6 Days Mystical Tibet Exploring Tour

Our 14-day tour went great. Our online agent, Yocky, was very responsive to all the questions I had before the trip. We were met and sent off at each airport, railroad, and bus ride by local tour guides of TCT who were prompt, friendly, knowledgeable, and professionals. Thorough in explaining each of the places we visited and gladly took our questions and responded. The hotels we were checked-in were 4 stars as expected, clean and centrally located, clean, and served a great buffet breakfast (included). The respective tour guides effectively managed the time and arranged lunch stops close by the sites we visited thus not wasting touring time. Overall experience was great. Great value for the price of the tour. If we decide to tour other sites in China in the future I will definitely use TCT again.

I did this tour with my wife and our adult son in early February - in fact it was Chinese New Year's eve day. We enjoyed it. We did the three star version and were impressed with how easy the guide on the tour bus made it for us. She was attentive and her English was great. The three star boats are remarkably comfortable. We were expecting wooden benches, but the cabin was carpeted, well appointed, and very comfortable. We spent much of the trip on the deck looking at the scenery of the Karst Mountain Formations, which was pretty incredible. At the end of the trip, our guide offered another smaller river cruise that included a cave, but we chose to go off on our own. We rented scooters and had fund going out to see the huge Banyan tree outside of town. Our guide had given us clear instructions on how to find the hotel where the bus picked us up on time for a drive of a couple of hours back to Guilin.

Our tour was organised by Janet Chan, whom I would highly recommend to anyone planning a holiday in China. The original itinerary was set some 5 months in advance and involved 12 different guides and drivers, 10 hotels and a cruise on the Yangtze. As could be expected, a number of issues arose in the subsequent period prior to our departure including areas being affected by earthquakes (requiring a change of itinerary) and specific flights being cancelled. None of these caused us any concern as Janet dealt with them in the background and emailed us the changes as we moved around the country. The ability and attitude of the chosen guides and drivers varied from location to location, however, none were unsatisfactory and a significant number were excellent. Despite there being three train trips and six flights, the designated TCT guide was always there to meet us on our arrival, which after 3 weeks across a broad itinerary was a great comfort. Most of the guides displayed a high degree of flexibility and were able to vary the program under their control to ensure that we covered all of the items and attractions that we had on our itinerary. In some cases this involved changing the daily schedule completely to ensure that we covered everything that we wanted to see. On a general note, TCT and Janet Chan in particular took great care of us despite some unplanned changes to our itinerary. An earthquake in western china altered our plans somewhat and she stepped up and organised on short notice another part of China to see. Cancelled flights and delayed flights were taken in stride and train trips organised so nothing was missed off our bucket list. Because of her organisation with the local guides and drivers we were never left stranded and she was always willing to be on call if there were any problems. She was very willing to hear our feedback and met with us once personally on our trip to talk face to face about our experiences. I would without reservation recommend TCT and our agent Janet Chan to anyone travelling to China in the near future. Happy travels!

Excellent guides, flexible and knowledgeable travel agent. They speak good English. Our trip was very well organized. We are 100% happy and I can recommend Top China Travel to everybody.

First of all I was a little nervous about planning my trip to China, I hate dealing with alot of paper work and all the excessive planning that goes into things. Joyce from TCT made the process extremely simple and easy so planning things was a breeze! I can really say I view Joyce as a true friend who helped make my trip unforgettable. All the people I dealt with on my trip to China- our guides-Ann in Beijing, David in Xi'an,Annie in Guilin treated us  more like family than customers and they were very thoughtful towards what the group wanted to do! Joyce even met us at our hotel in Guilin with gifts and took us around a little bit of Guilin on her own time, she even paid for the scorpion I tried (lol) This company's care towards people is something special and an honor to their beautiful country. I loved my trip to China and the best part was the people I met and friends I made a long the way! I definitely plan to return to China in the near future and would happily use Top China Travel again! Just sad we can only give them 5 stars- they deserve more!

Booked on this site via tour. Gorgeous scenery throughout relaxing morning cruise down Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo. Provided decent lunch on board. However, couldn't understand English of guide on board ship. After cruise group divided into side tours. Bus was 2 hours late in picking us up for return to Guilin and due to lack of organization and incompetent, non English speaking tour guide, bus dropped us off 30 minutes from our hotel at 9 pm at night with no taxi in sight.

