Reviews

The tour overall is excellent and we were so pleased to have done it . The itinerary speaks for itself . The following points are things that Wendy Wu (WW) should consider .
Broadly speaking the choice of hotels are budget . Some were huge old monolith hotels . Some in business districts . All aspects that makes the room rate cheaper for WW.
WW seem to specialise in offering a full days meal every day of the tour . It’s not necessary . We don’t need feeding so much food - most of which went to waste as we certainly did not eat it ! They could make the holiday cheaper . Lunch and dinners were identical most days . Noooo!
Too much .
There were quite a number of one night stays in cities . This makes the tour very arduous for travellers taking into account the days itinerary you are encountering .
The guides were all basically excellent . Some personalities were unhelpful to fellow travellers . One was majorly arrogant and totally disinterested in what we did , eat , see and go (Shanghai ).
We did not have a National guide for our tour as we only were a party of 8 ( 10 and above qualify for a National guide). At first we thought this would be a disadvantage . However it was great ! We were all pleased that we weren’t carrying an outsider for the entire trip! Most individual guides were supportive at points of transfer eg: airports or rail stations . Some weren’t as supportive but we muddled through .
Aspects of the tour which could be broadened are :
We needed to learn more about people and their life in China . Too much focus on temples gardens and museums.
We ought to have visited a family living in a 80sq.metre flat on their 27th floor . We went to a Hutong in Beijing so why not in a modern day setting ???
The guides did not discuss human geographical aspects other than population sizes from city to city . That should be changed/improved. Aspects of the journey should offer more of a commentary as to where we are ; what the landscape and trees around us are rather than travelling in total silence or chatting to the coach driver in Chinese !

During the tour the Xi’an WW office manager liaised with most of the tour guests which was an amazingly caring and supportive thing to do and was appreciated by all concerned. She even took on board a few suggestions and made changes or tweaks to a couple of meal times .

So to sum up - yes a brilliant tour but not without a few criticisms . If WW change things we won’t get the benefit sadly but they should look seriously at these aspects .

Excellent Excellent Excellent

Busy, exciting and surprising.
Very well organised and professional.

Good itinerary, well organised, reasonably priced. Guides excellent and hotel lodgings were excellent.

Wonderful holiday. Everything they promised and more. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this holiday with Wendy Wu.

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An excellent tour, well balanced in content and and excellent tour guide.

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Good value for money, did what it said on the tin!

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Excellent organisation, a very comprehensive tour with a perfect balance between structured and free time, city and country, history, spectacle and seeing daily life. All necessary information provided in good time, including a very detailed itinerary which was followed in every respect. 24 hour helpline while in China, an outstanding national guide, Joe, who stayed with us throughout plus local guides, all very helpful, courteous and worked tirelessly to ensure we enjoyed the best possible experience.

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See above - I have already given details.

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Wendy Wu, Grand Tour of China. This was very well organised, with pick up from the airport, meet by the excellent National Tour guide Summer. Check in, all transport, entry to attractions. Meals etc. The tour itself was excellent with interesting locations and places to visit. Very well run. 2 of the local tour guides stood out. Both called Cherry, the first with Three Tribes tour in the Yangtze River and in Chengdu.

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Wendy Wu were easy to book with. The daily trips out were excellent. Several stand out, Dali was beautiful in the foothills of the Himalayas, Beijing and the Great Wall. The terracotta Warriors, the Pandas, Xi’an at night and Shanghai. Sailing through the Three Gorges on the Yangtze Cruise. Loved wondering around the markets in the various towns battering for items.

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From the moment we booked the tour the staff helped us throughout the process, completed our visa application, kept us fully informed right up to when we received the final travel documents. Everything was efficiently handled and problem free.

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The tour met our expectations fully. We saw all we had expected to see, and more. The hotels were of a high standard and very comfortable. The excursions were exceptional, enhanced by the knowledgeable local guides, without exception.
Whilst the schedule, at times, was demanding, it was made all the easier by our fantastic and extremely knowledgeable tour group leader, George, whose tireless efforts and leadership were constant throughout the trip. He solved any problem encountered and truly created a sense of 'family' amongst the group. Excellent!

I would certainly recommend Wendy Wu and would definitely use the company again.

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Easy and efficient booking experience through Wendy Wu office in London. Extremely well organised tour of China with a brilliant national tour guide in Felix. We saw and did everything we had hoped to do before booking the tour and more. Would recommend it to anyone who wants to see and experience the real China.

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Just what we wanted for what we paid.

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The guides in China were all excellent with a wealth of knowledge & experience.
Most of the hotels were good but one or two were in need of updating & upgrading.

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All the sights & visits we saw were fabulous.

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All tour guides were excellent. Some of the hotels were not up to the standard you expect from Wendy Wu, they were a little tired and not in a central location. On some occasions we arrived at our destination too early to eat and had to waste time, rather than checking in at the hotel to allow us time for freshen up before the evening meal.

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Excellent value for money overall. We would have preferred direct flights as timing of connecting flights was a bit tight.

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Excellent level of service at all times both in the UK (making the booking, confirming the chosen flights, handling the VISA application process, issuing the tour pack including travel guide & itinerary) and in China (transportation, hotel check-ins, restaurant menu explanations & optional tour bookings).

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A comprehensive tour covering all of the major (and some minor) sights; staying in 10 different hotels, taking 4 internal flights, innumerable coach journeys, both bullet and MagLev trains, cruising down the Yangtze River, eating regional Chinese cuisine in countless restaurants and several optional excursions / shows. Considering what was included as standard the tour cost represented good value for money...and of course we were organised and looked after from beginning to end by the incomparable Alex, our superb national tour guide.

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It was very good overall. There were many unique experiences such as the Great Wall, Terracotta warriors, and Three Gorges Dam visit. On the Grand Tour we were able to also visit less well know places such as the beautiful Li River and unusual geology of the Stone Forest.
Our guide for the whole trip, Alex, was excellent, friendly, efficient, funny and helpful. The other local guides were also pleasant and informative.
Wendy Wu holidays enable you to visit a country such as China which would be very difficult to do by yourselves, certainly an extensive trip such as we did. Everything seemed to run to plan, such that you almost forget somebody has had to make it happen, for example getting tickets, arranging meals and transport.

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It was worth doing a longer tour to include less well known places such as the Stone Forest and beautiful River Li. Wandering around the decorated streets of Dali and Yangshuo seeing shops and markets, and trying out the rice wine, among local Chinese folk was great and felt very safe.
The trip included some great shows and different optional experiences such as the Maglev train.
One or two things I would change- the rickshaw ride around the hutongs was a bit dull (although the meal we ate in a local hutong house was delicious)
I like boat trips but there were maybe too many- I would miss out the Dali lake one, because the West Lake in Hangzhou was better.
All in all a great trip and all held together by our guide, the amazing Alex !

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Very good service and lots of photos and memories

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Good value for the length of time