Reviews

Firstly I’d like to commend our National Tour Guide Sophie Jin who was outstanding and couldn’t have been more helpful with our group of 27 travellers from Australia, New Zealand, England and Ireland. Nothing was too much bother for her and she even insisted on getting up to meet us in the hotel lobby at 6.15 on our departure day, even though we told her not to! Sophie really is an asset to Wendy Wu Tours and her dedication is second to none.

Now for the tour itself: SOOOO much is packed in that we (and others in our group) found it quite exhausting. There is little to no down time with early morning starts, and late returns to the hotels meant we often went straight to bed. Our group was mainly people in their 70s, with 7 or 8 of us in our 60s and a couple in their late 50s. Age is not taken into consideration - you book, you do it. And boy do you need stamina!
Also be prepared to do trips in all weathers. There is no contingency plan for bad weather - we were up Tianmen Mountain despite a Gale warning and driving rain. We all ended up freezing and soaking wet. Because of this we (and a few others) decided to opt out of the Old Town and Yu Gardens trip in Shanghai next day, only to find we had to write a letter explaining why.
We also felt the ‘Optional Tours weren’t very optional. The bus is geared towards those paying for these trips and those who choose not to go must find their own way back to the hotel.
There was also a problem with my food. I’m vegetarian and told Wendy Wu this before booking. Unfortunately the Chinese seem to have no concept of vegetarianism and assumed all that I ate was boiled vegetables. Meat eaters had Kung Po Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork etc while I was given boiled cabbage, aubergine and Pak Choi. Basically I had side dishes. I did speak to Sophie about getting dishes without the chicken or pork (Sweet and Sour Veg for example) but she said a lot of restaurants wouldn’t do this. I did have a bowl of Sweet and Sour sauce one night, which was lovely, but the boiled tomatoes and ketchup was not appetising with rice and vegetables! I have been in touch with Wendy Wu about this and am awaiting a response.

All in all it was a fantastic trip, hotels were great, everything was well organised and it is a beautiful, clean and safe country. Maybe fewer things to do and a wee bit of downtime would make it more appealing Wendy Wu!

Whilst carrying out my 'due diligence' regarding Wendy Wu a guides name kept cropping up. David. And who did I have the privilege of as the National guide to our group? David. I knew all would be well. His attention to detail was remarkable, he took care of every member of the group as if we were members of his family. Admission to attractions, queueing, train seats, flight boarding procedures and security checks were all negotiated smoothly. We even got a trip on public transport, which I thoroughly enjoyed. His experience helped us avoid many issues and avoid many hold ups. I was always amazed at his ability to 'herd cats'. He worked well with the local guides who all shone as individuals with knowledge of their area. Shirley is fondly remembered, as is the guide on the Goddess stream.
He worked so hard. Being available to deal with any issues on arrival in a hotel, and his advice regarding travel avoided many potential issues. He packed the trip with such variety that I am sure everyone took home many precious memories.
He managed to create a great atmosphere in our motley group of less than 20. A feat in itself. Especially on those early rises, which avoided traffic and got us to places a little before it got too busy. Even though it was a four day holiday period in one area.
My special thanks go to him for helping me meet up with my relatives. He smoothed the way and aided our communication. The finale of Shanghai proved very exciting and my transfer back home went very smoothly. He is a 'more than I am' man and I wish him and his family all the very best for the future.
From a grateful tourist. Who is looking forward to return as a traveller, thanks to his guidance and care. It was more than a five star experiece.
P.S. The snacks that you got us on the bus will always be remembered. A feast.

Kindest regards,
A grateful tourist.

From Beijing to Shanghai and everything in between absolutely amazing holiday.
Tour size (16) was perfect & managed very well by Aaron our tour guide.
Hotel’s & restaurants chosen throughout the tour were very good, my only complaint would be that some of the hotels did not have a bar/lobby to relax & have a drink.
All additional tour guides were professional.
It was good to try different types of Chinese food as we visited different regions.
Overall China exceeded our expectations & would highly recommend this tour, well done Wendy Wu

Fantastic holiday, everything as we expected. Great guide, Summer, travelled with us throughout, plus local guides in Shanghai and Beijing. Great organisational skills, tweaking the itinerary so that we missed the busiest times in Tiananmen Sq and at the Great Wall.
Food was excellent - too much of it!
Hotels also excellent.

This was our first tour with Wendy Wu Tours and it was faultless in every way. The itinerary is amazing and it is complimented with great hotels and an abundance of quality food but most of all incredible tour guides.

