CHINA CULTURE TOURS Reviews 

We are a married couple who selected China Culture Tour based on numerous excellent reviews, and they did not disappoint. We worked with our trip coordinator, Lydia Huang, from the very start of our planning process. She provided us with great suggestions and comments on our personal desires and interests. Together, we developed a customized itinerary which worked very well throughout our nearly one month in China. We could not have made it work without Lydia's input before and during the trip. She did an outstanding job of making our trip worry free and enjoyable.

We found China to be very safe. The people of China are very friendly and helpful even when they speak little English. We recommend that other Western visitors continue to plan and come to China. It is a fascinating country. Don’t let the unpredictable political climate intimidate you to not come to China. You will enjoy the adventure.

Our itinerary, which included a guide and driver at nearly each stop, started in Beijing where we stayed in a traditional style hotel, had a city tour, and hiked the Great Wall. Our guide, Jin, was outstanding, spoke very good English and was very knowledgable. He made us feel comfortable in China from the start.

We easily and comfortably travelled by high speed train throughout China. Our next stop was Xi’an where our guide Amy expertly showed us the sites of that area to include the Terra Cotta Warriors. We then took the train to Chengdu to see the Pandas. Our guide here, Donna Lin, was outstanding and the visit to the Panda Research Center was a learning experience. We quickly developed a comfortable friendship with Donna and other guides.

Having drivers in each location is a must. Driving (and riding) can be very stressful and having someone else do it was absolutely necessary. Money well spent!

Our next event was a 3 day relaxing cruise on the Yangtze River. The boat was comfortable and clean, and the food was very good. We made several new friends who were independently traveling like us. After the cruise, we flew to Hangzhou where we had one of our trip highlights. We visited a local Tea Village where we experienced picking tea leaves and had an elegant tea ceremony by Nana our host.

Another highlight of our trip was visiting the Yellow Mountains and hiking the long, steep staircase mountain trails. The scenery was breath-taking especially at sunrise. After leaving the rugged mountains, we stayed in a remote village, Xidi, at the Pig’s Inn. This was another highlight of our trip since we experienced a rural village where we picked and cooked vegetables from a local farmer’s garden. Even though the family did not speak English, we thoroughly enjoyed our interaction with the local family with our guide’s helpful translating. We highly recommend that others experience this rural adventure.

We visited Shanghai where our guide, Martina, and driver drove us to Suzhou to see the beautiful gardens and Tongli Water Town. Even though Shanghai is a big westernized city, we thoroughly enjoyed the city especially strolling at night along the Bund. We rode the very fast Maglev train to the airport for our flight to Guilin. The Maglev is a quick experience not to be missed.

Guilin is home to China Culture and we had the pleasure of meeting our tour coordinator Lydia. We enjoyed the city and its beautiful lakes and gardens. From here, our guide, Jay, and driver drove us to the Longji rice terraces for a day of hiking. This was another highlight of our trip. We also ventured down the Li River on an enjoyable cruise. We highly recommend that others consider these two side trips from Guilin.

From here, we took a high speed train to Hong Kong where we independently toured the city and sites for two days. We completed our China adventure on the 28th day by flying to Tokyo for another adventure in Japan.

We spent 28 days in China and thanks to China Culture Tour, our itinerary went exactly as planned from end to end. This speaks very highly of our tour company and coordinator who expertly exceeded our expectations. We thoroughly enjoyed our China experience and would use China Culture again if we return. We recommend that you use them too!

My family just returned from a 14 day tour (Shanghai, Guilin, Xi'an, Beijing) arranged by Lydia. From the beginning, Lydia had been extremely helpful, responsive, and adaptive to my requests and multiple changes in itinerary. Our group consisted of age range from teenagers to my father who was 86. The guides were fantastic, they were very knowledgeble and allowed us to tour at our own pace. A shout out to our tour guide Cory in Guilin who made every single person on the tour happy. Aside from the sights which speak for themselves, everything Lydia arranged was wonderful, from the hotels to the food to booking all the plane and train tickets. I would highly recommend CCT to anyone who wants to visit China on a private tour that is focused on culture.

