We travelled via Beijing to Australia and New Zealand and took the opportunity to spend time in China both ways. Having decided on our ‘complicated’ agenda, China Tours responded quickly and competitively. Whilst not providing our visas they assisted with requirements and letter of introduction. Delighted that all our expectations were met, as were the numerous pick ups and late night airport deliveries. Both Tom in Beijing and Linda in Xi’an were knowledgable, polite and organised all the required local details. They even began to understand our humour. Recommended

Mr. Martin Lewis

Bottom line- Great tour. The booked all the transport within China, hotels, tickets etc. The guides got me to everything I wanted to see, explained the history and culture. This was my first trip to China and I knew the language barrier here would be difficult to overcome. Also, the size of the country and distance traveled would require extensive logistical research. It was too much for me, so I contacted a few tour companies and ChinaTours responded right away. After looking at the provided tours, I realized my ideal locations were not available. I decided to book a private tour with the lowest level of hotel, to save on the cost. It was well worth it. I did everything I wanted at the pace I wanted. The hotels and included breakfast were above expectation. My coordinator, Wynn was very helpful with suggestions and changing my itinerary multiple times and providing updated costs. I was a bit nervous paying for an expensive private tour with a company I found online, but it all worked exactly as we'd discussed. The guides are all locals who speak excellent Chinese and English. They were always on time and often stayed with me to ensure my free time was well spent. They made recommendations and drew maps on where to go. I would not have been able to do half of this on my own. I've been to over 40 countries independently and realized to really see China, I needed help. ChinaTours took care of me and I highly recommend them to anyone.

Ms. Kelly Loomis