The Winter Wonderland Tour includes Shanghai (Christmas Lunch, Dinner, Christmas Markets and the lights of Pudong and the Bund), Chengdu (Panda’s & Hot Pot), Xi’An (Terracotta Warriors & Tang Dynasty entertainment), Beijing (Palaces, History, The Great Wall day & night) & Harbin (Ice & Snow Festival).

Our tour leader Addison ensured that every aspect of our trip was perfect, the job he did for us is truly appreciated because there was nothing that could have been done better for us. The organisation was perfect and we were treated like VIP’s at every location we visited.

I would highly recommend this tour and especially Wendy Wu Tours for China, they will ensure you see the magic of China and come away with a true appreciation of this great Country and it’s people and history.

My highlight was walking different sections of the Great Wall both at night and the day. You will also meet other wonderful fellow travellers who became your family during the tour.

Thank you to Wendy Wu, Addison (the most handsome man in China), Troy (with his soft ears), Cindy (Spicy Lady), Summer (Warriors, changing face masters & Tang Dynasty fun), Jade (“so sorry head cut off” history expert) & Sherry (sub zero fun). You are all the special magic of the tour and did an amazing job for us.

If you want to see China but also experience the Winter Wonderland of the Harbin Ice Festival, this is the tour you must book, you will leave very satisfied.

Shanghai was great. Well organised and the local tour guide was great. Hotel was in strategic location. Its probably too short. I recommend at least 3 nights for Shanghai.

Hong Kong was average. Would be much better if the hotel is in strategic location or near the water. We were told to be picked up at 8.45am but they arrived at 9.18am instead. I needed to call the local tour guide supplier 3 times to check. The program was only half day. I thought we booked for a whole day.

From our arrival in Beijing to our departure from Shanghai this was an excellent holiday with our guide, Betty, going above and beyond to make sure we had a fabulous time.
There were quite a few early starts - this isn't a trip if your idea of a holiday is relaxing with a good book - but there was so much to see!
In Beijing we saw Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall and more.
We then took a bullet train to Xian (amazing experience - totally smooth journey travelling at up to 250mph). We explored the city including the Muslim food quarter and the restored city walls and then went to the Terracotta Warriors.
The next day we took an early flight to Yichang and made our way to Maoping docks near the Three Gorges on the Yangtze river where we boarded the almost brand new Victoria Isabella. The weather was dreadful for our 4 days on the boat but the facilities and staff were excellent and we did get a few excursions.
We left the boat at Chongqing and went to the zoo where we saw pandas (a real highlight) and many other animals. A second bullet train took us to Guilin where we spent a night in the Waterfall Hotel (at 2030 every day a massive waterfall cascades down the outside of the building).
The next day, the sun came out and we took a boat trip down the beautiful River Li to Yangshuo. After a night there, we made our way back through the countryside to Guilin, seeing local people and the rice harvest.
After a second night in Guilin (a small but beautiful city) we took a flight to Shanghai, arriving in the early evening. A boat trip on the river Huangpu lets you see the Bund area with the most amazing lights display.
Our final day was spent exploring the city of Shanghai including the beautiful Yu gardens.
China is spotlessly clean. There are reasonable, free public toilets everywhere and the people are friendly (several conversation attempts via Google translate). There are security cameras and police everywhere and you are constantly asked for your passport but it never felt oppressive.

We did a 16 Wonder of China tour with a beautiful ****** Britney (Zhang Ru). Britney was organized, attentive, care, patient, knowledgeable in Chinese new and old histories and culture, above all she was lively and fun which made the tour full of laughter and joy. The Great Wall of China is magnificent, terracotta warriors in Xi’an is unbelievable til you see it, cruising on Yangtze River was beautiful with classic and optional shore tour, cruising from Guilin to Yangshuo on Li river was WOW factor, it took our breath away. We have already thinking of coming back to Guilin again just to sit back and enjoy the most beautiful scenery on earth. Shanghai the Bund is jaw dropping.

Wendy Wu you’ve done it again! Fascinating, informative, spectacular and comfortable.
Even though I was found to be in the wrong group at the start, I got to know a few extra travellers!
Eileen our tour leader was terrific and displayed that Wendy Wu professionalism always. Her insight was great and a change of tack to avoid a very long queue at Tiananmen sq was commendable. Always helpful, always full of information.
Would love to see that magnetic train in Shanghai as a mode of transport for transfer arrivals instead of just a ride back to the airport.
Enjoyed all modes of transport. Loved the Yangtze cruise, excursions in the heat and the upgrade fantastic. Accommodation was the best and meals really delicious everywhere we went. Probably would have swapped the cultural centre for the mountains last day of the cruise. Local guides good and they add another aspect for travellers.
Fascinating country and really recommend it. Loved the pandas, the warriors and the wall.

