My wife and I are huge travel buffs and just returned from 10 days in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou. We had a WONDERFUL and FANTASTIC time in China, and I highly recommend this travel company for booking your tour. We actually found a Groupon for the trip last year and ran into problems redeeming it the first time around (you MUST call them right away to book, don't wait too much longer after purchasing voucher). The gentlemen Peter told us we'd have to pay extra to confirm our flights at that time. Once we expressed concern over this, May Lin stepped in and helped make everything right, and I give tons of kudos to her!
The tour guides were awesome, especially Frank who was extremely hilarious! I wouldnt trust @Andrea V's review too much. Yes, there are some mandatory planned stops at some of the government owned and operated stores (Jade, Pearl, Silk, etc.), and some sales pitching at the traditional Chinese medicine and green tea providers, but why bitch about it? It's no different than many other organized tours in our country who make deals with local merchants. The trip is cheap, extremely cheap...because it is subsidized by the Chinese government to help boost their tourism industry. If I can go on a 65%-70% discounted trip to China for 10 days while seeing some of the most magical and richest historical landmarks in the world, eating 4 and 5 course breakfasts (all), lunches (3 or 4) and dinners (2), staying in true 4 and 5 star hotels, seeing the real Shanghai acrobats on the 4th row, and covering 4 major cities in the country all under the included price, then I can deal with going to a few government-run stores to buy a few souvenirs. People that can't see the good in this deal are subpar human beings who are a disgrace to truly dedicated and respectful American travel hobbyists.
My only cons were: The smog was pretty bad in Beijing, most all of the time was scheduled and structured (very little "free" time), and there was a bit of discouragement on the part of the tour guide when we expressed a desire to forego the "optional" activity riding the rickshaws and having lunch with a Chinese family in Beijing. Overall, it seemed like ChinaTour.com was generally uncomfortable with the tour participants deviating at all from the plan. If they really want you to pay for the optional trip, they shouldn't make it optional. But, on the plus side, you won't ever have that feeling of being nickle and dimed to death, which is common touring other places (especially in the U.S.). The trip was fantastic, and ChinaTour.com should be lauded for their service and provided value. I'd do it again and recommend it to others in a heartbeat. Thanks for such a memorable trip!! read more