3 Days Best Shanghai and Zhujiajiao Water Town Tour

We have just returned from a very satisfying trip to China. One of the highlights was the lovely city of Guilin. We had no idea that this would be such a pleasant spot in which to stroll around and enjoy the bridges and walkways. The temperature was comfortable and we felt at home walking around the park, footbridges, and along the lakes. Helen and Jim from Canada

Recently, we joint a group tour organized by TCT. We had a excellent experience for the whole tour including the booking process. Here are some highlights. Tour booking I found TCT from the web with very positive reviews. I decided to book my China tour with them. Now, I am glad that I made right choice. TCT assigned a very experienced tour consultant, Raylene He, to work with me. Due to various reasons, we changed our tour plan a few times including changing starting date, hotels, the tour routes etc. Raylene was very patient to work with me to make sure every planned details were met our needs. She was also very responsive in answer my queries. Our family would like to give her a big THANKS. Hotels Best Location: Beijing, Guilin Very convenient. This allowed us to do more sightseeing by walking in the evening. Hotel room: the best hotel rooms were in Xi’an. They were a very spacious full suites. It was a welcome surprise. Breakfast: most of us like Beijing better. I personally like both Beijing and Xi’an. This is because of the preference of the types of food. Tour guide Tour guide in Beijing stayed with us one day longer so we got to know her better. We felt that she provided very good service. Tour guide in Shanghai was more knowledgeable. He provided different perspectives to various topics. His explanation/opinion made the tour more interesting. In general, all tour guides were very professional and made their best effort to make the tour run smoothly. Because traffic jams are common in China, they constantly discussed routes with drivers to pick the best route and drop off locations. Drivers: Drivers were very cooperative. We had an emergency in Guilin. One of us needed to go to washroom right away. Since it was rush hour and the traffic was very heavy, the bus could not stop anywhere, the Guide and the Driver found a hospital with washroom on the way and dropped us off. We wee appreciate it very much. We also noticed that the drivers were very conscious in helping TCT to save money. For example selecting a parking location in a free of charge location instead of a paid parking lot. Flexible route arrangement We joined a group tour. This group tour went to Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Guilin and Hong Kong as advertised. Our tour group started with four families. After the tour in Xi’an, One family left the group for Guilin and Yangtze River cruise. In Shanghai, the rest of us merged into another group. After Shanghai, a few families in the merged group left the group tour.. We left the group after Guilin. In general, the cost of group tour is lower. TCT allowed customer to pick and choice as you wish to fit customer’s needs. They also recommended group tour where possible to help customer to lower the cost, although this made their tour management a lot more complicated. I would like to say that TCT is an excellent tour operator compare with others. All the little efforts that employees made contributed to TCT’s success. It seems to us that TCT is a well run company. We wish TCT continued success in the future.

Today we had a great day. We went to the Great Wall. Walked about 1 kilometer of the 8000. We went to a Jade warehouse. We had a great lunch there. We then went to the summer palace and enjoyed the views. We ended our day with a tour of Hutong. We had a fabulous dinner in the home of Mrs. Fan. So far our driver (Mr. Luo)and Dream have been wonderful. Five stars.

I can't recommend this company enough!! I started talking to Yocky via the chat system on their website, as we wanted to do a 2.5 week trip around China. Our itinerary was: Shenzhen-Beijing-Xian-Kunming-Dongchuan-Chengdu-Guilin-Sanya Here's how things went: 1) She was instant in her replies and responded to subsequent emails within the hour (and trust me, I sent A LOT of emails). She was always so thorough and efficient. 2) She made us a tailor made trip that covered everything we wanted, including some slightly more off the beaten track attractions. 3) She helped us keep to our budget and suggested reasonable things we could cut out when things were too expensive (not something many companies would do as they are trying to make a quick buck). 4) She listened to all of our requests for things such as early morning flights, vegetarian food, and readjusting itineraries. 5) All our drivers and guides were EXCELLENT; they were prompt, kind, spoke excellent English and had a wealth of knowledge about all the sites we saw. All the cars on our private tours were nice and comfortable and had water. 6) Despite asking for 3* hotels, all 7 hotels we stayed in seemed like 4* to us and all included breakfast. 7) With such a large and complicated trip there were bound to be a few hiccups (e.g. there was a marathon in Xian one day which meant a lot of roads were closed, so we couldn't access sites). Yocky was in touch with us the entire time and helped us rearrange our plans quickly and ordered complimentary tickets to a show to make up for the inconvenience. We were so nervous about our first trip to China as we speak no mandarin and are strict vegetarian but honestly this was one of the best trips of our life; this company made it so easy for us and I really can't imagine having been able to do it myself any better!