I have been on 2 guided group tours with other companies before and was happy with both. I wanted to take my 14 year old granddaughter and was concerned about her being bored since tours of China tend to be older groups. I searched and searched reading reviews and decided to go with another company based on reviews and price. Twice the person I was speaking with did not respond to my emails for days and decided to go with China Culture Tours. I am so happy with my decision. I also chose a private tour for my granddaughters sake.
First let me say I worked with Nora and I changed my itinerary several times. Nora was completely accommodating. She made the changes and kept me informed on every level. Nora even checked on us making sure we were happy while we were on our trip. We decided to go with a private guided tour in Beijing and Xi’an since it is not easy to get around without one. We continued our trip without a tour guide in Hong Kong because we have family there.
The trip was perfect from beginning to end. Our tour guides Nancy in Beijing and Sarah in Xi’an were both very knowledgeable and helpful. They made sure we were happy with all. They were flexible and informed us of everything giving us options. Their English was quite good and we communicated with no problems. I would recommend both very highly! When a 14 year old tells you they will never forget the tour guides, that says a lot.
We opted to go with 4/5 star hotels and it was worth every penny! We stayed at the New World Hotel in Beijing and the Wyndham Grand in Xi’an. Wow, wow, wow! They treated us with 5 star class all the way through. The pool and breakfast buffet at the New World Hotel Beijing were over the top! The bed was a bit too firm for me but everything else made up for it. We were surrounded by shopping and restaurants for our leisure time and felt very safe.
The Wyndham Grand in Xi’an‘s breakfast buffet was also amazing and the room was perfect. There is a street festival that is situated for blocks that is directly behind the hotel. It has music, street food, entertainment and shopping that was amazing. It was beautiful and super clean. There was something for everyone.
We took the bullet train from Beijing to Xi’an and loved it. It was a smooth clean ride and we saw China in a different view. We did not upgrade to first class and we were fine with it.
As for the Great Wall, Imperial Palace, Terracotta Warriors and all of the other places we visited they speak for themselves!
I was super skeptical and nervous about who to book with. I definitely made the right decision. Thank you China Culture Tours, Nora, Nancy (see you later not goodbye) and Sarah you made our trip amazing!
Highly recommend!!!

My wife and I (60 and 63), we are from Brazil, returned after 21 day trip to China, all organized by the China Culture Tour (CCT). I decided to hire a Tour Operator because there would be many cities to be visited (Beijing, Pingyao, Xian, Chengdu, Guilim, Yangshuo, Hangzhou, Shanguai) and the difficulty of language in making hotel reservations, transportation, tours. Normally I do not use it, I like myself to do all the programming and reservations, but it was the most accurate decision that I took to hire the CCT. I sent emails to several tourism companies in China, and the one that answered me most agile and tailored the program for me was the CCT. I was looking for a private trip, without running around and not having to go in "touristy" shops. Nora, who coordinated the whole trip, did an exemplary way, before and during the trip, keeping in touch with us almost daily to see if we were well and if we needed anything. In each city we had a guide and a driver to give us support: Tom (Beijing), Jonathan (Pingyao), Cristina (Xian), Ben (Chengdu), Cory (Guilin/Yangshuo), Derek (Hangzhou) and Catherine (Shanguai), all very helpful and timely. We felt very peaceful in arriving at the airport or at the train station and finding someone with a sign with our name or at the restaurant someone to help us choose the menu. The hotels, restaurants, tours, transfers, air and train tickets all booked by Nora. I was afraid to hire a chinese company from Guilin directly and have no way to complain if anything went wrong. But after this trip I highly recommend the CCT, we did 100% of everything that was planned! Nora and CCT, thank you for the unforgettable trip!

My wife and I recently came back from an 11 day trip to China to visit our son. We visited Beijing, Guilin and Hong Kong. I originally spoke to four tour operators before choosing China Cultural Tours. CCT stood out because, while all four tour operators seemed very competent, Nora was extremely responsive, patient and helpful throughout the planning stage. Additionally, CCT suggested a few things that the other operators did not (cooking lesson, local family visit, Hong Kong harbor sampan ride and a Yangshuo bike trip which unfortunately was canceled because of rain). I guess that is why they have "cultural" in their name - these experiences felt slightly less touristy compared to the more typical Great Wall, Forbidden City, Victoria's Peak parts of the trip. We are very happy that we picked CCT - our trip was nearly perfect in every way. We liked the activities, sites and the tour pace. We stayed at four excellent hotels which were among the nicest we have experienced. All restaurants that were included were very good. It was very convenient that CCT arranged for all transporation and admissions. The guides (Doris in Beijing, Mike in Guilin and Cecilia in Hong Kong) were all excellent. They were all informative, flexible and pleasant to spend time with. We had some rain in Guilin and Hong Kong and the guides tried, as best as they could, to rearrange the itinerary and work around the weather. They were mostly successful. The guides, as much as anything, made the trip very memorable. We strongly recommend CCT to anyone planning a trip to China.

