How to Plan a Winter Trip to China: Places to Go, Costs, Crowds

Jenny was very nice. We visited the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. She was very accommodating and patient.

Our tour guide Bruce was fantastic, he went above and beyond and made our familly feel extra special.learnt a lot of history from Bruce,made our Beijing's trip excellent,Thanks,Bruce

Helen in Chengdu was absolutely fantastic! She is very knowledgeable, speaks English well and is very active. She was flexible, practical and ready to make changes. She offered various extra options and was very sweet with my child.

Simon our guide greeted us with a happy welcome to China , we were from that moment comfortable and confident our two days with him would be better than our expectations.Simon our guide was informative and very knowledgeable about the wall and surrounding areas. My experience with him and his team has exceeded my expectations , I was impressed by the professionalism he displayed

it was our guides who made all the difference our first destination Bejing and our tou guide was Olivia , she was like full of energy knowledge and punctual on top of that so kind and helpful , made our experience like dream , the places we went China wall , Tina man square and summer garden , our guide olive took care of everything, big tankyou to her and we would absolutely recommend if any one want to go for China trip to contact China highlights Maggie but ask for Olivia as tour guide

The tour was quite well organized and our kids loved Linda who always was taking care of them.

杰克,分配的导游在北京,也做了an excellent job. He was punctual, always courteous and engaging, and above all, knowledgeable about the places we visited. He was quick to answer all our questions. At the end of the day, we all felt we had learned a great deal about Chinese history from Jack.

这是第一节课安排和导游摘要ia who made the trip absolutely incredible and lot of credit goes to our first tour guide Olivia, she was so enthusiastic,knowledgeable and full of energy that me and my wife had a feeling of vow !!! and confidence, would definitely recoment any one would wish to take china tour to contact China high lit and particularly Olivia she made our trip so comfortable and took care everything. Big thankyou to Olivia .

William was my guide during 4 days' stay in Beijing. He was extremely helpful in navigating through the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and the Mutiankou section of the Great Wall. His explanations were always very entertaining and to the point and his English was excellent. He gave great advice on where to discover Beijing cuisine, where to get the best fruits (apricots were delicious!) and what is best to do at night.

This hiking was amazing. Organization was perfect since the beginning. Kimmi was answering all our questions rapidly and effectively. Once in China we found really a good team The driver and the tour guide Oliver accompanied us all the trip and they took a good care of us. They adapted to our needs always happy and smiling. Good work China Highlights!

We had a great experience with China Highlights and our tour guide for the two days in Beijing, Liu Yuan (Lily), was excellent. She is friendly, professional and very knowledgeable about the Forbidden Palace, Temple of Heaven, The Great Wall and the Summer Palace. These are the places we visited with her. She is patient and didn't rush us at all. She adapted the tour activities and schedule to accommodate our interests and side trips such as Bei Hai Park. She is also very helpful: she took the extra time to walk us to the pizza restaurant in a mall which we would not have found on our own. We appreciate everything Lily did for us and highly recommend her.

I booked on short notice and Roger was very quick in responding and planning the shedule to our wishes. Our guide was very friendly and we got along great and our driver very polite. Unfortunately due to a lot of traffic our shedule was affected but we were not hurried and could enjoy our 2 destination Greta wall and the Summer Palace. I would recommend booking with China Highlights!

It has been a unique experience from start to finish. Our tour guide Oliver made it possible, very prepared and always up to the task, always very responsible and capable of keeping our interest at all times. Thank you Oliver for this very special and unforgettable experience.

We had an amazing experience with China Highlights and our Bejing Guide Jack. We travelled through China for two weeks with two small kids (3-5) and all the China Highlights Guides and Drivers went out of their way to make this a memorable experience. Jack and our driver Mr. Lee in Bejing were amazing and we had a wonderful time here. The kids loved the great wall and the topoganing down, the face painting and the rikscha ride - and we loved all the sights. Jack and Mr. Lee were very patient with us and the kids and we managed to see everything in a relaxed fashion. We can highly recommend China Highlights and Jack and Mr. Lee.

Olivia was our guide throughout the tour.During the actual tour, Olivia was exceptional and provided us with great insights into the sights and history as well as stories about Chinese culture and experiences (I now have to visit more places in China!). Her restaurant recommendations were amazing and I will definitely trust her to find great food options. She even showed us to our train gate at the end!

We had a 3 day tour of Beijing with our amazing tour guide Tom. He is super knowledgeable, and we learned a lot from him about the interesting history of everything we saw. He also took great care of us and made sure we had everything we needed to be comfortable. I highly recommend Tom!

We visited The Great Wall in Mutianyu and the Changling Tomb. We had a good buffet lunch and had some interesting conversation about local life. Recommend Linda from China Highlights as a guide in Beijing. It was really hot on the wall, so better be earlier.