A educational tour through the history of the Silk Road, well organised by Janet Chan who was very helpful and easy to communicate with. It is an extensive tour covering great distance-the western border of China - near Afghanistan. There were different tour guides in each area and all were great and some were excellent, Abdul, Shir and Vicky were standouts! as there was little or no English spoken in the western provinces it was necessary to have a guide to explain the sights as well as organise travel and hotel arrangements-also were great in recommending and taking us to great local restaurants. as we are experienced and usually individual travellers we had to suggest that we wanted to see the local areas and sights/people, guides were happy to do so especially in Kashgar where we changed to itinerary from the lake trip to spend time in the markets, teahouses etc -well worth doing as Kashgar and the Uygur people were a highlight of the trip. The tour involved 3 rail, 4 flights and numerous private vehicle trips-all went smoothly although we were not met at one rail station and had to make our own way to the hotel-normally not an issue but at this town there was no-one to speak english so was not a smooth transition. Highlights were off course the big tourist spots of the Beijing , Xian and the incredible terracotta warriors, the Magao grottoes , Labrang Monastery,and the very colourful Zhangye Dana Landform Geological Park, and Dunhuang. We extend our tour spending extra days in Shanghai where we didn't have guides and could be free to get to art galleries etc and then went to Guilin and Yanshuo which were a wonderful and greener change from the western provinces. We were pleased to meet Janet in Guilin. Overall it was a great trip and covered the Silk Road and the rich history that it encompassed, i would suggest less time spent in Urumqi and more tome in Kashgar -there was no need to visa two lakes (we went to the Sacred lake in Urumqi but on reflection would not have that included in the tour. We highly recommend Janet and Top China Travel, but be aware they are a company that has shopping included in Beijing and Xian !

It's been a few months since I finished our 11 days (23 Dec-3Jan) private China tour arranged by Janet Chan from Top China Travel. The trip consists of the following cities: Beijing - Hangzhou - Suzhou - Shanghai - Guilin - Hongkong. I really need to thank Janet for her patience towards the schedule changes and all of my custom requests for driver transfer to dinner etc, and even for restaurants booking. In addition, I also found their price to be the best compared with the other competitor. All of our local guides (Sunny in Beijing, Summer in Hangzhou, Isaac in Suzhou, Ryan in Shanghai, and Jay in Guilin) were all helpful, flexible, and very accomodating. They even explained in both english and chinese since my parents can't understand english. They even add some objects here and there so that we can enjoy most of our time in China. They also recommend all of good restaurants in each city. All of them were really good, we even had the best porridge and liu sha bao while we were in Guilin.. Overall, we really enjoyed our time in China, and I didn't expect the trip would be so easy with TCT. Once again, thanks Janet Chan who enables us to make the most of our holiday. Can't wait to plan another trip to China with TCT.

We used Top China Travel for planning our trip from Shanghai to Hangzhou. Bonnie from TCT was our contact person. She was very helpful, corresponded with us by email before our trip and was extremely responsive and flexible, trying to accommodate our interests. . Every aspect of the trip was well planned and organized. She purchased our tickets on the bullet train, reserved our hotel in Hangzhou (hotel Shangri-La), arranged for airport transfer, and excellent private guide in Hangzhou and Shanghai. We highly recommend TCT for visiting China. Thank you Bonnie.

I recently visited China with my son and his friend. Janet Chan’s patience with us as we kept changing our minds on where to go and what to do was amazing and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to China. Starting in Chengdu we were met at the airport by Summer and the driver. They were on time and Summer was excellent with explanations and answered all our questions. She did not rush us and we had the time to see and take all the pictures we wanted. On To Xi’an . We were met at the airport by Lili and the driver. She was knowledgeable and very interesting. While visiting the Terracotta Soldiers she made sure that we had the best views and even helped us with finding the best prices for our souvenirs. She suggested we visit the wall and while there we saw the night time show. We also visited the People’s park ( a suggestion from Lili) and were amazed at all the activities there. We had decided to visit Pingyao on our own and really enjoyed walking around the city and even visited the underground castle. As we did not book any tours for this town our kind host at the hostel drove us to the castle and back. While there I lost my train ticket. We contacted Janet, and her agent, the driver and the train station were extremely helpful in helping me. When we arrived in Beijing the driver went out of his way to help me get the refund for my ticket and I will be forever grateful. We had only one issue through no fault of Top China Travel, with the guide the day we went to the Forbidden City, Summer Palace and The Temple of Heaven. We were picked up on time, we were rushed through the Forbidden City with little explanation. There was no time to visit or take pictures. We did have more time in the afternoon for the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace but I would have like more information about all three. Our last day was memorable . The Great Wall that Janet suggested was spectacular and I managed to walk to the tenth post. We had more than enough time to enjoy this experience. A short tour of Water Town after an excellent lunch was also included. Even though it took longer to reach our destination the spectacular views were so worth the bus ride and on the way we got to see the country side. We found the people of China most helpful, friendly and kind and it is a trip I will remember forever. I thank you, Janet for your help in making this amazing trip of a lifetime possible and being there when we needed help. Needless to say I would not hesitate to recommend Top China Travel to anyone. They are very professional and you get the feeling that they personally care that you have a great China experience. Janine