My husband and I had talked about visiting China for several years. Finally, this Spring (early April to early May 2019), my husband and I along with another couple whom we have been friends with for many years, decided to write up a list of sights we wanted to see (Beijing, Datong, Pingyao, Xian, Chengdu, Chongqing (Yangtze River Cruise), Zhangjiajie, Shanghai, Xidi, Tunxi, Huangshang, and Hong Kong)and visit in the different parts of China.
We checked out the various tour companies, and based on the great reviews, we decided to contact China Cultural Tours via email to see if CCT would be able to provide an itinerary, at a reasonable cost, based upon the various sites we wanted to visit in China.

Nora Jung of CCT was great in providing us with a great itineary, at a reasonable cost. She even suggested to apply for a 10 year China Visa; as it was the same cost as a 1 year China Visa, which would allow us to visit China as many times as we wanted within the next 10 years. Nora also suggested setting up the WeChat app, to test between us before we left the US, as a way to communicate with her during our time in China.

Our trip was what I call "a trip of a life time!!!", one of the most memorable trips in my life. I attribute this to the excellent and seamless arrangements made by Nora Jung of CCT. Nora worked hard to make sure we were happy with the itinenary; both with the tours and the lodging. Nora gave us some very experienced and well informed tour guides with fluency in English. The tour guides were very helpful not only in arranging some fantastic restaurants where we could try some of the local cuisine, but also in actually helping us with the food selections.
Most notable among the tour guides, was Nancy in Beijing, whom I would highly recommend. She was very professional; suggested adjusting the schedule when the weather warranted it; willing to adjust schedule to meet our needs, etc. She even went as far as to take us onto the train, into our sleeper car, help put the luggage up, and provided us with a souvenir and snacks before seeing us off to our next stop: Datong and Pingyao.
The other tour guides that I would recommend are Jessica in Chengdu and Libby in Xidi,Tunxi, and Huangshang. Jessica was very enthusiastic and very helpful. She volunteered to take photos and videos during the entire time we spent in the Panda Preserve, working as part of the Panda Keeper Program. Libby was another very enthusiastic guide, who was very knowledgable of the towns of Xidi, Tunxi as well as Yellow Mountain.

I would highly recommend China Cultural Tours and Nora Jung of CCT to anyone who plans to visit China. I would definitely use their services again should we ever make a return visit to other parts of China.

I was trying to plan everything by myself and although I identified the "main" places to visit in each city (Beijing and Xian), I wasn't sure on how to plan for logistics such as transportation. As we had only around 6 days to visit two very important cities, we had almost no room for mistakes on transportation/planning.

I searched for tours online and found China Culture Tour to be the best rated on TripAdvisor in terms of quality and service. I sent an email to check it out and received a wonderful response from Lydia Huang. She was very flexible and fast in answering our emails despite the time difference. The schedule she designed for us also hit all the main attractions I had researched before and with someone explaining the history behind every place, we understood this country and its people better.

Both our guides, Amy in Xian and Sunny in Beijing, were amazing and spoke English perfectly. Amy was incredibly kind and friendly. We felt so welcomed and comfortable with her. As for Sunny, she was just awesome in every level as well. She gladly accompanied us to a place that was not on our schedule but that we really wanted to visit. Also, her knowledge and passion for the history of her country were very inspiring. We learned a lot from her! She even shared one of her copies of The Last Emperor with us. Amy and Sunny's company and guidance were the main reasons why this journey was a complete success and why we would recommend China Culture Tours to everybody!

