Here Are Some Reasons Why We Have Won TripAdvisor's "Certificate of Excellence" in Successive Years from 2017 to 2019:
Intertrips 10-day, 8-night China tourMy husband and I just returned from a 10-day China trip. I was initially intrigued by the low price but upon return can only say it was superior on all levels. Daisy, our point of contact for Intertrips was efficient in her communications and very clear with her instructions. Everything was well prepared for this trip. Frank Li, our Beijing guide and Annie Yao, our Shanghai guide were exceptional in presenting the past and present-day China with humor and grace while herding our group through the sightseeing venues. The hotels and meals provided, again, exceeded our expectations in quality and amenities. Highly recommend this trip!
Patricia Reisch
San Francisco, California
China Tour
Excellent! Anni Wang was always available and answered my questions quickly and appropriately! I thought the areas that we visited were very appropriate and showed China culture however I would like to have spent more time in Beijing old town!
Phyllis S
Mount Vernon, Ohio
Amazing China with Terracotta Warriors
Fantastic trip. Besides the value the trip was well organized, and the tour guides were extremely helpful. My opinion of China has completely changed. Very positive. Anni Wang was awesome in setting up all the information that we needed. Anni and Intertrips made this trip into an awesome experience. You should go to China ASAP. Check out on Groupon.
Scenic725814
China 10 Day
Anni Wang helped me booking this trip. It was all taken care of and the entire trip was very low stress. Our tour guide Maggie was amazing.
jt12e4567
Amazing 12 day tour of China
I just returned from the 12 day Amazing China with Terra Cotta Warriors tour through Inter Trips. My contact at Inter Trips was Anni Wang. She made the planning painless and she was always available to answer my questions (and I had many). Besides the price being "amazing", the tour itself was "amazing". China is an "amazing" country and this tour gives you an opportunity to experience it with intra-country flights and bus trips. The hotels chosen were excellent (exceeded my expectations) as was the complimentary breakfasts. Some lunches were better than others but they always came with numerous dishes so there was always something for everyone. As addressed in other reviews, this trip is subsidized by the Chinese government. As part of that, you are taken to Government stores (Pearls, Silk, Jade, Tea). You are not obligated to buy anything, but you probably will come home with something. They turn out to be educational too. It should be noted that I purchased all of the optional tours and have no regrets on any of them. Some stops worth calling out. Beijing for the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall, Xi'an for the Terra Cotta warriors and the city walls (they refer to it as a castle), Suzhou for the canals and the ancient houses that border it, Hangzhou for the boat ride and the green tea plantation and Shanghai for the magnetic train (fastest in the world at 270 MPH), the sky scrapers and lastly the shopping!
Each of the guides was top-notch with excellent English and a perspective on what makes China great. It is important to note that they are only 40 years into their transformation to capitalism. Special thanks to Jessica, Richard, Vivian and Anthony. Each covered a city. The China I expected was not the China I saw. I loved the country and the people. I still cannot believe how clean it was and how modern their infrastructure is. I can't wait to go back.
My only criticism would be for Xi'an. I think we should have gone to see the Terra Cotta warriors BEFORE visiting the site where they repair them with lunch in between. The way we spent the day (repair center, warriors and then lunch) it had us finishing lunch a few hours before dinner. The other way around would have had lunch in between the two.
PS - it was worth having Inter Trips handle the VISA. It was painless.
PSS - Maybe I just got lucky but everyone on our tour was very nice and definitely made some new friends!
Emeliosp
Narragansett, Rhode Island
An excellent trip at an impossible-to-beat price
The Greats are many: walking the Great Wall, riding the Maglev train, watching the ERA show, learning so much about the new China from smart and caring guides. Loved our fellow travelers, too. This is one of the great bargains of travel today.
Jules Older
San Francisco, California
Thailand trip!
This itinerary took me to all the places I wanted to see in Thailand.
I had to make changes to my flight during the trip, my agent back in the USA, Jesse Zhang was on first response, and took care of all my issues; I got home safely.
peter l
10-Day China Tour
Intertrips did a fine job on this trip. Agents were responsive and knowledgeable. Totally enjoyed the sites (Forbidden City, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, hutong visit, Suzhou canal ride, Hangzhou, and Shanghai. Especially enjoyed Beijing and Shanghai. So much variety. We also experienced a couple of evening shows that were really entertaining. There is plenty of time at shopping stores (Jade Factory, Silk Factory, Tea, etc.), but could use more free time to explore, for example, the streets around the canal after the boat ride in Suzhou.
