Accessible Golden Triangle Tour and the Yangtze Cruise

12 days  |  11 nights
Tour Type PrivateThis is a private tour, allowing you to follow our tour itinerary. Select your own travel dates to suit your personal group of family or friends.          
Destinations Beijing , Xi'an , Chongqing , Yichang , Shanghai
Tour Code CET-ACT02
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What customers say about us?

We believe that hearing directly from those who've experienced our private China tours is the best way to understand what we offer. It's not just about seeing the sights; it's about the whole journey, from planning to execution. We value all feedback and use it to constantly improve our tours.

  • Richard and Sylvia
    Richard and Sylvia
    British

    After looking at trip advisor, we picked 3 China based travel agencies who we thought might be able to plan a tour of the area around Beijing. One agency suggested factory tours from the outset whilst another was fairly insistent that we travel overnight by train, but Monica proved to be thoughtful and flexible.
    We have friends in Beijing and so started and ended our trip with them.
    She suggested a day trip to the Great Wall from Beijing plus a tour of Pingyao, Xi'an and Luoyang with 3 bullet train journeys and one plane flight.
    We decided not to go with a couple of her suggestions, but she was comfortable with that and re-jigged the trips to suit.
    The actual guides provided are generally contractors who can work for several agencies depending on the work available. But the choice of which guides to employ still falls on the travel agency (and availability).

    We were also very happy with our guides "Nelson" in Pingyao/Taiyuan, "Grace" in Xi'an and "Frank" in Luoyang as well as the drivers. They all turned up flawlessly on time for every appointment, helped us order lunch and always seemed happy.

    There appear to be one or two 'scams' running with guides taking commission on purchases made. But having ordered an evening dance show + meal at our hotel "Grand New World" our guide in Xi'an certainly earned what ever commission she got by making sure that my meal contained no sugar or MSG/Soy Sauce.

    Chinese drivers seem to learn to all drive at the Kamikaze school of motoring, but the drivers in Pingyao, Xi'an and Luoyang (Frank did his own driving) (also contracted but independently of the guides) did a good job of not frightening us too much.

    Chinese cyclists and motor cyclists don't even follow the correct direction of flow and often drive on the wrong side of the road. Chinese drivers hoot constantly if they want to overtake and can't quite squeeze by!

    Coffee in China generally doesn't seem very good (apart from at the large American chains).

    The Tian yuan kui hostel in Pingyao is an interesting mixture of traditional and modern. The staff were extremely lovely and the food was tasty. The hundreds of recommendations on A3 sheets on the wall in English, French, Italian, Spanish and other languages were also testament to that.

    The Grand New World hotel in Xi'an was a slice of America transported to China. Service was slightly variable. E.g. I had to go to 3 receptionists in order to find the one who was allowed to do checkouts. English from staff was variable though usually adequate.

    The Peony Hotel in Luoyang was also like a slice of America. Our safe would not work as it had no batteries in it. We struggled with language problems for about half an hour to get 4 new batteries to fit into it and then to get the Chinese maintenance lady to fit them right way round.

    The manager agreed a special picnic lunch for our train journey, but I ended up having to explain to francophone Chinese tour guide in French what we needed! But I guess episodes like this make a tour more interesting.

    Many thanks to Monica for arranging this memorable holiday.

    Date of experience: 01/09/2017-13/09/2017
  • Jenny and Bevan
    Jenny and Bevan
    Australia

    We had an amazing trip, thank you so much for all your hard work in putting together our itinerary. All the guides were wonderful and their knowledge was incredible. They could not do enough for us and were always punctual, polite and fun.The hotels were very well chosen, great locations, rooms were beautiful and food was abundant.

    We even had an upgrade on arrival in Bejing which was a lovely way to start our holiday.  By the time Peter had finished with us in Bejing, I think I knew all there was to know about the Emperors and Dynasties. What would have helped would have been a “Time Line” brochure, so we could refer to which period was being talked about and where each Emperor fit in as there was so much to remember. Although we had a very full itinerary, I would have liked to see the Silk Road Markets in Bejing, I hear they are very interesting.The terracotta Soldiers in Xien were far more impressive than I had thought they would be. Grace was such a lovely Guide and obviously very proud of her job and what she has to show her guests.While we were in Guilin Amber suggested we take the chair lift to the top of a mountain and view Guilin from there.  I am so glad we did, it was amazing.

