Having experienced previous world travel including organised group tours we found this Wendy Wu tour to be not one of the best. We knew that the group size would be up to 28 (and indeed it was 28) however although people were always on time this number of tourists inevitably resulted in slower execution of every aspect of the tour from train travel, air travel, dinning, general touring, getting from a to b etc and we would never consider joining a group of this size again. Some of our group found the tour pace to be well above the 'level one' as described in the brochure.
We liked all the hotels, the arrangements themselves dovetailed seamlessly, we were never hungry, our national guide Nancy was helpful and professional, the afterhours experiences were all worthwhile, China itself was clean, efficient , people welcoming and we always felt safe as a tourist , we enjoyed the yangtze cruise, the li river cruise and Guilin.
We didn't enjoy having a full day touring/travelling then going for dinner and/or a show without having the opportunity to shower and change. This happened several times and did impact negatively on our enjoyment. The worst example was arriving in Shanghai by flight, then being taken straight for dinner, which was very rushed before being taken to the ERA show and then taken to the hotel to book in. This distracted from the experience. The food itself although plentiful varied in quality, some restaurants served rice midway through the meal, provided soup at the end, didn't have cold beer or wine by the glass, wasted so much food (although the most popular dished ran out) and we were forced to eat extremely early (lunch at 11.30 dinner at 5.30 on some occasions). We were bussed to some restaurants when there were closer walkable alternatives. Our local guide in Bejing (Arthur) although enthusiastic was confusing, difficult to understand and annoying at times. Local Guides in Xian and Guilin were knowledgeable and professional.
We felt the tour concentrated too long a time upon 'shopping experiences' the Jade factory, the Xian art ceramics and lacquer exhibition workshop, the silk factory, Xintiandi and to a lesser extent the calligraphy and tea planation rather than the wonderful sights China has to offer. (We spent significantly more time at the Xian art workshop (excluding the unorganised buffet lunch) than at the Terracotta warriors themselves.
Overall we enjoyed our return to China however the tour would have been much better if our above mentioned critiques could have been addressed from the perspective of the traveller prior to tour departure.

We were on the Majestic Yangtze tour with Wendy Wu Tours for 14 days in mid-September 2026 and what a trip it was!

All the way from Shanghai to Beijing and so much in-between from a night cruise in Shanghai to such "wonders of the world" as the Terracotta Warriors and Great Wall of China, the cities of Chengdu and Xian as we flew through China's vast countryside on bullet trains and sat in awe of how much and how fast this vast country has changed in the last thirty years. Cities of twenty million or more, sky high apartment buildings adorning every city skyline and hotels as classy as any western ones with the latest technology from robot room service to AI loos with handsets to warm them up or flush everything away. All top class- apart from one or two issues flights with Turkish Airlines and stopovers in Instanbul.



The real highlights however weren't the vast distances we travelled but the people we travelled them with-our multinational group from the UK, Australia and USA-and the entertainment we enjoyed on our gorgeous four night cruise on the Yangtze River sailing through the Three Gorges Dam with the staff providing the evening entertainment and even the Captain joining in, the tours of silk and jade factories, the Forbidden City & the gorgeous Sacred Garden by day and Xian's medieval City Walls lit up by night as well as delicious Chinese food every day served on our "Lazy Susan for all to share. We got a full-on taste of China, its rich medieval heritage and its people today not as we might portray them from western media but as a people as welcoming and friendly as anywhere else and apart from Tinnaman Square free to say-often in English and always very respectfully- what life is like in China today.



It was everything we hoped for -and more. But the Star of our Tour undoubtedly was our main guide Gary (all Chinese guides it appears have an English name) who not only kept us all on time and in line with phrases such as "Gary's Family", "Follow the flag", Sticky Rice (keep together) and "One Dollar" (someone is missing)/ "Two Dollar" (everyone's here) but with his "Chinglish", his inexhaustible good humour (at least one joke a day) and his genuine concern for and attention to detail with all 23 of us. This was more than a 'personal touch' or company training. This was Gary, knowledgeable, caring,funny and always smiling; one, if not, the best tour guide we have ever had and a huge compliment to Wendy Wu who it seems sets the standard as all the guides we met seem to know her personally. Gary and Wendy Wu made our tour of China both special and memorable and for that my wife and I are extremely grateful.

Very helpful , explained the tours , not a bit pushy , gave us time to choose the tour we wanted

Visits to various cities/attractions/shows very good
River Cruise also very good
Hotel rooms ok although poorly located in some cities

Food (excluding cruise) mostly very poor particularly hotel breakfasts
Guide choice of food poor
Too much emphasis on optional tours at increased cost

Upon deciding upon which holiday I was interested in I phone to book.
My call was swiftly answered in a polite and courteous manner, the agent on the other end of the phone went through all the details of my booking to China and Japan, explained everything clearly, explained about the free lounge access, upgrade for the cabin on the cruise and that once the flight tickets were issued there maybe be upgrade options available. Explained about tipping, insurance and answered all the questions that I had. A great experience booking my holiday with Wendy Wu Tours as sometimes I dread using call centres but this was a welcome change.

Jewels of Japan was a great itinerary for my first visit to Japan. For an 11 day excursion it had a lot packed in, plenty of places to visit and an excellent guide who ensured no one was left behind. I enjoyed the entire trip from Tokyo to Osaka, and I look forward to doing another adventure with Wendy Wu Tours in five years time.

All advisors I dealt with either online or on the telephone were very helpful with answering any questions I had about flights, tours etc.
They also booked my seats on each leg of the journey, so that I could get a window seat.
Very impressed with the knowledge and professionalism of everyone I dealt with.

