CHINA CULTURE TOURS Avis 

We selected China Culture Tours from three enquires we sent out by email. CCT responded promptly to our initial request and then continued to be attentive and timely throughout the whole process - from itinerary development, payment and the resulting tour. Thanks especially to Nora Zheng who helped us finalise destinations and experiences and made us feel comfortable with whatever it was we were likely to encounter in China.

The name says it all: its China Culture Tour - tailor-made luxury culture tours. We got to see and experience a lot of Chinese culture and history in the relative luxury of private cars, staying in great hotels all facilitated by our extremely knowledgeable articulate local guides. Amazing.

To our guides: Thanks.
Michael in Wuhan who in a very short time span gave us some extremely useful tips and pointers about the area we were staying in and these formed the basis for some our exploration of downtown Wuhan (excellent).

Libby in Huangshan/ Tunxi and Yellow Mountain. Libby just handled the whole experience with enthusiasm and a light personal touch. For instance even though it was her 600th visit to Yellow Mountain she allowed us to experience the mountain as through it was her first. Wow. Libby also loves all things flora and herbal medicine and she has a rather endearing trait of disappearing into the bushes for a bit of foraging – often to appear with (for instance) delicious wild strawberries or tasty mulberries. Nice.

Rainbow is Hangzhou kept the whole experience fun and light with a cheeky relationship building style and a flexible approach to our visit. She gave us an insightful tour of her beloved city and its sights and found us the excellent Zhejiang Art Museum as well. Thank you.

Our Shanghai experience started with a pick up by Mooney and our driver. Thanks for that. And then on Monday morning our guide for Shanghai, Daniel, picked us up. His first task was to work out what it was we wanted to do and what we could do in the two days we had with him. He did that with style and grace. He made some excellent suggestions, like attending the Shangcheng Acrobatic Show - sourcing the tickets and guiding us there and back. Shanghai is Daniel’s hometown and his passion for the city shone through. Thanks Daniel.

We stayed at three great hotels – the Marco Polo in Wuhan, the Pigs Heaven Inn in Bishan (a standout experience) and the Intercontinental Ruijin in the French Concession area.

When we decided to try and get back to Shanghai a few hours ahead of our schedule (we were meeting friends at our hotel) Nora at CCT along with Rainbow in Hangzhou made that possible without complaint. Thank you.

The drivers: all our drivers were very accomplished and had a keen eye on passenger safety and comfort. The vehicles were all modern, spacious and comfortable. While the drivers had little English they were pleasant people to be with and in a couple of instances share a meal with. The roads in China are excellent and the whole on road experience feels safe and unhurried.

Finally: the sights, sounds and smells of China.
We were privileged to experience some very unique insights on our tour and we acknowledge those who made those interactions possible. Thank you. While we have three friends living and working in China we were still pleasantly surprised by our experience of getting around in China, the courteousness of the people we met and the incredible sights, especially of ancient China. We were particularly taken with rural openness of the Huangshan area, the post-card beauty of the Yellow Mountain and the painterly ancient villages. We saw some inspiring Chinese contemporary art and engaged with a couple of spectacular theatrical experiences.

We will be back. Thank you Nora and China Culture Tour.

Our family (nine people aged 14-81) just returned from an amazing 2 week trip to China where we visited Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The trip was organized by China Culture Tour under the dedicated, detailed work of Lydia Huang. She was very patient and made sure that the trip was what we wanted. We went through 6-7 different itineraries before we were happy and through it all, she was very helpful and patient. She stayed in touch with us (via weChat) throughout our trip. She updated us with the name and contact numbers of our guides for each city 2-3 days prior to arrival which allowed us to contact the guides directly to confirm meeting places. This made for no confusion and we were met by each of our guides as expected. Overall we were very happy with the service of our travel consultant (Lydia) and most of our guides and hotels.

