Reviews

From our arrival in Beijing to our departure from Shanghai this was an excellent holiday with our guide, Betty, going above and beyond to make sure we had a fabulous time.
There were quite a few early starts - this isn't a trip if your idea of a holiday is relaxing with a good book - but there was so much to see!
In Beijing we saw Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall and more.
We then took a bullet train to Xian (amazing experience - totally smooth journey travelling at up to 250mph). We explored the city including the Muslim food quarter and the restored city walls and then went to the Terracotta Warriors.
The next day we took an early flight to Yichang and made our way to Maoping docks near the Three Gorges on the Yangtze river where we boarded the almost brand new Victoria Isabella. The weather was dreadful for our 4 days on the boat but the facilities and staff were excellent and we did get a few excursions.
We left the boat at Chongqing and went to the zoo where we saw pandas (a real highlight) and many other animals. A second bullet train took us to Guilin where we spent a night in the Waterfall Hotel (at 2030 every day a massive waterfall cascades down the outside of the building).
The next day, the sun came out and we took a boat trip down the beautiful River Li to Yangshuo. After a night there, we made our way back through the countryside to Guilin, seeing local people and the rice harvest.
After a second night in Guilin (a small but beautiful city) we took a flight to Shanghai, arriving in the early evening. A boat trip on the river Huangpu lets you see the Bund area with the most amazing lights display.
Our final day was spent exploring the city of Shanghai including the beautiful Yu gardens.
China is spotlessly clean. There are reasonable, free public toilets everywhere and the people are friendly (several conversation attempts via Google translate). There are security cameras and police everywhere and you are constantly asked for your passport but it never felt oppressive.

We did a 16 Wonder of China tour with a beautiful ****** Britney (Zhang Ru). Britney was organized, attentive, care, patient, knowledgeable in Chinese new and old histories and culture, above all she was lively and fun which made the tour full of laughter and joy. The Great Wall of China is magnificent, terracotta warriors in Xi’an is unbelievable til you see it, cruising on Yangtze River was beautiful with classic and optional shore tour, cruising from Guilin to Yangshuo on Li river was WOW factor, it took our breath away. We have already thinking of coming back to Guilin again just to sit back and enjoy the most beautiful scenery on earth. Shanghai the Bund is jaw dropping.

Service rating :

My wife & I travelled with Wendy Wu for the first time when we visited China in May.
Our overall view is that Wendy Wu provided a good service, but they are not the best Tour Company we have travelled with over the years.

Product :

The Wonders of China Tour is full on, with very little free time to explore on your own.
China is a big country and several times on the Tour, we took early afternoon internal flights (at approx 2 pm) which meant that we didn't arrive at the next city until late at night.
After flying from Xian to Wuhan we then had a 5.5 hour coach journey to Yichang to pick up our Yangtze Cruise, arriving at 11.15 pm.
We later discovered that the Cruise ship did not depart Yichang until the next evening.
It would have been far better to have had an extra relaxing day in Xian before taking an earlier flight to Wuhan.
Another example was our late arrival into our final stop Shanghai, meant we missed out on a Night Cruise on the Huangpu River and we went straight to our hotel instead.
The guides then attempted to cram everything into the next day, starting earlier than normal, but by 5.30 pm the group decided they were too tired and wanted to get back to the hotel to freshen up before our final meal. We again missed out on the Night Cruise and seeing The Bund at night.
We expected our local guides to have a thorough knowledge of their home city, however, whilst in Beijing, our local guide did not even know that Tiananmen Square had been closed off, or that there were similar parking restrictions around the Birdsnest Stadium & Water Cube on the following day.

