Reviews

We were on the Majestic Yangtze tour with Wendy Wu Tours for 14 days in mid-September 2026 and what a trip it was!

All the way from Shanghai to Beijing and so much in-between from a night cruise in Shanghai to such "wonders of the world" as the Terracotta Warriors and Great Wall of China, the cities of Chengdu and Xian as we flew through China's vast countryside on bullet trains and sat in awe of how much and how fast this vast country has changed in the last thirty years. Cities of twenty million or more, sky high apartment buildings adorning every city skyline and hotels as classy as any western ones with the latest technology from robot room service to AI loos with handsets to warm them up or flush everything away. All top class- apart from one or two issues flights with Turkish Airlines and stopovers in Instanbul.



The real highlights however weren't the vast distances we travelled but the people we travelled them with-our multinational group from the UK, Australia and USA-and the entertainment we enjoyed on our gorgeous four night cruise on the Yangtze River sailing through the Three Gorges Dam with the staff providing the evening entertainment and even the Captain joining in, the tours of silk and jade factories, the Forbidden City & the gorgeous Sacred Garden by day and Xian's medieval City Walls lit up by night as well as delicious Chinese food every day served on our "Lazy Susan for all to share. We got a full-on taste of China, its rich medieval heritage and its people today not as we might portray them from western media but as a people as welcoming and friendly as anywhere else and apart from Tinnaman Square free to say-often in English and always very respectfully- what life is like in China today.



It was everything we hoped for -and more. But the Star of our Tour undoubtedly was our main guide Gary (all Chinese guides it appears have an English name) who not only kept us all on time and in line with phrases such as "Gary's Family", "Follow the flag", Sticky Rice (keep together) and "One Dollar" (someone is missing)/ "Two Dollar" (everyone's here) but with his "Chinglish", his inexhaustible good humour (at least one joke a day) and his genuine concern for and attention to detail with all 23 of us. This was more than a 'personal touch' or company training. This was Gary, knowledgeable, caring,funny and always smiling; one, if not, the best tour guide we have ever had and a huge compliment to Wendy Wu who it seems sets the standard as all the guides we met seem to know her personally. Gary and Wendy Wu made our tour of China both special and memorable and for that my wife and I are extremely grateful.

The Silk Road tour was good overall with our very good national guide Sophie Jin . We did the Grand Tour of China with Wendy Wu in 2024 . We have already been to Xian twice before the Silk Road tour and to Beijing quite a few times before. So , I would suggest to Wendy Wu tours to organise something different for those who have already been to Xian and Beijing. There were a few people in our group who were in the same situation as us and have already been to these cities before. Apart from Xian and Beijing, everything else was new and this is where it becomes interesting and where the real tour started for us.
Xinjiang is very interesting and different from the other parts of China. There is a lot of long travel by coach in Xinjiang and may I suggest to cut down on those by replacing them with a single airplane trip and cutting down on some of the nonessential towns.
One other issue is the midday meal which tends to affect the program of the day.
Most people in the group felt we were having too much food in the middle of the day. May I suggest cutting down on a full meal at lunch and bring a picnic or sandwiches for lunch which would give more flexibility to the day program.
Overall, I enjoyed the Silk Road tour . Our national guide Sophie Jin worked very hard to make sure we all have a good and safe tour and I am very grateful to her.

Although I really enjoyed my time- I did feel for me personally that this tour was really rushed and that you didn’t really get to experience China, it felt pretty westernised.
It felt pretty rushed and I feel I spent more time travelling then soaking up the local culture, I wish we had more time in Beijing, could have seen Xian at night all lit up. Also Yu gardens at night is also meant to be really pretty, I also felt the Yangtze River cruise was a bit long winded and felt that that could have been done in 2 days and could have spent an extra day in Chongqing. I also understand for practical/comfort reasons some out of way hotels were chosen, but I honestly felt we should have stayed in hotels more central, especially in Beijing and Shanghai. All the tour guides however were really amazing and helpful. However I do know for next time I think I will do a private tour, as I have lots of places I want to see that were not on this tour.
I do also feel that. The food was genuinely good, however I did sort of feel as the tour went on it became a bit repetitive, and honestly felt it could have been a bit more diverse (i.e regionally) experiencing hot pot would have also been a nice touch.
Overall I was satisfied with my experience but I do know that if I was to do this tour again I would make some changes- I would also rightly encourage your staff when people are enquiring about your tours to maybe ask what type of experience are they after.

