Small Group Tours Reviews

From start to finish, our 14 day tour with Travel China Guide was outstanding. The guides were all very knowledgable, friendly and went out of their way to help anyone with a problem or special need. I would single out Maggie, Jacky, Tracy, Jeff and Wendy and Pulan especially.
The hotels were all 5 star with clean room, excellent food and efficient staff. The river cruise was also 5 star in all departments. At each step of the way, guides were ready to help us to our next destination and waiting to greet us upon arrival.
Of course, the sites selected for us to visit were the highlights of any trip to China. From the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, to the Terracotta Army, Summer Palace, Panda Bears, and Xi'an City Wall to the fabulous Shanghai skyline, it was one fantastic experience after another.
And don't forget the Chinese people themselves who are so friendly, curious and accommodating.
I can't wait to visit China again.

I discovered TCG through web search. I started planning & negotiating our vacation with multiple agencies in USA. Also, since my parents from India were going to go with us & we had special food requirements, I was talking to some tour agencies in India as well. TCG was extremely helpful in answering all my questions and customizing our trip. We had special needs (strictly vegetarian food, wheel chair, group of 8 from 10 yr old to 80 yr old, etc). I was also very nervous about making a wire transfer to pay for the trip. I preferred credit card but eventually TCG convinced me to wire transfer. To my surprise, TCG confirmed the payment of funds within 24 hrs. We were extremely pleased with our guides in all cities. They spoke very good English & were knowledgeable about the places we visited. Each one of them had a unique and personal approach which gave us a good cultural experience. They were extremely helpful in meeting all our needs. They received us at the airport and were with us until we boarded the flight for the next city. Restaurant choice in each city was excellent and we enjoyed the food in each & every place. TCG delivered what they had promised.

Having always been independent travellers, we had some hesitation in booking a conducted tour but our 14-day small group tour surpassed all our expectations. From the start of our booking with TravelChinaGuide we were impressed with their prompt, friendly, efficient and informative replies to our many e-mail enquiries. This concern for their guests continued throughout the trip - the guides and their drivers were punctual, the mood on the tour bus was always cheerful, instructions were given clearly, together with a feast of interesting commentary and anecdotes and they guided us quickly and expertly through crowds and long queues at the busier locations. Our visits to the main cities were interspersed with more personal experiences - three visits to Chinese homes, lessons in Chinese paper-cutting and calligraphy, delicious meals where we got to know our fellow-travellers better and helpful suggestions as to what to do when we had time to explore on our own. Our guides assisted with check-ins at airports and stations and we were always met by a guide on arrival in a new and untrue familiar city. With this superb organisation we were able to relax and enjoy an amazingly interesting and varied holiday with no anxiety or time pressure and had the fun of sharing it with a group of like-minded travellers. We came home with a store of amazing experiences, new friendships, a new interest in China and a dream to return some time in the future. We would without hesitation recommend a tour with TravelChinaGuide to our friends and family.

I would like to comment on Travel China Guide: This company is amazing. The guides, drivers, accommodations, sites, and food were all exemplary. This was a fantastic option for people who are interested in touring amazing places in small groups. The tour was very comprehensive. I saw enough of Beijing in only 4 days to last a lifetime! Also one of the best things about the China small group tour was the impromptu stops at interesting destinations. We will never forget this experience and have the fondest memories of every aspect of the trip. Thank you!

Our entire trip was built around the 11 day tour outlined on this website, but we were able to customize it to include some side trips we wanted to take after the fixed itinerary. This flexibility was wonderful. It was comforting to be met in every new city by a friendly face and be settled into our accommodations. Our guides in every city were punctual, polite, and very informative offering information at all the sites we visited and answering the hundreds of questions we asked as we toured the cities on our itinerary. We particularly enjoyed our guides in Xi'an , but all were outstanding. We also appreciated the vans to move our small group around each city. While driving in China can be a bit of an adventure, the drivers were all excellent. All of our accommodations were great. Similarly, the meals we were taken to were generally good. We had more food than we could eat at most restaurants, and gained a few pounds.:) While we believe this website is good, it was not entirely clear that the tour was going to be so customized or that we could make as many other decisions as we did after the group trip finished. We also recommend the new high-speed train we took from Shanghai to Hangzhou was a treat train travel in China is very civilized and modern and provides a nice change from going to airports. We will definitely recommend service to friends, and hope to use this company again for our own travel.