Coastal45217
12 Day China Intertrips Tour
Our entire experience with Intertrips was excellent from start to finish. We had amazing service through our email contact Jason and all our tour guides on the trip were excellent as well. It was a fast-paced trip, we saw and did so many things, all well organized, well planned and executed. We met so many great people and saw so many amazing things in this amazing country. I would highly recommend this trip and this company to anyone wanting to have a great trip experience.
Laurae K
Splendid China Tour - Outstanding Value!
Went on this with my wife for our two-year belated honeymoon and have no regrets. You get a real taste of China by going to historic and cultural sites in metro Beijing and metro Shanghai. Truly amazing in every way.
This trip is highly customizable You can discuss options with your assigned travel agent - we had Vivian Niu who was extremely helpful and always available. You can pre-pay for additional tour activities when you book or once you get to China - no pressure either way. Our tour guides Angel Wang and Jeff Yang were professional, highly knowledgeable, and really funny. If you are on the fence about this definitely go for it. You will not regret it.
Gibran C
Las Vegas, Nevada
Amazing China Experience
We just returned from our 12 day China Inter Trip tour. Inter Trip delivered on everything promised and more. All our tour guides were knowledgeable and caring. A special shout out to our tour guide David Yan who was not only knowledgeable but gave us insights into the Chinese culture through philosophical stories that have meaning to the Chinese. These stories gave me a better understanding how the Chinese view the world and only confirmed what I suspected that all people in the world want the same things in life but have different ways of expressing it.
Vincent J
12 day China tour
Had an amazing time in China with my family through Intertrips. They took care of everything, hotel and tours at all the iconic sites in China. The tour guides were friendly and knowledgeable in every city we visited. Thank you, lily and Jackie, for taking such good care of us on our tour. Highly recommend to first time visitors to China.
233jimmyw
Chandler, Arizona
Fantastic Trip to China
Shawn started us off right before we even left the states. Then we got to China and were Wowed by it's awesomeness. We had a magnificent time and it definitely exceeded our expectations. Such beauty in that Country, from the scenery, the people, the food. We traveled from October 31 - November 9th. Would definitely go back to see other parts of that side of the World.
Rmulleady
Awesome trip
It all started with Anni Wang at Intertrips, she made my first trip to China amazing. Since I had never been there, I decided I would just go for it and sign up for all the available excursions ahead of time, and I am glad I did. It made it so much easier and relaxing knowing that I was going to see everything I wanted to all in one trip.
Jwtiggr2001
Monterey, California
Great trip to China
To prepare us for the trip Jason Sun made sure we had everything needed for the trip and kept us updated. He did a great job. The trip over and back was great all-out guides were knowledgeable and very friendly. The guides did a great job from the time you landed until you went back home. The hotels and food were fabulous. The country was very beautiful and interesting. Thanks for a great time. Thomas Willard
Seattle, Washington
Wonderful 12 Day Trip to China
We traveled to China, October 10 - 21, 2019, and found the organization of the tour to be excellent, the tripe guides, especially NANCY, starting with our tour in Beijing to be excellent!
I traveled with 3 friends from the US, and we were joined by another 24 travelers in Beijing for our tour group.
Nancy, in Beijing besides showing us the sites; i.e. Great Wall of China took the time to involve us with local Chinese culture by taking us to enjoy an outdoor Playground for Seniors (WOW! These folks were great!), a meal with a local family, who have lived in their home for many generations, a local Cricket Performer, a walk through that local neighborhood, ending up in some of our group joining in a game of kick the birdie with local families. The warmth Nancy displayed for all of us, was remarkable and made our trip very, very memorable.
We then traveled to other parts of China, Xian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, ending in Shanghai. Some of the sites we saw were, the Great Wall of China, Terracotta Warriors, Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, Spring Tea Farms, and so much more.
Our other guides were Richard, in Xian and Henry in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. Both were very good guides.
I highly recommend InterTrips as we had excellent guides, stayed in 4-star hotels, and had a wonderful time.
Vacationer737106
Great trip
Climbing the Great Wall was the highlight and seeing the terra-cotta. We had a great guide in the first part and also for the second
Portinao
We loved our trip to China with Inter Trips.
