Small Group Tours Reviews

We have just returned from our journey. It was even more fantastic than we had hoped. Our thanks and appreciation. Our guides and drivers were excellent and dedicated. The vehicle was stout and strong. Hats off to our drivers. We have only praise about everything. All the accommodations were far, far better than we anticipated, and everyone was kind and gracious. No unfriendly people were ever encountered. China was fascinating, but chokingly polluted. The tour guides there and transportation were excellent, and I shall never forget a minute of the constant surprises and enchantment of the entirety of our adventure. Thank you. It was the "wow" of my life.

Very perfect organization on our tour! The days spent in Beijing were wonderful and even an extra dinner was given to us to compensate the disappoitment time of arrival in China. We loved the capital and I was fascinated with the extraordinary great wall scenery full of people from all over the world! The food we ate after the visit, I remember a sichuanese speciality, very hot but delicious...... In Xian Celine was awaiting for us at airport. The food was first class in every restaurant, the massage center she indicated to us was also excellent and recovered our dead feet...... after so much walking around the places. The night-show with the traditional ancient chinese dances were superb, we enjoyed every minute. The last 2 days in Shanghai were also fascinating, I loved this modern city also. I feel like mention as well the perfect hotels everywhere, not only in the capitals but in Xian and Shanghai. Also the clean public surfaces, in airports, hotels, banks, shopping centers etc...were outstanding. I must copngratulate Chinese people for the extraordinary service they are offering to tourists and foreigners, I will dare to stay, this country is a poential NO.1 tourist place in the future. Many many thanks for everything you have given to me!

This organization was helpful to the very end of our trip. We were satisfied with all our guides. We also were very pleased with their selection of the hotels for our stay in China. The facilities were excellent and the management of the hotels were extremely helpful. They also had done a very good service in providing for our restaurant meals during our tours. The food was very good and we enjoyed the atmosphere of the places they had selected. We have traveled to a great many countries of the world and we have never received better assistance! Thanks for all of the help..

We would highly recommend TCG Tours to any of our friends and will definitely use TCG Tours when we return to China. We were treated with complete honesty and fairness in all dealings, and they made our trip into China very easy. In fact, we waited until the last minute to book the tour due to the failing health of my wife's 99 year old Father which resulted in us being unable to get the economy air fare to Beijing. Instead we had to buy the business class fare which was more money. Then, a few days later and to our surprise, TCG emailed us to let us know that 2 economy seats had come available and we could save money by switching from business class to economy! How many times will a tour operator do something like that? TCG showed their integrity by allowing us to switch. However, we did NOT switch and were glad we paid more as the business class seats on the right side of the airplane gave us a better view. It is scary to go into a foreign country with only some electronic tickets and the promise that a travel agency will have hotel rooms, guides, tours, cars, airline tickets, etc., all waiting for you. TCG did just that. The scariest moment was when we arrived in Beijing with 25,000 Chinese crowding all the walkways and exits and trying to find our guide. However, as soon as we walked out of the station there was our guide ready to take our hand, another seamless transition thanks to TCG. We give TCG our highest recommendation.

Thank you for a great journey. We had a wonderful time. All the arrangements worked out great. We would like to thank the local guides as they put in a lot of time and effort to make sure we were well taken care of. We loved the configurable group sizes you work with. Our group was a great and we were continually reminded how difficult it could have been to journey with a large group, by some of the other tours we bumped into through out China. For those of you reading this to try to decide if you should take a tour with Travel China Guide, I would highly recommend it. The arrangements were flawless. I arranged our trip completely over e-mail and only met Lexi when we visited Xian.

Not only was the trip well planned, it was implemented flawlessly. From the moment we were met by our guide and driver in Beijing, everything proceeded like clockwork. Every flight took off on time or nearly so, every guide was there waiting for us at our next destination with a cheeerful smile on his or her face, and every hotel had booked our reservations as outlined in our itinerary. Our guides made sure we were properly ticketed and escorted us to the security check-in at every airport, and they made sure we had excellent seats for each of the shows that were included in the tour. We could not have been more pleased at how well things were handled.
Our guides and drivers were all very good. While their English was less than perfect, for the most part, they understood us and we understood them. Every one of them –3 in all during our 8 day trip- was very knowledgeable and eager to answer my many questions. They all had cheerful personalities. We were particularly fond of La Mu who was our guide for 2 days in Shanghai.
With regard to meals, Ellen and I are generally easy to please. We very much enjoyed the opportunity to taste many of the items which are not that common in our country, such as eel, tree fungus, yak, etc. I'm not sure you will find very many westerners as willing to experiment with different foods as we are. Our Peking duck in Beijing were excellent, the dumpling banquet in Xian was tasty, and the buffet breakfasts were all outstanding. Overall, however, I'd say we probably enjoyed our Cantonese food in Xian the most. Our only concern was that we were always given too much to eat.
Now for the hotels. In general, we are quite satisfied with five star facilities. Thank you both very much for your efforts.

