Reviews

I would highly recommend this trip to an amazing country. We benefitted from an excellent national guide and good local guides and saw all the main sights.

We had been to Hong Kong & Beijing before, but the Grand Tour was a whole new level of understanding of China. The trip organisation by Wendy Wu was faultless & our national guide, David He, was exceptional, showing patience & understanding where needed plus a great knowledge of China. He worked hard to satisfy Gluten / Veggy food needs – not always easy with this style of meal service. Local guides in each town were also really good. Hotels varied from good to great, with priority usually being location. The Yangshuo hotel, for example, was a bit older but we stepped straight out onto West St, and breakfast was simple but had an exceptional view. There is a lot of travel involved with 3 each internal flights & trains, but Chinese trains & airports put the UK to shame! Overall the food was at least good sometimes great. Breakfast did not always include a wide ‘Western’ selection but then we were foreigners in China - How many foreign breakfast options do UK hotels have? Bus management was brilliant – a snap of the electronic fingers & it was there. We had not done a ‘follow the flag’ holiday or used Wendy Wu before. We will definitely do both again. Thanks again David. 

If you are considering a long trip in China for the first time – lessons we learned:
> Grand tour lunch & dinner is 26 days of Chinese food, with set dishes, off a lazy susan except for a few packed lunches & the Yangtze cruise. Some of the dishes may not be to your taste – be flexible.
> You will need to handle your luggage – journeys involve suitcases + escalators + airports & stations
> Out walking at night in China - this is the safest I have ever felt either at home or travelling.
> Don’t think too hard about the tip pot, it just works, saving time & hassle.
> Alipay attached to your UK credit card is super quick & easy to use if you have an active phone.
> Install Wechat to contact family in case you cannot get Whatsapp to work – basically the same (Family will also have to install).
> VPN’s did not reliably work. But they do have 30 day money back warranty. I tried Express / Nord
> If your phone accepts e-sim, get one. Ours gave us access to Western websites with no VPN and always worked.
> You may be sharing China with lots of domestic tourists – check when their major holidays are.
> The Yangtze cruise was great & we are happy we did not upgrade either room or meal options. Upgraders were equally happy with their choice - do not worry about it.
Totally recommended.
Paul & Tracy

Amazing and wonderful ‘full on’ tour - How else could you fit everything in.

On this tour we covered a lot of ground and felt that we saw a huge amount. Our National guide Ivan was outstanding and worked tirelessly the whole 21 days to make sure we were happy and well looked after. The local guides were also brilliant. The hotel standards were all excellent and all the transfers were well managed and comfortable. We should have looked more closely at our flights as we arrived very late ( 11pm) after 24 hours travelling and had an early 5.30am start. We let Wendy Wu arrange the flights but I think if we had looked closer we could have chosen different flights and would have flown direct to Beijing a day earlier to help with the 7 hour time difference. The food was interesting at the start of the holiday but became monotonous as we had a lazy susan of similar dishes presented to us for lunch and dinner every day. It would have helped us all if the guides had taken us to an Italian or other western food restaurant occasionally. The 3 night cruise on the Yangtze River gave us a break from the lazy susan Chinese food and white rice but we had to pay for that as an upgrade.
The holiday schedule was very full and busy with very little time to relax, but we really saw and experienced a lot of China both on an off the beaten track. We had an amazing time with our 24 travel companions and I would recommend this holiday as great way to visit China.

Very well organised, the guides were great. The accommodation in China was a far higher standard than expected, and the foot massage in Yangshuo was fantastic! Our only criticisms would be in Japan the split of time between shrines/temples and gardens could have been different to allow more time in the beautiful gardens and a little less in the temples which all became a bit samey towards the end. The other issue for us was the excessive amount of time devoted to shopping in both countries. We felt this could be severely cut back to allow more time to enjoy the natural wonders of each country. The one other bug bear was the cost of all the additional trips in China which were far more than we had been led to believe and meant having to get more cash out on two occasions. That said they were largely worth doing.

This trip was amazing. The organisation, value, National and local guides could not be faulted. We left with a far better understanding of the social, cultural, historical and natural world aspects of China.

A comprehensive opportunity to see the principal historical sites, towns and varied landscapes of both China & Tibet. Bullet train journeys added to the sightseeing enjoyment of the holiday. Our guide spoke very good English and was often able to expand on the more recent political history of China & Tibet. The tour schedule could be somewhat physically tiring at times but meals were good and cuisine varied. Hotel accommodation was also good. We would really recommend the optional Sichuan Opera performance we attended in Chengdu.
Our particular highlights would include The Great Wall, The Terracotta Army, The Li River cruise, Pandaland, Lijiang, Shangri-La, Lhasa and the Potala Palace and the final evening cruise in Shanghai.
Using the internet was problematic and we were unable to use the recommended Chinese WeChat & AliPay phone payment systems but Yuan paper money was always accepted and in some locations Western credit cards and ATMs were used without problems.

Excellent trip. Britney, the tour guide was superb. Hotels were very good with Western and Chinese breakfast buffet. Very tasty Chinese lunch and evening meals.
Well organised visits to lots of iconic places such as Tianimum square, Great Wall, Terracotta warriors, Giant pandas.
Stunning scenery along the Yangtze river and especially in Guilin and along the river.
2nd tour I have done with Wendy Wu and would strongly recommend them.

A really well organised tour. AMAZING guides. Some very long days which leave you tired but this means you get to see some incredible sights.

Fantastic tour. The pace of tour is fine if you are fit but not ideal for unfit people or those with mobility problems. These groups struggled on our tour. China was an amazing country with friendly people, scenery was beautiful.
Japan was great too again beautiful country with lovely people

Grace was a fantastic tour guide who could not do enough for us.
The tour was very comprehensive and I feel that I know a lot more about China it’s people and culture now.
I’d certainly use Wendy Wu again.

Excellent tour of China! Right from the first day this tour is full of all the things that China is well known for; things that we’ve all heard about and read about and in this tour we visited them all. Our tour manager, Alice, was very attentive, knowledgeable and thoughtful to everyone on the tour, and she spoke impeccable English. She is an excellent asset to Wendy Wu Tours! We had never been to China before and this tour was just right for a first introduction. Well done Wendy Wu Tours!

This is a huge trip, many thousand of miles. Took in an impressive range of sites, including all the ‘big ones’. Still had time to enjoy the feeling of China and Tibet, so unlike what is portrayed in the west, and appreciate the vast scale of cities, infrastructure, transport, food, and scenery.

Too many highlights to mention but they’re all included. Once I got past Pandas, my highlights were Polata Palace and Shanghai. Others will choose differently but believe me it’s all brilliant, as are the Guides and their supports.