4-day Tour from Lijiang to Shangri-la - A

4 days  |  3 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 Lijiang , Shangri-la
Tour Code YN07
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What customers say about us?

  • 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
  • Sherrie and Gary Blundell
    the U.S

    Dear Monica,

    Thanks for an extremely well organised tour.It was fantastic to have somebody there to meet us at every airport and to have a seat as planned at every airport.
     
    All our guides were very helpful and spoke good English.
     
    Our favourite was Zoe from xi'an .  She was very flexible and knowledgeable. 
     
    The best hotel was the new world hotel in Xi'an.
     
    The homestay in Guilin was amazing, we couldn't believe the views. Guilin is a beautiful city and our hotel room provided views of the river.  Unfortunately the hostess could not speak English and the host was away on business.  Amber stayed with us until quite late to ensure we were comfortable.  Amber spoke the best English of all our guides.
     
    We saw an incredible acrobatic show in shanghai and would like to thank Tony for changing us to the Circus World show.  We had wonderful seats in the middle of the stage. I think this was the best  show we saw.  The Yangshou river light show was good but 280yuan per person was a little expensive.  It would be good to make you customers aware to the optional tours and how much they cost so that they can plan their time and budget appropriately.
     
    The only disappointment was the Yangtse River Cruise.  We paid for a room to accommodate 3 people.  On arrival we were taken to the room and told that we could squeeze a bed into the room but we should upgrade.  I had to agree, we could not fit into the room if we had another bed in there. A double room was not appropriate for a family of three.  So we had no alternative to upgrade to an Executive room with plenty of room to accommodate 3people.  This room was extremely comfortable but cost 990yuan extra.  We would have preferred to have paid for the correct room first.
     
    As we did not have accommodation vouchers we did not know what was booked so had to believe them that the booked room was inadequate. Lunch was not included on the last day of the cruise as indicated on the itinerary.  The food and service on the cruise was not 5 star and they were regularly trying to upsell us.   Morning Tea and afternoon tea were not included and coffee was extra except at breakfast.  On a 5 star ship you would not have to pay for anything except alcoholic drinks.
     
    Our room in Shanghai was too small to fit our luggage and 3 beds.  Once again we could have upgraded for 100yuan a night. This is definitely something you should consider in the future. We would prefer to pay a little extra to be comfortable but would prefer to be offered this in advance, not on the day of arrival.
     
     
    Regards

    Sherrie and Gary Blundell

    Date of experience: 23/09/2017-08/10/2017
  • Curtis Cooper
    the U.S

    It seems a little difficult for me to figure out which is the best one in my tour because all are wonderful. I really like the Garden of the Master of Nets in Suzhou; it is a classical Chinese garden. For the shooting experience, the Great Wall made me impressed the most, it was just very amazing. Next morning, I enjoyed the beautiful sunrise at the top of the Xianggongshan Hill. Next, we had the cormorant fishing and took many photos with the white beard fisherman and his cormorants standing on his bamboo raft. It was very special that shooting on the Bund in Shanghai they organized. I had such a great shooting experience. This was a bucket list trip for me. Stepping foot on the Great Wall, seeing the Warriors, experiencing the few remaining cormorant fishermen, it was all breathtaking and deeply informative. Alex and Peter provided great insight on their country. 

      cooper-4.jpg    cooper-3.jpg


    Date of experience: 01/09/2019-14/09/2019
  • Tauras
    Britain

    Hi Alex,

    Sorry for so long salience from my side. Had a lot of work plus business trips ….

    Firstly I want to thank you for perfectly organizing things inside our trip in China. Everything was as agreed except one. If you ask my opinion regarding guides the weakest was in Lhasa and strongest were in Shangri-La and Beijing. If you need details – please ask.

    In my opinion in all areas of life all people can improve. And there is no end to this process. That way I’m writing to you theses small remarks. But if I have to evaluate the services I have received from your company I can state 10 out of 10!

    Once more than you for perfect services!

    Tauras

    Date of experience: 21/05/2018-18/06/2018
  • Reg Dewhurst
    Australia

    Hi Monica.The tour went very well and as I said to Helen.we can never prepare a tour in China so we will be looking  to another 4 or 5 cities to do next time with you help. lease note that what I say below is not critical but for you to give some thought to.

    Beijing:Guide Rock was good in so much as picking us up and listening to what we asked of him in information. He could have been more forward  in pointing out things of interest without us having to ask as I think that is his job and he should be constantly pointing out things of interest for but he spent majority of time talking to the driver  (about what we do not know as it was Chinese)    
          
    Xian:Grace was very good and we learnt so much. The hotel was the best I have
    been in for a long time. My previous 2 visits the hotels were in the centre and only average.

    Guilin:Lizzie kept us informed and entertained. I think  the rice fields tour should be included in your tours as they really enjoyed it.The better rice field tour I have been on twice was unavailable due to road works.
    Shanghai:Guilie was good but could do a little more talking about matters of interest.I think one water town visit is enough as the 2nd is virtually the same as the first.There must be other items of interest in such a large city.

    Thanks again for your interest in our discussion and ging them an insight into China.Best wishes to Alex and the future for the company.
              
    Reg

    Reg Dewhurst02.jpg

    Date of experience: 19/05/2017-31/05/2017
  • Earl
    U.K.

    The quality of the trips was generally good. The best experience was hiking on the Great Wall in Beijing. All guides were professional, service oriented and well trained. All guides had a fairly good command of English, some better, some less. The normal communication went well. We were very much pleased with Alex, our guide in Shanghai, who gave us very useful and to the point information. We very much appreciated his great sense of humor. All cars were clean and the drivers were always punctual and did their best to bring us safely to the visit sites. The whole trip was extremely well organized. Everything went smoothly without incidents and we are fully satisfied with the organization provided by CET. Best regards,

    Date of experience: 04/09/2016-01/11/2016

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