The tour was amazing. We are pleased to offer a specific feedback to all of you who want to take this tour.
We had very professional local tour guides in each city. All seven guides were extremely helpful and conscientious to a high degree. Each guide was fluent in English; Carol (Xi’an) was remarkably so. All the guides were very knowledgeable, and each contributed to our understanding of China in different ways. Carol, for example, has a deep knowledge of the history of the entire region, and of China, and her presentation at each site was thorough and detailed. In Beijing, Tina was similarly knowledgeable about the cultural aspects of ancient China. Our Chengdu guide was very outgoing, personable, and easy to engage in conversation. He was less focused on history, and much more “up” on current events, in China and on a wider scale. In Xi’an, we did not feel that the driver was as friendly as others were. Driving in Xi’an was a wild ride! There appear to be no ‘rules of the road’, and if there are, people simply ignore them. but fortunately there were no accidents. Our driver in Shanghai was very cheerful and friendly; he seemed to enjoy being with us. Our driver in Chengdu was somewhat less so, but perfectly acceptable, and always prompt and ready for us when we needed to move on. The cars were acceptable. Water was always available. I commend all the guides for doing a really remarkable job. We were on a very tight schedule, yet we never felt rushed or pressed for time, and we lingered wherever we found things that we wanted to absorb more fully. They escorted us with good cheer, and despite the number of times each guide must have visited each of our tourist stops, they were enthusiastic and full of spirit. We enjoyed their company.
The restaurant in Beijing was quite good, and the restaurant in Chengdu was excellent, on all counts. All the dishes served were delicious, the waitstaff were helpful and friendly, and the dining room was attractive. We cannot say enough about the excellent dinner and show at the Tang Dynasty Theater, however, which was a treat from first to last. Excellent food accompanied by lovely music, and beautifully gowned musicians, followed by a wonderful show made that an unforgettable evening. Breakfast in every instance was the best meal of the day; each hotel provided a substantial breakfast buffet with a number of options for Asian and Western dishes. If we had to choose, eliminate lunch and dinner. Keep the breakfast meal. It is a good way to start a long day of sightseeing.
Our sincere thanks for all your efforts, leading to what has to be the most exciting trip we have ever enjoyed.

I have to say that overall, I cannot have been more pleased with your services. Your guides were always there when we arrived at a new destination, were completely helpful in getting us to check in, and I loved each of the tours at each spot that we had decided upon. It was quick travel, a certain "Taste of China" that was dictated by our time frame, but I would love to have spent more time. The hotels were generally very good...... The local people exercising--it was inspiring to see everyone of such diverse ages working so hard together. The toilets were generally something to be endured. I also appreciated the generous bottled water. In summary, I would TOTALLY recommend tcg to others.

First of all, I would like to thank you all for a very well planned itinerary. We were able to see all of the major sights for which China are known, we learned a tremendous amount about your long and fascinating history and culture (much of which I have captured in extensive notes), and we were able to get at least some feel for how the local people live and think today. The latter was very important to us. It was wonderful to see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum, and the City Wall, etc., but having lunch with the local lady in her home, watching the Kung Fu show & Tang Dynasty show and playing Tai Chi with a local master were more fascinating. These are the kinds of experiences that help peoples of different backgrounds better understand one another. You did such an excellent job and we had such a great trip that we felt we owed you as thorough and honest feedback as possible.

I am very pleased to post the feedback on the China tour Travel China Guide arranged for us. We were very happy with all they provided for us. The standard of the guides we felt was very high, we were delighted to come to know them and the three of us enjoyed their company and personalities. They all were informed about the areas we were visiting and were happy to share with us some of their lives which we very much enjoyed hearing about. Each one of them had something special to offer us, Murphy her keen enthusiasm, Coco her relaxed and perceptive responses to our requests, Min's sense of humour and readiness to help, Michaels professionalism and attention to details making our time with him very smooth going...all in all excellent young people who shared their world with us and added to our wonderful experience of an amazing country. They all spoke English well and it was easy for us to understand them .

We were also pleased with the skills of the drivers...all the cars were of reasonable standard...probably the cars in Beijing and Guilin being of the highest standard...but in saying that the drivers were all excellent...driving with care and remaining with the vehicle when our bags were on board. The driver in Shanghai deserves a special mention as he was required to check on us at 1.00 am after putting in a long day when our flight was cancelled. He did this with concern for our well being and no sense of irritation.

The standard of the hotels was excellent. The places Michael took us to were especially good.

Thanks and we hope to be able to do business with Travel China Guide again.