It was fantastic but very busy! Not much down time at all. But the things we saw were amazing. Everything was so well organized and our guides were so knowledgeable, caring, and kept us on our toes. What really surprised me was how clean China was...well everything but the air! We truly got to see so much. Just wish we would have had more time for street shopping.
Kandy F
Trip of a Lifetime; excellent tour guides and agency
This Groupon deal was an unbelievable bargain. This trip far exceeded our expectations! We experienced 6 Chinese cities in 12 days. We only bought 1 meal in 12 days because a breakfast buffet was provided as was either a late lunch or dinner. All in excellent Chinese oriented restaurants (one restaurant was mediocre). We saw many of the top spots in China. The hotels were excellent. All this far exceeded our expectations and I recommend the trip to others.
Our agent, Anni Wang, was awesome. She was very responsive. She answered emails within 24 hours. Often right away. She told us what to expect and everything went smoothly. I was a bit nervous about getting our visas. Anni explained what to expect throughout the planning process. The excursions were reasonably priced, so we purchased them all and were happy that we did.
Negatives:
Instructions to redeem the Groupon voucher were confusing but we got through it.
Visas came just the week before we left which was right on time but made me nervous.
Some of the information provided on forms could have been better translated but we understood them.
Not all the Whispers were included in the excursion price which they should be as they are pretty much required to hear.
Gregpstl
Saint Louis, Missouri
Unforgettable amazing trip!
This was an amazing experience. Thank you Inter trips, specially to Anni Wang for making this happen!!! My sister and I had a blast, we would definitely do it again!!!
Ingrid C
Miami, Florida
Un believable. Very Clean and Beautiful
We really enjoyed our time, in Beijing we had a guide who was wonderful. Maggie was her guide name. She spoke very good English. was very helpful. She should get credit for being so good. The last 4 places our guide was Chris. He was Outstanding. We feel he should get a raise. He went out of his way to help everyone. One lady lost her passport at the airport He made sure She had it the next morning. He speaks excellent English. I can’t say enough good about Him. He explained about the city we were in and everything exciting about it. It was WELL Worth the trip, very clean Country and Beautiful. It was a little too fast pace for our age of 71. Still worth it. some time when we arrived to a city we didn’t get to the hotel until 3:00 A.M. and had to get up at 6:15 A.M. that made the day very long and very tired. Loved it even though we were tired. Would tell anyone to take the trip. Also Shawn who booked everything was excellent. Outstanding job. He also deserves a raise.
gotraveling5
Great trip!
We just returned from our 12 days China tour (Amazing China with Terracotta Warriors). Everything went smoothly, from the trip preparation that Daisy organized to the visits in Beijing, Xian and southern China (Shanghai). All of the hotels with their great breakfasts exceeded our expectations. Lunches and dinners were a mix bag, as some other reviewers have mentioned. We booked almost all of the optional tours and were generally satisfied, with very few exceptions. Our "babysitters" Leo, Sam and David were very professional with good communication skills and provided information about history and culture that deepened our understanding of this country. The itinerary was packed but our guides moved us from one place to next in a timely manner despite the heavy traffic. David, our guide in southern China, kept us entertained and relaxed during the long bus drives. His sense of humor is greatly appreciated.
If we were to do it again, we would have liked to have an extra day in Beijing and Shanghai.
tolek007
Fantastic!!!
Inter trips and Groupon delivered everything they had promised and more. The trip was informative, educational and fun. So much in the country to see. The tour guides were great and our contact person here in the states was always prompt and helpful.
Chris J
The Great Wall and More. The day we climbed part of the Great Wall, it was overcast and rainy. What an experience!
This was a ten-day trip, which included the flight to China and home. It was an amazing and eventful, fully packed eight days. From climbing the Great Wall to an evening cruise in Shanghai, it was a wonderful trip. The accommodations were first, the food was excellent, the excursions were all top drawer. And, our guides were the best! Five cities in eight days is a lot, so get your running shoes on. But, it was a wonderful trip, and for those who like to get the most out of their visits to exotic and far away places, this is the trip for you.
Kip H
Best Trip Ever!