We started our trip in Beijing. Our guide here was Jin and he was exceptional. His English was great and his knowledge and passion for his city was great. He was very patient with us and made sure that we saw what we wanted. He did some minor changes in the itinerary due to some political events happening in Beijing at the time we were there. This avoided huge crowds in the city and made our visit more enjoyable. He even took us to the train station and helped us get onto the train carriage before he left. We stayed at the Regent Beijing which was very nice and had a great breakfast buffet. The lunches supplied were also very good selections of local food. One highlight of our trip was the Great Wall. We went to the Mutianyu part of the Wall and got to freely walk along a good portion of the wall. We even got to toboggan down the final bit which was a fun way to descend. Next we saw the Hutongs and enjoyed a quick rickshaw ride through them to our next stop which was learning about and painting our own Chinese Opera Masks. Jin was able to get us tickets and a ride to see a Kung Fu show. We also wanted to do some shopping and he made it work with his driver so that we were able to fit all of this in, in addition to our scheduled events. I would highly recommend Jin as a guide next time we visit Beijing.

We next took the High Speed Train to Xi'an. There we were met by Robbie. He was an adequate guide who was very knowledgeable about his city. His English was ok, but he did not communicate clearly with us at times, and at times both sides got a little frustrated. Overall, we had a good time in Xi'an. The Terracotta Warriors is a must as is the Xi'an wall. If you have time, biking the wall is a great way to see it. Muslim Street Market was very interesting. It was a great place to shop/barter and to try some local street food. We visited a local family who taught us how to make local dumplings. This experience was wonderful as we not only learned how to make dumplings, we got to meet a local family in their apartment and got to enjoy a feast of homemade food that she made for us.

We took another High Speed train to Shanghai. These trains are a great way to travel in China. Lydia booked us second class seats and they were very roomy with lots of space nearby for all of our luggage. We did not hire porters and managed easily (even our 81 yo) with our luggage in the train station. In Shanghai we were met by Candy. She was a great tour guide. Her English was very good. Her passion and dedication to her job was wonderful and she felt like part of our family. Shanghai was wonderful. We visited Fuxing Park, Yuyuan Gardens, the downtown core and the Bund. We stayed at the Grand Central Hotel which was conveniently located just off of Nanjing road which was wonderful for evening strolls. We also did a trip out to Tongli Water Town which was very interesting and beautiful. Candy was a wonderful guide and ambassador for Shanghai, and has become and remains a friend.

Next, we flew to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong we were met initially by David who was wonderful. Our original guide, Lily, was ill, so had arranged for David to meet us. He was able to meet us and orientate us to this city. We had only a half day tour arranged as we had planned on making our own arrangements for the rest of the trip. Lily met us the next morning and provided us with the tour of Hong Kong Island. We visited Aberdeen, Victoria Peak and Repulse Bay. We were a bit disappointed in that we had mentioned to Lydia prior to our travels that we had wanted to see Stanley Market in place of Repulse bay, and she had told us to talk to our guide on our arrival and she could make adjustments to the itinerary. When it was brought up with Lily, she said we couldn't make the change and she wasn't told of this. She was not very flexible with her schedule. It was also a bit odd when we were in Aberdeen on the Sampan boat rides. She got us there, bought our tickets and sent us on our way. She did not come on the boat with us so the ride was silent and we did not get any interpretation of the sights from the boat.
The rest of Hong Kong we saw and explored on our own. Hong Kong is an easy city to get around and explore on your own. Get an Octopus card and you can ride the Metro, bus, ding-ding and pay for food/groceries. It is very convenient and you can get back what money you have left on your card before you leave the country. Here, we stayed at the Harbour Grand Kowloon. The location and view from the hotel was great, as was the roof top pool. However, the hotel was having a major renovation and this greatly impacted our experience. The elevators were not working well and often it would take a long time just to get to the lobby. The rooms were dark and dated and musty.

Overall, we had a wonderful 2 week vacation in China and Hong Kong. China Culture Tour was wonderful and took care of everything from the moment we arrived in China to the time we left. I would highly recommend China Culture Tour, and Lydia in particular, to anyone planning on traveling to China. Your trip will be a trip of a lifetime.

Amazing support through our holiday with perfect bookings. When a flight was canceled, they sorted out an alternative for us asap and we still got to our final destination at the same time. Also went out of their way to surprise me with a little something on my birthday. Awesome company & people that are very reliable. Thanks team!