Ivy is the best tour guide we ever have , very knowledgeable and take good care of us throughout our trip in Beijing . She is always early and love her arrangement for the entire trip . Will not hesitate to chose China Hightlights again .

I organise a group tour for U.K. nurses to China and communicated with Roger who’s been very efficient, helpful and accommodating. Good service and reliable. Guided us through the process accordingly and has given us different options that suit our budget and need.The company has different tour options from high end to reasonable choices of tour packages. Excellent English speaking skills too! Highly recommended!

我住在加州,是指你的薪酬any by a friend in Beijing for a group of 4, private tour to Beijing and the Great Wall in 9/2023. After I submitted my inquiry online, on 5/27, I received a reply from Roger Li within 24 hours. And it was the weekend. I was very impressed. Roger has been very helpful and patient in assisting me in planning this trip since 5/27. He is extremely responsive and detailed. I am very grateful to have been assigned to such a responsible young man. I am looking forward to a safe and pleasant trip with your company’s arrangement in 9/2023.

Helen in Chengdu was absolutely fantastic! She is very knowledgeable, speaks English well and is very active. She was flexible, practical and ready to make changes. She offered various extra options and was very sweet with my child.

Our guide Alex was so great at arranging this! He understood our preferences in all the trip.By the way I accidentally lost my phone one day. Sharon (the planner girl) and Alex solved the situation in no time.

Susan (she was amazingly flexible and kind and so quick to respond to our needs)

My family decided to have a trip to chengdu in Dec-2023 and due to the winter time concern, I have decided to try a trip planner instead of self planned tour; and I found Chinhighlights,com.Roger Li is assigned as my trip planner and it is a great to have him assisting in my trip. Roger is very knowledgeable in what he is doing with a great sense of urgency; He is very upfront on his proposal and willing to listen on my feedback. Roger also taking the extra steps to prepare itinerary in 2 different language; English and Mandarin as my kids prefer to have details in chinese and my wife only on English. Thanks a lot Roger. We managed to finalize and signoff the trip plan within 1 week. Well done. I hope I will have an equal or better experience with china highlights on my upcoming china trips. Will update with next review after my trip ends. Cheers.

We enjoyed our trips around Chengdu with Jason, China Highlights. We were on two trips - Panda Research Base and Leshan Budda. Jason took us to really good restaurant with dumplings as we told before that we like them :) The next day he presented the famous hot pot and helped us to cook it. During the trips he was very careful with our needs and was following them, what is really important while travelling with small kids. Our driver was also good, helpful with luggage and good-driving. They also had 2 baby carseats. Definitely recommend.

I traveled to Chengdu and visited the Giant Buddha statue that is carved in the mountain. We had Henry Li as a guide and he was excellent. He knew a lot of history about the place and answered a lot of our questions. He also took us to the local restaurants so we can experience the local cuisine. I recommend Henry, as a guide, to anyone that wants to visit Chengdu and the surrounding areas. Thank you Henry for the amazing experience.

My husband and I are Aussie expats living in China. We just finished a great 3 day weekend in Chengdu with China highlights and our wonderful guide Helen. It was a real pleasure to have Helen as our guide - she was friendly, enthusiastic and very knowledgeable about Chengdu and the sites we visited. She was also very diligent at meal time to ensure my food intolerance was accommodated - so we were able to still enjoy the delicious and famous food in Chengdu without any worries. Helen also organised for us to go to an evening show at the professional Opera one night which we really enjoyed. During our trip we also visited a little local opera house and had tea, saw the panda sculpture at IFS, went to Jinli old street, day trip to Leshan for a boat ride and walk at Leshan Buddha, Panda Breeding and research centre and a stroll around a local park to see how the locals enjoy their leisure time. The itinerary was great for the time we had and we enjoyed everything. It was also a very comfortable trip - our driver Mr Ren was very nice and we always felt safe with him at the wheel.

Jason was our wonderful guide. It was the perfect day to see the pandas. A little misty and few people. The pandas were out at every stop, along with the red pandas and peacocks. A fun walk at a great outdoor shopping area

We explored wonderful Chengdu and surroundings in 4 days. City tour in a relaxed way with delicious local snacks, really nice! Spectacular new dinosaur museum, Dujiangyan (combined Panda and dam in one outing, very recommendable), Leshan Buddha. All above super cool with the kids (ours are 7 and 4). Emei Shan impressive, maybe a little long driving to explore it and watch out for the hotels there, not all are nice and in the town itself there is nothing. But we were blessed with perfect weather on the top and perfect views. Eating hot pot is spectacular in Chengdu, but watch out how spicy it can be. Michael is just a perfect tour guide! He speaks super fluent German and has a very relaxed and competent style of explaining, which made the whole tour so nice. We love Chengdu and will definitely come back!