We just returned last week from our whirlwind trip to China!! I booked the "Splendid China" tour through InterTrips/Groupon and had no idea what to expect. Everything was handled through InterTrips by Shawn Jin, who was amazing and patient with me and all of my questions. He always took my call or called me right back and always responded quickly to my emails. I can't believe that we got everything (hotels, flights, train, meals (most), expeditions, and sightseeing at a price that was affordable. Although it was during the school year, we wanted to bring our 15-year-old son with us and he LOVED every moment of the trip. There were occasions (about 4) where it was clearly an opportunity to sell products (tea, silk, jade, pearls), but we were not forced. On the contrary, I was looking forward to those opportunities to hear about it and to buy it. Some on our tour did not. I've read some reviews where people were a little salty for having to go on those short expeditions, but in the big scheme of things, it was a small part of the trip and for our family...we thoroughly enjoyed it! Moreover, we knew that the price of the trip was offset by these 4 short shopping stops. I would have been a little irritated if we didn't have the opportunity to shop anywhere else, but our tour guide made sure that we were free to shop anywhere we wanted along the way and on the last day, we were given a few hours to shop at the Shanghai Market, which was massive. We bought so much stuff (it was Oct, so we were thinking Christmas), that we had to purchase 2 extra suitcases in China to get it all back. Note: on the 4 pre organized shopping stops (tea, silk, jade and pearls), they offered free shipping back to your home, which was awesome! Overall, I highly recommend taking an InterTrips tour. Read the reviews, decide what kind of trip you're looking for. You'll never be able to do as much on your own without ever having been there and without knowing how to speak Chinese. You can't drive there as a visitor...China is vast...the language barrier can be brutal even with a translator app (wi-fi and cell reception can be sketchy at times), it's also challenging to get an uber in China without a local phone number, so unless you pay for your own personal tour guide...good luck! If you’re looking for a raw, pound the pavement, figure it out as you go, do everything where the locals do it, ride a bike everywhere...kind of trip...you'll need weeks and months in China. We loved our trip, got fantastic photos and memories and loved our group. You can't help but develop a bond with your group, you're together from morning to night every day. It was nice!
Oh, I shouldn't forget to mention both of our tour guides, Robin and John...they made the trip so great! We always felt safe and well informed. They were always on time, let us know what was going on, educated us on the culture, answered any questions...basically handled everything for us. Be generous to these guys...they work very hard for a living!
Burr Family
Bossier City, Louisiana
Groupon InterTrips China is fabulous!
When seeing the fabulous deal on Groupon I next did a lot of research reading reviews and decided to book the trip based on primarily all 5 star ratings. I’m glad I did! Vivian our InterTrips coordinator was very responsive to all communication and our flights (on China Eastern Airlines) out of Chicago were comfortable. The hotel accommodations are quite nice and the breakfast each morning has a vast spread. Truly something for everyone. The tour guide, Michael, in Beijing was fabulous and knowledgeable. The Great Wall of China was certainly a highlight (be sure to wear gym shoes!). And as you’d expect, the food fabulous! I hope my review convinces you to go ahead and book with InterTrips! Truly a wonderful experience for a long international trip for very little money.
Lindseylit
Iowa City, Iowa
Amazing trip!!
We absolutely loved our trip to China and Intertrips made the whole process easy and stress-free! Emily is wonderful and took really great care of us. It’s been a month since we came back and we still talk about it everyday! The extra tours are definitely a must! The Great Wall of China and the Temple of Heaven are absolutely breathtaking!
D B
First China Trip and Fell For All The Non-Optional Shopping Sites
Overall it was a great trip. Our guides (Tom in Beijing, Richard in Xian and Cindy in Shanghai) were nice, considerate and very helpful. Unfortunately, due to National Day we were not able to go to the Forbidden City, one of the optional tours purchased. I knew that the non-optional visits to the jade, silk, pearl, medicine, and tea factories were included on the tour, but even though I got sold and purchased everywhere but at the jade factory, the sales people have been trained to be way tooooooooo pushy. I'm back home and finding out that I paid way too much for the silk (not many options there as they focus on selling you the overpriced comforter set). I'm going to put my faith in psychology and believe that the medicine at the Eastern Medicine place will work. I got my box of green tea extract pills and 'empress' loose tea today. Found the pills on Amazon for less than half the price. (same or more mgs of EGCG) I will set my mind to think that the pills purchased in China are the best. LOL But overall, although I was a bit skeptical at first when purchasing a tour through Groupon, I would say the trip with InterTrips was worth it. If you're not fussy, are open-minded and are a good team player, willing to share a tour with 39 other very diverse personalities in a foreign country, you will enjoy this tour. I did. I ate everything that was foreign to me and embraced the Chinese culture and history.