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biljo65

Atlanta, Georgia

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Pending review

Trip of a Lifetime

My husband and I had always wanted to go to China but I do not like group tours. I went online and researched several tour groups and I must say "We hit the jackpot!". I found Nora Zheng with China Culture Tour and she truly planned the trip of a lifetime for us. She was readily available before the trip to answer all of our questions and she demonstrated enormous flexibility in working out our itinerary. She kept in touch with us daily while we were in China (wechat) and had lunch and spent the afternoon with us while we were in Guilin. Even though she was on Holiday, she took the time to join us.
We began our journey in Beijing where we were met by our guide, Jin, a truly extraordinary young man! He is knowledgeable, articulate, kind and caring. We developed an instant love for him and the city of Beijing. Due to weather concerns he altered our itinerary to make sure we could safely experience the wonders of Beijing. Our safety and enjoyment were always paramount to him. After planned outings he took us on several local shopping excursions, one of which was the Silk Road Market and he stayed with us long after his time of departure for the day. He arranged for our cab trip back to our hotel. We shared stories about our families and our life experiences. Our visit to the Great Wall and The Forbidden City were all that we had hoped they would be and more. We took a rickshaw ride through a historic hutong which was an amazing ancient village right in the middle of modern fabulous architecture in downtown Beijing. Jin rode a bicycle right along the side of us. He took us to the train station where we boarded the Bullet train and he stayed with us until we were comfortably seated with our luggage safely secured. After a bittersweet good bye we were on our way to Xi'an. The Bullet train was awesome. It was spotlessly clean, extremely comfortable and an enjoyable ride. We could see the country side along the way. We actually found it more enjoyable and comfortable than flying. It was definitely an easier journey.
We were met in Xi'an by Summer, a beautiful, extremely knowledgeable and charming young woman. Again, instant love! Her knowledge about the terracotta warriors, one of the highlights of our trip, was exceptional. What an amazing site - made even more vivid by all of Summer's expertise. After completing our tour of the warriors, we went to a nearby teahouse for lunch. We were educated about "all things tea". Summer was a super barterer and made sure that we were never taken advantage of with our purchases. Another highlight of our trip was visiting Madam Hou's home where we learned how to make dumplings, after which we ate a delicious lunch prepared by Madam Hou. Even though we had no common language, we shared stories and photos of our families. There were five cell phones in the room, all actively taking photos and sharing pictures. What an incredible experience! Summer was so much fun to be with that we wanted to take her with us on the rest of our trip. Our sadness at leaving her was ameliorated in the person of our next guide, Ben.
Ben was our guide in Chengdu. He was a caring, charming and extremely knowledgeable young man. His love of the pandas was contagious. His knowledge of Chinese history was extensive and his enjoyment of sharing it with us was quite evident. We spent time in the People's Park where we saw groups of people practicing Tai Chi, others doing exercise routines and/or dancing lessons. One really interesting observation we made was parents of young single adults advertising the attributes of their unmarried children who were seeking matrimony. Very interesting! Our final event before leaving Chengdu was being educated on the joys and PAIN of a Hotpot meal. Emphasis on hot, but what fun. We ended up with a delightful lunch and the pleasure of Ben's company. We had become accustomed to being escorted to the airport, going through customs and security. Ben did not fail us in that regard.
Off we went to our next destination, Shanghai, a beautiful modern city with a population of a mere 32,000,000 people. The Yuan Gardens were spectacular. The Bund, with its collection of 1930s buildings was reminiscent of New York City.
Our next destination was Guilin, one of the most unexpected pleasures of our trip. Words can't describe our affection for our guide, Linda. She took us to unexpected and unplanned sites which made our visit there even more enjoyable. Our visit to the Reed Flute Cave was enjoyable. After visiting the cave we met Nora, our tour coordinator in person. She joined us for lunch and then we were off to visit an organic tea research center where we learned about tea growing. Another highlight of our trip, not in our original plan, was a visit to Asian Town, a centuries old fishing village with one main street lined with stalls selling food and goods to the locals. Linda introduced us to an aged fisherman who lived in a house his family had occupied for over 200 years. He gave us a tour of the house and as we were leaving he calligraphed a note to us wishing us a safe and happy trip. Our time spent with the old gentleman was very special.
The next morning we cruised the Li River, being exposed to some of the most breathtaking natural scenery we have ever seen, gorgeous mountain peaks. We reached our destination, Yang Shou, 3 hours later. We made our way to the Yang Shou Mountain Retreat situated on a mountain stream with mountains on the horizon. What a treat! Our final excursion in Yang Shou was a visit to a local market, not a grocery store, which was an amazing an educational experience. We went through the meat market, sometimes with eyes only partially opened. We, along with our cooking instructor and another couple made our purchases and proceeded to the cooking where we prepared and enjoyed a delicious lunch. Rest assured our family will be sampling some of our new recipes. We drove directly from Yang Shou to the airport. Sadly, we had to leave Linda behind. She promised to visit us if/when she visits her friend who lives in Tennessee.
Our flight to Hong Kong was uneventful - the BEST kind of flight. What an amazing city! The weather was rainy and it was quite foggy but that did not interfere with our enjoyment of the city and all of the temptations that a shopping trip entailed.
Though this review is long, it only touches on some of the exciting and extraordinary experiences we had. The hotels were beautiful. The food was delicious. The restaurants that Nora planned gave us an opportunity to sample the different cuisines of China. Nora and our guides made this a trip we will never forget. We were ready to adopt five new grandchildren, four of our guides and Nora! I can say without equivocation that this is the way to visit China, and Nora and her team are the crew to plan it.

