Review of 10 Days Memorable Private Tour (Beijing -Xian -Guilin -Shanghai) by Colin

We went on this tour of China starting in April, ending in May for our honeymoon. We researched long and hard to make sure everything was exactly as we wanted, unfortunately although we have many good points there are also a few very bad points. It all started well. We were picked up in Beijing by a very knowledgable guide Wendy, who took us to our chosen hotel (The Howard Johnson). The hotel was fine, exactly as we thought and only cost us about a euro to get anywhere by taxi. The hotel was clean and the breakfasts were lovely and the tours and meals were very good, although we were a little taken aback on the last day when Wendy asked us to split the tips for her and the driver as she did not know how much we would split it by. Although we were going to give tips (although advised not to by all the travel guides - thank-you America!) we thought this was a bit of a presumption. We arrived at Xian and were greeted by the lovely Jenny. We were told that the Bell Tower hotel was full and there was nothing they could do, We demanded to stay in a 4 star hotel within walking distance of the Bell Tower so they booked us into the Royal Garden hotel. The tours themselves and the food on the tours were great. Then onto Guilin. Met at the airport by the very friendly Azelia. Guilin Bravo hotel(4 star) was full, we drove to Guilin Waterfall hotel instead, this hotel is right on a lake next to the sun and moon Pagoda, but 5 star. We were finally checked in as the agency decided to upgrade our hotel to five star because of the original hotel was full. Then onto Shanghai! First of all we were put into a room where it was so small that the wardrobe shared the same door as the bathroom and there was nowhere to stow our cases and you could only get out of one side of the bed, but after speaking to the receptionist, we were moved to a twin room which although this was a honeymoon, this was fine. The hotel was ok. and was within walking distance of the Bund and Nanjing Rd. So in summary, the tours and the guides and the meals were very good, although you will be into Silk factories, Jade Factories, Pearl Museums government shops.