Overall, my husband and I had an awesome experience. It really helps a lot to have a driver and a car around to go to the next place as soon as you are done with another. I think this was the key as to why we were able to go to almost all the main tourist locations in the cities we visited. Also, our tour guides chose amazing places for lunch! Other friends were travelling on their own and they didn't had the same experience we had. They weren't able to hit all the main attractions, did not know the history behind the places, got food poisoning and had no special experiences such as the calligraphy or the dumpling class. If you are going to China just invest in doing it the right way, with China Culture Tours!

A memorable visit to China.
Ours was a family trip of me,my wife and my daughter during the second fortnight of March 2019 when we visited Shanghai,Beijing,Xian and Chengdu.Largely made memorable due to the excellent and seamless arrangements made by China Culture Tour through their very efficient ambassador - Ms.Lydia Huang.She gave us some experienced and well informed tour guides with fluency in English and also arranged for some super restaurants to enjoy local cuisines. Notable among the tour guides was Linda in Beijing whom I could recommend to anyone - very professional,smiling and willing to adjust to your needs. I was a bit hesitant at first to contact a tour operator in China directly but as i exchanged messages with Lydia, my confidence in her and her Company grew and I no longer felt the need to go through an operator in London. Highly recommend China Culture Tours and we would certainly utilise their services again as we still have many places to visit in the Southern part of China including a visit to Guilin to meet their team - especially Lydia.Thank you China Culture Tours.

We had a fantastic private guided tour experience through China Culture Tour. We chose the six-day Picturesque & Rustic Guilin by Hiking & Kayaking tour. We worked with Grace to organize and customize our itinerary. She was highly responsive and professional to work with, always responding promptly to our questions. Grace even helped us with other parts of our trip (train tickets, admission tickets, etc.) going beyond the services involved with our paid tour. The company works with high quality hotels and offers lots of choice. We stayed at extremely charming hotels in both Longsheng and Yangshou, as well as a modern luxury hotel in Guilin. Car transportation was excellent, a very comfortable sedan, and the driver was skilled and very competent. And our guide Linda was absolutely a joy to travel with. She was extremely knowledgeable, doling out the history when needed but not more than we could absorb. She guided with passion, humor, and just plain fun. She adapted and adjusted our itinerary as needed based on weather (we had some rainy days) and traffic (we traveled during a holiday week), using her obvious experience, local contacts, and common sense. She chose local restaurants which she had clearly dined at herself and were here favorites. The food experiences during the tour were fantastic – must try the beer fish in Yangshou!

We highly recommend using China Culture Tour for you travel needs in China. We will certainly call on Grace on our next trip.

Right from the moment I first contacted Lydia Huang at China Culture Tour I knew we were in good hands. Lydia was very responsive when we were planning our trip - was efficient and planned a great itinerary while ensuring we were consulted about hotel choices and activities we wanted to engage in.
All arrangements went very smoothly - transfers were seamless and we had enough flexibility to make changes to the itinerary as we travelled. Hotel choices were generally close to attractions but offered a good place to relax and contemplate the day's activities. And Lydia was available on WeChat whenever we need her help while we travelled. However all the arrangements were so well organised that this wasn't necessary.
In Beijing our tour guide Eva was outstanding. She was very enthusiastic in sharing the history of the main sites - the Great Wall, Forbidden Palace, Tianeman Square, Summer Palace etc. She was also a great joy to travel with and made us feel very welcome. She was attentive to our needs and very open to changing the itinerary when necessary with no fuss. Her choice of restaurants was excellent and she ensured that we had a great selection of local dishes in restaurants where locals ate rather than the "production line" restaurants for tourists that we visited in Xi'an. With a great sense of humour and a desire to make our visit to Beijing special she was a hit with all our party.
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My wife and I have no reservations recommending China Culture Tours. We echo the other reviews of this company. Lydia, the tour company representative, was nearly immediate in her responses, flexible to our request for changes and stayed in contact with us during our 9 days in China (even on her own holiday!). Our guide in Shanghai (Summer) was very welcoming (especially important on that first day in a new culture after a long flight) and paced us just right for our jet-lagged condition. Linda, our guide in Zhangiajie National Park was full of energy and fit our needs there perfectly (she even sang to us on a long van ride). Tom, our guide in Beijing, was perfectly fluent in English and as interested in our point of view as we were in his. He also greeted us each day with a different bottled coffee for when we needed a lift! All the guides were flexible to the extent our schedules allowed and we called a few audibles. The drivers that ushered us around safely are also worth mentioning--we always felt safe in their vehicles. Finally, when all was said and done, we think China Culture Tours was a quite reasonable value for such a personalized experience.