We are extremely happy about our tour to Beijing – Xian – Chengdu – Shanghai and the Chengdu part impressed us the most. We were met at the Chengdu station by this lovely vibrant person called Vicki. From the time that we met, we felt an affection for her. She has a personality that all can warm to. Her knowledge of where she lived, the industry and what was happening to the city was remarkable. She passed on so much knowledge and could answer our questions about the culture and people with passion. We liked this. Vicki treated us like we were royalty and so did the driver. I cannot recall his name but he also made us very welcome. The hotel we stayed at was excellent. The staff were attentive and obliging. It was also in an area were we could see some of the other sites of the city. Which was of a slower pace that Beijing and Xian. Both were wonderful places, but of a faster pace than Chengdu. We found that walking around Chengdu was easier. The walk around the new and old back alleys was so enjoyable, loved every minute we were there. The panda experience was just that an experience of a life time. The panda research centre was one of the highlights. I am glad we chose that one. At the end of the day Vicki asked if we would like to go to an opera, the one where they change masks. It was outside the tour but she suggested it as something to do for the night. WHAT an excellent idea. We had such a good time, it was marvelous. This should be included on the group visit. We were grateful for the suggestion. So the hotel was 5 star, the guide and driver were also 5 star (the car clean and tidy), the airline and staff were good, if there is anything else that was on the list can rate them the highest. We made good friends on the vacation and have been emailing them.

The communication through the whole process of planning to the end of our journey was excellent. Any changes we made to the itinerary were able to be included and itinerary immediately updated. Our tour guides were excellent but perhaps drivers could be a little more friendly but appreciate there is a language barrier, however, they always did their job in a very professional manner.
We enjoyed our trip to China immensely and belief the tour was the major contributor to that experience. The additional excursions were well planned and timed very well and enhanced the overall experience.

It was an unforgettable first time in China (esp Xian) with a great group of people. Celine is a superb guide in Xian. She has made an excellent effort to make our visit memorable. She has excellent English and is very knowledgeable. She also has a great sense of humorous and made the group very happy and relaxed. She has worked really hard to help each member of the group with any needs that they had, and she has worked hard to make sure that everything was smoothly. Thank you. The audio system (microphone and earpiece) which was used on our first day was really good. I would suggest that theses would be good to use in Beijing where it was very noisy (lots of other tour groups) - it would help us to hear on guide more clearly. The bike ride was an unexpected delight. As was the visit to the local home for lunch. I was really impressed with the standard of the song/music/dance show - a great evening. The mosque market was an interesting shopping experience. I'm not too keen on spending long at organized shopping e.g. factories etc, so preferred this. Thank you.

We booked our tour with Travel China because it offered a lot of flexibility so we could see what was most important to us, as well as small groups. Our group started in Beijing with 16 people; by the time we finished in Chengdu there were only 5 of us, as others split off for different destinations. Different guides in each city gave us a lot of local flavor and knowledge. Our thanks to Linda in Beijing, Susan in Xi'an, and Christina in Chengdu. Hotels were acceptable to good, meals were good, transport was good. Multinational group from the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland, nice to meet and talk with people from other backgrounds. We really got the highlights in the cities we visited, as well as really special visits to people's homes in a hutong in Beijing and an apartment (for lunch) in Xi'an. We're glad we made the choice to book this tour.

Below is my evaluation (on behalf of all the members of our group) to the overall services this company offered to us: Our group took part in a small group sized tour in Beijing. All their services were exceptional. We all enjoyed the meals they arranged for us. Both the environment and service of all restaurants fully met our expectations. We are absolutely satisfied from the service attitude of the drivers and the condition of the cars. The guide (John) was excellent. We are truly grateful to him! We were really thrilled with him in every respect and he always went out of his way to be helpful to us. Congratulations for providing such a professional guide service to your customers, TCG!