Luxury Family Trip to China Review, Beijing, Chengdu, Xi'an, Guilin, Elephant Trunk Hill, Wildlife, Culture, Cooking Class

Review by traveler

Marla D.

6.24.2019

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

China

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

The itinerary was great. Excellent balance of outdoorsy and history/museum/ tourist stuff.
the travel company was excellent. Very organized and efficient. Knew our itinerary and were able to change on the fly based on our needs or a weather or traffic mishap.
guides: Beijing: Guide- The worst of the group. Lovely and efficient but not so great when it came to knowing the sites or the history.
-Amazing guide of the Great Wall and really gave us our introduction into Chinese history and geography.
-Xi’an: our favorite guide of the tour. Knowledgeable and lovely. Really went the extra mile. Of note: she encouraged us to go to a cultural show there (the worst), and discouraged us from pursuing the plank walk (the best).
Chengdu: Fabulous tour guide. Knowledgeable and forthright. Equally knowledgeable about the pandas as she was the Leshan Buddha.
Guilin: our guide was adorable and entertaining, the kids loved her. Not as academic as the others but great.
-The guide who took us to the reed cave and elephant hill. Was fabulous. Really liked him.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

Top 4
1. 6 mile hike of the Great Wall. Even though we travelled 2.5 hrs outside Beijing to reach the trailhead, the hike was unforgettable and amazing and not physically taxing at all.
2. Hua Shan. Just the cable car ride ride was awesome. But the million stairs to great views was cool. The highlight however was the plank walk. A must do when recommending cool things to do in China.
3. The pandas. Loved loved the panda reserve. Gorgeous animals in a gorgeous setting.
4. The terra-cotta warriors. So amazing in an amazing venue.
The hotels were all amazing (all 5). Each more special than the next. We loved the hotel in Xi’an and the hotel in Chengdu. The hotel in Guilin was a fun family place complete with some western food, a game room, and a pool with floats.
Food: Loved the Peking duck restaurant in Beijing. Loved the hot pot restaurant in Chengdu. The best meal, however, was restaurant in a former temple in Beijing.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

Hard pressed to change anything big.
Little things like local versus bullet trains. We had a 6hour train ride from Beijing to Xi’an, where there is a faster route without so many stops. Leshan Buddha day: maybe we didn’t need to see it by foot and by sea. Could have left Leshan right after we hiked around (skipped lunch there and the boat ride) and done another activity in the afternoon.
beijing: two days of touristy stuff in hot crowded locations. Needed more info and more stimulation. have to think on how it could have been better.
at times,
lunch and dinner were scheduled too close together. We were not used to three big meals within a few hours. For instance in Chengdu we had lunch on our own at 1:30. At 4:30 we started our cooking class and what we made was outer dinner. I was so stuffed from lunch I could barely stomach the meal I cooked,

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Luxury Family Trip to China Review, Beijing, Chengdu, Xi'an, Guilin, Elephant Trunk Hill, Wildlife, Culture, Cooking Class

General Info

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

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