Beijing Travel Reviews on Tripadvisor.com

We visited Beijing and the experience was superb. Everything was perfectly organised, easy and smooth. The guide and the driver were extremely friendly and did take care of us. All visits were amazing. The guide was perfectly informed and shared with us the history, culture and details were to look at. I would certainly recommended.

What a wonderful experience. We had a great remarkable Beijing day tour with our tour guide named Mingsun. Not only everything was perfect but we felt the tour guide and the driver truly cared about us. Definitely will book a tour with Mr Wonder again.

Wonder and his team planned an exceptional 18 day tour of China for our family. Visiting Beijing, Xian, Zhangjajie and 5 days in Yunnan.

From the planning stage, to the selection of hotels and guides, Wonder was fabulous and he could not have been any more helpful. Booking a tour such as this allowed us to be flexible with our choices of activities and areas and it was a trip we will never forget!

I would recommend Wonder and China Discovery for anyone who is looking to book a well planned and personalised tour around China. It made life so easy and a trip to remember forever!

We had 8 days trip of Beijin-Luoyang-Xian with China Discovery arranged by Wonder in Jul'21.

Along with great content of trip, very qualified local guides and hotel selections, we had great service and flexibility to adjust our program due to many uncontrollable incidents through weather conditions.

Client oriented mindset and agility to finding alternatives options of Wonder has let smoothly finish our trip with maximum satisfaction. Strongly suggest China Discovery and Wonder as agent for your programs.

We did a shortened version of the China Discovery 17 day highlights tour. There was a big group of us with lot's of children so we decided to shorten our trip which was not a problem with China Discovery tours.

Our five families had a superb trip! The incredible sites we visited such as the 'Great wall' and the 'Terracotta warriors' will stay in our memories forever! Our guides took us to some superb restaurants where we really enjoyed the local food. The Peking duck for me was a favourite. I can't speak highly enough of our travel agent Johnson based in Chengdu. He was very patient in answering our many questions and was superb in organising the trip for us. Our local guides were excellent! There knowledge of the places we visited was in-depth and really added to the interest in what we were seeing. I will highly recommend your tour to other teachers at my school and friends and family back in New Zealand.

Jack easy to work with, quality accomodations, and Li (guide) were very personable and professional.

I love it!!!

It was worth each cent.

The guide, Kai, was incredibly knowledgeable, it made a huge difference to have him showing me the places and explaining all the history behind it.

The timing was very well managed and not rushed and the best part was avoiding huge crowds.

I am very, very happy with their services.

I am already trying to get some days off to plan a trip to Xian with them.

I strongly recommend their services.

Excellent experience with China Discovery!

We spent two wonderful days hiking on the Great Wall.

Our contact Riley was very professional and pro active to organize the tour.

Everything was as mentioned in the contract, no bad surprise. Our guide Jenny was very helpful and managed to adjust the plan according to our request.

We would definitely recommend China Discovery.

I've been living in China for almost 2 years, and haven't had the opportunity to travel because of restrictions in 2020, but now that it's eased up and with the help of China discovery tours, and a very helpful and pleasant lady, Rita they helped to create a trip of a lifetime!

It took me a while to actually decide on where I'd like to go, and Rita helped me each step of the way, I felt bad sometimes for adding and removing things on my itinerary but Rita didn't complain and was very swift with these changes.

I went to Beijing, Chengdu and Zhangjiajie and had a private driver and tour guide in all the cities. I felt like a famous superstar! Haha!

My tour Guide Yoyo was very professional and also an amazing photographer. She was really sweet and kind and I feel like I made a good friend. I had a wonderful experience in Beijing I visited the forbidden city, summer Palace, The Great Wall of China which was probably the best and most emotional experience I've had as now I'm considered a "true hero", 798 art ,a contemporary art center, the temple of Heaven and a unique experience in the Beijing Hutongs where we learned paper Cutting among others.

It's was definitely amazing and I'd love to go back one day!

Next was Chengdu, I was so excited to see the Giant Pandas! I really enjoyed it there and seeing the little Pandas had me oooo'ing and aaaawww'ing all the time!

The next day the private driver and tour guide took me to The Giant Buddha of Leshan! What a phenomenal experience! So majestic and full of history! I was in complete awe and had a good exercise climbing up and down all those stairs haha! My tour guide treated us to lunch close by and we had super delicious food prepared by the local restaurant which also had very unique and beautiful set up.

I had the option to also add days of rest on my tour because yes, I am lazy haha but it was good as it was right in the middle of my tour and I was already feeling exhausted!

Soon after I was on my way to Zhangjiajie, already by the airport I was in a different world! I have been to many airports in my life, but the scenery around Zhangjiajie airport was gorgeous!

I was nervous about the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon glass bridge days before, but when I got there i was super pumped to try walking across. My tour guide gave me 2 options 1. A zip line down to the river or taking the slide, we decided to choose the slide down and then either a boat down the river or a quiet and tranquil walk along the river. Even though it was long the walk along the river was so much better.

The views, spots and photo ops were all there!!

We also explored the yellow Dragon Caves which is beautifully lit up by different colored lights!

The next day was Zhangjiajie mountains! I am forever grateful to my tour guide David for seeing my mood change around the busy "tourist spots" where I'd get a little too overwhelmed by the noise and people so he offered to take me to secret spots where I'd get the same views (actually better views) and it's much less crowded and more serene.

I was so happy and grateful he tried his best to make my trip memorable and it was! Definitely it was!

I'm just thankful I didn't have to go through all the effort of booking planes, trains and hotels because Rita at China discovery did it all for me, and she was there when a little mishap happened and immediately moved me to a better hotel!

The Tour was excellently organized and we had a great tour guide who had extensive knowledge. We were all so impressed, we plan to book more tours.

Recently my husband and I went to Beijing and Xi 'an with China Discovery. This is our fourth trip with this company! And our fourth trip working with Wonder as our travel-technician!

We are extremely happy with our experience.Unexpected events happened and we were required to head to a Beijing Public hospital for a check.Wonder, our tour guide Linda, and China Discovery, however, made it as smooth of an experience as possible for us while also trying to ensure we could still see the "big events": namely, the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Temple of Heaven.And even though our itinerary needed some edits due to the unexpected events, Linda made sure that we were able to enjoy our experience in the safest way possible.She looked for shorter lines, she journeyed in the cold to a more remote area on the Great Wall with us, and she even waited with us at the train station when we were heading to Xi 'an. She also always made a point to always pick the most excellent food choices for our lunch, making an extra effort to merge the food that represented Beijing, but also that would be comfortable for a westerner to eat. While we would have been willing to try anything, that extra little effort made our eating experience all the more wonderful. Throughout the entire time in Beijing, Linda always made sure we were comfortable and safe and Wonder checked in frequently.

Next, Bruce, our tour guide in Xi 'an, was also excellent! Extremely passionate about history and food, he wanted to make sure we had the fullest experience possible during our short stay in Xi' an.He encouraged us to ask questions and went on a food mission to make sure, even though we were already eating the most wonderful dumplings, that we could also try a special sandwich from Xi 'an prior to heading to the airport. I love food, so this was fantastic! We rode around the wall on a bicycle -- a surprisingly very fun experience -- , visited the warriors, toured the Muslim quarter and tried a number of the most wonderful dishes I have ever had in China. Bruce also took the time to show us HOW to eat some of the dishes, since we would have been lost otherwise.

We are very happy with our experience and hope that we can go on another one.If so, we will definitely be reaching out to Wonder, since we have thus far, thoroughly enjoyed our adventures.

China Discovery organised our visit to Harbin and Beijing; great hotels, all flights (even the one that was cancelled the day before travel caused no problems and was dealt with efficiently), guides and drivers to pick us up and transport us around, meals (delicious) and all entrance tickets wherever we went. The snow and ice sculptures in Harbin were very impressive (and it was as cold as Tracy from China Discovery kept warning us!) but the highlight was the time in Beijing. Our guide (Kai) was fabulous; knowledgeable, span a great story and illuminated everywhere that we visited. The Forbidden City/Summer Palace were great but the Great Wall was everything that we hoped for. Still lots to see in Beijing and would not hesitate to ask China Discovery to organise our next trip, anywhere in China.