We were a group of 10 friends who visited Beijing, Tianjin & Xi'an on Mar. 15-23, 2018. Being seniors, we were particular about our transport, tours, train scheds, hotel and other travel details. Nora, our China Culture Tour coordinator went through every single detail patiently and efficiently. We were met by Wendy, our guide, in Beijing airport on time and also in all train stations. Our fast train 1st class seats were comfortable (like business class airline seats!). Ride so smooth you hardly felt you were moving until you see the countryside whizzing by. However, we all wished that the coasters used for transportation were newer and better maintained. Unfortunately, being seniors, the bumpy rides were uncomfortable especially when we had to endure it for long periods. Our Xi'an guide Amy was great, giving us a lot of info on rich history and the various sights we passed. Xi'an was a pleasant surprise, it is a beautiful city. It has much more to offer aside from the unbelievable diggings of Terracotta soldiers. The important city sites are lighted up at night, making the city look like a fairyland! Definitely Xi'an deserves a longer more leisurely stay. Tianjin is also interesting since it has a European feel since it was divided into concessions by diff. countries that occupied it. However, we stayed only 1 day and didn't hear much info about it. We had been to Beijing before so we enjoyed it esp. its different excellent Roast Duck restaurants! Thank you Nora and China Culture Tours for another over-all great experience.

Our tour was last minute, due to travel arrangements. However, Grace made it happen when we contacted her on Friday and arrived on Monday. We were picked up by Linda at the airport on Monday and transferred to our hotel. The next two days we toured the highlights of Beijing. Linda (Ling-Ling) was very flexible in adjusting timing or the arrangement during the day. The van was very comfortable and the driver was very safe. During our tours, Linda was very knowledgeable, informative and pleasant. The planned lunches for our trip were outstanding.

We worked with Nora for several weeks getting our itinerary perfectly planned. We went to Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Guilin, Yangshuo, and Shanghai. It was very easy to work with Nora and she customized everything we asked for. She was fast with her responses. In fact, when our flight TO China was canceled and rebooked to the next day, she was on WeChat with me immediately making arrangements and adjustments to our tour so we could still get the most from our trip.

Our guide in Beijing was Jimmy - he hit it off with our 10 year old son and the two of them had a great time. He patiently answered every question a 10 year old could think of! Our hotel was OK.

In Xi'an, our guide was Summer. We really enjoyed our time with her. She was funny, polite, and very knowledgeable. She guided us with bartering, and knew everything about the Terra Cotta Warriors. Our hotel was fantastic.