Our Majestic Yangtze tour was awesome, and packed a great deal into a short space of time (2 weeks).

We did all the must see and must do activities in China such as visiting Shanghai, travelling by bullet train, cruising on the Yangtze River, seeing the Chengdu Pandas and Xian Terracotta Warriors up close and of course walking the Great Chinese Wall early in the morning with beautiful blue skies above.

In addition, on one of the optional tours, we visited the Tribe of the Three Gorges. The scenery was spectacular, the tribe guide, costumes, ships, monkeys and crying marriage show were spectacular, such a memorable highlight for us.

What a fantastic tour and experience, thank you to all at Wendy Wu!

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.

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.

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.

Very extensive, well planned, but exhausting tour. Little or no free time.
Up at 06:00 to 07:00 back to hotel ~ 20:00 to 21:00.

Great guide David, caring, conscientious & kind, nothing was too much trouble for him.

Would have preferred to visit Shanghai's colonial era streets than cross the river to the newly developed area.

Boat tour in Wuzhen would have been more interesting than in Suzhou

I'd have been happier had our tour ended in Xian

High points
1 Evening tour of Xian city centre, full of life, festive lights everywhere, older people dancing on a wide pavement, we all joined in, young singers busking, such a joyous atmosphere.

2 Three great shows,

3 Great Chinese cuisine throughout

4 Jinling Shihu Garden Hotel, Suzhou - beautiful hotel

Low points
1 Beijing first day, thousands queueing in 35°C heat to enter Tiananmen Square, a horror show ! two separate securety passport checks then a further face scan before we could enter. Could hardly see the square for people, who went on mass to the Forbidden City where the crush was even worse - an exhausting, utter waste of time. We'd have been better off looking at a move tracing the history with aerial photos etc in air conditioned comfort. A tour of the cities shopping or embassy area would
have been more interresting & enjoyable

2 Hotels in new high tech areas Chengdu & Beijing, remote from
city centres. Dull surroundings, not that we had much time to explore

3 Dinner at "Irish Pub" in Guilin. Very poor quality food compared with excellent Chinese cuisine throughout. To be avoided.

4 Waterfall Hotel in Guilin - only two functioning lifts for 33 stories. Very stressfull mornings not knowing when a lift would arrive & when one did
if there would be room to get into it. Otherwise a fine hotel, well located.

I think that's enough to be going on with !

This was our first trip with Wendy Wu tours and it’s worth every penny.

They did everything they could to make this tour as memorable as possible, from personal pick up and drop off at the airports, arranging all the best sights, transport, food, knowledgeable local tour guides and just making sure that every single minute was a pleasure.

We started in Shanghai, then flew to Xian and finally took the bullet train to Beijing before coming back to the Uk via Hong Kong.

All credit to Louis, our hugely knowledgeable tour guide, photographer, interpreter and nanny. His hard work made this tour run like clockwork and we always felt safe and looked after where ever we went.

Go to China, the people are friendly, welcoming and they truly love their country and it’s amazing history.

Grand Tour of China - April 2025
This was an exceptional tour, with a wide variety of sight seeing to suit all tastes - cultural, natural, historical, shopping and so much more.
Our group of 15 ranged from early 50's to 80 and all managed the level of activity because there were options at each site based on ability. That said there are quite a few steps wherever you go in China.
We really felt that we'd been able to experience the culture (and sub cultures of each province) on this tour and it very much lived up to expectations. If you can take the time out to do this - absolutely would recommend.
It was very well organised and our national guide - Ryan - was brilliant, and the local guides (one in each location) added local flavour and information.