    Bevan came back down on the chairlift and I decided to take the louge with Amber, it was so much fun, even for someone my age (54).As we were a little early for the acrobatic show in Shanghai, Colin very kindly took us to a wonderful shopping precinct close by to the theatre, this was very much appreciated and I believe should be added to the itinerary. Colin also suggested we take the night cruise which we loved, Shangahi is so beautiful at night and what a great way to see it. The “Mag Lev” train to the airport was fantastic, my husband had always wanted to do this and was not disappointed, I think this should be offered as an extra when selling Shanghai.

    All our drivers were fantastic. We felt safe at all times even though the traffic in China was very different to what we are used to. The only thing that would
    have been nice was to return to a cool vehicle, although this was not always possible I am sure.

    The only thing that I was sometimes disappointed with was the choice of lunch venues. We chose your company because it was for small groups or in our case, only two people, and in some places we were in large dining rooms with large groups of tourists. I am sure these places are chosen for their locations and the food which was served which was wonderful.
     
    We had a most wonderful holiday and I will most certainly recommend China Expedition Tours to everyone.  I do hope we can visit China again very soon.
     
    Kindest regards
    Jenny and Bevan 

    Jenny and Bevan02.jpg

    Date of experience: 19/08/2017-03/09/2017
  • Aisling Judge
    Aisling Judge
    England

    Hi Alex, The tour that you arranged for us on Oct 11, 2012 was excellent. We enjoyed it very much. Upon arrival at Guilin airport on Oct 10th, you met us and from then on our pleasures continued. Guilin is a very lovely city in my mind but we don't arrange more time there. Soon we went to Kunming and continued our tour with another exellent guide. And the last tour in Beijing, the Forbidden City was very informative. The environment in Beijing restaurants was outstanding, have never seen such beautiful restaurants, so stylishly decorated before! Hotels were very good for the most part as well as their breakfasts. China Expedition Tours was an excellent choice for us, very flexible tours (which helps when travelling with a baby), also very informative and able to answer questions very quickly. We will be using CET again! Sincerely, Aisling Judge England

    Date of experience: 11/10/2016-26/10/2016
  • Nick Dunn
    Nick Dunn
    British

     We had a really good day, and enjoyed the tour. Our guide was friendly and knowledgeable. For me, the best part of the day was actually when we took a open sided car and drove around the countryside around Yangshou. It might be worth incorporating this into the tour? My only negative feedback was the food on the boat wasn’t great, although I know that your company don’t manage the boat directly.  I don’t know if there are any boats that don’t have food, as it might be worth not eating, and letting people eat in the town when they arrive?

    Anyway, in general the day was great. We all really enjoyed it.

    Thanks,

    Nick

    Date of experience: 27/04/2017-27/04/2017
  • Naila Hussain
    Naila Hussain
    Canada

    Hi, Monica, we just came back home and still in jetlag.  We enjoyed our tour, the guide was very nice, his english was very good and the driver was also very nice. They were on time at the hotel. We enjoyed the lunch at the jade factory resturant. The food was very tasty , according to our liking. The only thing I would suggest that I wish some one had called us a day before at our hotel  and confirm, because I tried to call the the phone # on the papers, but due to holiday no one answered. I was not sure if some one will show up in the morning. The adress you gave me in Chinese writing was very helpful. 

     Naila

    Naila Hussain02.jpg  

    Date of experience: 05/10/2015-05/10/2015
  • Maria Coco
    Maria Coco
    Australia

    Hi Alex
    We just got home on wed but came home sick with laryngitis therefore late reply. We enjoyed ever part of the tour. The guides and drivers are so nice and polite. All hotels are clean. Thank you for the best holiday & will certainly be recommending your company to all our friends.

    Cheers Maria, Mick, Irene & Bruno

    Maria Coco02.jpg

    Date of experience: 04/05/2017-16/05/2017

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