I used China Discovery to take a 6-day tour of Beijing and Xian (there was a 5 hour high-speed train between these two cities).

They arranged my hotels and hired experienced tour guides and drivers to pick me up every morning and take me to all the sights in Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Terracotta Army, etc.) I just told them my preference for historical and cultural sights and they took care of the rest.

The tour guides were great, everyone was friendly, knowledgeable, and flexible. I had a great time. It was also shockingly less expensive than I expected.

Zeva & china discovery, see you in my next holoday in 2021

We did a customized tour of Beijing and Shanghai in about 4 days. The coordinator did a fantastic job communicating with us throughout the whole process, and really allowed us to see the sights we were most interested in. Our guides on the ground in both cities did a great job accommodating us, even to the extent of finding a specific restaurant we had in mind. It was an enjoyable trip and being able to put the planning in someone else's hand made it a stress-free vacation!

1 day tour in Beijing. The company were very helpful- helped us book the tickets and ensured that we had a guide that could speak English when visiting the wall. Would definitely use again! Thanks!

My husband and I had the most amazing private tour thanks to China discovery. Thanks to Rita and her amazing team we had VIP/first class service throughout our whole trip in Beijing and Xian. We had a nice, clean, comfortable car, fun, knowledgable tour guides (thank you Kai and Timo, we learnt a lot about the history of China) delicious food and wonderful places to see. In this current Covid situation, where travel is a bit more restricted, Rita and her team looked after us at all times, ensuring we had everything we needed to travel. We highly recommend this tour. Thank you Rita.

The first time I saw the Great Wall was in a movie "The karate kid". I promised myself to go there someday. Being a foreigner living and working in China, still had no idea of how to plan the trip. My wife and I discovered this agency online and decided to trust blindly and go for it (payments involved). Glad to have walked the wall in person coming all the way from zw. Thanks to Vivien and her team we got first class service from airport pick up, accommodation and being treated like royals. Thank you Linda for being an awesome tour guide. We learnt loads about ancient China. Keep it up China discovery.

We just finished one week Beijing tour. We appreciate the flexibility of the agency to customize a tour according to our needs, especially because we travelled with a three months old baby. Riley adapted the itinerary to what we were hoping for. Also, she was always available answering any question or helping us to solve any inconvenience during the trip. Overall great hotel location, amazing guide as was Kai, a very knowledgeable person of the city, culture and history and good transportation.

Visited Beijing over the weekend of the 20th to the 24th of August 2020 on a private tour organized by China Discovery. I've used them in the past, when I did Nanjing for my birthday last year and have to say, just as before they did not disappoint.

My travel consultant, Wendy, was super helpful in meticulously planning the trip for me, and making sure as many places I wanted to see were included on the tour.

But the real stars of the trip were our guide - Lee - and driver, who went over and above to make my trip to rhe city an incredibly memorable one. Can't recommend them enough !!

My wife and I had a private tour from Shanghai to Huangshan in late October 2019.

It was a 3-day visit. We stayed at the foothill of Huangshan. Hotel was clean and pleasant.

The trip was wonderful and the services of the tour guide and driver were also very good.Tracy Tan at China Discovery provided good and prompt service too.

One negative aspect was the private tour price could have been 20% lower. That would have been perfect.

G HeWah

Unsure of who to contact to organise my 8-day tour of China, I contacted China Discovery and they were excellent. I have no hesitation in recommending them to family and friends..

My contact at the company was Wing Zeng and, after a number of emails discussions options we finally agreed an itinerary that met all my needs.China Discovery organised my travel, hotels and guided tours for 3 cities and everything was excellent!

The real proof of the quality of the service came when I arrived at the wrong exit at Beijing station. Despite being 10pm I was able to text Wing Zeng who immediately resolved the situation. Brilliant customer service!! Thank you Wing Zeng for organising an excellent tour

China Discovery organised a 13 day China tour for us from 21/12/19 to 3/1/20. Wendy Dan was the consultant.Covered Beijing,Xian,Guilin,Huangshan and Shanghai. Overall, a great tour! and well organised,thanks Wendy!

Andy our guide in Xian was excellent as were the guides in Guilin and Huangshan.

Vehicles provided in general were good.Restaurants in Beijing were bad however the quality improved after we protested.

Hotels were neat and clean(chose all 5star) except in Xian and after we complained ,we were upgraded.

I would definitely recommend ChinaDiscovery tours and would book with them again on my second tour.

We were a family of 4, all adults.

Wonderful experience with China Discovery. Limited on time, we worked with Vivien to hire a local guide, driver and private car to ensure we got to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall in one day. Candy was a wonderful guide. This was my seventh trip to these sites and even I learned something about the Forbidden City. After touring the Forbidden City we jumped in our comfortable van and drove past the Olympic venues and chose to visit Mutianyu. Candy assisted us with purchasing tickets and allowed us time to explore on our own and coordinated for an amazing meal at a local restaurant. The expedience and convenience of the tour was exceptional. Security around the Forbidden City makes finding a driver and tour guide there difficult, which is something I did in previous trips. I'd highly recommend working with Vivien and her team to book your upcoming travel to any number of cities throughout China.

Shanghai visit included two days at the Disney resort. Magic experience with my wife and 19 year old son. Then a transfer to Beijing on high speed train. Tours in Beijing City followed by trip to Great Wall. Snow had fallen the previous night so going up the pass to the Great Wall was a fabulous experience as i come from South Africa where we have very little snow. Left Beijing on high speed train back for Shanghai to check into the "Sunrise on Bund" hotel. Classy Hotel well positioned to explore the city. My agent Lyn Wang did an excellent job of putting my package together. Lyn was constantly communicating with me via email in the run up to my departure date. Tour guides and drivers were friendly, helpful and on time. Special thanks to our young guide Ms Tina in Shanghai who did our transfers to and from the train station and airport. Was with us till we got onto train as well as made sure we had our boarding pass in hand for our return journey before saying goodbye to us. This tour company and my agent Lyn will be recommended to family and friends travelling into China - for a hassle free holiday. Thank you Lyn Wang.

We used China discovery for a private tour ( 2 people ) of 12 days Beijing, Xian, Hangzhou and Shanghai. Riley was our contact. She presented us a very good program covering all the highlights, with a good combination of sightseeing and free time; She was very helpful and quickly replied to our questions, gave advice on questions we had related to the trip and was also flexible and open to change .

We had good guides and guidance , but our Xian guide Gin and our Hangzhou guide Lulu were really exceptionally good , they gave good explanations and really helped us out , also we had our personal car with driver and tour guide and we were dropped at the entrance of the sightings and the tour guides organized the tickets and the food at noon , taking into account our preferences. The timing spent and the program offered were really adapted to what we want. We also recommend to visit Hangzhou, very nice. So we are extremely happy with the service we have received from China discovery and i would certainly recommend them for a china trip. ( i was bit unsure before i booked because you never know via internet , but for those in doubt , really they give good service).

My wife and I have been regular international travellers over the past decade but had not made it to mainland China until last month. A conference nearby presented the ideal opportunity to remedy this with a short Yangtze River Cruise to celebrate a significant birthday for my wife and to satisfy our curiosity about other places in this vast country. We are travellers rather than tourists, so I would like to endorse the travel agency (China Discovery) which helped us with our internal travel arrangements. In the first instance, all we had to do was indicate our intended arrival and departure points and our intended length of stay and our assigned agent Echo Gou cheerfully and efficiently provided us with multiple options. Over a couple of weeks we settled on an itinerary including various sites in Beijing, Xian, Chongqing, Three Gorges Dam, Yichang, Shanghai and Hangzhou over 12 days. Highlight was probably West Lake in Hangzhou. Hotels were all of high standard, local individual guides were well-educated and fluent English speakers and drivers were confident and cheerful. Most travel tween cities was by high speed rail, but when we chose to vary this for convenience once in China to include an internal flight and a private car transfer to an airport in another city, this was expertly arranged by our contact agent Echo in Chengdu at minimal additional cost. This flexibility made what might otherwise have been some difficult aspects of our trip into a smooth and enjoyable experience. I can't fault the professionalism and expertise of China Discovery and our agent, and I recommend others who like to travel independently to consider using such an efficient service at such reasonable cost.

