Jenny from Xi’an is the Guide you want and need! - Jenny made our three day stay in Xi’an memorable and worry free! Jenny is a very experienced guide that knew the perfect (and less crowded) spots for taking pictures and explaining the history of the Terracotta Warriors and Xi’an. Our 25 and 21 yr old daughters were immediately drawn to Jenny’s personality and spirit! Jenny was quick to handle all the tickets and tended to “speed up” anyone she felt was delaying our day. Jenny’s love of her city was obvious and she made our family feel special!

Great tour and guide!! - Excellent tour and guide. Our guide Jenny was very knowledgeable and very good English. We enjoyed our tour and learned a lot. I strongly recommend her for anyone that will book this tour.

really a good experience - we had the pleasure of being accompanied on our trip to China by this agency. The service was very professional, polite and impeccable. The operations person who followed us, Linda, was very attentive to our needs, and planned some really wonderful days. We recommend without a doubt the seriousness and full satisfaction.

Absolutely perfect - We were thrilled with our first experience in China, especially in the stunning Guilin/Yangshuo area. Having a guide like Linda was essential in navigating through such a vast and activity-rich region. The service was impeccable, with Linda and the driver welcoming us with exceptional professionalism. Linda was not only a knowledgeable guide but also incredibly friendly and informative, enriching our journey with insights into Chinese life and culture that we otherwise wouldn't have known. She made our trip authentic and memorable, also accommodating our dietary needs and keeping up with our active pace. Her ability to connect with people and offer unique experiences, such as visiting a local's home and having an organic meal at the rice fields, truly made the trip unforgettable. Linda proved to be extremely reliable and caring until the very last moment, even seeing us off at the airport. She was the perfect guide for our group, and we wish her all the best for her future endeavors. Thank you again for providing us with such a remarkable experience.

FABULOUS TOUR COMPANY - CHINA OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2019 We researched several companies and studied reviews on Trip Adviser before contacting China Culture Tour with an initial query. Right from the outset Grace who owns the company was excellent. She emailed detailed information and a suggested itinerary then phoned me in Scotland to ask if there was anything else she could help with. What service and we hadn’t even booked anything yet! Needless to say we decided to go with China Culture Tour and finalised everything with Grace who was very accommodating and came up with a holiday itinerary that included everything on our list. Our 17 day tour was Bejing-Cruise on the Yangtze-Chengdu-Xian-Guilin-Yangshuo-Shanghai. Everything went like clockwork. As soon as we landed in Bejing we were met by our driver and delightful guide Olivia who checked us into our hotel and sorted us out with a local sim card. We had opted for centrally located 4 star hotels and all were excellent. Besides being very comfortable all were located within easy walking distance of the centre. Our days were generally 9 to 5 apart from the day we visited the Great Wall when on the advice of Olivia we were picked up at 0730. We spent several hours walking in relative solitude but by the time we left on the toboggan (great fun) the wall was mobbed. Being keen sports fans we also visited the Olympic Park and saw the Birds Nest and the Water cube which is now known as the Ive Cube! It was our 30th wedding anniversary in Bejing and Olivia presented us with a beautiful cake and also presented us us a gift when we left. What a lovely touching gesture. Our flight from Bejing to Yichang landed early and our transfer to the Cruise ship was seamless. We enjoyed our 4 day cruise on the Yangtze which visited the lesser gorges, the 3 gorges dam and a pagoda. Our room was good with 2 large windows and a balcony and we met some lovely Americans who were seated at the same table for meals. The food however was a disappointment and the cruise probably a day too long as there isn’t much to do onboard and the last day we mainly sailed past industrial areas and towns. The transfer from the port to the train station at Chongqing was again seamless and we took the bullet train which was spotlessly clean and arrived perfectly on time. As we entered the train station our luggage was put through security and my husband had his aerosol deoderant and shaving foam confiscated. Not sure if it was because they were too big or if all aerosols are banned but worth noting for future travellers. Our guide in Chengdu was Luna who again was very keen for us to experience as much as possible. Our accommodation here had been changed by Grace who had contacted us on the cruise to let us know she had received a poor review for the Chengdu hotel so she changed us to a fabulous aparthotel. What service! We also had a minor medical issue here and our driver and Luna were unbelievably helpful in resolving this. We loved seeing the pandas but the highlight for us was the Peoples park on the Sunday which was mobbed. There was so much going on in the park singing, dancing, playing music, a marriage street where parents advertise their sons and daughters availability, ear cleaning (yes really!) and mahjong. After an alfresco lunch Luna tried to teach us how to play this much to the amusement of passers by. Brilliant fun. Another seamless bullet train journey to Xian where our guide was Lucy. There we learned the story of and visited the Terracotta Warriors. Do you know it takes one year to restore a single warrior! We also had a great time visiting ‘Auntie’ at her home where we attempted to make dumplings to match the ones she had made earlier. It was fantastic to see how a Chinese family lived and a joy to share lunch with them. On to our next destination of Guilin which is a lovely city and Grace’s home town. Our guide Mike took us to many places including the ancient town of Daxu which happened to be the same day the mayor was visiting so there was much going on. It was fascinating to learn how the elderly had left to live in newer bigger apartments in the cities but then returned to their simple life as they didn’t enjoy the hustle and bustle. We were also really fortunate to meet up with Grace who arranged our fabulous holiday and thoroughly enjoyed our dinner with her. An amazing four hour boat trip along the River Li where we were treated to fantastic scenery saw us reach Yangshuo and our hotel situated beside the water. The views here are stunning and after our cycle it was lovely to relax and watch the Chinese punts lazily making their way downstream. We would recommend more than one night here as it is beautiful. Our last day saw us in Shanghai where the Bund at night is truly magical. Our guide Martina packed so much including a visit to the top of the Financial Centre where we were treated to an amazing 360 degree view of the city then lunch and a tour in the busy French Concession area. I can’t praise China Culture Tour enough for our brilliant holiday. All our guides, drivers, transfers, hotels, meals and tours were excellent. We had great fun and it was fascinating to learn from the guides about their way of life. All the cities we visited were spotlessly clean (even the leaves were swept away) and we never felt uncomfortable out on our own. China is an amazing country and it was a joy to be able to experience it with China Culture Tour.