We booked our trip with Top China Travel a private tour and was amazing experience. We were 4 people , just ladies. It was very well organized, our Spanish guides in the different cities very good especially Leon in Xian, the best. They were very knowledgeable and took care of us. Every time we went to another city, they didn't leave us until the check-in at the different airports. Our agent Raylene did an excellent job, organizing our trip, she was on top of everything. Thanks Raylene for our unforgettable vacation.

In April we had the pleasure of having Juli Liu as a tour guide for three days in Guilin China and the sourronding area. She speaks very good English. Is very friendly, knowledeable,and has a good sense of humor. She asked what we wanted to do and see and made suggestions of things she felt we might enjoy. She took us on a Li River day trip is not to be missed. She advised us on shopping and other things to do on our own. She did not rush us or try to push us to go to certain sights or stores. She stayed with us each day from early morning to what ever time we wanted. She even took us to an evening event after spending a full day showing us around. She also advised us on places to eat. We enjoyed her so much we wished we had allowed more time in Guilian. We plan on return to Guilian and will use Juli again.

I just did a 8 day tour going from Beijing,xian,Shanghai and it was fenomenal this company has an extraordinary service the hotels,restaurantes,sites,shows,etc.. were very good if you planing to go to china visite the TCT page to look for the best tour because they have many.You won't regret it

I found Top China Travel in the internet, and started a conversation via email with one of the travel agents, her name is Joyce Tang, needless to say, she was excellent and understood exactly what we wanted to do and visit as a family. Joyce created a semi-private itinerary for my family. Everything went perfectly as planned and as described in the itinerary that I received from Joyce. We visited Shanghai, Xian, and Beijing, a 6 Day itinerary. We are extremely happy with the service we received!

Almost every Guilin hotel can provide something like this tour, including a bus return with a couple of pleasant stops. The basic set up is hotel pickup, transport to a boat loading area, a flotilla of those boats going down the river, and then some time in Yangshuo. But be careful about the return. It is often an add on item for an additional cost, and the connection in Yangshuo can be a bit dicey if your boat happens to be going behind schedule. So book through your hotel and take a phone so you can contact the tour guide if you need to. But you might also want to stay overnight in Yangshuo. That's probably what I would do if I had it to do over.

We took the private 21 day Panorama tour for two, and it was above an beyond any expectations. We've got absolutely impeccable service - the guides / drivers were never late, even for a second - they were expecting us at the airports, train stations, hotel lobbies, always ready to take care of us. All the hotels were great, with very ample buffet breakfast included. Cars were nice and comfortable, equipped with A/C, and bottled water was always there for us. Great itineraries too, with Tibet included - a lot of incredible sightseeing - never were disappointed. Couple tips: 1.Tibet was a bit tough due to high altitude - if we knew, we'd ask for the room with oxygen - they are about $40-50 more per night, but totally worth it. 2.There is optional ERA show in Shanghai, but if you want to see it, you need to book it at least 2 months in advance. We didn't know, so we had to miss it. 3.I'd recommend you take some toilet paper with you, when you head for excursions.

We organised and booked our China tour (for myself and my wife) with Janet Chan from Top China Travel. We included Beijing , Xi'an and Shanghai. Janet is the best travel consultant we ever met. She is very professional, honest and always prompt in correspondence. All her suggestions proved really good and we achieved in our 8 days in China much more than we thought possible , way above our expectations, and absolutely stress free. Janet helped us promptly whenever necessary and all bookings (hotel, historical attractions, restaurants, intercity travels) maximized the available time and also allowed us to immerse not just in China's millennial history but also a bit in the local, normal people's life. All our guides were very good and helpful, and we felt treated like friends, not just customers, especially by Sisi (Beijing) and Vicky (Shanghai). We already plan our return to China for a longer holiday, and we will certainly book with Janet - Top China Travel again. Overall, a very satisfying experience.