This was an excellent introduction to China which, in many ways, is a country on a different scale to others. We had a good taste of the country through bus, train and plane, The hotels were all of good quality and we certainly did not go hungry. One highlight was the three day cruise on the Yangtze river, another was the river boat in Shanghai to see the city by night. Raymond, our guide, ensured all arrangements ran smoothly and did a good job looking after us. There were a couple of blips along the way. On the Yangtze we were sent us off on a day tour with a non-English speaking guide which was naughty and quite stressful. And the local guide in Shanghai did not take seriously my allergy to shellfish - serving up egg fried rice with prawns, luckily spotted in good time. Overall, the trip was big, hugely educational, good value for money and an excellent taste of China.

Absolutely fantastic, cram packed tour with so may contrasting places and experiences. Walking along the Great Walk and strolling round mountain tops where we stood above the clouds and looked down at the brown Yangtze where it met with its green tributaries. The deep crevices of the rift valley with its shafts of daylight poking through. We went under overhanging boulders and deep dark gorges. Such contrasting features.

We experienced the hustle and bustle of huge cities like Beijing and Shanghai and smaller towns like Guilin with a slower pace. We met Mr. Wong the fisherman, with his cormorants and asked him about his life, a way of life that's dying out as youngsters don't want to fish. They'd rather have city jobs.

I loved the .people's parks and the tea rooms with beautiful traditional music playing in one area and live singers backed by musicians in another part. Whilst visiting a rural settings just outside Guilin with its serene, tranquil, stunning scenery, we stumbled on a village wedding and were greeted with sweeties and peanuts as soon as we were spotted.

I will never forget the magnificent sight of the Terra-cotta army in their original burial sites and close encounters with a few of the warriors preserved in glass cases for closer inspection. And of course watching those lazy laid back pandas strolling around their grounds and leisurely climbing trees.

We went to four shows all very diverse and highly entertaining from the unique singing of the Beijing Opera, to the spectacular water show on the lake and then the jaw dropping acrobats and bikers in Shanghai.

Out on the streets and particularly in historic places, were lots of young ladies wearing stunning , traditional very evocative of a traditional Chinese culture. They were very beautiful.

There was so much more to see but I've already written more than I probably should.

Our tour guide, Alice was very professional with all the qualities necessary to keep us well fed, entertained, safe and well informed. She, along with Wendy Wu made this a trip of a life time. I loved every cram packed minute and crave those delicious banquet meals.

Absolutely amazing holiday. Wendy Wu takes great care of you from start to finish with everything included and a guide who stays with you on the whole trip. We started at Shanghai and then on to Guilin and Yangshuo which for me were the highlights of the tour. Then on to Xian and finishing up at Beijing. There were optional extras available and everywhere we went the food was excellent. I felt we did all the major sights and learned so much about the culture and life in China.

Very well organised, superb guide throughout.
It's a busy schedule. So be prepared for busy morning afternoon and evenings. That said you get through an amazing range of experiences.
Read wendy wu description of tour it is very clear and representative of the trip.
Each hotel had convenience stores very close by, so we were able to get a few essentials, beer, water, toiletries etc.

The wendy wu booking agent organised stopovers on the outbound and tweaks to arrival that gave us some time to take the journey to beijing more leisurely, thanks.
Only thing we would do differently is book a stopover on the way back. Our choice, but shanghai to uk was a long day with the 7 hour difference.
I recommend wendy wu and this tour to you.
We are in our 70's, and maybe if your older or mobility is not so good, and more leisurely wendy wu tour might be better.

Ticked almost everything on the bucket list for China. It helped that all of guides were excellent and adjusted the tour based on the groups suggestions. Visited Great Wall, Bejing sites, Xian and the Terracota Army, Guilin and Li river Shanghai and much more. Great introduction to chinese food from the regions.

From the moment we met our group and our guide “Stone” I knew our first China experience was gonna be exciting and fun and it certainly lived up to expectations
The “Stone family”made this holiday working as one unit making sure no one’s left behind on the fast pace itinerary which included Shanghai, Ciqikou, Chengdu, Xian, Beijing
With full pack days, seeing all the sites Shanghai at night on a river cruise
Four nights on a river cruise on the Yangtze River gardens, temples, pandas terracotta army the Great Wall of China that’s not to mention shows why you’re having a meal in the evening dressing up as Emperor and Empress jumping on a plane four in the morning the experience being on the bullet trains to your internal destinations the food was incredible so many different varieties of Chinese food.
There is so much to see and do on this China experience there is not enough room on this page
If you want to experience China, this is the trip for you
A big thank you to Stone our guide and our local guides and to Wendy Wu for making this the best holiday for us