Our tour was organized by China Discovery [Rita Jiang] for 15 days covering five beautiful places. Though there were different means of communications available we just used Email and our Journey to china was all set.

Everything was perfectly organized starting from planning, implementing and executing.

We Didn't face any problem anywhere while travelling or while interchanging stations.

Security: We didn't face any problem anywhere either with baggage or other property. Everything was Secured.

Comfort: spacious cars, Door to door services, Hotels in the city center were provided, which was very convenient.

Food: food which was served was exactly the way we liked [Indian Vegetarian]

Awesome and Honest tour guide and Driver treated us like a family.

such a wonderful company with them made our journey to china Memorable.

Incredible People of China !!

I went to China for 4 days because we are making other stops and did a little of local searching for the best way to see the Great Wall. I gathered most of the prices and most convenient for a friend and I. By far this options as the best, the price was 272 usd, (2 people) and it dealt with a personal driver and tour guide that was very well manner and opened the door for us every time. Our tour guides name was candy she was very nice and went above and beyond to help us us out. Her English and knowledge of the Chinese culture was exceptionally perfect, literally and question I asked she had and answer for not including the normal tour itself. So the day started by them picking us up in a luxurious car at our hotel, with small treats in there for us. Then we went to the Great Wall, which the price covers the entrance and the lift tickets up and down. Then we went to sacred way, which dealt with the 13 emperors that ruled China and their burials, then we stopped at a jade manufacturing plant that gave us a small tour of jade which was great. Then we they took us to the buddhist temple in which we paid a small fee for the entrance and this was not on the itinerary, they waited for us and then they took us to the hassling market in which they had plenty of restaurants with great prices and really great food which is always fun and delicious. And they finally candy and her driver took us to a kung fu play at the Theater which was fantastic and a perfect way to end the day. Thank you Guys and Candy for being such incredible ad hospitable individuals. When I return to china I will definitely do this again with this company.

Julio

Prior to a Princess cruise which departed from Shanghai, we took a nine day China Discovery Tour of three of China's most well-known cities...Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. Catherine Liu, our travel consultant in China, was outstanding to work with as we had numerous questions before flying to Beijing.

Included in the China Discovery Tour she arranged were tours of the Forbidden City and the Great Wall in Beijing, the amazing Terra cotta warriors in Xian and the Pudong and Bund areas in Shanghai. These tours and the many other stops we visited were excellent.

We chose the small group tour of usually 7-15 people that included numerous stops at various sites, five star hotels, excellent guides and drivers, a bullet train ride from Beijing to Xian and a flight from Xian to Shanghai. We met interesting please, saw amazing sites and were thoroughly pleased with our China Discovery Tour.

One suggestion, avoid July and August if possible as students are out of school and visit these three cities with their families which makes for crowded sites. The reason we decided on an August tour was so we could take the cruise from Shanghai which was only offered in August.

Visiting China was extremely educational. We could have never accomplished as much as we did if we had tried to tour on our own. We highly recommend the China Discovery Tour and especially Catherine Liu. Catherine was very professional, was quick to answer our questions via email and made sure our guides were excellent. Ask for her when you book a China Discovery Tour. You will be glad you did.

Review For China Discovery

China Discovery is simply superb!

The period prior to departure is a little scary. Although the itinerary is comprehensive, handing over a large amount of money on a promise, is daunting. The application process for a tourist visa is rigorous and final details of flights and train bookings were not available until the last few weeks. That led to a little nervousness at the Chinese Embassy. As it was, visas were issued without the detail. That is my only criticism as the rest of the trip was faultless.

This is a slick operation, the company strives for perfection and they deliver. The itinerary was close-hosted so a guide and driver were on hand at every destination to see us through every aspect of the visit. The ultimate illustration of efficiency was when a guide appeared on the platform on arrival at Xian station and waved my name card through the train window!

A detailed itinerary is issued before travelling. We elected for a few days in Hong Kong before and after the trip. Collected from the hotel, we had little to do for the remaining duration other than enjoy the experience. I booked good hotels and first class rail travel - the bullet train is impressive - which proved worth the additional cost. Whilst it may appear at face value to be an expensive trip, when you consider what is included, the trip is excellent value for money. The only compromise was economy flights, between distant venues. Baggage allowance on internal flights is limited so Business Class may be a consideration, if one wants to take more luggage and, of course, for that extra touch of luxury. Many meals were included allowing us to sample local cuisine.

The trip took in Chengdu to see pandas, Xian for the Terracotta Warriors, a Yangtze cruise and Beijing to see the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and the Great Wall. At every venue, additional sites were added to round out the experience. I lost track of the number of times I said "Wow!" The itinerary proved to be extensive and varied. The guides were not only efficient, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and friendly but I would add that I met new people, anxious to deliver a unique insight. They became, albeit short term, friends. My thanks and compliments.

I can thoroughly recommend China Discovery. The tour coordinator was exceptional and our every request was delivered. The itinerary was comprehensive and executed flawlessly. Not only did we receive what we had booked but were made to feel like VIPs at every event.

My memories of China will be memorable, largely thanks to a skilled company which delivers excellence. Kudos to the team.

The tour was very well orgnized by China discovery ( Jack Li) and very interesting

Xi'an with the terracota of course but also the city wall and the old city

Chengdu with the Giant Pandas

Xining , door to Tibet and Tibetan civilisation with the Qinhai lake and the so interesting museum

Lhasa with the Potala and other monasteries

Beijing at the end with the Great wall and the Tianshan etc,

Very good souvenirs!

I'm a meticulous vacation planner and while the pre-planned packages available from various tour companies were good, none specifically met what my wife and wanted to do on vacation. I did some research on where to go and what to see and we originally were going to do 12-13 days to include some trips into the rural areas to see some scenery, etc. We ended up limiting the trip to the three big cities and received bids from multiple tour companies based in China. China Discovery stood out in the quality and completeness of their responses and had the most competitive pricing. The reviews on Trip Advisor were also very positive and helpful.

We ended up booking 8 days in China with visits to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. We had a list of everything we wanted to see and China Discovery made it happen -- an advantage of booking a private tour is that you can go and see what you alone want to do. (We booked our own air travel to and from China using miles earned on an airline)

In Hong Kong I was not able to find a private guide -- they are all group tours. The buses are designed for around 30 people and we had 10 in our group one day on a Lantau Island tour (fantastic) and just the two of us the next day (Victoria's Peak, Aberdeen Fishing Village/Stanley Market -- avoid it, just find a way to go to Victoria's Peak).

In mainland China private tours are the only way to go. Why? You are only as fast as the slowest people in your group. And when it was just the three of us (us plus guide/driver) we were much more nimble at getting through crowds and we were in a car or minivan, not a bus, for driving around. The tour company gets the tickets for everywhere you are going so you don't have to wait in line. And we were able to customize portions -- like no Shanghai Museum, but add Tongli water town and a night cruise in Shanghai. Add high-speed train instead of plane between Shanghai and Beijing ... with first class tickets.

