Had a lovely Li River 1-day cruise. Our guide Monica & driver picked us up at our hotel at 8am & we drove 1 hour to the pier. The cruise was 4-ish hours & we were given lunch (we were actually given a ‘western’ lunch of cheese and ham sandwiches, crisps, steam cakes & chocolate!
Our guide pointed out the sights on the way & when we disembarked we walked through the little village to find our driver - very helpful to have a guide with us on the journey to help us know where to go at the other end.
We did drive to a little village nearby but there wasn’t much to see here, so we were happy to come home again. Return car journey took 2hrs.
Our guide knew we wanted to visit Elephant Park so when we were dropped off by the driver she kindly walked us to/around the park & told us all about the park & the viewpoint.
The cruise through the river was one of our highlights while in China, and I’m very glad we didn’t have to get a coach/bus back to Guilin city by ourselves. Communication beforehand was great too. Would recommend.

Our guide and driver picked us up on time & we made the short drive (60min a from centre of Xian) to the Terracotta Army. Jacky took us to meet the farmer who originally found the army, and then we entered pits 1, 3 and 2. As we went in the height of summer it was completely packed wall-to-wall - we arrived at 9am, but on reflection perhaps getting there for when it opens (8.30am) might have helped. Jacky told us as much as he could about the army, but it was difficult with the deafening crowds pushing and shoving (to the point where I felt quite claustrophobic). Had we been hungry after this would have been the perfect place for lunch.

Next we went up on to the city wall which is very wide & Jacky pointed out the views on the walk to the nearest corner. If we had gone another month when it was cooler then we would have loved to have cycled on the city walls (approx 40mins to do the whole thing I think).

Next was the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (apparently the difference between the Big/Small pagodas is their age, not their size). Jacky was able to answer our questions and explain everything in this temple complex.

Finally we went to the Muslim quarter. We asked Jacky to take us for a late lunch somewhere and we were pleased that he took us to a cafe/restaurant which we wouldn’t have been able to go to ourselves (as it didn’t have an English menu) so it felt very authentic! He gave his recommendations & the food was delicious. We then walked around the Muslim Quarter & looked in the shops before driving back to our hotel.

Jacky was a really great guide - he was so informative not just about the sights we saw but about life in China, he understood that Westerners have different views on the culture & politics etc and was happy to answer our questions & give his views! We really learnt a lot about China from him which we really appreciated.

We would definitely recommend this tour as it is the best way to see so much of Xian in one day - just perhaps not in July/August as the school holidays make the Terracotta Army sadly unbearable (& there is no crowd control in this tourist attraction yet).

We had a great time in Xian with Lily! This tour in Xian was part of our longer tour with TravelChinaGuide and we enjoyed it very much. In Xian we first visited the Terracotta Warriors. We were early enough, but is was already very crowded. Yet, Lily guided us to the best spots in all locations to have the best views, so we got the most out of our visit to this fascinating site. We then visited a place to see and learn how the warriors were made before visiting the pagoda. Quite a few local people go there dessed up in ancient clothes from the Han Dynasty times for taking their pictures at this site, which was fun to watch. We also visited the city wall, which is massive. But what impressed us most was the park around the city wall which people use for exercising, dancing, Tai Chi, relaxing. We also got a small Tai Chi instruction with a group, which was a fun experience. The Muslim Bazaar and especially the mosque is also worth a visit. The mosque is a very tranquil place to wonder around, which was very enjoyable. Altogether a great experience, also thanks to Lily, who is extremely knowledgeable and kind, and thanks to our driver who drove us and picked us up very reliably.

We had a wonderful time in Beijing! Kevin, our tour guide, made it very special with his great knowledge and excellent organization. We enjoyed walking on the great wall at Mutianyu, where Kevin knew all the spots to take the best photos :-) The Forbidden City was definitely a highlight, despite the long queue to get the tickets (thanks Kevin for standing in line for us while we could wait in the shade!). Our tour also included some other sites, like the summer palace and Lamma Temple, which we enjoyed a lot. And not to forget about the food! The hot pot was especially yummy. Thanks for the great organization and information on this tour!