Service rating :

We went to china on a trip of a lifetime..my bucket list number 1..we choose Wendy Wu as the travel company and we were not disappointed. Firstly we were greeted by Mark our amazing national guide. He was always smiling and there to help such great organisational skills and always remembered everything about everyone. We started off in Shanghai with a group of 27 from Ireland England and Australia what an amazing bunch of people who got on so well. Shanghai was amazing so modern great architecture great trip on a boat to see the Bund at night. Went on the maglev train and up the superfast lift 90m per second to one of the tallest buildings.food was amazing there was about 10 people at a table with a lazy Susan system and 12 or more dishes. Great fun each mealtime. Then onto gulin which we stayed in Waterfall Hotel which overlooked pagoda lake great views at night. We went to see cormorant fisherman and out to countryside amazing such a contrast to shanghai.then on a river cruise to yangshoo spectacular views on the river for a few hours stayed there 2 nights in a more basic hotel .went to the caves for a trip which were stunning sindy was our local guide who gave us indept knowledge of the area. We flew to Xian. Where Eddie was the local guide..s great guy lots of fun. Saw the terracotta warrior's amazing such a big complex even met the farmer who found them! We did a night tour of the city and a day tour which mark arranged for my daughters to cycle on the old city walls which was their wish list. Really beautiful city all old chinese style..my favourite city. Then we took bullet train to bejing mark organised the luggage to be brought onto the train and stored overhead. Lovely hotel in beijing got to meet Andy the local guide at train station which was so big and crowded saw all the sights tienement square temple of heaven forbidden city and finally the great wall..such a hike up never thought the steps were that high amazing views and experience. Mark made everything run like clockwork. .always there to help - arranged ice each night for my very swollen ankles..always big thank you! Even sang to us on the bus!

https://www.tripadvisor.ie/ShowUserReviews-g294212-d12428979-r504378876-Wendy_Wu_Tours-Beijing.html#

Product :

We went to china on a trip of a lifetime..my bucket list number 1..we choose Wendy Wu as the travel company and we were not disappointed. Firstly we were greeted by Mark our amazing national guide. He was always smiling and there to help such great organisational skills and always remembered everything about everyone. We started off in Shanghai with a group of 27 from Ireland England and Australia what an amazing bunch of people who got on so well. Shanghai was amazing so modern great architecture great trip on a boat to see the Bund at night. Went on the maglev train and up the superfast lift 90m per second to one of the tallest buildings.food was amazing there was about 10 people at a table with a lazy Susan system and 12 or more dishes. Great fun each mealtime. Then onto gulin which we stayed in Waterfall Hotel which overlooked pagoda lake great views at night. We went to see cormorant fisherman and out to countryside amazing such a contrast to shanghai.then on a river cruise to yangshoo spectacular views on the river for a few hours stayed there 2 nights in a more basic hotel .went to the caves for a trip which were stunning sindy was our local guide who gave us indept knowledge of the area. We flew to Xian. Where Eddie was the local guide..s great guy lots of fun. Saw the terracotta warrior's amazing such a big complex even met the farmer who found them! We did a night tour of the city and a day tour which mark arranged for my daughters to cycle on the old city walls which was their wish list. Really beautiful city all old chinese style..my favourite city. Then we took bullet train to bejing mark organised the luggage to be brought onto the train and stored overhead. Lovely hotel in beijing got to meet Andy the local guide at train station which was so big and crowded saw all the sights tienement square temple of heaven forbidden city and finally the great wall..such a hike up never thought the steps were that high amazing views and experience. Mark made everything run like clockwork. .always there to help - arranged ice each night for my very swollen ankles..always big thank you! Even sang to us on the bus!

https://www.tripadvisor.ie/ShowUserReviews-g294212-d12428979-r504378876-Wendy_Wu_Tours-Beijing.html#

Service rating :

From the start to the finish we were looked after by our National guide Ruby as well as our local guides. The legends of China tour was worth the extra money based on the quality of the hotels we stayed in, especially the Fairmont Peace hotel on the Bund in Shanghai. Another highlight was going on the Shanghai Maglev train which is the fastest train in the world. This was not on our itinerary but after a request by myself and our fellow travelers the local guide made the arrangements.

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Great value for money especially the £99 upgrade to business class flights on the way home.