I read reviews of the hotels they had chosen to put us up at and all got good to great reviews -- and they lived up to expectations. Note: you can ask for different hotels if you want higher quality or different location -- a China four-star is Western three-star, etc. The Regal Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong was 2 1/2-3 star compared to the other two hotels. Food was average -- I had to teach the cook how to do Over Easy Eggs. The Yangtze Boutique Shanghai was fantastic -- huge room and great service -- 4-4.5 stars! Beijing hotel was the Ramada Park Plaza Wangfujing that was also great ... 4 stars. Food was great at both Shanghai and Beijing hotels. Breakfast at the hotels was included every day and lunch on most days which was in local Chinese restaurants. Extra expenses were tips for our guides and drivers, dinner, snacks, souvenirs, taxis -- we ended up spending much less than anticipated in this regard.

We had different guides each day in Hong Kong because they were group tours, then a guide + driver for the Shanghai area and guide + driver for the Beijing area. All of them spoke English well and were able to answer questions that we had. They were all very knowledgable about the subjects of each tour and even got into nitty gritty details. We were VERY impressed. At meals we would talk about all sorts of things -- especially about how we all lived and family, things like that. The guides had no problem taking photos of us with our phones and were never hurried us along if we wanted to take additional photos or video.

We happened to encounter an annual holiday when we were in Shanghai -- with millions of people pouring into the city to celebrate -- and then rehearsals for a 70th anniversary of the PRC parade and celebration in Beijing shut some roads and attractions. Both could have really thrown a monkey wrench into our plans, but the guides were adept at rearranging the schedule to our advantage and to avoid crowds and juggle going to sights that were open.

What did we see? Each line is what we did in a day

Hong Kong -- Lantau Island tour (4 sights to see) .... rating A

Hong Kong -- HK Island tour ... rating C (avoid as Aberdeen Fishing Village doesn't exist, Stanley Market is OK if you want to shop for clothes, artwork and souvenirs, and you are forced to do a Jewelry Factory Tour that is really a way to try and get you to buy some jewelry, only Victoria's Peak was good on that tour)

Shanghai -- Yu Garden, the Bund, Nanjing Road (shopping), World Financial Center (100th floor observatory), nighttime cruise ... rating A

Shanghai -- Tongli Water Town (has canals like Venice) ... rating B (very touristy, but still interesting)

Beijing -- The Mutianyu Great Wall, the Ming Tombs ... rating A

Beijing -- Hutong Tour/Rickshaw Ride, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven ... rating A

Beijing -- Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City ... rating A (the Square is kind of meh, but the Forbidden City more than made up for it)

One piece of advice save the Forbidden City for last ... it is so impressive it may make other sights seem much less interesting.

Everything China Discovery promised, they delivered at a reasonable price.

This was an experience of a lifetime, professionally organised by Vivien of China Discovery and so well carried out by all the team we met. Starting in Shanghai we (party of 4) travelled 1st class on the bullet train to Beijing, Xi'an then Chengdu before a flight back to Shanghai. All travel and accommodation was included in the trip as well as private guides and comfortable private transport at each location. The hotels were all of a very good (4 star) standard with breakfast included and the several lunches we enjoyed were varied and delicious, easily coping with a vegetarian. The whole experience was so good it's difficult to pick highlights, though the Great Wall, the Terracotta army and the pandas at Chengdu are obvious must-do's and came up to all our expectations. But, there was so more than just these highlights. The visits to Temples, Pagodas, parks, monuments and museums combined expertly to give us a great insight into China's past as well as the experience of the modern, busy country that China has become, with the success of these visits mainly down to our guides whose level of English, knowledge and warmth made the whole trip so enjoyable. I cannot praise Vivien and the team highly enough - she was ever ready with help when organising the trip and stayed in contact throughout, helping us to re-schedule some items that were lost due to weather. Before we set off I was naturally anxious that all would work - there was no need for worry as everything worked perfectly. Thank you so much! If you are thinking of taking any type of trip in or around China, you can put your trust in China Discovery and you won't be disappointed.

I took a 2 week personalized vacation with Chendu Bamboo tours through China. I wanted to put some thoughts down to the TripAdvisor community as I had a lot of reservations going into it, and I hope my review will help clarify some of the items that I was uncertain of.

First, while I researching, I determined that I wanted to do a custom tour as none of the packages that I saw had everything I wanted. The towns I chose were Beijing, Xian, Dunjuang, Chendu, Guilin and Shanghai. I submitted inquiries to multiple companies and ChinaDiscovery came back to me promptly with a very comprehensive tour that was detailed and in line with my expectations. The scary part of communicating my requirements was that it had to be done mostly through email, although the Leo of Chengdu Bamboo was also quick to Skype call me to handle some of my more advanced questions.

If you decide to book a tour like this (and you are firmly in the middle class) this is and expensive endeavor. For you to pull the trigger, you can expect a number of big expenditures. First, you will need to put an initial balance down on the trip to reserve the reservation. That amount was placed through PayPay, and the Paypal account that I placed it to did not look anything like the business I was dealing with. It was a bit unnerving sending the money to such a strange account, but in the end, the transaction was fine and 100% legitimate. One point of confusion...you may research and book through ChinaDiscovery, however the invoice then turned into Chengdu Bamboo International Tours Co, Ltd. From a payment standpoint, this was fine. I found myself having fears about placing so much money to the this travel company which I only researched on the internet...but in the end, all my fears were unfounded and the execution of my trip was as perfect as it gets.

Expect to pay a few big expenses. In addition to the trip costs, you will also have some other big expenses. You will need to coordinate the buying of your international plane tickets, which I handled shortly after the deposit. If you are a US citizen, you will need to get a visa. In my case, the Chinese Visas costs about $160 per person for a 10 year visa, and to get it, you must carefully submit a form to the Chinese consulate in a designated region of the country. Because I delayed doing this, I needed to do expedited service. And because the form is brutal and requires you to send your passports to the Chinese consulate, I enlisted a visa expert (CIBT.com) in order to get in processed. Long story short, about $1K later, I received the last of the passports back from the consulate with about 2 days to spare. So plan ahead.

The final expense is that you will be advised (not mandated) to give them tips to the drivers and tour guides. You will find yourself wanting to give them tips for the great service they provide, but you should calculate 2 weeks and 2 persons a day, and understand that it will cost you hundreds of dollars or thousands of Yuan as part of your trip costs.

Last warning to give about going to China...you'll need cash. Only some (not most) banks and stores are hooked up to the Visa and Mastercard system. This means, (1) you may need to search for the right bank to get cash in China in order to withdraw funds and (2) the vendors that you'll see only will take your cash. This caused some stress the first couple of days as I had trouble finding a bank that worked.

Now...for the good stuff. Once prepping for all that, the trip that was designed by Chinadiscovery (or Chengdu Bamboo Tour Company) was pretty spectacular. The guides were beyond great, and did a truly amazing, amazing job of being everything you would want as a tour guide. Prompt, flexible, funny, sometimes motherly, sometimes brotherly, open, honest, kind, insightful, human, knowledgeable and ...simply great. Each one in each town was different...but each of them took such pride in their cities/country that you are given a great gift. The coordination of the planes, trains and automobiles was flawless and as we traversed our way around each city, we never missed a single connection, nor did our guides ever fail to meet us at our designated meeting points.

The hotels were as good as it gets as well. Breakfast was included in all hotels...some food good, and other food great. The hotels were within walking distance to all the good things. For Beijing, 15 min walk to the Forbidden City. Shanghai? 5 minute walk to the River and 20 minutes to The Bund. I could go on, but the accommodations were really good. Combine that with flawless execution of all travel arrangements, it made for a stress free trip. The lunches were all Chinese and again, and food ranged from good to great. They always gave our family of 3 too much food for one sitting, and I felt embarrassed about leaving so much food behind.

