China's best travel operators – and where they go
Expert guide to China
Advice on the best tour operators to China, from our expert Michelle Jana Chan.
Most China specialists offer both escorted group tours and private tailor-made journeys. Expect to pay around £200 per person per day, based on two sharing. Here is a selection of reliable tour operators with a strong focus on China.
Ampersand Travel (020 7819 9770) specialises in tailor-made cultural tours. Their 12-day ‘Luxury Cultural China’ tour is ideal for first-time travellers and includes some fascinating cities, rural areas and opportunities for local interaction. There is an option to visit restricted areas in the Forbidden City, have dinner on the Great Wall, practice Tai Chi in the Temple of Heaven, to learn how to cook Peking Duck, raft on the Li river around Yangshuo and daring guests can have their ears cleaned by a professional roadside ear-cleaner (from £3,990 per person, excluding international flights).
Audley Travel (01993 838220) offer trips such as the 15-day ‘Villages of South West China’ itinerary taking in the minority villages in Guangxi and Guizhou, Lijang and Tiger Leaping Gorge (from £5,335 per person including return flights, 12 nights accommodation and a private driver/guide).
Abercrombie & Kent (01242 386483) has been working in China for 30 years and offer private tours such as ‘Beijing: Behind the doors of the Forbidden City’, which includes special access into palace halls closed to the public. Their most popular tour is the 14-day Classic China itinerary which includes Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Chengdu and a Yangtze River cruise (from £4,925 per person, including international flights).
Bamboo Travel (020 7720 9285) offers private tours including the popular 19-day ‘South China Explorer’, which combines the scenic provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi by high speed train (from £3,695 per person based on a shared room). Their 12-day ‘China Highlights’ tour takes in Beijing; an overnight sleeper train to Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors; the limestone scenery of the Li River and Yangshuo, ending in Shanghai (from £2,795 per person based on a shared room). The ‘Train to Tibet’ trip uses the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the highest altitude train in the world (from £4,395 per person based on a shared room).
Black Tomato(0207 426 9888) has a 10-night trip travelling through Beijing, Luoyang, Xi’an and Shanghai, and includes a private Kung Fu lesson led by Shaolin monks, as well as a Taiji masterclass at the Temple of Heaven (from £5,250 per person, excluding international flights).
cazenove+loyd (020 3319 9378) has a 10-night ‘Discovering Rural China’ trip staying at the finest hotels with private access to sites in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as a deeper exploration of Lijiang, Shaxi and Dali in the southern province of Yunnan. This journey is accompanied by private guides and provides a nuanced insight into rural China (from £6,125 per person including international and domestic flights, accommodation, private guides and excursions).
Cox & Kings (020 7873 5000) has a range of escorted tours in China including the 16-day ‘Grand Tour of China’, which includes a three-night Yangtze river cruise, the Great Wall and calligraphy classes in Xi’an (from £3,340 per person). The 11-day ‘Classic China’ tour for single travellers takes in Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin and Shanghai (from £3,095 per person). There are also a number of private tours available including the 12-day ‘China in Style by Rail’, using the high-speed rail network to explore key destinations (from £3,755 per person) and the 10-day ‘Yunnan Explorer’ seeing south-west China (from £3,795 per person).
DialAFlight (0330 100 2217) is one of the country’s largest independent tour operators combining flights with five-star hotels. The 4-day ‘Chengdu Stopover’ tour takes in a trip to the Giant Panda Bear research centre and a day exploring the countryside around the Yangtze River (from £945 per person based on two sharing, including Cathay Pacific flights to/from London Gatwick, hotel accommodation with breakfast, some meals, guiding, transfers and sightseeing fees.
Explore (01252 884723) has been operating in China for over 30 years. Their 15-day ‘Ancient Kham and the Litang Nomadic Festival ’ tour includes remote monasteries and visiting nomads for tea in their yak-hair tents (from £2,999 per person including international flights, accommodation with breakfast, transport and the services of a tour leader, driver and local guides). The 14-day ‘Family Beijing to Hong Kong’ trip hits the highlights from walking along the Great Wall to witnessing the making of miniature models of the Terracotta Warriors in Xian and visiting Chengdu’s panda reserve (from £2,489 per adult and £1,999 per child with a minimum age of seven). This price includes international flights; accommodation including two nights on an overnight train; transport and the services of an Explore tour leader).
Jules Verne (020 3553 3722) offers escorted tours to China, ranging from the seven-night ‘Highlights of China’, which takes in the Panda Breeding Research Centre, the Terracotta Warriors, the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square (from £1,375 per person) to the 22-night ‘Grand Tour of China’ that includes a cruise through the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River and visits to lesser-known sites such as the historic town of Pingyao, the water gardens of Suzhou, the temples and tea plantations of the West Lake of Hangzhou and Hong Kong (from £3,795 per person).