We saw Shanghai as part of an 11-day tour that included Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou. We saw the French quarters first. It was good, but many of the stores were closed because it was early in the morning. Arrange to go in the evening if possible. Later, we went on the Huangpu River cruise. Ryan pointed out many of the key buildings and sites that helped us decide where to go during our free time. When we returned to Shanghai at the end of our 11-day tour, we saw the Shanghai Museum and the Yu Garden. The Shanghai Museum had a lot of great exhibits, but as with many museums, there is never enough time. Ryan pointed out many interesting details in the Yu Garden that could easily have been missed. The details and explanation made the visit to the garden a lot more meaningful. Overall, we had a great time in Shanghai.

Our guide, Sugar, and the driver met us at the train station and helped us with our bags to the car. She was kind enough to give us a history lesson on Chengdu during the ride to the hotel. She assured that our checkin at the Hampton Inn downtown went smoothly. We were pleased with the quality of the hotel and the room.

The following morning, Sugar picked us up early to go to the Chengdu giant panda rescue and research center. Despite the significant size crowds, Sugar managed to get us from place to place for some great views and photos of the Giant Pandas. After leaving the pandas, she took us to a fantastic authentic local restaurant where she helped us order the best local cuisine. The lunch was truly fantastic and we even got to see a mask changing show at the restaurant! After we went to the Jinsha Site museum where she explained the site discovery and history. Lastly we went to Kuan Alley and walked and shopped. It was a really cool neighborhood. Sugar then gave us some great dinner recommendations for local Sichuan Hot Pot (including directions from the hotel)!

We had the next morning to ourselves where we shopped at nearby stores. Sugar picked us up promptly and took us to the train station. She took us through security and to our gate to assure safe travels on our next leg.

Sugar’s English was excellent and her bubbly personality made our time in Chengdu so fun! She is a great ambassador for Chengdu and we once again felt like we made a new friend!!

This was our 2nd destination with Travel China Guides. We were pleasantly greeted at the train station by our guide, Celine, and the driver (Mrs Liu) who helped us take our bags to the car. They drove us to the holiday inn big wild goose pagoda which was a great hotel. The next morning we were taken to the terra-cotta warriors, which was beyond our expectations. Of note, Celine took the time on the drive over to do an excellent job of explaining the history behind that emperor and his Terracotta Army. She then took us to a fabulous restaurant on site for some yummy local noodles. After that we visited the Small Wild Goose Pagoda and were given a very informative tour. We finished the day at the Muslim market and mosque which we throughly enjoyed. The following day, they took us to the Xi’an city wall where we biked on the top (very fun). Lastly, we went to the Han Yangling Mausoleum which dovetailed well with the Terracotta Army.

Celine and Mrs Liu were exceptional. Celine’s English, knowledge of history, and passion for tour guiding made our visit so special. We truly thank Celine for her hospitality and Travel China Guides for arranging such an incredible visit.

This was a great one day tour. We were looked after throughout by our very knowledgeable english speaking guide Tracy and our driver. Picked up from hotel on time and all the day was paced right for us, even accomadating our lunch requirements. Terracotta Army, Pagoda, city wall and muslim quarter all great to see.

We arrived to Beijing after a long flight to be met right outside of baggage claim. Then taken directly to the hotel. After a good night sleep from jet lag, our guide, Barry, met us in the morning and took us to Ti’anamen Sq, the forbidden city, and the temple of heaven all in one day. That doesn’t include a great lunch where we enjoyed Peking Duck. Our 2nd day we visited the Great Wall and on the way home had time to visit the Olympic Village. Our last day we rode a rickshaw through a Hutang village and then visited the summer palace before being taken to the train station for our next leg.

Barry was fantastic! His English is good and his knowledge is excellent. Most importantly his personality is beyond welcoming. We felt like we met a friend.

It’s a great set up you have a driver and very nice clean large car the whole time. They handle all of the details and make sure you get to where you need to be on time. Barry even helped us with our luggage and took us all the way to our gate at the train station!