In Beijing, our guide took us through Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, The Great Wall, and Temple of Heaven (among other places). When she took us to the train station for our trip to Xian, she insisted in walking us down to our seat on the High Speed railway car. When I asked if that is the company policy, she said 'that MY policy' (to ensure her clients get to where they are going). Amazing. We reached Xian for a day and Zoe gave us great insights of the growing city, the crowds, and life in China. Then onto Dunjuang, where Lily and her driver rearranged the schedule to ensure that we saw all the Silk Road sites. The schedule changes included her and the driver starting at 6AM (after we were picked up at the airport 10PM the night before) in order to ensure we saw everything. Then in Chengdu, Cherry helped so patiently with my wife's shopping at the Panda sanctuary. And in Guilin, Kennedy was awesome describing the land and China's ethnic minority. The insight for the rice fields and rivers were wonderful. We ate probably the best Chinese food of the trip in the fresh country air. Then finally, to Shanghai, where Zack was truly a joy, and one of the friendliest and enjoyable people I have ever met in my life. The city of Shanghai was amazing, and my son enjoyed it tremendously.

Two things I would do over if I could. First, I would plan to take it in June, not late July. We had to compete with the rest of China, which has summer break at this time. As a result, the places were packed with China tourist going to the same sites, which made the crowds a bit much. Second, I would have also altered the trip to spend 1 less day in Guilin and 1 more day in Shanghai. Other than that, I would not have changed anything.

Bottom line...if you are planning a trip to China, I highly recommend planning it with Chengdu Bamboo and if you are lucky enough to work with Leo, you will not be dissapointed.

I am a history major and I went to China to study ancient Chinese history. The tour guides were very knowledgable and would always answer my questions. It was by far my favorite vacation. Visiting the grottoes, Buddhist temples, museums, ancient fortifications, and cities were the highlights of this history major's experience. My favorite experience was visiting Pingyao ancient city. The walls were first built during the Western Zhou dynasty and the buildings are mostly from ancient China. I stayed in a hotel inside the ancient city, ate the local food, bought traditional clothing, and went to the bar at night. There are many bars that stay open late and some of the locals dress in traditional clothing. It felt like living in ancient China! If you are interested in shopping, there is a gift shop near the terracotta warriors museum that shows you how they are made. You can buy pretty much anything there from a replica terracotta statue with your face on it to furniture, pottery, and replica weapons. I bought a replica sword for 960 RMB and they shipped it to my house. There is also a silk museum in Shanghai where you can buy beautiful clothing. The local people were always very friendly, polite and interested in talking with you. I never felt nervous or disrespected during my stay. The tour guides will go out of their way to ensure you enjoy your visit. I would highly recommend China Discovery for anyone who is interested in visiting China. It is much nicer to have a tour guide show you all the fascinating things to explore and explain Chinese culture and history than visiting China without a tour guide and being blind to all these things.

My husband and I are just back from a wonderful holiday in China. We organized this from Ireland with Wendy at China discovery who helped us put together a fantastic itinerary. Beijing was amazing the palaces Xian ancient city Chengdu was a culinary delight. Guilin had to be our favorite place the natural beauty of the Karst mountains along the li river and of course the rice terraces and the old city of Longsheng. The Yangtze River cruise was spectacular especially Wushan. We ended our amazing trip in Shanghai. The personal guides and drivers in each city we’re always there to greet us from our flights or trains. Each day was packed with so many places of interest to see and delicious lunches. We are missing the lovely time we spent in China so much that we plan to return soon to explore more beautiful places China has to offer.

My wife and I recently completed a 22 days’ vacation/excursion in the People’s Republic of China. We arranged this voyage with China Discovery Tour Agency.(May17th-June7th, 2019)

Our journey throughout China included three air flights and four high speed trains.

We visited Beijing, the capital of The People’s Republic of China. Highlights in Beijing, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, the Great Wall (Mutiny Section), the Sacred Way, wonderful Kungfu Show, and a wonderful dinner of Peiking Roasted Duck at the Iconic Quanjude restaurant. We then traveled 4.5 hours by Fast train to Xian to visit the Terracotta Warriors and Horses excavation site then on to the Ancient City Wall and then in the evening attended a wonderful Tang Palace Dance Show. We then traveled 3 hours by plane to Lhasa, the capital of TIBET. Then from TIBET back to China to the city of Chengdu (2 hours by plane) to visit the Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and also enjoy the relax atmosphere of the city’s Renmin Park. Then from Chengdu we traveled 1.5 hours by plane to Guilin, the most scenic city in China. We then drove about 2.5 hours to visit one of the most beautiful rice terraces in China…Longji Rice Terrace. What an experience hiking up on the edge of the mountain, including traveling up more than 900 steps in order to arrive at our hotel. Then the next morning more hiking up hill and steps to observe the spectacular view and to get a better understanding of the engineering developed many, many years ago to be able to cultivate rice at that high altitude. Later we visited Huangluo Yao Village and enjoyed a beautiful show by the Village Long Hair People. The following day we traveled back to Guilin and took a very relaxing sightseeing cruise 84 kilometers down the Li River to Yangzhou Town.

That evening we attended an amazing show directed by the world-famous director Mr. Zhang Yimou then the next day we drove back to Guilin and took a fast train (5 hours) to the the city of Chongqing (The largest city in Southwest China) to catch our cruise ship to take a 3 nights 4 days cruise down the Yangtze River, and during the cruise we had 3 shore excursions to visit different historic sites. After our cruise we then went on an all-day tour of the Three Gorge Dam. It is the largest dam in the entire world. After that we traveled by bus to to Yichang and took a fast train the the new city of Shanghai. Shanghai is less than 20 years. In Shanghai we visited the 400 year old Yun Garden, the Shanghai World Financial Center, the Nanjing Road, the famous BUND, Zhujiajiao Water Town, Tianzifang, Suzhou No.1 Silk Factory, and finally we attended an incredible Acrobat Show. Then on June 6thth we traveled back to Beijing by fast train (4.5 hours) and on June 7thth we departed China.

We have traveled to many different places all over the world during the past 21 years and I must say this excursion in China arranged for us by the very efficient, professional, and knowledgeable agent Wendy Dan of China Discovery was truly unbelievable. Simply put, Wendy Dan and all of the drivers and especially our English-speaking guides provided us with services way above our expectations. We indeed experienced a voyage of a lifetime.

During the past 21 years, we have traveled to the Middle East, North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, all over the USA and Canada, many places in Central America and South America, Western Europe, Northern Europe, Egypt and throughout the entire Caribbean and we have been fortunate to have a very good experience in each of those many places. China Discovery organized a 22 days’ tour along with its the very proficient, caring, and knowledgeable service providers (especially our private English-speaking tour guides) which has resulted in my wife and I having to tell the World that this trip compares with the best vacation we experienced in all of our travels during the past 21 years. We are very, very impressed with the overall beauty, safety, cleanliness, orderliness, and history we experienced at all of the places we visited. We are still amazed at the considerable level of development China has achieved during the past 35 years. Yes, put a visit to China, planned by China Discovery, on your bucket list.

Finally, my wife and I would like to express again our sincere thank you very much to Candy-Beijing, Maria-Xian, Dorjee-Lhasa, Kevin-Chengdu, Kennedy-Guilin, Charlie-Chongqing, Yichang- , Terry-Shanghai and Tina-Shanghai for your caring and professional service.

After 6 days exploring Hong Kong by ourselves we started our guided tour of China on 30th May. We are very well travelled and have always booked independently so this was a first for us to put ourselves in the hands of an online travel agency in China! Wonder Wang from China Discovery (Chengdu) had corresponded with us over a number of months and together we had formulated a tour taking in Guilin, Yangshuo, Xian, Shanghai and finally Beijing. The 4 guides, Smiley, Walender, Frank and Kevin all had very different personalities and that was an extremely interesting aspect of the holiday. They were all friendly, professional, knowledgeable and always on time. The tour was just myself and my husband accompanied by different guides and drivers.

The 2 internal flights and 2 high speed trains worked well and we were taken to the airports/stations and always met with smiling faces. The lunches were varied and we had some great meals although we had to overcome some food challenges when dining by ourselves in the evenings. Additional shows were suggested by the guides and special mention must be made of the show at Yangshuo on the River Li - amazing! The hotels and breakfasts were of a good standard although bathroom facilities in a couple of instances could have been more modern but always spotlessly clean.