123MercyL
Excellent trip!!
My trip was for 10 days in China. Even prior to my trip, Anni Wang was an AMAZING help. She helped facilitate my passport process, and made my traveling experience super smooth. Anni Wang was helpful, knowledgeable, and an awesome advisor! Although I was traveling with 2 small children on this long trip, they accommodated me with ease, and they were there every step of the way. They helped me with not having any long lay-overs between flights, and even upgraded me on the train! Everything was very professional, and I'm extremely grateful for Anni's help. Highly recommended to anyone looking to travel in China to book with Anni Wang!!!!! :) :) :)
maryseguratonelli
Miami, Florida
Our first China trip
Dear Intertrips,
Tour number: A190508026 Order Number: I1905090002
We’re still a bit jet-lagged even after arriving back home on Saturday. It was a wonderful trip, a trip we will tell our friends about.
I want to give you our opinions and a few comments about our trip. Take into consideration that I am Chinese by birth, born and raised in San Francisco, so my observations may be a bit different than others.
Our Tour Guides –
Both Michael (in Beijing) and Qi, for the rest of the tour we excellent! They were accommodating, and extremely helpful. I would consider them both as family taking us around, as I would if I had visiting family or friends.
Hotels –
The hotels we would consider to be four or five star hotels, some nicer than others, but all nice. We would rate them as our favorites:
1.) Grand New Century Hotel RADIO &TV ZHEJIANG
2.) Grand MetroparkHotel Suzhou
3.) Renaissance Shanghai Putuo Hotel
4.) Grand Park Hotel
5.) Novotel BeijingSanyuan
Food –
The breakfast buffets at the hotels were excellent. It was a great way to start our day before we began our tour. But the lunches and/or dinners had a lot to be desired. As Chinese I expected a lot more. A lot of the members of our tour felt the same way and they’re not Chinese.
Notes:
October 1st was a national holiday, the 70th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. We should have been advised of such. The whole country was off for a week. Forbidden City was closed as well as several other interesting places. Extremely disappointed. If we knew that we may have changed our tour date. As it is we are planning to return. We have to return.
Our schedule was pretty packed. Almost too packed. We often checked into our hotel between 8:00pm and 9:00pm. At that point we had to go look for somewhere for dinner. That’s too late for most people for dinner. And it was late and a lot of places were closed.
The description of our tours should have been more descriptive. Some of the walking was too much for some people. It wasn’t fair to them. If they knew it, they might not have chosen not gone on the tour. That would have been their choice.
Nametags would be a big help. We only got to know the names of half our group given the short time we had together.
We really enjoyed our tour. It was our first time in the land of our ancestors. It was both educational as well as eye opening. A lot of what we were taught as kids culturally were reaffirmed. It brought also opened our eyes to the country and people of China. The people that were on the tour were very nice and friendly. We almost became family.
Thank you for putting this tour together and allowing us this experience
JeffChow88
San Bruno, California
10 day trip to china
this trip exceeded my expectations. Anna Wang worked very hard to get our visa's changed in time. The tour guides were extremely helpful and knowledgeable. The hotels were 5 star and new. With the optional tours, it was non-stop. I would highly recommend this trip to everyone.
Steve
10 day China trip
10 day groupon China trip was great. Anni Wang did a great job and made all the pre-trip planning very smooth and easy.
The trip itself was well worth it. I did have to pay about $350 for being solo. It was worth it. All the hotels were very nice.
The cities visited were super clean and urban. Beijing was spotless. All the cities were very modern. There was so much to see and do on the trip. All tour guides spoke english. My group had 20 people in it. All normal nice people.
The only part of the trip that I did not like was the 6 hour lay over on the way home. I highly recommend this tour. Intertrip did a great job putting it all together.
Lakesidehero
Lakeside, California
Amazing trip! I Highly recommend it
This was a first-class service tour. We were received at the airport and transported to our hotel where Jessica (our excellent tour guide) was waiting for us. Jessica was friendly, knowledgeable and funny. We were so lucky to have her as our tour guide.
I am very thankful to Anni Wang for her assistance and fast response to my many emails. She is an excellent travel consultant.
I will strongly recommend this tour to all my friends.
chinatraveler2019
Westerville, Ohio
Splendid China
We had a great time in China, Frank Li is the greatest tour guide ever! The hotels are great, the food is good (if you enjoy Chinese food), overall highly recommended.
luiseduardo1976
Incredible Trip!!