I couldn’t recommend this company more highly. We are in Xi’an now with more reviews to come.

We had a private tailor-made trip of 16 days in China with Travel China Guide.

Most loved stop has been the city of Xian. Our guide Susan with her 15 years’ experience and passion about Xian and Chinese culture helped us enjoying so much our stage there, that we will surely come back to Xian in future.

Visiting the terracotta army during summer Chinese holydays was surely a challenge due to the incredible crowd and human heat. Susan helped us relish the amazing experience, and took lots of amazing photos of us with her phone.

Xian was incredible, but it was really a wonderful trip overall!

To specially also appreciate the invaluable help of our China Guide consultant Emily, thanks to her and the WeChat app we were accompanied and assisted at every single moment of the 16 days trip.

>>>>>APP RECCOMENDATIONS for foreign travelers in China:
- Download to work offline Google Translator (good to translate in Chinese and give people text to read)
- Download to work offline Microsoft Translator (good to make picture and translate menus)
- Download to work offline Maps.me (good to move around, because google maps is useless in China)
- Install WeChat and add immediately all telephone numbers you will need during your trip. If you use a VPN it will block your account to add new contacts, but it will still let you chat with already linked contacts.
- Use WeTransfer.com to ask people to send you files (i.e. photos taken of you), google drive, dropbox and all the rest do not work in China.
- Install Airalo app and buy an eSim card (very cheap) to have mobile data with integrated VPN [you can use google and all western apps!!]. Good to stay always in contact with Emily ??.

- ExpressVPN and NordVPN did not worked for me in China. I downloaded before the trip and attempted everything to make them work in China, no way.
Without a VPN you can not use: whatsapp, skype, google maps, gmail, google search, google drives, ... and many more.

>>The Airalo eSim REALLY SAVED US to stay in contact with home.

Being our 1st visit to Xi'an, we decided to engage the local guide to make our trip worthwhile and memorable. Sent an enquiry to a couple of travel agencies and we confirmed our tour package with Travel China Guide.

Ms Emily Xin was very responsive & gave a clear explanation of the 2D itinerary in English & assigned Ms Lily, an English speaking guide to us.

Ms Lily is punctual, is accommodating & is very knowledgeable. She even helped us book a driver to the airport and for 20¥ more of what we paid for an old jalopy from the airport, it was a bigger, cleaner, comfier and a responsible driver!

Engaging a guide is definitely a wise decision.

The cruise on River Li was absolutely fabulous. Having Kevin as my local guide was like the cherry on the cake! Perfect organisation, helpful kind driver, tips and explanations. As in my case I had some spare time, Kevin organised some extra activities for me. Relaxed tour and sightseeing with a guide with huge social skills and guiding experience all over China, but especially in his hometown Guilin. A must do on your trip through China!

What an amazing experience! Occasionally in this world, one visits a famous site that is more spectacular than advertised, and this is most certainly true of the Terracotta Warriors.

Not only is the physical scale of the site dramatic, the ancient history of the Qin emperor, who the warriors protect, is equally full of drama. If that were not enough, one learns that the burial chamber itself is still intact, has not been accessed as yet, and there are more warrior sites that have yet to be excavated. The Chinese archeological plan for researching this site currently stretches one hundred years into the future!

How this site could have remained unknown to the world for two thousand years until a local farmer, in 1974, unearthed the site while digging a well, is staggering.

My advice would be to read a bit of the history of the site and of the emperor these warriors protect, prior to the tour. The emperor himself is possibly the most significant character in China's long history. I took the mini-tour, led by Lily, a super knowledgeable guide. I'd recommend doing the same - negotiating the trip on your own would be difficult (but not impossible). With 65,000 people viewing the site each day, the crowds are unforgiving, but Lily knows the best routes and knows how to keep you moving, while providing commentary and insight to the warriors, the history and the equally interesting present-day archeological efforts.

This is truly the most impactful 'tourist' site I have ever visited. It's two weeks since my visit and I'm still thinking about it!