Some hints & tips if you're thinking about booking this trip
* Flights - If you can, upgrade to Premium Economy, it's worth it for the long flight. Also, check the flight times you're provided and make sure they're suitable. We ended up with a midnight flight home, and the tour officially finishes at breakfast on the last day, so we arranged a visit to the zoo ourselves, but otherwise we would have been hanging around at the hotel until collection at 7pm
* Packing - get out what you think you need then reduce by at least a third. All the hotels have laundry service and one even had self-service free washers/dryers and detergent provided. It's very casual, and sometimes you go straight to dinner from touring so you don't need clothes to change for dinner. If you can pack in a medium case (instead of large) you'll find it easier when you're moving around between locations, and packing cubes are a god send.
* Internal transfers - these were smooth, flights, trains and coaches. Train stations in China are like airport terminals, you're scanned on the way in (and your bags are too). Also don't get caught out like we did - on trains you're not allowed any pressurised containers over 150ml (and they will pick you up on it), so think deodorant, hair spray, shaving gel - travel size is best
* Staying connected - we used an unlimited data e-sim from Holafly, £60 each for 30 days. Worked like a dream. Some others used VPNs but these were patchy. Without either of these, even with hotel wifi you won't be able to connect to Google, What's App, Facebook etc
* Food & drink - We never went hungry. Breakfasts are mainly asian, but also some western options (fried/boiled eggs, toast, croissants). Lunch and dinner are all chinese, family service. You will eat a lot of rice, noddles. There was lots of fresh veg as well, and a fish eating veggie in our group was well catered for. There is limited choice for drinks, most of our group had local beers (about £1.50 on average per 500ml bottle), soft drinks you could have coke or sprite (or coconut milk/water). These again were about £1 for a 330ml can. Don't expect diet alternatives.
* Mindset - don't think of this as a "holiday" that is restful. Think of it as an adventure. Some days we walked over 20,000 steps, other days only 4,500. Some mornings we met in reception as early as 7am, others not til 9.30am. One flight meant leaving the hotel at 4.30am (as it was the only flight from that city to the next - one flight a day)! Temperatures ranged from early 30's to mid teens, and we were blessed with only two drizzly days. Some locations have high humidity. You also need to be ready to be considered unusual - a spectacle - by the locals. Not all the places visit have lots of western tourists. I don't think I've had my photo taken by as many people in my entire life as I did in these 4 weeks. From school children in a museum being fascinated with us, to adults in the street wanting selfies (or trying to take them on the sly) - go with the flow and you'll enjoy it.
* Crowds - some of the places we visit are very crowded (partly due to the increase in domestic tourism in China), and they don't have the same culture of queuing/patience as we might have in the UK. They travel in large groups, and are often very noisy (large tour groups using loud speakers), Our guides and the timings we had for visits made the most of trying to avoid this, but you do need to think differently when in a crowd if you want to get to "the front" to see something!
* Optional extras - the night tour in Xian is an absolute MUST, we did some of the evening shows and not others depending on how tired we were. If you're a train fan, the optional trip on the MagLev in Shanghai was worth it.

Our guide George made our holiday a success. He was desperate to make sure we were all happy and did everything he could to help from carrying our bags to buying from the vending machine on our behalf when it only accepted Alipay. George was always on hand and tried his best to ensure we had a great time. His instructions were sometimes confusing, telling different people different times to meet. On a few occasions George would say he would wait for people or with the bags but he left.
Our best local guide was Jasper in Chengdu.
It was frustrating that we had no free time to explore Chongqing as George got lost.
The food was very plentiful and tasty but it was very difficult to identify vegetarian options.
George was poorly for several days but soldiered on, making sure it didn’t spoil our trip, however he had no idea of personal space which was very uncomfortable, especially when he was clearly unwell.
The optional excursions were not explained very well in the Wendy Wu literature and it was difficult to decide which to go on.
George’s lesson in Mah-jong on the boat was an added bonus.
Having done just one excursion with ‘young George’ I found him to be more informative and willing to talk about real life in China.
I was disappointed not to spend longer with the pandas. We did not need an hour and a half for lunch, we would have been happy with a sandwich at the train station.
The trip is very intense with so many amazing things to do, when travelling from Xian to Beijing with had no activities at all and I know the group would have preferred a later train with the opportunity for a lie in.
In Xian we were deposited at a pottery and lacquer shop for nearly an hour to be sold to and similarly I would have liked longer at the Wall and to have skipped the Jade hard sell. At the Terracotta soldiers we were told to stay together and that there was no time to visit the gift shop or the market but then proceeded to stand around for at least 15min waiting for something? It would have been nice to be treated like adults a little more, be given a time and location to meet and spend our time as we wished. This happed at the Great Wall and everyone got to do what they wanted.
Whilst the hotels selected were generally fabulous their locations always seemed to be a long way from any life (shops & bars) so we were a bit stuck in our rooms when not on excursions.
These are all areas I think the tour could be improved but it was still a once in a lifetime experience!
Well that really was amazing. Phenomenal sites including the Terracotta Warriors, the Great Wall, 3 Gorges Dam and Giant Pandas old and young. We met loads of locals who love to meet a ‘big nose’ foreigner and have a photo. I ate my own body weight in boiled rice! We made some new friends and have some. Very special memories.

