Excellent trip
I have been on 2 guided group tours with other companies before and was happy with both. I wanted to take my 14 year old granddaughter and was concerned about her being bored since tours of China tend to be older groups. I searched and searched reading reviews and decided to go with another company based on reviews and price. Twice the person I was speaking with did not respond to my emails for days and decided to go with China Culture Tours. I am so happy with my decision. I also chose a private tour for my granddaughters sake. First let me say I worked with Nora and I changed my itinerary several times. Nora was completely accommodating. She made the changes and kept me informed on every level. Nora even checked on us making sure we were happy while we were on our trip. We decided to go with a private guided tour in Beijing and Xi’an since it is not easy to get around without one. We continued our trip without a tour guide in Hong Kong because we have family there. The trip was perfect from beginning to end. Our tour guides Nancy in Beijing and Sarah in Xi’an were both very knowledgeable and helpful. They made sure we were happy with all. They were flexible and informed us of everything giving us options. Their English was quite good and we communicated with no problems. I would recommend both very highly! When a 14 year old tells you they will never forget the tour guides, that says a lot. We opted to go with 4/5 star hotels and it was worth every penny! We stayed at the New World Hotel in Beijing and the Wyndham Grand in Xi’an. Wow, wow, wow! They treated us with 5 star class all the way through. The pool and breakfast buffet at the New World Hotel Beijing were over the top! The bed was a bit too firm for me but everything else made up for it. We were surrounded by shopping and restaurants for our leisure time and felt very safe. The Wyndham Grand in Xi’an‘s breakfast buffet was also amazing and the room was perfect. There is a street festival that is situated for blocks that is directly behind the hotel. It has music, street food, entertainment and shopping that was amazing. It was beautiful and super clean. There was something for everyone. We took the bullet train from Beijing to Xi’an and loved it. It was a smooth clean ride and we saw China in a different view. We did not upgrade to first class and we were fine with it. As for the Great Wall, Imperial Palace, Terracotta Warriors and all of the other places we visited they speak for themselves! I was super skeptical and nervous about who to book with. I definitely made the right decision. Thank you China Culture Tours, Nora, Nancy (see you later not goodbye) and Sarah you made our trip amazing! Highly recommend!!!