Wonderful Arrangements for a Guilin Weekend! - This is my second time with China Culture Tours. I had dinner with Grace (thank you again) and Linda was an outstanding tour guide. We had to make a last minute change and the weather was challenging our best laid plans. However, Linda ably guided us and the selection of the hotels and the home-made lunch in Longji was a highlight. Linda was helpful, energetic and full of information. She was also very responsive to all our needs. I especially enjoyed her goading me on the climb all the mountain tops, and her flexibility in making sure we got to savor the local food. Thanks for a great time.

Amazing organization, wonderful tours and outstanding customer service - I had the fortune to hire China Culture Tour for my trip to China. Nora was extremely helpful from the beginning until the end of my trip. I highly recommend to hire China Culture tour, I do not recommend to do your own arrangements, it is a different logistic and a big country to maximize your time while you are there. Nora helped me with tours, transportations, recommendations, hotels, train tickets etc. Thank you so much Nora for making feel safe, protected and for the follow up while I was in China.

A superior experience thanks to Grace Wang at China Culture Tour - We were looking for a trip to China as a way to celebrate our 50th anniversaryand browsed TripAdvisor for ideas. China Culture Tour (CCT) seemed to fit our needs along with a couple of other companies. After contacting CCT by e-mail, it quickly became likely that Grace and her company would be a good bet. We exchanged many e-mails in order to put together an itinerary and finalized it in a phone call. The bet we made turned into a 23 day private tour that started in Beijing and ended in Shanghai. In between we enjoyed train and boat travel, the many highlights of Chinese tourism as well as some interesting person to person learning opportunities including visits to apartments as well as a rice farmers home for lunches, a visit to a Shanghai neighborhood to find out how folks live which included a fabulous home cooked meal and a wonderful visit to a continuing care facility. CCT hired local guides in each city to make arrival, departure and everything in between work seamlessly. We had a worry free trip of a lifetime. Among the guides we enjoyed, there were three exceptional guides who deserve a shout out. Linda in Guilin & Yangshuo, Kevin in Chengdu and Rainbow in Hangzou went above and beyond to make our trip a wonderful experience. Grace is to be commended for her dedication and expertise as well as the superior organizational skills and follow up that she brings to her profession. We cannot thank her enough for a perfect trip to China. We did have an opportunity to meet Grace in Guilin and spend some time with her and she is just as gracious and welcoming in person as she was when we were putting the trip together with her.