We had a wonderful 3 days in Chengdu area,visiting the Panda breeding Center, Leshan Giant Buddha and hiking at Mount Emei.We have been travelling several times with Chinahighlights and everything was well organised as usual. Our guide Michael (fluent in English and German) was great showing us the beauty of Sichuan. We can highly recommend travelling with him and Chinahighlights.

Both tours were led by excellent guides who knew a lot about everywhere we went, and were very helpful and friendly. The agent was equally helpful and quick in responding to questions which was ,especially in covid restrictions time, extremely convenient.

This is was the second time that we had signed up for the program Panda Keeper for a Day, this time at the Dujianyan Panda Base, about 1 hour drive away from Chengdu. Great experience again. We will surely do it once again.

Henry was an informative guide who went out of his way to ensure positive experiences. Mr Wu was not only a safe and attentive driver on sometimes rough roads but also a great photographer, capturing shots of us as we toured. Henry went out of his way to talk to anyone around to help bring the place alive through stories so we had the opportunity to meet so many locals, real people, and hear about their lives. Another highlight was the opportunity to climb a 1000 year old watchtower in Danba and meet the local family who managed it. Truly magical. Henry was also a consummate foodie who provided us with great local food recommendations along the way.

Jason was terrific; he understood our interests in pandas and he made our outings very enjoyable. We plan to return to Chengdu to visit pandas and will be asking for Jason again.

我们刚刚完成了成都程to China organised by Robert Hui at China Highlights. Our Guide for the 2 Day trip was Daisy Du who made us feel very welcome and helped us check in and ensured our rooms were satisfactory then gave us directions of where to go for the best food. The next day Daisy took us straight to the Giant Panda Breeding and Research centre. It was fantastic to see the Pandas so close. It’s a little sad that they are in captivity but it is essential to increase the breeding rate and so save these wonderful animals from extinction. We saw Pandas of all ages and sizes including a tiny little baby that was only 36 day old. After an extremely tasty lunch picked for us by Daisy she then took us into the people’s park and showed us the tea houses and dating area where parents can advertise their single ‘30 something’ children to potential partners. The day ended with a wander around Jinli Old Street where you can buy anything from food to souvenirs to furniture. We have had the best time in Chengdu helped no end by the friendly, helpfulness of our guide Daisy who knew all the best places to go and sights to see. Thank you Daisy, a great time was had by all. ---jayne_Stu Halifax, United Kingdom

With other two friends I have visited Chengdu in September 2018 and our tour guide was Jason, who has been really amazing with us.He had the smart idea to bring us to the Pandas reserve very early in order to avoid the crowds, even if we were visiting Chengdu right during the Chinese national holidays.After the Pandas reserve, we visited the tea park and the city centre, where Jason could give us a lot of information about Chengdu. Jason gave us also very nice suggestions about places to visit in the evenings during our free time. Totally recommended!!! ---Vittorio C Berlin, Germany

We had a great time in Chengdu seeing the pandas and other excursions. Cecelia, our guide, picked us up with a bag of fruit and a wealth of knowledge. She took great care of us, got us through lines quickly and brought us to great restaurants. We even took a cooking class. Highly recommend her. --Robert D,Seattle, Washington, US

Aaron picked us up from the airport and drove us straight to the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center. We had a very enjoyable time touring the Research Center with Aaron. Even though he has probably been to the research center many times he seemed just as excited to see them as we were. Especially the babies! The next morning we headed to the Wolong Panda Base with a stop at the 2008 Earthquake memorial site. We had a great lunch in the small town of Gengda and then went on a hike in the Dengsheng Gorge with a local guide. The next day we did the panda keeper program which entailed cleaning cages (inside and out), feeding pandas, making panda cakes, watching a film about the program and walking around the base looking at the many pandas. After the program we drove back to Chengdu. While we were working Aaron took some great pictures of us cleaning and feeding the pandas. The next morning tour guide Snow took us to the train station. Aaron was such fun to be around, he spoke English wonderfully and gave us great info about the pandas. ---Cougfan Auburn, Washington, US

Had a wonderful time on the panda keeper program which we booked through China Highlights. We generally avoid doing organised tours whenever possible as we prefer to do our own thing. Cecilia was our guide for the day and quickly made us feel at ease in her company she was interesting, knowledgeable and enthusiastic everything you want in a guide. The whole day was great and Cecilia certainly enhanced the experience, she took lots of photos for us throughout the day which was brilliant as it’s difficult getting photos together, she also provided us with buckwheat tea and biscuits which was a lovely touch. A big thank you to Cecilia. --Maria & Peter Foulger

During this whole trip, at anytime , if we need to modify our schedule or activities, Aaron and the driver can accommodate. They are friendly, knowledgeable, good communicator, flexible, and dedicated to making sure our needs are met. Aaron, thanks for making this an unforgettable trip for us! --Venture114992