In Chengdu, we were with Donna. She was so patient while we took our time seeing the pandas. This was our son's favorite part of the trip. Our hotel was great.

In Guilin and Yangshuo, we worked with Linda. By this time in our tour, we were a bit more slow and our walking pace was not as quick. She didn't mind with it took us longer than expected to climb to the top of a mountain. The bike ride through the countryside was amazing and our hotel, the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat was our favorite of all of them. The hotel in Guilin was being remodeled, so it was just an "ok" experience.

In Shanghai, our guide was Jimmy. He seemed a bit less knowledgeable when compared to our other guides, but he was happy to share what he did know. The hotel was gorgeous.

In each location, our guides were waiting for us at the airport, train station, or hotel lobby before we got there. The food was fantastic and they each guided us to things we would like.

This was the trip of a lifetime for our family, and my recommendation of China Culture Tours couldn't be higher! Our experience was top notch. Thank you Nora, Jimmy, Summer, Donna, Linda and Chris!

My husband and I travelled to China last October, from the 4th through to November 6th. We really didn’t want to do one of those large organized group tours where you’re stuck following the Tour’s itinerary. I had a pretty good idea of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see so that style of travel just wasn’t going to cut it for us. However, seeing as it was our first trip to China and there would be the inevitable language barrier, I thought it would be wise to get some help with bookings and finding private guides. After contacting three such travel agencies based in China who say they specialize in private tours, I was most impressed with how flexible Grace from China Culture Tours was. She was able to help me create an itinerary that fit our needs. I’d already booked our plane tickets to arrive October 4 thinking the October 1 national holiday festivities would be all done by then. Little did I know they lasted 8 days! Grace assured me that it would all be fine, and it was. It wasn’t a crushing experience as many online would lead you to believe. Don’t get me wrong, there are huge crowds, but everything flowed extremely well and we never felt as though we were missing out on anything because of the crowd. Our guide in Beijing, Jin, was terrific. We had 7 days in Beijing, but could have used at least another 2 days. We loved Beijing. From there we took the train to Pingyao. I’d read much about it online and really wanted to go. I’m glad Grace convinced me that 2 days was plenty. And it was. It’s a lovely little town, but it’s now set up as a tourist attraction where most shops are selling souvenir type goods. ( I do regret not buying some of the malt rice vinegar that’s made there though. A must for dipping dumplings.) We stayed at the Jing’s Residence in the ancient town. The accommodations were lovely, the food was terrific and the staff were delightful. I am glad we saw it, but in hindsight we could have taken a pass on Pingyao. We then took the train to X’ian to see the jaw dropping Terracotta Warriors. We were warmly greeted at the train station by our terrific guide, Summer. Her English was impeccable and her knowledge of X’ian is amazing. She is a great ambassador for her city. I wished we’d had more time in X’ian. It’s well worth 4 days if you can swing it. From there we went to Luoyang where we were greeted by Lisa, another terrific guide. Her English as well was terrific. The walled part of the city is well worth exploring. But the pièce de résistance is the Longmen Grottos. A must see. We left Luoyang wishing we had more time. Always a good sign. Then off to Shanghai for 6 days. We probably could have done it in 3 days. From there to the surprisingly beautiful Qingdao. There’s more than just the beer factory/museum to enjoy there. We flew to Nanjing from Qingdao, then down to Guilin where we were greeted by our outstanding guide Linda. Guilin, Yangshuo and surrounding areas of minority villages and Rice Terrasses were the highlight of our time in China. I’d go back there in a heartbeat. Spectacular! And the food was great. Wishing we could bring Linda with us for the remainder of our trip we sadly had to say goodby to her and her fabulous part of the country, to fly to HongKong for a few days before heading home to Canada on Nov.6. The trip was all we expected and much, much more, thanks to Grace from China Culture Tours, and our amazing guides Summer(X’ian), Lisa(Luoyang) and Linda(Guilin-Yangshuo-Longsheng,etc,..)

China is a very safe country. We never once felt unsafe. It’s also a spectacularly beautiful country. If you’re planning to visit China you can’t go wrong enlisting Grace from China Culture Tours’ help.

Ask danielledupont52 about China Culture Tour