Can't say enough of good things about the service, meticulous, considerate and excellent all around. More importantly, all the tour guides and drivers we had were simply great. They asked what we liked rather than just taking wherever on the agenda. They asked about our food preference, they tried to accommodate teenager's picky diet. They shared their experience and knowledge about the places, the culture and understanding of what makes Yunnan special, the flowers, mountains, rivers, and history. It was such an amazing trip, from Stone Forest in Kunming to Erhai in Dali, to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in Lijiang. My son got sick in Shangrila and our tour guide waited in a coffee shop outside the hotel for the whole day in case we needed him. I know I will go back and I will call for their service again.

This review is late in being written.I cannot say enough good things about China Culture Tours. We used them for a Shanghai - Beijing tour in April 2018. Right from the first time I contacted them, I was impressed. I received a response within 24 hours with excellent detail. The guides we had in Shanghai and Beijing were so great. We were well taken care of. Right from when we were met at the airport to when they brought us to our ship.
I highly recommend them if you are wanting to tour China.

My husband and I just travelled to China for the first time in October. Our trip was unbelievable thanks to China Culture Tour. I did my research with many companies and I am so glad we booked with them. Nora (our trip advisor) was incredible. I still can't believe we were so lucky to have found her. She was with us at every step of the way, while we were working on the itinerary and during our trip. She was unbelievably patient in answering all our questions even before booking with them. She is attentive, thorough and answered all my messages within 30 minutes, even with our time difference. As soon as we arrived to China, all our guides (Lili, Amy and Pan) made us feel right at home. They were again, very attentive, well spoken, perfect English, knowledgeable, funny and so proud of their beautiful country. We decided to go with a private car and guide and it was the best decision we could have taken. Nora, arranged everything for us. The only thing we had to do was enjoy, eat a wonderful cuisine and discover an icredible country with an extrodinary culture! Thank you CHINA CULTURE TOUR and NORA for a magnificent experience. I HIGHLY recommend this company. You will not regret it!

We used China Culture Tour to organize a four day family trip to the Guilin China area. Our principal guide, Mike, did an excellent job in structuring activities, Presenting details on China’s history and culture, and supporting all of our needs. Hotel choice was superb, as was the choice of activities and restaurants. We really appreciated the flexibility to modify activity choice and duration, based upon our own reactions to sites and activities. All financial transactions were handled well and with integrity. Really enjoyed having dinner with Grace, who is the lead employee in the region. Would highly recommend this company for any length of a China tour. China is a beautiful and amazing place to visit

Although intrepid in travel, I always have a worry that the company I have researched on the internet will turn out to be dud and my money will be lost. This most certainly did not apply to China Culture Tours. I sent our wish list to the company and within 24 hours had a reply from Nora Zheng, with all the hotels we asked for (boutique Chinese style), the flights, itinerary, trains and price. She got the job. This got better ... we tweaked the itinerary slightly with Nora's help; she called me to establish a good connection, which was terrific. She spelled out how to get our visa, in fact everything we needed to know about a three week tour to China. We were not disappointed. Our tour, from Beijing (guide Jin), to Xian by train (Amy, who was resourceful when we were gridlocked by the marathon) to Guilin (where we met Nora as CC Tours are based there) and then with our wonderful guide Linda to Yangshao and the Li Valley; by plane to Shanghai then Hangshao (sweet Rachel) and finally to Suzhou, Venice of China, with Mrs Deng whose English was superb. Not once was there a hitch. The hotels were great, the 'extras' Nora found - making dumplings, cookery course, Tai Chi lesson, rickshaw rides, were so interesting, especially as we made the dumplings in a private home. Several meals were taken with families who are doing private enterprise, all excellent. The whole nearly three weeks we had three average meals and the rest were very good. The parks and streets were clean and manicured; the public loos (a revelation to me) were clean - though bring your own tissues for occasional need - and we are in awe of Chinese enterprise and scale. I couldn't be happier!