The programme was varied and we tweaked it when planning with Wonder’s help. The Great Wall was amazing and we particularly loved Shanghai. We were flexible in order to maximise the time spent in places especially in Beijing.

We were a little skeptical at first booking online with a Chinese travel agency but have no worries China Discovery and Wonder Wang were efficient, professional at all times and we had a great time. China was so much more than we expected and we would not hesitate to recommend China Discovery to others and maybe one day we will return to see the rest of the country. A great holiday!

After 6 days exploring Hong Kong by ourselves we started our guided tour of China on 30th May. We are very well travelled and have always booked independently so this was a first for us to put ourselves in the hands of an online travel agency in China! Wonder Wang from China Discovery (Chengdu) had corresponded with us over a number of months and together we had formulated a tour taking in Guilin, Yangshuo, Xian, Shanghai and finally Beijing. The 4 guides, Smiley, Walender, Frank and Kevin all had very different personalities and that was an extremely interesting aspect of the holiday. They were all friendly, professional, knowledgeable and always on time. The tour was just myself and my husband accompanied by different guides and drivers.

The 2 internal flights and 2 high speed trains worked well and we were taken to the airports/stations and always met with smiling faces. The lunches were varied and we had some great meals although we had to overcome some food challenges when dining by ourselves in the evenings. Additional shows were suggested by the guides and special mention must be made of the show at Yangshuo on the River Li - amazing! The hotels and breakfasts were of a good standard although bathroom facilities in a couple of instances could have been more modern but always spotlessly clean.

The programme was varied and we tweaked it when planning with Wonder’s help. The Great Wall was amazing and we particularly loved Shanghai. We were flexible in order to maximise the time spent in places especially in Beijing.

We were a little skeptical at first booking online with a Chinese travel agency but have no worries China Discovery and Wonder Wang were efficient, professional at all times and we had a great time. China was so much more than we expected and we would not hesitate to recommend China Discovery to others and maybe one day we will return to see the rest of the country. A great holiday!

Ms.Lyn wang was very cooperative & professional right from the time of enquiry, booking & arranging the customized China tour for 12 days covering Beijing, Yangtze river cruise, Zhangjiajie & Shanghai. We really appreciate her for organizing the tour in a very professional manner. We were bit apprehensive initially as we booked directly without any tour operator from my country of origin. It was very wonderful & pleasant experience and we really enjoyed every moment of it.

All all tour guides were very professional & cooperative giving all the required info of the tour. Yangtze river cruise by “president No-7” was very good & enjoyed the way they organised.

Zhangjiajie is a must visit place with such a scenic beauty & we feel three days there would have been more justified to enjoy thoroughly such a natural scenic beauty spot. But the only disappointment was the hotel “Wulingyuan Hotel” arranged was close to the hills but the food was really bad & couldn’t eat at all. The least we expected that the breakfast could be to suit overseas travellers, but was really not up to any standard. Suggest you to recommend any other hotels for overseas guests.

In Shanghai, there was much free time left after covering all the listed places as per itinerary & suggest tour guide could provide some local shopping tips in China as in Nanjing road it was all expensive which are otherwise generally available in any other country. Don't miss Bund walk in the evening, the skyline under lights is most delightful to watch /gaze.

Overall it was very nicely organised & we really appreciate your professionalism for well organised tour. I certainly recommend "China discovery" tour operator & happy to avail for any future tours in china.

Lyn - Our travel consultant did a wonderful job and we had a great 8 days trip covering Beijing, Xian and Shanghai.

For our May travel we started just with a web page inquiry in Jan. She was patient enough and guided all through the details. Right from Train and Air booking (Beijing-Xian-Shanghai) and optional ones everything was well timed and paced. The guides assigned did a wonderful job and were there right from the airport picket to check in on our way back. There were no ambiguities in what's covered and not and helped a lot to have well planned travel.

Our veg food requirements were well taken care of and the entire itinerary was smooth and seamless. The private van was big enough to accommodate two adults and two grown kinds with 4 big suitcases and 4 bags.

Highly recommend this tour to anyone looking for english tour in China. Here are few tips;

1. Made all payments to China Discovery though Paypal since other payment modes not convenient

2. Carry enough cash (Master / Visa) not accepted at many places - excepts Starbucks and big malls. Could withdraw cash using Visa card on local ATMs. To my surprise the exchange rate was better at ATM (no additional charges) than what I got in India

3. Google, WhatsApp and Facebook access would be a challenge. I found betternet VPN handy for those 8 days

4. Unlike other places no insistence of Tips from anybody. Being private tour I tipped Guides and Drivers well (More than 12 hours every day).

5. Do expect visits to Jade Factory, Tea Museum, Terracotta factory. If you want to avoid let them know in advance

I had no reason to call Lynn during our trip and that's great :)

Go for it. I had lot of reservation while booking mine with limited online reviews available, hence sharing this.

We recently booked a 3 city private tour with China Discovery.com. The arrangements for hotels , transportation and sight seeing was flawlessly executed. I would highly recommend this tour. All this was made possible by our fabulous tour guide Riley Guo. She was very prompt in responding to all our questions. The weather towards the end of May in Beijing , Xian and Shanghai is starting to get hot but still tolerable. We were able to hike the Great wall which is spectacular for nearly 4 hours. All our tour guides (Helen in Beijing, Kelly in Xian and Frank in Shanghai) did an awesome job explaining the history and planning out the trip.

I would thoroughly recommend Riley Guo at China Discovery to help plan and organize your trip. Nothing is ever too much trouble and she was able to deliver an amazing experience at a very reasonable price. Cant wait to go back and cruise the Yangtze river and explore other cities in China.

We have heard and seen alot about how amazing China is, so my partner and I decided on a 10 days vacation to China. It's our maiden voyage to China and we selected Beijing as our first destination to kick start our adventure..

It was a last minute decision with additional complication when we decided to include a meet up with friends who are residing in North East of China. Our hectic daily schedule meant that very little time were spent on researching our trip. Fortunately we found China Discovery who were able to provide personalised travel itineraries. Wendy Dan was assigned to assist us in planning our trip. Wendy has a patient of a saint and she is extremely helpful, professional and obviously dedicated to her job.

We appreciate the complexity involved in the trip as we were pretty ambitious with our travel plans and we were constantly tweaking our schedule. Wendy was always on hand to assist and offers suggestions to suit our challenging travel plans. Our constant tweaking were compacting the timeline for Wendy to organise our trip.

We finally decided on a 5 days self organised travel plan prior to engaging the service of China Discovery for a 5 days Beijing and Datong trip.

When we embarked on the trip organised by China Discovery, we were concerned that the schedule may be punishing since we were constantly on the road for 5 consecutive days prior to China Discovery trip. Our concerns were unfounded, we found the travel itineraries very relaxing, accommodating and well planned. All our requests and requirements were well taken care off. The accommodations and transportation arrangement were of excellent and much appreciated.

Hello Jack,

We recently got back from our wonderful 19 days trip to China and wanted to take this time to thank you for preparing such an awesome itinerary for us. It was tailored to the places we wanted to visit Beijing, Xian, Lhasa,Tibet, Chengdu, Guilin, Yanshuo, Li River Cruise, Longji, Chongqing Yangtze River cruise, Yichang, Shanghai.

We enjoyed every single day of our tours to the maximum.

The treatment we received from all of our tour guides and drivers was excellent. We were always greeted on time at the airport or train station by our tour guide who promptly introduced themselves and also the driver. Very nice people always wanting to help and explain all the details about the place visited, their culture and traditions.

Hotels were beautiful, very comfortable and centrally located. Staff always ready to help if needed. We were very surprised with the beautiful gift waiting for us when we got to our hotel in Chengdu. I wished we had more time to go visit you in your office and personally thank you.

