Completed the "China Experience" tour with Wendy Wu this May visiting Shanghai, Xi'An, and Beijing. This was led by National Guide, Grace Gao, and local guides Felicity (Shanghai), May (Xi'An) and Lee/Li (Beijing). This was first trip with the company and as a solo-traveller on the tour. Met for the first day in Shanghai, as total strangers, and discovered I was the youngest (Late 30s) of a group of 16, ages on average ranged around 50–70 years old for the others.
The tour was fast-faced with a lot to see, which could make it physically demanding. Up first thing in the morning, back late at night, no real down-time or taking things at a casual pace others may entertain outside a tour company.
The tour guides were very knowledgeable, and it was good to hear their personal perspectives and experiences which shaped things for them and the changes that have advanced in modern China. It gave a very real element to the world beyond the facade of simply seeing what is in front of you. Felicity sharing as she watched the skyscrapers go up as a young girl in Shanghai, Grace's experience of when she first went to Xi'An to study before they redeveloped the city, and Lee coming in from the villages to Beijing.
The thing I found from China was that my perspective of 'big' changed. The country is so populous and so built up, it made everything back home just feeling small. The souvenir 'town' outside the Terracotta Warriors alone felt like it was the size of my hometown. Downside, you had to walk through it to get back to the bus.
That was the downside of China, the tourism felt over-commercialized and this really seemed to take a lot of authenticity away from the experience. You couldn't simply enjoy something without it being 10 trinket stalls around it, and 2 inside of it.
Though the tour allowed for some very good opportunities to witness things like the Tang Dynasty dancing, Chinese Acrobatics, and an optional Xi'an night tour which included dress up, and went to a festival filled with other domestic tourists to have a good time and lots of pictures taken of/with (Highlight event of the trip).
Wendy Wu were clearly very experienced on when and where to go to the different venues. Seeing other Wendy Wu tour groups at the same exact places shows they have a formula on how to deliver this, which is used for their other tours they host. The timings also allowed you to experience things before the crowds hit, so when you are leaving, you turn around to see a mass of people, and think "good thing we came when we did". I think that goes to sum up how these tours work, they have everything packaged in a neat box, and you pay to experience it. Wendy Wu tours are certainly not cheap in price, but it is fully inclusive, so you don't need to worry as everything is taken care for you, and they have a high calibre when it came to quality of the tour guides, hotel rooms, and choices they select. They know what they are doing to deliver the experience, from the start to finish.
I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and the biggest cons were down to the lack of flexibility in format which is to be expected.

Although this trip was short, it was packed with lots of sights and experiences.
The National Guide Ivan was kind, generous with his time and so knowledgeable. The local guides also had a lot to offer.
Our schedule was full, early starts to beat queues and late finishes but the hotels were in good positions to be able to walk out if you wished.
It difficult to choose an highlight but for me it might just be The Great Wall, or maybe The Terracotta Army. I also found the robots amazing.
We all felt safe on the trip, found the people friendly and proud of their country

The guide was so amazing Amanda did everything she could to make this so memorable. The tour is full on but you see so much and experience so much.

The holiday was well planned and well managed. No excessive queuing at attractions. Accommodation was of a good standard and meals fine.
Only downside was that we dined in a Muslim restaurant, which meant there was no beer or wine on offer. I have no idea why this place was chosen because the food was no different to any of the other restaurants we ate in.
The only other negative I can think of was that one of the hotels had an en-suite with translucent walls!!! Not everyone sharing a room is a couple!

Fantastic holiday, everything as we expected. Great guide, Summer, travelled with us throughout, plus local guides in Shanghai and Beijing. Great organisational skills, tweaking the itinerary so that we missed the busiest times in Tiananmen Sq and at the Great Wall.
Food was excellent - too much of it!
Hotels also excellent.

Great service , prompt replies

Always courteous and helpful. Nothing is ever too much trouble. The London based teams are particularly keen to ensure a speedy service and in my experience, always place the customer first.

Efficiency, friendly, helpful. Patronising attitude by feeding.com does not help.

We both had an excellent experience and would definitely recommend Wendy wu tours

Very pleasant and helpful

If the holiday is as good as the customer service given by Julia, we will be very happy. Thanks.

Really good and well organised tour. From the moment you arrived, with someone waiting for you, to the point you were returning home, somebody was there to walk you through process to get you checked in. "Frank" the tour guide was very, very good. Very knowledgeable, always approachable, and very helpful.
The places of interests on the tour were well chosen. Hotels chosen were clean and modern, with the staff very friendly...no complaints at all.
Traffic in Shanghai and Beijing at times was heavy, (even from somebody comes from London), but that's obviously out of Wendy Wu's control.
Would definitely recommend Wendy Wu, and this tour. Go for it.

We had a fantastic time. Our tour guide was superb, knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and humorous.
The hotels were excellent and so was all the food.
We would highly recommend this trip to anyone who has not been to China.

This was our first trip with Wendy Wu tours and it’s worth every penny.

They did everything they could to make this tour as memorable as possible, from personal pick up and drop off at the airports, arranging all the best sights, transport, food, knowledgeable local tour guides and just making sure that every single minute was a pleasure.

We started in Shanghai, then flew to Xian and finally took the bullet train to Beijing before coming back to the Uk via Hong Kong.

All credit to Louis, our hugely knowledgeable tour guide, photographer, interpreter and nanny. His hard work made this tour run like clockwork and we always felt safe and looked after where ever we went.

Go to China, the people are friendly, welcoming and they truly love their country and it’s amazing history.