We really enjoyed this trip. I won’t deny that I was a little apprehensive booking it, re overnight train sharing with strangers and EBC accommodation. The train was comfortable and enough space for 4 in our carriage. Western style toilet on board was fine too. You also get amazing scenery from the train!
At EBC they have electric blankets!! We didn’t use them as the bedding was warm enough. The sunrise over Everest was spectacular, we had clear views and it was a great way to mark my birthday.
All the hotel rooms/beds were very comfortable.
We were a group of 15 ranging in age to 70+ and all coped with the altitude, no supplementary oxygen needed. This was down to following the great advice from our National Guide.
A good mix of free time and guided tours with the local guides, who seem to be experts on every Buddhist temple!
Most meals were delicious but could get a bit repetitive and there was always plenty of food but we never knew how many dishes would be served at a lazy Susan which meant full up by the time the best dish was brought out, usually Yak.
There is a lot of walking/steps so a good level of fitness helps. So pleased we did this trip.

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.

Firstly I’d like to commend our National Tour Guide Sophie Jin who was outstanding and couldn’t have been more helpful with our group of 27 travellers from Australia, New Zealand, England and Ireland. Nothing was too much bother for her and she even insisted on getting up to meet us in the hotel lobby at 6.15 on our departure day, even though we told her not to! Sophie really is an asset to Wendy Wu Tours and her dedication is second to none.

Now for the tour itself: SOOOO much is packed in that we (and others in our group) found it quite exhausting. There is little to no down time with early morning starts, and late returns to the hotels meant we often went straight to bed. Our group was mainly people in their 70s, with 7 or 8 of us in our 60s and a couple in their late 50s. Age is not taken into consideration - you book, you do it. And boy do you need stamina!
Also be prepared to do trips in all weathers. There is no contingency plan for bad weather - we were up Tianmen Mountain despite a Gale warning and driving rain. We all ended up freezing and soaking wet. Because of this we (and a few others) decided to opt out of the Old Town and Yu Gardens trip in Shanghai next day, only to find we had to write a letter explaining why.
We also felt the ‘Optional Tours weren’t very optional. The bus is geared towards those paying for these trips and those who choose not to go must find their own way back to the hotel.
There was also a problem with my food. I’m vegetarian and told Wendy Wu this before booking. Unfortunately the Chinese seem to have no concept of vegetarianism and assumed all that I ate was boiled vegetables. Meat eaters had Kung Po Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork etc while I was given boiled cabbage, aubergine and Pak Choi. Basically I had side dishes. I did speak to Sophie about getting dishes without the chicken or pork (Sweet and Sour Veg for example) but she said a lot of restaurants wouldn’t do this. I did have a bowl of Sweet and Sour sauce one night, which was lovely, but the boiled tomatoes and ketchup was not appetising with rice and vegetables! I have been in touch with Wendy Wu about this and am awaiting a response.

All in all it was a fantastic trip, hotels were great, everything was well organised and it is a beautiful, clean and safe country. Maybe fewer things to do and a wee bit of downtime would make it more appealing Wendy Wu!

Keith was brilliant giving his talk and Hanna also with the booking. Problem started when we got the confirmation email. Firstly it was for the wrong date and the ATOLcertificate was for the wrong number of days. When Keith gives his talk he emphasises the tours are inclusive without extra things to pay for, however, when you read the detailed itinary there are loads of extras to pay for if you want to do them.

Our motive for going to China was to visit family, but we also wanted to see the country. Not having visited before, making our own travel arrangements was daunting, and we decided to go on an organised tour.

We chose Wendy Wu’s Gems of China tour as it gave us the opportunity to visit areas such as the Zhangjiajie National Park which weren’t covered by other tours, and we were very happy with our choice.

From the first moment of booking we were very satisfied with the attention to detail and level of support we received from the company. When it was decided (the day after we applied) that British visitors no longer needed a visa, the staff were very helpful, and processed our refund quickly. The information we received before the tour was very comprehensive and answered all our questions.

The quality of the hotels where we stayed, and the transport (including coaches, trains and internal flights) were all excellent.

In an unfamiliar country such as China the quality of the local guides is extremely important, and our main guide, Sophie Jin was fantastic! Her English was great, she was very knowledgeable and friendly, and managed the conflicting demands of a diverse group with tact and kindness. We were very well looked after, and I can’t praise her highly enough. Different guides with more local knowledge were employed in the different places we visited, and they were all excellent.

The tour covered all the main areas of tourist interest, such as Beijing, the Great Wall, Terracotta warriors etc, and included a relaxing Yangtze cruise. We had many opportunities to go on voluntary evening entertainments, and I can honestly say that these were some of the highlights of the tour, and gave us experiences we would never have had elsewhere.

My only (minor) criticism would be that the tour was very fast-paced; it would have been nice to have longer stays in the places visited, and more free time, but this would have added to the cost, which was quite high. All in all the tour was a brilliant introduction to a country little visited by western tourists, and one which challenged previously held ideas. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and would recommend Wendy Wu tours highly.

I had an amazing 2 week trip to China in April 2026 with Wendy Wu Tours where I managed to visit all the highlights guided by Yang Tao who is a very experienced and knowledgeable guide. His vast experience was evident as he knew the right times to go to the main attractions like the Terracotta Warriors and the Great Wall to avoid the vast crowds. He also provided support throughout the trip and nothing was too much trouble for him. This was my first escorted group tour and the whole process with Wendy Wu Tours was seamless. On returning home I immediately booked another tour with them to India. I can’t speak highly enough of Yang and Wendy Wu Tours.

Had a great booking experience with Joe. He was very knowledgeable about the tours I was looking at and gave good advice to pick the right one for my needs.

Very helpful nothing was too much trouble. The tour was explained perfectly. Katie my assistant was just lovely and got back to me promptly with any questions I had.
Would definitely recommend travelling with WendyWu tours and I plan to travel with them again in the future.