China Tour Reviews

We emphatically recommend Travel China Guide service and our guide Tina. Like the title says, they are the best way to tour Beijing. They were the perfect balance of organization + flexibility + personalized service + value.



To start, they don't have a one-size-fits-all itinerary. You send them a message with your arrivial and departure dates, group size, and interests. Based on your input, they propose a plan and a price. The price was VERY reasonable for what we got - airport transfers in a private car, a great hotel in central Beijing with breakfast buffet, and touring with your guide and a private car.



We were not enthusiastic about joining a tour group, but decided to investigate this company. After I sent in our request, "Emily" replied the next day with their proposal. Emily was our consistent person for organizing the trip. Her proposal was for just the two of us with a private guide Tina. We had four full days available, but she recommended that we could hit all the main highlights in three days, and the fourth day would be a free day on our own. That sounds great, so we booked it. Payment is via domestic wire transfer to a bank in New York.



We arrived at 5pm local time into PKX Beijing Daxing airport which is about an hour's drive to central Beijing. Tina welcomed us as we exited immigration & customs and led us to the car at the curb. After traveling for so long, it was a great relief to turn over navigation to Tina and our driver. During the drive, Tina reviewed the schedule for the next few days. They got us to the hotel and made sure our check-in was uneventful and then let us go.



Over the next three days, we saw so much! I won't go into details because you can get that information in many places. This is a review of the company, not of Beijing as a place.



Having a private guide was so valuable! She had everything arranged well, with the right tickets at the right time. She took us to lightly-populated entrances and got us right in, while we saw throngs of people at other entrances. Other large groups were walking around and listening to their guide on a squawk box or headphones. We walked with Tina as she explained the history and cultural perspective of what we were experiencing. Not just the top level highlight, but she gave us really in-depth history and competing perspectives, and the evolvution of those perspectives over time. And not just the sights, but everything we saw. Do all couples take wedding photos in traditional costumes, or only the wealthy? What do her friends think about getting married and having children? How is the economy? What do people think about the USA? How did the city transition to all electric vehicles so rapidly? Since it was just us three, if we wanted to take more pictures here or spend more time there, or detour over to see that thing, or have lunch there, that all just flowed naturally. "Please show us how to use the subway." OK, we'll do that. We loved getting to know her story, the history of her family and extended family, and her views on current culture. She is now a friend and we look forward to welcoming her if she comes to our city.



Having a private car was also really valuable. We are supporters and users of public transportation, but the car really made the most of our precious time in Beijing. Tina and our driver would pick us up at the hotel in the morning and whisk us to our stops. The Beijing Zoo, Summer Palace, and Bird's Nest Stadium are all a ways away from other things, so we were very efficient in seeing those. Like having Tina as our private guide, the private car allowed us to tour at our own pace. It was also a nice little break in the action - sit down, water, air-conditioning, quiet. Ok, here we are at the next stop - Go Time!



When we return to China, we will re-connect with Tina and Travel China Guide. Collapse