Kuoni (01306 747008) offers an introductory eight-night ‘Essential China’ itinerary from £2,495 per person, exploring Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an and includes economy flights, most meals, group transfers and a local tour leader.
Red Savannah (01242 787800) organises tailor-made holidays to China including a family oriented 13- day ‘Magical China’ trip, which includes an encounter with pandas at the Bisheng Gorge Panda Sanctuary, a Tai Chi lesson, kite-flying on the Great Wall, a visit to a family home in Beijing’s historic Hutong quarter, a boat journey on the Li River, a Kung Fu performance and a training session at Xi’an’s Martial Arts University. From £4,335 per person including five-star accommodation throughout, transfers, domestic flights and private guides (but excluding international flights).
Scott Dunn (020 8682 5060) offers a 13-night ‘Rural China’ trip from £5,400 per person, which includes stays in the Peninsula Shanghai, Banyan Tree Lijiang, Shangri-La Guilin and Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, taking in the scenery of the rice terraces in Longsheng, the cobbled streets of Lijiang, the largest Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Yunnan and the charts scenery of Guillin. Price includes international and domestic flights, sightseeing and private transfers.
Steppes Travel (0843 778 9926) has ‘The Must Do China’ trip offering classic sites with a difference including the miniature warriors at Chongqing, as well as Beijing, Xi’an and a Yangtze cruise (from £3,495 per person, including flights). ‘The Insight to The Ming and Qing Dynasties’ trip takes in China’s walled city of Pingyao, the Buddhist caves at Datong and Mount Wutaishan (from £4,550 per person). The expert-led group tour ‘China’s Minority Tribes and their Textiles’ explores the minorities’ textiles of the Tibetan region (from £3,495 per person).
Trailfinders (020 7368 1500) offers a popular, good value eight-day ‘China Highlights’ private tour, which is ideal for those short on time, taking in Beijing, the Great Wall, Xi’an’s Terracotta Warriors and Shanghai (from £1,099 per person including flights, four-star accommodation, private car & guide)
Wendy Wu Tours (0844 499 3899) has more than 35 China-specific tours from group and private tours to expert-led special interest tours; the ‘Exclusive Collection’ offers China itineraries with five-star accommodation, a tour of the Terracotta Warriors with an archaeology expert and Champagne on the Great Wall. Their 10-day ‘A China Experience’ tour costs from £1,990 per person, including all accommodation based on twin rooms, flights, transport, meals, guides and visas for UK/EU passport holders.
Wexas Travel (020 7838 5892) has an 18-day ‘Best of China’ journey including Beijing, Xi’an, the Giant Pandas in Chengdu, Guilin and Shanghai (from £3,970 per person including international and domestic flights, accommodation, some meals, private tours and transfers). The ‘Yangtze River and Best of China’ tour takes in Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai with a river cruise (from £4,205 per person including international and domestic flights, accommodation, the three-night cruise, most meals, a private guide and private transfers).
Wild Frontiers (020 8741 7390) runs fully-inclusive group tours (maximum 12 people) and tailor-made tours which can focus on classical highlights such as Beijing, Xi’an and Luoyang, as well as specialist trips like the 13-day ‘Discover Yunnan’ tour exploring the hill tribes from this region, and including the towns of Dali and Lijiang (£2,390 per person excluding international flights, based on two people travelling together). The 17-day 'Chinese Silk Road' group tour (£3,795 per person excluding international flights) begins in Xi’an and includes Tibetan monasteries, the Great Wall and Buddhist caves, before crossing the Taklamakan Desert. A 16-day group trip, ‘Across the Tibetan Steppe’ begins in Qinghai province and travels across the Tibetan Plateau to Lhasa (£4,450 per person excluding international flights).
World Expeditions (020 8875 5060) runs small group adventures throughout China such as the ‘China Silk Road’ tour from Beijing to Kashgar, a cycle trip through Yunnan and an e-biking trip through hill tribe region of Guangdong and Guangxi. The 14-day ‘Yunnan Cycle and Tiger Leaping Gorge’ includes seven days cycling and a two-day hike through the gorge (£2,290 per person excluding international flights). The new 16-day ‘China By E-Bike’ includes 11 days cycling before stops in Xian, Beijing and the Great Wall (£2,320 per person excluding international flights). Both trips include a group leader, back-up vehicle, accommodation, most meals, regional flights, train travel, private bus and bike hire.