My husband and i just returned from a 12-day tour of China. It included the terracotta soldiers, great wall, and much more! We went through groupon with 6 other friends. The accommodations were amazing at each of the Hotels, and the tour guides; Michael, Amanda, and Celia were incredible and very knowledgeable. We had a hiccup with our Visa before going due to unexpected heightened security and Shawn Jin and the InterTrips company went above and beyond to make everything possible! if i had to be critical about anything it would be the "timeshare" style presentations that we sat through for the asian medicine, and the pearl and silk factories. These companies help to sponsor the InterTrips to make it extremely affordable to us so these are part of the tours. This tour is not a relax on the beach kind of vacation- we went nonstop for the 11 days. I recommend purchasing all your excursions before going, this makes it so much more organized.
April965
Amazing trip
We just came yesterday from our trip. It was from Sep 19 to Sep 30.
This trip was amazing. Everything was well organized. The hotels were 5 star. The food was great and the best part is that all the time you are in a very nice bus with a tour guide that explains and answers all questions. The tour guide takes care of hotel arrangements, food arrangements, etc. We had 3 tour guides during our trip (one for each city we flew in) all of them were good but the BEST by far was Celia Xu. She is so well organized that everything is fast. She has a method for all the logistics so we had more time for all the activities instead of waiting. She is knowledgeable of history as well as where to find what we needed. At the same time she was flexible (something that you don’t see often in China) to make our experience the best. She was funny, caring, nice, efficient, smart, knowledgeable. The best tour guide we have ever had.
We were a family of 3 : my husband, my 10 year old son and I. We always had one room with 3 beds (2 queen and one small roller bed that usually was hard).
We didn’t mind the not-optional tours to jade, medicinal market, silk, tea and pearl. We bought great things there.
One thing that could be better is the arrangements for the flights.
There were 2 buses with 2 tour guides while we were there. At one point I had to be very vocal with one of our tour guides (Cindy) because they placed us in a 6am flight but when we arrived we had to go to the city and come back to the airport to pickup the rest of the group who came 4 hours later and do again what we did. It would be easier if all the people in one bus goes in the same flight.
For the returning flight, We had to go to Shangai-Seattle-Boston-Ft Lauderdale. We had only 2 hours from the arrival to Seattle to take the Boston flight so we have to walk a lot and then go to immigration (we have US passports and still took forever) take our bags, go again through the security check and then take the flight. We made it by minutes but not our baggage.
All in all, great organization of the trip awesome hotels, food and tour guides.
Definitely would do it again.
bftamez
Miami, Florida
The greatest tour ever! and a must on your traveling list!
It was great from the beginning to an end! Back home, Ms. Anni wong helped and guide us, she was always available to answer our calls and emails, she gave us peace of mind. Back in China, OMG!! the tour guides Jessica, John and the local tour guides were the best! They took us to amazing places and gave us explanations of what we were seeing. I truly recommend the trip to my sons and close family and friends. I also want to honor and thank the airline HAINAN AIRLINES, for the great customer service. THANK YOU CHINATOUR.COM AND THANK YOU INTERTRIPS! I'm ready to go back.
Monica Gamboa
Chula Vista, CA
Already They Are Great
We haven't been on our trip yet, but we are getting it together for a group of friends. We had an occasion when we needed help with some paperwork quickly if possible. We contacted Shawn Jin and he stopped what he was doing and took care of us right away. Traveling always has problems and it is nice to be able to count on the people you're dealing with to help out. We have also dealt with Crystal and she has been very helpful.
THANK YOU to InterTrips for having such excellent people working for them
elord143
Mission Viejo, California
Amazing China 12-Day Tour with Terracotta Warriors
We just returned from our Amazing China Tour - and it was, as advertised -- Amazing. The Itinerary was well planned and thorough, the tour guides were knowledgeable, friendly, organized and their English was excellent. No language barrier at all with the tour guides. The hotel accommodations were excellent (be prepared for customary FIRM beds in China!), the food, the history, the culture, the amazing sites, guided narration about each stop (old and new), tour bus quite comfortable, and we had an excellent travel group of approximately 35 other Americans from 7 different US states, which made it all the more fun. We made new friends, had a great time and were constantly on the go!