The very well planned itinerary was carried out to our expectations, never a missed placed to visit, and when it was time for our next destination, our tour guide had everything under control, from taking our bags to getting our tickets and making sure we were in the right place on time.

The Yangtze River cruise was very relaxing, excellent buffet and staff service. Our activity coordinator Rebecca, was great in keeping the activities going and letting us know which sceneries where coming up and what to look for every time. Nightly entertainment was very good also. The tours very very well organized and we really enjoyed them.

We loved every city visited and experienced different Chinese cuisine every placed we went. The restaurants and food was carefully selected always keeping in mind if we were allergic to any food or liked or disliked any hot spices.

We are very happy and it has been an amazing vacation and a learning experience. Will be happy to recommend your company and specially you Jack for all your help, patience and knowledge. We'll be happy to return to China to experience many other beautiful places we didn't get to see this time around.

Thank you very much for everything you did for us.

Idania and Alberto Mesa

We have just returned from our holiday organized by Jack Li in China Discovery. This amazing tour lasted twenty days and we visited Beijing,Xi’an,Chengdu,Lijiang,Guilin, Yangshuo, Hangzhou and Shanghai. We found China Discovery to be an absolutely reliable tour company,responsible and very attentive. The service was of the highest quality- hotels,guides,drivers and all the restaurants attended and recommended. We have full confidence in recommending China Discovery for anyone needing a stress free holiday in China. In each location the guides were professional,enthusiastic and delighted to give us an insight into their community-history,customs,religions,fauna and flora. In fact each location was a highlight and we have a lifetime of unforgettable memories. We would like to thank Jack Li for customizing our tour and for taking such good care of us. It was a remarkable holiday made possible by the expertise and efficiency of China Discovery and its wonderful team.

We've just come back from 2 amazing weeks in China booked through China Discovery based in Chengdu, our travel consultant was Johnson. We chose a bespoke tour taking in Beijing, Xi'an, Chengu, then a short river cruise on The Yangtze, followed by a night in Zhangjiajie and finishing off in Shanghai. We had the most amazing time. Johnson organised the trip and was very patient with our infinte changes to the itinerary,

Johnson arranged all the transport within China, hotels, and guides in each of the cities, all guides spoke excellent english, were really well organised and knowlegeable. Ruby (in Chengdu), Kimi (in Xi'an) and Johnson (in Zhangjiajie) were absolutely excellent and made our stay really special. Having a guide cuts down the queueing time considerably as tickets are prebooked for you and they only need to be picked up, in some places there are preferential queues for guided tours.

We travelled mainly by high speed train, which is by far the most convenient way of seeing the country. We were astounded by how efficient, clean and punctual the trains were. We also used the underground system of most of the cities we stayed in, we found them all easy to navigate, modern, clean and punctual.

We had 3 days in Beijing, we stayed at the Park Plaza: excellent breakfast comfortable and clean rooms, excellent location. In Beijing we saw the Forbidden city, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace and had a great day on the Great Wall, which is astoundingly impressive, coming down on the tobbogan was great fun. We were supposed to visit the Hutongs and have a go at some calligraphy, but unfortunately due to a mix of Beijing traffic, an early afternoon train to catch and the calligraphy person being called away, we were unable to do this last activity.

The second stop was Xi'an, we stayed at the Grand Mercure on Remnin Square, Less impressive than the other hotels in the square, but comfortable and excellently located. It was built in the Soviet era and had an air of faded grandeur. The Terracotta Warriors were breathtaking and we had a lovely time cycling round the town walls. Xi'an is a really pretty city by night with bustling markets and pretty lights everywhere. We took the opportunity to learn to make dumplings and have lunch with a local family. This was a great experience. It was in one of the super-modern high rise buildings that are ubiquitous, the host was a former guide and it was one of the best meals we had in the holiday. It was more a demonstration of how to fill the dumplings rather than a cookery lesson, but we enjoyed it nevertheless.

Next stop Chengdu, home of the pandas. We stayed in the Dorset Grand, the only way to describe the hotel is WOW! The highlight was the Pandas, we enjoyed Renmin park and the Opera. We mentioned to our guide that we wanted to try the local hotpot so she stayed with us into the evening to help us with ordering and show us how it was done.

The next stop was Chongqing, from here we took a 3 day cruise on the Yangtze on the Century Legend, which was a lot of fun and restful after the busyness of the previous week. Food was ordinary at best. The cruise had group excursions, which made us really grateful that we booked a private tour with China Discovery for most of the holiday (rather than a group tour with a UK based agency) as there was a lot of hanging around waiting for other people. The quality of the guides provided by China Discovery was also much higher. Breathtaking scenary and an amazing feat of politics and engineering.

Second last stop Zhangjiajie, the slow train was incredibly interesting, and it was the first look of small town, rural China we caught. It had a completely different feel from the other places we visited. As we got there we wished we had followed Johnson's advice and stayed an extra day. To sum the place up in one word: spectacular, we saw Tianmen Mountain and the Yellow dragon cave.

Finally a last few days in Shanghai, we stayed at the Sunrise on the Bund, a beautiful hotel, but not really on the bund. We were unlucky that there were night roadworks going on outside our window, but the staff did their best to mitigate their impact. Shanghai does not really need a guide, it is quite westernised and it is easy to navigate. The advantage of having a guide is that you will pack much more into the day. Again, we were grateful to have one of China Discovery's guides for one of the 3 days we spent here. As when we asked the concierge at the hotel for direction for a shopping centre, he arranged for a taxi to take us to a really hard sale place that made us feel quite uncomfortable. During the rest of the holiday only twice we had been taken to places where we felt in some way obliged to buy something, but it was not a hard sell, the trips were listed on the itinerary and we could have said we did not want to go there.

Overall it was a great holiday and we have been so impressed by the organisation and value for money provided by China Discovery and Johnson that we are planning to do a tour of Southern China in the next couple of years.

When researching tours of China we found that China Discovery was the perfect company to book with as we were able to customise our own trip.

We traveled to multiple destinations within China where we had our own personal guides which made the language barrier a breeze as we were able to thoroughly enjoy ourselves with no stress. The guides had excellent English and local knowledge and showed us many things that we would have otherwise missed.

I would not hesitate to recommend China Discovery and our tour coordinator Wing Zeng. She was excellent at planing the whole tour for us, including the internal travel arrangements. I was also very impressed with how she kept in contact with us throughout the entire trip.

When traveling domestically in China, we soon noticed that there were no signs in English at the airports so we were very grateful to have our tour guides assist us with the flight check-ins.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in China and would definitely recommend this company to others.

We wanted to visit some sights in different cities in China. Riley from China Discovery was very patient and competent and helped us plan our trip. She answered all our questions quickly and also helped us process our VISA applications.

This resulted in a 16-day tour during which we visited the following cities: Beijing, Harbin, Chengdu, Lhasa, Zhangjiajie, Yangshuo and Guilin. Riley organized for us the tickets for 6 domestic flights and 2 train trips. In each city we were welcomed by a tour guide and a driver. Everything went smoothly and everything was well organized.

We would like to thank Riley for her patient support and would book our next trip to China with her again.

David

My husband and I were very, very pleased with the arrangements our online consultant Wing Zeng with China Discovery Yangtze River Cruise Tibet Discovery put together for us which was a 14 day trip. We flew into Beijing, experienced the Great Wall, the imperial palace, Xian, to see the Terra cotta warriors, cities in between, we cruised along the Li River and a 3 days cruise down the Yangtze River. Our trip ended in Shanghai. Yes, we too were a bit uncomfortable making arrangements online with such a distance away but Ms Wing put our minds at ease. Our experience was beyond our expectations starting with our tour sites and hotels. We were able to experience transportation that we don’t have in our area like the bullet train and subway. Our Guides, Mr Jean, Ms Alice, Ms Vivian, Ms Fay, and Zack were all fabulous at what the do. We would definitely book with this company again.