I have wanted to visit China for almost two decades and I finally got to do it this fall. My husband and I traveled for 27 days with the assistance and guidance of Nora with China Culture Tours. From the very beginning I could tell that Nora's goal was to make sure I got to do exactly what it is I wanted to experience. We did not want a group tour and we did not want a "shopping tour." We wanted a guided custom trip just for the two of us. They make it easy for you by listing the many destinations in China you could select from. After creating a wish list we refined it by eliminating areas that were very similar to one another, being careful that Nora knew our limitations (my husband has balance issues), problems with past travel (altitude sickness); and most importantly sharing what I hoped to see. In all cases Nora came up with a way to make it happen. Since our trip would be a total of 30 days (we added 3 days in Hong Kong on our own) Nora suggested that we build in a few free days. What a blessing these were! We had one after 8 or 9 days and the 2nd free day was at the 18 day mark. I worried about our age (both my husband and I just turned 70) but we are active so I did not want to slow the pace of our travel. I thought we could "do whatever the average person could handle in a day." We did it but I must admit we were very tired at the end of the day. We stayed in boutique hotels and loved the experience. Here are some tips: 1. You will see many ancient historical sites, ancient towns, pagodas and temples. It is also fun to see the locals in action. I suggest going out in the evening to see the beautiful lights and find out where everyone is going! People in China don't stay home at night. 2. In Beijing when at the Forbidden City be sure to allow enough time to have at least 30 minutes in the garden. It is stunning, shaded and relaxing. Enjoy it! 3. In 30 days we saw many sights, including volunteering for a day at a panda center (cleaning out enclosures and yards, making food for the pandas and learning about China's efforts to introduce them to the wild) and the Terra Cotta Warriors. However, the three not to miss spots in my opinion were the Yellow Mountains (if you are lucky the peaks of the mountains will be jutting above the clouds), the Longji Terraced Rice Fields and Guilin/Longsheng. We photographed the cormorant fisherman in Xingping after the absolutely wonderful Li River Cruise. The karst mountains are not to be missed. Nora put this all together without one hitch! I can't recommend China Culture Tours highly enough.

We recently came back from our very first trip to China and can I just say that China Culture Tours was simply the best in business. I highly recommend this for anyone visiting China for the first time, or even those who have been before. Grace was outstanding in tailoring the trip to suit our requirements. After reading positive reviews about CCT, I gave Grace a phone call. She listened attentively to my request and within the next few hours in the same day, she forwarded me the suggested itinerary, including the quotation. Her experience and professionalism were reflected from the detailed information she outlined on the quotation. From there onwards, all my subsequent enquiries were met only with a speedy response. She was even there to remind us when to apply for a visa, when to pay for the tours etc. As everything was taken care of by Grace, the whole process proceeded easily and smoothly from start to finish. She was just remarkable.

My parents and I learned so much through the history and culture of every place we visited. The variety of food and cuisines offered was great and the dumpling making experience with locals was a highlight.

All of our guides went above and beyond their duties, in particular Eva, in Beijing, and Linda, in Guilin and Yangshuo. We loved having you as our guides and truly enjoyed your company during our China trip.

The whole trip went incredibly fast. All we have left was sweet memories and special bonds with the people who we’d remember for years to come. We know for sure that this won’t be our last trip to China but the first of many more to come. When we are ready for our next trip, we will definitely be going with China Culture Tours again.

We have just finished our Silk Road trip in September, 2018 from Xi’an, Dunhuang, Turpan, Urumqi to Kanas. This was a very pleasure trip. Ms Nora Zheng and CCT arranged all of the trip including scheduling, tickets of flights and trains, hotels and local tourist guide. Nora handled and followed up responsibly during our trip. We got some problems in Xi’an airport when we checked in. The local tourist guide,Mr Yuan, called Nora and she responded very quick. Nora contacted the airline company immediately and finally solved problems so that our trip could be continued。I really appreciate Nora and CCT. I would like to give the rating of five star for their high quality services. Also I would like to recommend Nora and CCT to my friends when they are going to visit China.

I just completed a 14 day trip with China Culture tour and I must say they exceeded m.y expectations. We had tailored a trip to non touristy hotels and some hiking and biking. Hiked on the great wall without tourists, saw pandas up close, stayed in historic villages and saw great scenery among more traditional sites. Every experience was great. Pick up, drivers and tour guides were reliable and informative about locations and history. I can't praise the ease of travel and organization of the trip enough.