I spent a super day discovering some highlights of Shanghai with my local guide Ryan. Ryan knows the place all over, has lots of experience in guiding tours all over the world, but especially in his hometown Shanghai. Hetells lots of details and anekdotes and even adviced on what to take for lunch well organised tour, helpful guide and private driver. for sure to recommend!

I had a wonderful and interesting time in Beijing, Forbidden City and the great wall with my local guide Barry. He was very helpful and gave interesting explanations and tips. the weather was a bit unfortunate during my visit, but even with rainy weather, the experience is super! for sure an excursion and guide to consider!

My local guide Rebecca has guided me professionally through the panda breeding research base as well as through the Wide and Narrow Alley as also the museum. as she is originate from Chengdu, she had a huge knowledge and happy to share tips and tricks. As we had some spare time, she willingly added some extra spots to the journey. Thanks a lot Rebecca! See you next time!

I booked this trip as part of a longer tour through China, all organised by "Travel China Guide"
my local guide Jacky was very helpful and guided me gently through the big crowds at terracotta army, suggested me some nice place for lunch and even got me a ticket for Chinese opera arranged for during my free time in the evening had a nice experience in Xi'an, also biking on the massive city wall excursion not to miss!!

We had a fantastic trip to China and visited a number of cities. Travel China Guide could have been a bit more organised in terms of providing airline and railway tickets in a timely manner and in both the English and Chinese version. We travelled with 3 kids and found that they could have done a better job at advising us and planning the itinerary, routes and flights. Our flight to Xian left close to midnight and a day of sight seeing was planned for early the next day with only a day and a half in that particular city. That did not work too well with the kids!
On the whole our trip went really well and, apart from our hotel in Yangshuo, all other hotels were good and had a decent mix of Chinese and Western breakfast options.
The guides during our trip were all extremely helpful, well informed and fun to be with. In particular, Kevin in Guilin/ Yangshuo and LJ in Zhangjiajie, were fantastic! They were very accommodating, knowledgeable and excellent with our kids and made our trip even more interesting and enjoyable. Thank you Kevin and LJ!
On the whole, Travel China Guide did an excellent job and we're very happy with the service. China was a great vacation for our family with a good mix of culture, history, city life and natural beauty!

I ended up with a private tour with Roger, who was great. So happy I did not try this on my own. The soldiers are the 8th wonder of the world, amazing. Very crowded with people everywhere and my guide knew all the best spots for photos. Roger spoke English very well and had lots of history and interesting information. He had a excellent suggestion for lunch and the flow was smooth. The driver was also excellent and did a great job avoiding an accident when a bicycle flew into our path.

We had a wonderful time in Guilin exploring the Reed Flute cave and the Elephant Trunk Hill, but the highlight of course was the cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo. Our guide Qiuyan Li was very knowledgeable and considerate of our needs and tried her best to make our experience as authentic as possible which we greatly appreciated. I would definitely recommend her.

Really good arranged by the company and fantastic work by Lily as a tour guide. She was very detailed and a fun person to spent our day with. Really recommend her and the company!

We were picked up by our travel guide, Celine Yang and driver, Mr. Jiang at Courtyard Marriott at 730am Thursday, 22 June 2023. It was a Dragon Boat Festival holiday, so our travel agent expects a busy travel week. The vehicle, a Buick mini van is clean and comfortable. The weather that day was at high of 35 deg C, plenty of bottled waters provided and the car air conditioner is cold enough to withstand the heat. The time from hotel to the Terracotta Museum was a bit over an hour. The early pick up actually had avoided us the traffic jam and arriving museum just in time of the opening. On the road, Celine gave us a short introduction to Xi'an and the historical narration on Emperor Qin's reign so we can better appreciate and understand those relics at the museum. The warriors are actually facing the east perimeter of the museum of which our early arrival privileged us to get a good front row of the viewing at the mezzanine. Celine briefed us on the formation of the statues' positions and their individual chambers and then we progresses towards the west exit by walking through the southern perimeter. Half way of the site is lesser of the statue formation but more visibly the continuoud excavation and plenty of newly unearthed statues in restoration process. Celine would pinpoint to us from time to time details that we should take notice of, like the underground entrance and some residue of dye painted on the statues and explained to us of its relevance. Not included in our package is the audio/visual presentation located at building three. Tickets are sold at RMB68.00, the presentation though is in Mandarin so the museum staffs allowed Celine to walked in with us and she would do a simultaneous translation of the presentation. After the Terracotta tour, Celine walked us to a pick up point of which a bus would transfer us to Emperor Qin's tomb. No way to really get to the actual tomb but rather a view of the hill believed to be where his body was laid. But this site offers another excavation showing statues of perhaps of ancient performers. The highlight though are two bronze charriots of which constructed in utmost details. Celine pinpointed to us those accessories of ancient siren and those angle turning umbrellas.

