Grand Tour of China
The tour overall is excellent and we were so pleased to have done it . The itinerary speaks for itself . The following points are things that Wendy Wu (WW) should consider .
Broadly speaking the choice of hotels are budget . Some were huge old monolith hotels . Some in business districts . All aspects that makes the room rate cheaper for WW.
WW seem to specialise in offering a full days meal every day of the tour . It’s not necessary . We don’t need feeding so much food - most of which went to waste as we certainly did not eat it ! They could make the holiday cheaper . Lunch and dinners were identical most days . Noooo!
Too much .
There were quite a number of one night stays in cities . This makes the tour very arduous for travellers taking into account the days itinerary you are encountering .
The guides were all basically excellent . Some personalities were unhelpful to fellow travellers . One was majorly arrogant and totally disinterested in what we did , eat , see and go (Shanghai ).
We did not have a National guide for our tour as we only were a party of 8 ( 10 and above qualify for a National guide). At first we thought this would be a disadvantage . However it was great ! We were all pleased that we weren’t carrying an outsider for the entire trip! Most individual guides were supportive at points of transfer eg: airports or rail stations . Some weren’t as supportive but we muddled through .
Aspects of the tour which could be broadened are :
We needed to learn more about people and their life in China . Too much focus on temples gardens and museums.
We ought to have visited a family living in a 80sq.metre flat on their 27th floor . We went to a Hutong in Beijing so why not in a modern day setting ???
The guides did not discuss human geographical aspects other than population sizes from city to city . That should be changed/improved. Aspects of the journey should offer more of a commentary as to where we are ; what the landscape and trees around us are rather than travelling in total silence or chatting to the coach driver in Chinese !
During the tour the Xi’an WW office manager liaised with most of the tour guests which was an amazingly caring and supportive thing to do and was appreciated by all concerned. She even took on board a few suggestions and made changes or tweaks to a couple of meal times .
So to sum up - yes a brilliant tour but not without a few criticisms . If WW change things we won’t get the benefit sadly but they should look seriously at these aspects .
Apr 20, 2024
Japan Uncovered
Fully packed itinerary with an excellent guide Matchy. Over the 16 days we got a real feel for all the Japan highlights. Mealtimes gave us a great selection of either Japanese or western menus. Interesting to eat out at different venues. Matchy on occasion took us on the subway and through the crowded streets downtown - gave a real feel for the city. Some hotel rooms a bit on the cramped side but you're not in them long.
Good group with 26 of us: 12 Brits; 10 Aussies; 4 Kiwis. All very manageable with this size of group.
Apr 19, 2024
Booking Experience for Off-Beat Japan
There was a few issues with hotels and room which could have been better. However had brilliant time. I have booked another holiday with them
Apr 19, 2024
Japan Uncovered
re Japan Uncovered #16 27 March - 11 April 24
Having toured Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia with Wendy Wu a few years ago we were confident in booking this tour with Wendy Wu and we were not disappointed.
The tour is a busy one and a lot of walking is involved. In some of the castles we visited stairways were steep and slippery due to having to take our shoes off. We would say that the physical rating of 1 is misleading. During the 14 days that we toured we walked 141 kms (87.5 miles) about 10 kms (6 miles) per day which is tough on someone who is not very mobile and indeed some of our party missed out seeing some places as they could not manage the distance.
Hotels were all very good. some with lovely views over the coast and Mount Fuji. Only the 2 European chain hotels had bars (Sheraton & Mercure) but there were vending machines everywhere to purchase drinks when required.
The food was Japanese apart from a few buffets which included more European dishes. I will say that we found the meals very samey. On occasions we had the same for lunch and evening meal but there was always plenty of it and a selection of different items so you could pick out what you liked.
We enjoyed the Castles, Temples, Gardens, Bullet Train, Snow Monkeys and of course the cherry blossoms.
Our guides English was a little slow and he had the habit of repeating instructions over and over making it longer to get anywhere ie into our hotel rooms but was flexible when he needed to be.
Not a lot of free time on the tour. We were lucky to arrive at lunchtime in Osaka and so had free time until the evening meal so we took the train to Osaka Castle where we wandered the gardens. We were glad that we did as we saw more than when we returned the following day. At the end of the tour we had 2 free afternoons which again enabled us to take the train back into Tokyo Centre to wander around.
All in all a great time seeing everything that you should when visiting Japan.
Apr 19, 2024
Off-Beat Japan
Apr 19, 2024
Majestic Yangtze
Fantastic trip. Great national guide. Highly recommend.
Apr 19, 2024
Jewels of Japan
An excellent tour but very ‘full on’!
A good overview of Japan with very good guides, very knowledgeable and helpful ladies. However the last day was too much as after a long day, arriving at a hotel at 6.45 pm, out at 7pm to catch a train to a restaurant and up at 4am for a 5am airport pickup left us needing another holiday! We saw all the sites we wanted to see, met the people, who were lovely and ate the food! Would recommend!
Apr 18, 2024
Booking Experience for Japan Uncovered
My first call with Hannah have me all the information I needed, unfortunately the date I wanted was sold out. I reassessed the situation and rang back, Hannah was busy but my number was passed on to her and she rang me back within a few minutes. I was then able to book the new date. Helpful, pleasant and patient..thanks Hannah.😊
Apr 18, 2024
Experience Japan
We had a great time and the concept of group tours was new. In hindsight we should have spent some time at the welcome meal for people to introduce themselves.
For our taste there were too many “western style dinners”, particularly as they were of low quality. We loved the Japanese food and realized that it must have been a challenge to serve 27 people quickly.
The schedule was kept to, despite some folks returning late to meeting points, there was no contingency for this,
Our tour leader did an amazing job juggling the schedule and some special requests.
Apr 18, 2024
Booking Experience for Discover Japan
Thoroughly professional and welcoming
Apr 17, 2024