China Highlights private tour to Zhangjiajie and Wangxian Valley (Vagoo)
We arranged a 6-day private tour to Zhangjiajie and Wangxian Valley through China Highlights at the beginning of July, 2026. The arrangement process with Glory Mo was very good. She was clear throughout the process about what was needed and when. She provided the Visa Invitation letter and was good with communication and responsive to our many questions. What follows are our reviews of our 3 day trip in Zhangjiajie and our 1 day trip to Wangxian valley (Vagoo). The other days in our itinerary involved transportation/transfers. It's clear that China Highlights has done a good job of selecting/training their tour guides as in both cases, we found them to be excellent, efficient with time, and had excellent English skills. We also appreciated that these were "no shopping" tours. At no time were there any required stops at some gift shop as we've experienced elsewhere. ------------------- We had 3 full days in Zhangjiajie and had a great visit. We saw all the major sights and were happy with how busy the days were (with evenings free). Not overly aggressive, nor wasting time waiting around. Eileen was our tour guide and was excellent. She has an excellent command of English and was very knowledgeable explaining things (facts, historical details) to us. Because of Eileen's knowledge of the sites and areas, we were very efficient with our time, not wasting any trying to figure out which turn to take or path to go down. Eileen also helped us understand some the Chinese cultural Mr. Hu, our driver was safe and pleasant. Recommended hotels were clean and had good breakfasts. We appreciated that this was a "non-shopping" tour. When there were small things we wanted to buy or try eating, Eileen helped with her recommendations. We arranged VIP tickets for some of the attractions (elevator and cable car) for fear of lines. Turns out that not all schools were out yet, so we probably didn't need them, but they were good insurance, as our time was limited. We would recommend this tour for anyone who wants to see the major sites in a few days. ------- China Highlights helped us arrange a one-day trip to Wangxian Valley (望仙谷/Vagoo). It was everything we were hoping for. We arrived in the afternoon in Shangrao and stayed through sunset and evening. The evening lights are magical and give the place a very cool vibe/atmosphere. Adding to that are many people who dress up in traditional clothing to take pictures in. Definitely recommend staying to take pictures in the evening when the lights go on (7pm in our case). There's even a fake moon that make the pictures look that much nicer. :) There were quite a few others there too, but it was really only an issue when we were leaving (as many were leaving around ~20:45 as well). The hotel China Highlights arranged for that evening (International Grand Hotel) was excellent and had a great breakfast. Highly recommend our guide, April (Yao). She was very personable, energetic, and knowledgeable. Her English is excellent, as was her ability to answer questions. She was clearly passionate about Chinese culture, history, and art. She's able to walk at quite a quick clip too, if that's your style. One of the things I very much appreciated was that April was able to position us in just the right places (in public spaces) some minutes before a show started, which allowed us a perfect vantage point for those shows. This happened for 3 shows. She knew the best places to go for photos and she helped us take several great pics. She was well-prepared and allowed us to take optimal paths to help avoid crowds at times. On the way to Wangxian Valley from Shangrao, she helped us stop off to buy some fruit from some local farmers too. Thank you, April!