My sister and I were looking for an independent tour to China and Tibet and after writing to three different agencies with our proposed route and activities we decided to go with TCT travel. Why TCT? Daniel Mo, our contact person responded quickly to every email that we sent. He was both professional and friendly. An excellent travel agent! The planning was personal. If we didn’t like a proposed hotel or tour, he came up with something better. He made recommendations about sights worth seeing and places worth skipping. Nothing was too much to ask; he wanted us to be satisfied. The other two agencies were more inclined to offer standard hotels and tours. The bank transfers were efficient. There was no hassle with money. Our route: Beijing, Lhasa, Xian, Guilin-Yangshou, Shanghai, a total of 17 days in October. Seeing Tibet was to be the highlight of our trip. Daniel arranged the Tibet permit, a hotel in the center of Lhasa and a local Tibetan guide who was truly amazing. If you have the time and are not frightened off by the high altitude (you must take medicine), go to Tibet!! That being said, our entire China-Tibet trip was fantastic. We enjoyed everything that we did, all of our tours. The hotels had excellent locations (extremely important). Our guides were wonderful and did everything they could to make things run smoothly. They all met us at the airport(s) upon arrival and assisted us at departure. They accompanied us everywhere organizing and translating and of course supplying us with information at all of the tour sights. They ordered our lunches based on what we like to eat (my sister is a vegetarian). We were never herded around like a tour group. The approach was personal and flexible. All of our transportation was arranged perfectly by Daniel/TCT; flights, trains, vans, cars, boats, bicycles and rickshaws. We could not have asked for a better introduction to China and I would certainly recommend TCT to anyone who wishes to travel independently. From the planning phase to the actual execution; excellent!

Brilliant experience with Rebecca booking our itinerary.all our guides were really good including Ali in Shanghai, mo in guieiling, frank in langshau, Lilly in Xian (Lilly was brilliant with the kids!) and jack in Beijing. Would recommend them for all travel.

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.

Just returned from two weeks of travel through China set up by Rebecca at Top China Travel. Absolutely perfect experience. In each city our guides and drivers were the best! Started in Beijing, then Xian, Yangtze River Cruise, Wuhan and Shanghai. In each city a university educated tour guide was waiting for us full of local history and information. Additional evening attractions like Beijing Opera and Tang Dynasty Show were perfect. She set up a cooking lesson for us with a private family in Beijing that was the best. Each and every one of our requests were honored and planned specifically for us. A special trip to Wuhan, off the normal tourist path was delightful. We finished the trip with a visit to Shanghai Disney. So thankful to this organization for the trip of a lifetime.

We are a group of 14 people. We really enjoyed the trip in Guilin which was arranged by TCT Bonnie. Bonnie is very professional and enthusiastic. Guilin is very beautiful place with nice natural scenery. Our trip in Guilin has been unforgettable. We will highly recommend our friends to use TCT for their trip in China.

we looked around and could not find anyone else that would tailor a trip how we wanted it But Janet from Top China Travel was so helpful we emailed at first then talked on skype Janet Chan of the Guilin office went that extra mile Janet helped us plan our 4 week tour of China starting in Shanghi then to Yellow Mountain were Misha met us took us to some old villages then spent 3 days in the mountains with Misha showing us her wonderful part of the world (a Must do) then took the Public Bus to Hangzhou this was a great choice then onto Beijing, Xian by High Speed train (spoil your self go 1st class was great) we did the Great wall at Mutianyu we had 4 hr wish we had more time there Herbet our guid took us to The Sacred road & the Chang Tomb in the afternoon well worth the very long day Xian Terracotta Warriors Met the guy that found them and a great day Guili,Yangshou & Longsheng Annie or guid was great took us to some real out of the way places we met up with Janet in Guilin and she gave us a very personalised gift something very special to my wife & I Janet made sure we did not miss a thing. All of our tour guides and drivers were waiting for us at the train stations/airports as pre-arranged which took a lot of stress away. Everything ran so smoothly. A big Thank You to TCT Janet and the team for making our experience so enjoyable. WE will be Back The Food was Great go to the little cafes in the back streets well worth it and cheap

Even though the boarding process might be a bit of a hassle, the tour is totally worth it: amazing landscape and unspoilt nature. One sees locals fishing, big birds, daily river life. The one hour trips on the river don’t do this fantastic amd unique lime stone scenery justice, the 4 hour cruise is very recommendable if you want to see this Guilin highlight! The boats are very comfortable, one can order Chinese food. With children it is recommendable to bring hats, sunscreen, snacks ( in case they don’t like the Chinese meal offered), binoculars and cards.