A fabulous tour incorporating all the key elements of China in one tour. It’s an action packed itinerary taking in all the key sites and carefully managed by your national guide, with local guides at each other main location to assist.

We had 24 on this tour group and everyone got on pretty well. Our National guide George took great care of us - he was super organised and his level of English was really impressive. He diligently catered for the various dietary requirements within the group and gave us rich insights into how China is. My last trip to China was in 1992 and the advancement is amazing! Certainly the standard of food and service facilities have improved massively!

There are several early morning starts but all understandable given that we had to cover vast distances using the various transport options - bullet trains, internal flights, cruise boats and we took a ride on the maglev train in Shanghai too! Beijing and Xian were amazing and stepped in history of course but beware that it’s full on with lots of walking as the sites are vast. The Great Wall is spectacular but that is pretty steep so those that are super for can get a challenge!

If would have been good to have a little break or chill day but we used the first day of the Yangtze River cruise to do this. The optional excursions are good - especially the acrobatics show and the night performance in Guilin if the weather permits it - go! We had a mini heatwave whilst we’re were there this March so be prepared and bring summer clothes!! Or buy some at Yangshuo!

Would highly recommend this tour and will definitely go with Wendy Wu Tours again.

We purchased the Silk Road Explorer trip in February 2024 at the destination show and we are a group of 5 friends from UK. We met at the airport and was really looking forward and excited for the flight to Xian transit at Beijing airport. When we landed at the airport we had to fill in transfer forms and there was a long queue of travellers at passport control. We only had one hour to catch the connecting flight to Xian so we missed the late afternoon flight. That caused a lot of anxiety and we were rushing at the airport looking for information. The staff at the counters were very helpful and we managed to catch the late evening flight to Xian. We would have like to leave London on an earlier flight to give more time for transit.
There were 18 of us in the group and our national guide was Hoffman Huo. We felt very safe in his care and nothing was too much trouble. He provided us with information on each day of the iternary of the places we were to visit . He was always at the back counting and making sure that we get on the train and coach safely. We were his family and felt sad when he waved us off on the last day. Well done Hoffman and we hope to get a guide like you on our next trip to China.
We have enjoyed this long journey on the Silk Road. The places on the iternary were historical , educational and interesting. The sceneries of the sand dunes on the desert and changing colours of the mountains were spectacular. The highlights were the art gallery at the Magao caves and the camel ride at the Gobi desert. What a great experience!
Well done Wendy Wu and staff for organising this amazing trip .
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For those that are considering the "Glories of China" offering from Wendy Wu, but remain doubtful if a multi-centre guided tour, in the best hotels with inclusive meals is a bit too expensive. May I tell you, I thought the same thing before I booked. But I am so glad I went for it. The Tour was jam packed with things to see and do. 2x internal flights, a 4 1/2 hour river cruise. Bullet train and Mag-Lev train journeys. Going to the top a skyscraper in Shanghai and viewing the city lights at night from a river boat. What an amazing spectacle. You will experience the hustle and bustle of cities and the more sedate pace of rural life. You can catch a show or two, or three. And if you're worried about the food, the cuisine was second to none, with a few local delicacies thrown in. There was always plenty to go around. Then there are the tourist landmarks, The Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Yu Gardens, Xian city walls, The Terracotta army, Guilin Pagodas, and more. I came away wowed. And wanting to do it all again. Amazing!!

Wendy Wu delivered a fantastic itinerary on their "Wonders of China" trip. It covered all the major cultural attractions in Beijing, Xian & Guilin travelling by plane, boat & bullet train.
Addison, our national guide , was brilliant in every way & is a great ambassador for his country, hometown of Xian & the Wendy Wu company. We became his 'family' for the tour & we all loved him. All the local guides in each city were very knowledgeable & helpful too.
The local cuisine throughout was a delight to the palate & we have been left with wonderful memories that will last forever.
The icing on the cake was our three day adventures in Tibet thanks to our lovely guide Yangte. My knowledge of Buddism has greatly increased & I have gained a great friend in the Himalayas.
Thank you Wendy Wu for your excellent organisation & help with the visa. You made it so easy & I will certainly travel with you again.