This is the tour group to use if you are visiting China - First of all, I want to give a shout out to Lydia, Grace and China Culture Tour for being so awesome. I recently returned from my second tour trip in China using them and had a fantastic time. In addition, I have directly referred 5 different friends who have used them over the past year and all had such great experiences as well. I stumbled onto China Culture Tour in planning for our trip last year. We were 2 families (8 people - 4 adults and 4 kids ages 10-12) and we visited Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin, Shanghai and Tongli in 11 days. We totally loved the trip. You can read my review in my earlier post. Recently, my brother and I took my mother to visit her birth city for her 80th birthday among other places. We went to Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou/Zhouzhang and loved it. Here are a few things about these 3 cities. Nanjing is special to us because it’s my mother’s birth city and it was great to go back with her. Unless you are a 20th century history buff or have been to some of the other China highlights, I would skip this city. Nanjing has a long history but the touristy highlights include the Nanjing Massacre Memorial (very well done), Dr. Sun Yatsen’s Mausoleum and the presidential palace for the first republic of China. This is something I really enjoyed but may or may not necessarily be high on the bucket list for those just want to visit China and are not necessarily entrenched in this history. On the other hand, Hangzhou and Suzhou are very appealing for those who want to see China. There is a Chinese saying, “Heaven above, Suzhou/Hangzhou below.” These two places are absolutely beautiful and I am very glad I visited. For any long tour, I think it’s important to mix in historical sight seeing with beautiful scenery. I love these 2 places. China Culture Tour helped me plan out both these trips. It was fairly effortless and they provided VIP-like services. We were picked up right from the airport and had no worries about any of our transportation. It was essentially door-to-door services. I got to experience traveling with children and with my 80 year old mother. What’s nice about this private tour is you never have to wait for other people and you essentially do what you want at your own pace with the guide with you the whole time, improvising as needed. This is not a shopping tour, but I wanted to find a real silk scarf in Suzhou for my wife so we went shopping for one. Eating is also a pleasure because you don’t have to eat set meals with large groups. We were able to go to local restaurants and pick and choose what we want to eat. We got to hit so many highlights in such a short time. They have drivers to pick you up and drop you off on site, so you don’t have to wait for the bus to park, etc. In summary, if you are wanting to go to only 1 city in China, there is no point in using a tour group, but if you want to visit multiple cities, I would highly recommend China Culture Tour. They offer phenomenal services. Planning the trip is very easy with them and you can be sure you hit the major highlights given your time constraints. They have a lot of experience and know what tourists want to see. I would continue to refer my family and friends to them if they want to tour China.

Fabulous China - Everything ran like clockwork on our 30 day tour of China thanks to Lydia’s organisation and our wonderful tour guides and drivers. Even before we arrived we found Lydia to be thorough and flexible providing an inexhaustible stream of information and suggestions over the several months we were planning the trip. She also kept in contact all through our visit to make sure things were running smoothly. We started with a fabulous 6 days in Beijing. Our guide, Tom, provided fantastic service all through our stay up to and including settling us into our seats on the train to Xi’an. His knowledge of Beijing, Chinese history, culture and food was impressive as was his ability to answer all our many and varied questions. As well as efficiently shepherding us through our itinerary (including a hike on the Great Wall) he also took time and effort to organise extra activities for evening events and helped us plan our free days - making suggestions, providing background, and explaining transport options. It was an absolute pleasure to spend 6 days with Tom and he made our visit to Beijing a great success. Tom was followed by the wonderful Christina in Xi’an, Kevin in Chengdu, Brandon in Lijiang, Cory in Guilin/Yangshuo, Martina in Shanghai and David in Huangshan. All had first class English. Their knowledge of their cities and China was extensive and they could answer all the questions we threw at them no matter on what topic. They were always early and could cope with any unexpected turn of events as well as making great suggestions for our free time and making sure we could cope with public transport etc. Christina helped us squeeze in a visit to the tomb of Jingdi even though it wasn’t on our formal itinerary. We were very grateful not to have missed this wonderful site. Kevin gave us an interesting view of Chengdu that went beyond pandas and we had a great day going to Leshan to see the Giant Buddha. Brandon, in Lijiang, coped seamlessly with the fact that 2 of our itinerary choices were unexpectedly closed. We were very disappointed that Tiger Leaping Gorge was closed but Brandon’s alternative itinerary was great and we enjoyed learning about Naxi culture from him and enjoyed his immense knowledge and sense of humour. At Guilin Cory introduced us to a lovely old gentleman in Daxu who showed us his collection of old implements – it was fascinating and not to be missed. He also led us on a great hike through the rice terraces and villages in Longsheng county, even avoiding the crowds of tourists, and also on a lovely biking trip in the countryside around Yangshuo. The final leg of our tour took us from Yangshuo to Chongqing for a Yangtze cruise which was fascinating. Apart from the amazing scenery a highlight was a ‘ride’ in the ship lift at the dam. From Yichang, Helen ushered us from the cruise to a lovely lunch to the train to Shanghai. We were met in Shanghai by the delightful Martina who as well as being a lovely guide was passionate about Shanghai. As well as guiding, she shepherded us in and out of Shanghai through 2 stations and the airport on several occasions as we went to Huangshan for 3 days and returned. David provided expert guidance at Huangshan allowing us to maximise our time on the mountain. When we were due to leave Shanghai our flight was cancelled due to a typhoon and we had to stay an extra day which entailed an extra night at our hotel and changed travel to the airport all of which happened over the National Day holiday. Martina and the car company handled all of this without any bother. We found traffic in China quiet daunting, but all our drivers did a great job – they were always on time or early, friendly and safe and patient drivers. We wholeheartedly recommend Lydia at China Culture Tours as an organiser and Tom, Christina, Kevin, Brandon, Cory, David & Martina for their willingness and ability to share their knowledge, enthusiasm, efficiency and friendliness. Our enjoyment and understanding of China would not have been the same without them.