Sara in Beijing, Richard in Xi'an and Henry in Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai were incredibly knowledgeable, patient, and helpful. We signed up for all the optional tours. Loved the last day's Maglev train and the finale- open air Huang Pu River Night Cruise in Shanghai. The breathtaking beauty of modern China. Great shopping opportunities at each stop, of course (too much?). We would definitely recommend this Once-in-a-lifetime/Bucket List filled Tour! Great Bargain!
upnawaynj
NewJersey
InterTrips "Splendid China Tour"
Amazing trip! Thanks to InterTrips for a meticulously planned, very organized, and well-orchestrated tour of China. My family's experience was great from start to finish. Daisy, our tour coordinator, made the process seamless and stress-free. We were well informed and everything delivered as promised. Lovely hotels, good food, nice tour buses and much more. Our tour guides, Emily, in Beijing, and Henry, from Suzhou to Shanghai were excellent. Looking forward to our next tour experience with InterTrips!
1stchina
Terra Cotta Warriors 10 Trip August 2019
Thank you very much Anni Wang for the part you played in assisting with the organization of this tour/trip. It has been an enjoyable, informative, self - defining adventure in my life journey. The hotels were pleasingly surprising and welcoming. The local tour guides were pleasant and accommodating as well. They should be commended for their delivery of information. Overall, the journey has been quite a surprise and I wouldn't mind venturing on another trip with your company in hopes that the service is comparable or better. I have told friends and acquaintances who think about visiting China to look at your agency as a possible resource for planning and arranging the venture.
Sincerely,
Devaul
VERY DETAILED review of 10-day China trip
This will be a very thorough and informative review, so bear with me!
Overall, this trip was worth the price we paid and we knew what we were getting ourselves (me and my boyfriend, traveling as a couple) into. That being said, we think there are still several areas of improvement.
PROS:
• InterTrips took care of booking flights, hotels, visas, and transportation
• Hotels were all nice, some much nicer than others, but none were bad
• Guides (2 different guides depending on location) were friendly and seemed very knowledgeable)
• We got to see several cities in our short time (also a con, see below)
• InterTrips took are of transportation to/from airports and between cities
• Optional tours not really worth it (save your money!)
The optional tours in Beijing and Shanghai are not worth it and you can visit those locations for a fraction of the price. For example, InterTrips offered a tour to Tiananmen Square + the Forbidden City for $65/person. My boyfriend and I took the metro (for 50 cents each) and paid about $10 each to enter the Forbidden City (no entrance fee for Tiananmen Square). The metro was super easy to navigate since it was in English (so is the one in Shanghai) and we just made sure to map out or route before we left the hotel. The only benefit of having done the tour is not waiting in the queue. We had to wait about 45 minutes to go through security, but it was worth it considering how cheap it was. They will try to scare you into joining and paying for the optional tours. Don’t fall for it.
TIP*: If you go alone to Tiananmen Square + Forbidden city, make sure to BRING YOUR PASSPORT AND VISA TO GET IN!
TIP*: Don’t book optional tours in advance. You can pay for them at any time during your trip, they won’t fill up.
CONS:
• SO. MANY. UNNECESSARY. SHOPPING. STOPS.
We're pretty sure these shopping places sponsor InterTrips (therefore making travel packages cheaper) because there's no other good reason we wasted so much time here. We visited a jade factory, silk factory, Chinese herbal medicine center, freshwater pearl store, and a tea shop. The stops at these places would consist of 30-60 minutes of sales pitch disguised as "educational" sessions about each product. Then, there would be another hour to 2 hours of shopping. The sales people definitely knew what they were doing and would follow you around and tell you why you should definitely buy their product. It may have been even remotely interesting if they actually showed you how their products were made. For example, at the silk factory the woman spoke for maybe 15 minutes about silk and how it’s made (but we didn't get to tour the factory and actually SEE any of it) and how to tell the difference between real and fake silk, but then spent 45 minutes talking about their great deals "exclusively" for us. To make things worse, we would travel ungodly distances just to be part of these sales pitches and they were overall just a huge waste of time. I would suggest InterTrips reduce the number of these stops from 5 to maybe just 3!
• We got to see several cities in our short time (also a pro, see above)
I'm putting this as a con because the reason we traveled to so many cities was for those unnecessary shopping stops. Some of those cities felt more like pit stops in between our shopping stops, which is ridiculous.
