Chongqing Holidays

Service rating : Grace was very helpful, patient and informative and a lovely lady to spend time with. She handled the whole tour very professionally and made it a lot of fun too.
Product : A very good tour visiting all the main sights you could want to see plus a few extras. Day 16/17 however could have been arranged better. instead of staying in Dali for the night and getting up at 4am the following morning, it would have been better to drive the 5 hours back to Guilin after dinner, and stay there for the night before flying to Yangshuo the following day, maybe on an earlier flight as extra time in Yangshuo would have been better than getting up so early and risking missing the flight and everyone being so tired. Or have an extra day in Dali and leave the following evening would have been far more relaxed and enjoyable. All other transfers were very smooth and well organised, although maybe we could have caught a train from Chongqing to Chengdu, as it was quite a long drive. My only other minor issue was the coach for the last six days in Hangzhou, Souzhou and Shanghai. There was not enough leg room unless you were shorter than 5 foot! Luckily the coach was not full so we could have two seats each, but we did have to sit sideways as it was not possible to put our legs in front of us, so it was quite uncomfortable.
The hotels were good quality and the beds firm but comfortable. I would like to have known they included hairdryers and kettles in every hotel, and I would have left mine at home and put in an extra pair of trousers instead.
The food was quite good, and usually plenty to go around, but it did get a little repetitive, however there were usually supermarkets close by to get extra snacks/drinks if you needed them. One evening four of us did not have dinner with the group and found a hot pot restaurant, which was a great experience. Especially as no one spoke any English, but we got by. Overall we had a fabulous holiday and met some great people from UK, Australia, New Zealand and USA. I wasn't expecting such a mix of people, but it worked out well and we have great new friends to go and visit now. Overall and excellent experience for my 50th birthday. Thanks especially to Grace and all the local guides.

Service rating : Our guide Marissa was brilliant. She was so calm,capable and caring. She sorted out any problems swiftly and she also had a great sense of humour and a good singing voice! We could not fault her. We truly felt like 'her family'.
Product : We thoroughly enjoyed the tour, we packed in so much. The experiences, the sights, sounds and smells all exceeded our expectations. The local guides enhanced the experience with their personal stories and local knowledge. Just two small negatives : On occasion we were at a loose end on 'The Yangtze River Cruise' but to be fair we were there to relax before restarting the busy schedule. On certain trips we would have preferred a packed lunch to enable us to spend more time at the site e.g. Chongqing Zoo and The Great Wall. This was truly a great tour, to be recommended.