It was past lunch already when we get done with the exhibit. Celine and driver Jiang took us to a good local Biang Biang noodle eatery. The breaded chicken is also good, just perfectly marinated to the taste.

We then headed back to the city to the Small Goose Pagoda. There was a musical show of traditional instrument. After the show, we started strolling the pagoda's courtyard. Celine explained to us the significance of the bell and drum towers and the came about of this structure of which several characters of the past had their role of offers and blessings. Celine walked us to a certain location of the courtyard where you get the most beautiful photo spot of the pagoda.

We then proceeded to the city wall and take a quick photo of the gate and bell tower. Last part of the tour, we strolled the Muslim Pedestrain street and got a taste of Xi'an version's of stinky tofu and backyard snack food made from corn grits. It was already 5pm that we called it a day and we were driven back to our hotel.

I have been in several parts of China, but I think this one so far is most that I am impressed. Celine definitely made us appreciate the whole thing.

As a solo traveler, and first time visit to China, I can’t recommend Travel China tour company enough. Brian was awesome and made both days fun and educational. Ashley, who helped arrange the tour, was wonderful. She answered all my questions and was very helpful and responsive. Our driver was great, too! Thank you, Brian! I am grateful for my time on the tour and in China.

Barry was an Excellent and Knowledgeable guide! His historical background and attention to detail enhanced our experience. His communication skills are amazing and his behind the scenes knowledge were a plus! Can’t say enough about Barry! He was there for questions and more importantly, Barry taught us Tai Chi! We performed Tai Chi at the Temple of Heaven to a growing Crowd! Awesome Experience! Would recommend this tour and Specifically Barry to Everyone!

We had the wonderful guide LJ!
He was knowledgeble, funny and easy going.

We saw everything we wanted to see, and LJ showed us even some non-touristic spots on the mountain.

We as a team of five spent two days with our travel guider Lily, she was so nice to organize the whole trip per our request, and very professional to introduce the whole journey and helped us know the city and Chinese history in a much better way. She's also very friend and patient, her recommendation of food are very good in terms of quality, price, service, environment etc. It is not an easy work to provide such a high quality service with the two days raining. Thanks a lot for her help to make this journey a wonderful one.

The Terracota Army is really impressive, and the museums have nice exhibitions. Celine, the tour guide, was very nice and explained everything very well.

I actually took the Harbin tour but was told that section wasn’t ready yet. I enjoyed my trip and tour of the city. Harbin in the winter was a lot different to the other cities I have visited while living in China. My tour guide, Echo, went above and beyond to make sure I got to see everything I wanted to and made my trip as enjoyable as possible. Would recommend visiting Harbin.

Our tour guy Kevin was just amazing and resourceful. I also loved his enthusiasm while describing the history. Big plus is also of him guiding you how to get a good photo and how to pose. I would also like to compliment the driver Mr. Lee. Very good driver and I always felt calm.

Our tour guide was educated in history and English, and really knew a lot about the historical and cultural sightseeing hotspots in Xi'an. We visited the Terracotta Army, the Xi'an city walls, the Small Goose Pagoda, and the Muslim Market. It was very comfortable, we had a car to take us around, and we could never have seen so many thing in one day had we been on our own. Thanks!