Wonder Wang organised an incredible memorable tour for us. our ten day trip in China was faultless - from the minute we put our feet in China right up to our flight home we were cared for in every detail. our guides and their drivers were simply amazing. Forest in Beijing, besides being very knowledgeable was a caring and lovely human being. Avril in Shanghai and Vivian in Xian were excellent as well. Their English was excellent. Punctual, arranged great lunches and simply excelled in all areas. Wonder arranged lovely hotels in the best locations. I would highly recommend China Discovery to anyone who wants to travel in China. 110% all the way!!

My son and I just returned from a seven day trip to Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai. The trip was booked with China Discovery and I would like to express my satisfaction and appreciation for a well organized and extremely enjoyable trip from beginning to end. The guides - Lindsay and Vivienne in Beijing , Timo in Xi'an , Laura in Shanghai were all organized, punctual, pleasant and professional. Everything went smoothly and we really enjoyed the 5-star hotel package. The food that was included exceeded our expectations for most of the time and the drivers were courteous and safe . Many thanks China Discovery for helping us to experience such a wonderful time.

We chose a private tour as we wanted a relaxing trip, some time to ourselves, and flexibility. I arranged our 18 day trip through Catherine Liu (China Discovery, based in Chengdu). I made several changes to our itinerary, had many questions and a few concerns; Catherine responded quickly allying our concerns, providing more information, and making the changes requested. We travelled by air, bullet trains and private vans. All our guides were great, heaps of historic and local knowledge.

The Ice & Snow Festival in Harbin was on our bucket list, so expectations were high. Harbin is awesome: very friendly people, great food, stunning scenery, and didn’t feel as cold as we expected (due to the dry air, it felt 10 degrees warmer than it actually was – still cold though). I do recommend visiting the Snow Park towards the end on the day so you can catch the light show, it’s stunning. The second floor of the tourist information centre has some entertaining stuff to look at too.

Beijing was great! I do recommend going in the winter/off-season, as it is much less crowded. Our tour guide Eric was amazing; we loved his sense of humour, entertaining way of telling us about the history & chatty story titbits, and his enthusiasm was contagious. We were always either in awe or laughing. Unfortunately I started to get sick while in Beijing.

Xian was impressive, but unfortunately I got sicker. Catherine had kept in touch throughout, to see how I was, and arranged for me to visit the hospital with our interpreter. That was an experience I won’t forget.

We were so impressed with our tours, interpreters, drivers, and ongoing attention to detail (both pre & during the trip); we asked to meet Catherine when we were in Chengdu to thank her personally. The tour far exceeded our expectations, accommodation was great, and Catherine ensured my request for hotels with comfortable beds was met.

Thanks again to Catherine, our guides and drivers.

My sister-in-law and I booked a three day tour of Beijing and two-day tour of Xian with China Discovery. Mr. Leo Li was our contact and he was extraordinary. He helped us with every detail of the tour, making suggestions and providing the very best tour I have ever experienced. He also made changes "on the fly" when we made changes and we still didn't miss anything! Our tour guides were also extraordinary. Candy, our Beijing guide, was an awesome young woman with incredible knowledge of the city, it's important buildings, art, history, food, and anything else we wanted to know. She was articulate, friendly, and full of exuberance. Our driver in Beijing was tireless in his difficult job of navigating the city and taking us outside of Beijing to see the Great Wall. Becky, our Xian tour guide, was also excellent. Despite her young child being sick with the stomach flu, she navigated us around this beautiful city effortlessly and explained the history of the Terra Cotta warriors with clarity and expertise. I would ABSOLUTELY recommend this company for any length of tour required. When I return to China - and I will - China Discovery will be my tour guide of choice. Thank you Leo, Candy, and Becky for making this trip one we will remember forever.

These guys are the real deal!

I used the China Discovery office based in Chengdu. Vivien hooked us up with an unforgettable 4 day tour in Beijing. Vivien was in constant communication answered all my questions and concerns about going to China as USA citizens. She had it all under control!

They picked us up arriving at airport ,brought us to hotel and back afterwards.

My family and I had no issues at all not being able to speak the language during the tour as well as our tour guide handled any translating necessary.

As far as the tour went, our guide wasted not one minute! We walked alot, saw and learned an incredible amount if history in four days. Our guide named Jeans , was incredibly knowledgable of the many thousands of years of Chinese history.

He really impressed me with the details about the history he knew and a great attitude to go along ! I highly recommend these guys!

Our trip to China was awesome. I wanted to visit the great wall of china and it was in my bucket list for a long time . Customer service rep RILEY at china discovery helped me so so much in making my dream come true. I talked to many companies , but riley was very helpful and prompt. He was not only very informative he was patient and answered all my questions. He made sure all our needs were met. He took care of us and checked on us even after we left china. We started in Beijing and finished in Xian. Our tour guides Mr. Jean in Beijing and Mr. Ben in Xian were very good. They took care of all our need and beyond . The drivers were on time as well. All in all we had an Excellent trip. Thankyou so much Riley for making it all easier on us. Thankyou for taking care of all our needs and paying attention to every single detail.

I'm from England, in April 2018, I was looking for a tour of China and as most people do, looked at many differnt companies. I sent off ideas of where I wanted to go and the types of things that interested me. I came accross China discovery and to be honest, the reviews on this site were mixed. Some very good, some very bad. As I read on, it appeared that there were 2 companies running with the same name, this one in Chengdu, China and one in America. Reading through it seemed that it was the one in America that was getting the bad press.

I was also concerned about sending money to a company in Asia, anayway I did & needent have worried. Johnson Wang arranged everything, answered all questions etc, changed and rechanged my schedule and phoned me during the trip to check all was ok. Thanks Johnson.

I started in Beijing,went to the forbidden city. in all of these places,trains, planes, visitor sites, expect to que and have your bags etc searched and scanned along with visa and passports etc. You really need a full day to get round the forbidden city and visit the musems. I didn't want a trip that took me to the great wall and said there you go, pop up and be back in 30 minutes so told them I wanted to be out in the country so got them to arrange a 3hr walk on the wall at Jinshanling, quieter than closer options but out in the mountains & lovely. be warned, it is very steep up and down in places. This done, back to Beijing then more sights the next day before the bullet train to Xian.When you gou get off the train and go up the steps, make sure you know whether to turn right or left, big staiton.

All the guides, drivers were waiting for me on time at every location and spoke good english. Johnny was the guide here in Xian and very pleasant and informitive. As with most, I came to see the terracottas and wasn't dissapointed but be aware the 3rd chamber with the horse and carrage was heaving when I went, not comfortable, they need to limit numbers a bit. Hang Wang Tomb is a must and worth the drive out there.Shanxi museum also worth a look but give yourself a good 4 hrs +. I had 6 internnal flights in all, these are flexible in there timings and can and do change so expect that, if they don't, all the better but be prepared to be flexible.Next, Hotel Universal at Guilin with riverside room - good. Guides name was Dixon, again very friendy and informitive. From here I took a boat down the Lee river, about 50 miles of snaking river to Yangsou. Lovely little place, good hotel (new century) nice park to walk left side beyond car park. Also the water show - well worth the visit, outdoors, on river,at night, can get cold (or wet) so go prepared. About 3oo mostly locals involved alongside quality singers and good use of lighting. Next back to Guilin and flight to Kunming (Stone forest area but do go to the Ethnic Younan show, (minority tribes) not cheap but a wow) Dali -best for me + N hotel a wow, Guide here was Alice and probably the best. lovely woman, good knowledge and way with people. Lots of options here. Next flew to Chongching for 3 nights on Yangtze cruise, again, lovely views along the way. some of their optional trips on the cruise wern't so good but they are optional. You do notice the smog but it got clearer into my trip. Don't expect many locals anywhere, restaurants etc to speak english so use an app to translate menus etc. Also, the shops wouldn't accept western credit cards whilst I was there, this may change but check first. Food varies from province to province.

All in all I had an excellent trip, well looked after by guides and Johnny.