•Lots of traveling, not enough site seeing, a lot of time wasting
This falls in line with the unnecessary shopping trips. We would be in such a hurry to travel to our next useless shopping expedition that we didn’t’ stay in really cool cities long enough. For example, we arrived in Wuxi in the late afternoon and it was AMAZING! Such a cool city we had never heard of. When we arrived, instead of going straight to our hotel to start exploring the city, we had to take a detour to some boring lake for like an hour and then drive in rush-hour traffic to the hotel. Such a waste of time. Then in the morning we had to pack up all of our things and get on the bus to the freshwater pearl store. We would have much preferred spending our morning in Wuxi then shopping. After the pearl store, we drove for FOUR HOURS to Hangzhou… so we could visit the Green Tea Village which was another shopping expedition, but for tea…
I don’t mean to beat a dead horse and repeat myself, and I knew these shopping trips were included in the tour package, but I could never imagine how miserable and useless they actually were. By far the WORST part of the trip. If anything they should be made optional. I didn’t go to China to buy overpriced pearls, jades, tea, etc.
• Optional tours… really optional?
On our last day in Beijing, they had optional tours before we went to the airport to fly to Shanghai. Since they’re supposedly optional, we told our guide we didn’t want to go to them and instead wanted to explore on our own. At first he made it seem like that wouldn’t be possible since the optional tours had the bus and we would probably just have to wait on the bus while the optional tours happened. Eventually he told us the bus would pick us up at a predetermined location + time to take us to the airport and we didn’t have to the do the tours… which is how it should be done.
On a different day with a different guide, we had the “optional” tour of boat ride which, again, we said we didn’t want to go on. Our guide basically told us we were out of luck and would have to wait in the parking lot in the bus.. with no AC… for 2 hours while the optional tour happened.
I think this is totally unacceptable. If the optional tour is truly optional, it should be OPTIONAL, not “here’s a punishment for not wanting to pay for an over-priced tour.” We ended up doing the boat ride, which thankfully was the cheapest optional tour they offered, but were upset we had to do it at all. It was either that, or bake in the hot bus for 2 hours.
SUMMARY:
This trip is not bad, even if this review really digs into the cons. We had a good time overall and it was worth the money, but I think it could be even better if InterTrips considered my feedback and adjusted some of the less pleasant aspects this tour.
Danitzax
China Trip by Intertrips
We just had the best time on our tour with Intertrips. Very professional company, they took all our stresses away and had everything organized for us. The tours were awesome, well organized and the two main tour guides we had - Lily Lin in Beijing and Peter Wu in Shanghai - were absolutely amazing. They were so organized, educational, knowledgeable and had fantastic personalities. We can't thank them enough for making our trip very special. Daisy, who dealt with our booking was also amazing - she was prompt and took care of everything in a timely manner. I would highly recommend this company and I will be sure to use them again and again.
PatelS987
Very educational
Nancy, Iris and Henry were all fantastic guides! We learned a lot about China and had a fun trip. Highly recommend.
rja01
10-day China trip.
We took this China trip, last-minute without knowing what to expect. Luckily with InterTrips, we got the best touristic guides we could ever wish for. Peter Wu in Shanghai and Lily in Beijing. They were both amazing and made the trip much more fun. I will always come back if they are available to receive us again.
With much gratitude, I shall not say goodbye, I shall say: “until we meet again”.
manucalinda
Los Angeles, California
Intertrips guided tour
This trip was amazing. Intertrips had everything arranged for us. Anni Wang helped us from the beginning to set our trip and get our visas.
In China, 2 of the tour guides were amazing, Maggie in Beijing and Qi in Shanghai, they were so knowledgeable and took good care of us.
I recommend this company.
Nancy B
Helped us organize a trip for our school
Thank you and your company for a wonderful trip. I think I speak for everyone when I say everything was well organized and we were treated to some of the best experiences available. Your guides always seemed one step ahead of things and made sure we knew what to expect every day. And although it wasn't cheap, considering what we got out of it, our trip was a total bargain and a great value. I will not hesitate to recommend your company for any China-related vacations.
Joe
Baltimore, Maryland
Great trip preparation service!
My trip is coming up. Vivian from Intertrips has been working with me on the planning. She makes every step go so smooth, she responds very quickly to my questions, requests for information. She provides excellent visa service, I got my 10-year visa in 10 days.
Kha_Tuc
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