We took a 7-day tour of Beijing and Shanghai arranged by ChitaTour.net. There are some good and some bad things. The good is that everything is arranged and we did not have to wait in line for taxi or fall in line for entrance to any attractions. The bad things are: 1. Hotels are sub par. Although we requested and paid for at least 4-start hotels, both hotels in Beijing and Shanghai fell short of our expectations. The worst is that the air conditioning does not work in both hotels. In Beijing, they provided us with a fan and we wake up each morning with sweat covering our bodies. 2. The guide in Beijing has an accent that is difficult to understand. She also did not explain to us the way other guides do. She seems to want to go over the items in the itinerary as soon as possible. The guide in Shanghai was very good though. 3. There are too many commercial (shopping) stops. Although we were told that the shopping stops reduced the price of the tour, and we end up buying things, we still think it is waste of time that could have been spent touring. The worst is the visit to the traditional medical research center where they gave us foot massage and then had a "Professor" "diagnosed" us (by asking our ages and looking at your faces) and prescribing very costly herbal medicine. It is a complete waste of time. I'd recommend that ChinaTour.net select better local tour companies, better hotels, and reduce the shopping stops in their itinerary...