I wanted to visit Tibet, and based on the very positive reviews for this company, I booked with them and was not disappointed.
Our contact was Janet, and she was great both in preparing the trip (including answering immediately to our questions, even when it was midnight in China) and in making sure everything worked out smoothly (including checking at 5:00 am that we indeed got our transport to the airport).
In Tibet, we took the "5 days Lhasa & Yamdrok Lake" tour. On the way to Tibet I had a stopover in Beijing, and took the opportunity to do two days of sightseeing. I asked Janet for recommendations, and she suggested the day tours "Hiking on Jinshanling Great Wall" and "Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, The Temple of Heaven".
I think these tours were indeed the highlights of both Beijing and Tibet for us, and if I would go to Tibet again (e.g. with my wife and son, who could not come with us this time) I would book the same tours.
I usually prefer to organise my travels myself, but it seemed the only realistic possibility to get a Tibet travel permit is to book with an approved travel agency. In general, when booking with an agency, you pay slightly more and have fewer options, but on the other hand, it saves a lot of preparation time and is a lot safer if you don't know much about the country you travel to.

In Beijing, the expertise of the travel agency got our group on the Great Wall at a spot where almost no other tourists were - this spot was (almost) inaccessible due to a construction zone. On my own, I certainly would not have discovered this possibility. The other tour let us see the highlights of Beijing in one efficient and cheap bus tour, but on the other hand, it included a bit of (I guess) sponsored stops at a "Traditional Chinese Medicine" institute and a pearl factory. I would rather have paid a bit more and skipped these promotions, but they were short, and I just relaxed with a drink in the air-conditioned cafeteria. (During the preparation, Janet told me about the "shopping" that was included, and the "Jinshanling Great Wall" tour without shopping, but for the "Forbidden City" tour there was no alternative without shopping.)

In Tibet, the first day was for acclimatisation to the thin air, and indeed I was out of breath from just climbing the stairs to our hotel room. But after basically sleeping the first day, I was OK the next days, and for me the visits to the monasteries and the Potala Palace were absolutely amazing. Individual photos cannot convey the atmosphere of these large buildings with thousands of small and large rooms full of statues, pictures, scriptures, every square inch decorated, and everything with ancient traditions, but still in use today. This was the main reason I wanted to visit Tibet, and I was not disappointed. My daughter also enjoyed the mountain tour a lot, although to me it seemed surprisingly similar to the Alps (we live in Switzerland), just 4000 meters higher, and with cows replaced by yaks :-)
The only little inconvenience was the transport from and to the airport, which is about 50km from Lhasa. When we arrived, the driver was not there yet (it turned out his previous clients, who needed to go to the airport, had been late), and after he arrived, we still had to wait for some hour for the next clients to arrive at the airport (their plane was delayed). Well, that is what you get with cheap transport (included in the package). The opposite thing happened on the way back - the transport that would have been included in the package did not go early enough for the plane that was booked for us, so we had to pay 400 Yuan extra for private transport. But then this was super efficient, picking us up exactly at the promised time and bringing us to the airport at the right time to check in.

Summary: Amazing destination, very well organised tours, would book again with them!

TCT provided us with EXCELLENT Guides and Drivers. Very attentive to meeting our requirements. In fact all of the arrangements and organization, more than met our requirements. The highlights for us were our visits to the Stone Forest and the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. At the Stone Forest, we benefited from having a knowledgeable guide (Shirley) - she was able to let us see all of its beauty but still avoid the crowds. The Jade Mountain was the highest elevation that we have ever been - over 14000 ft. This is the time of the year to there - 50 F and sunshine. Also thrilling was going through the cloud bank before completing the cable car ride. As far as we could tell, the Minority people's (all over Yunnan) were living harmonious lives. All in all - a wonderful trip.