Guided Tours in China

We did a 3 week great tour of China in 2012 with Vantage World Travel. However, I understand Vantage is out of business now.

We didn't go to Tibet and frankly, I am glad we didn't go there.
You want to definitely see The Great Wall, Being, Xian, Shanghi, do a short Yangzee River cruise, Guilin and also visit the one day river cruise with all the amazing Karst formations. Further, visit Hong Kong.

I agree with geovagriffith on the list of destinations in China, but I’m not sure that you will find one tour that would cover all of them in 2-3 weeks. It’s a really big country! I have been to China six times, volunteering in Kunming (Yunnan Province - a very interesting and beautiful part of the country), and then traveling independently to a variety of locations and I still haven’t made it to Shanghai, Chengdu or Xi’an (although I’m headed to Xi’an in October).

I often hire private guides for my independent travels. This can be very affordable in China and gives you lots of flexibility. One private guide I used in Guilin before the pandemic was Wendy Wei and she was excellent. Her website is https://www.wendyweitours.com/. She has obviously branched out quite a bit since then, now offering tours in many places, both for multiple days and day tours. I’m guessing she no longer conducts all the tours herself! (Maybe China’s Rick Steves in the making?)

For group tours conducted by American companies you could look at Gate 1’s China tour (I recommend sticking with their “small group” version). National Geographic also has a tour in China. You could also look at other well-regarded companies like OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) or Odysseys Unlimited. They have not resumed China tours since the pandemic but you could keep an eye on them.

I have also heard very good things from other travelers about Wild China: https://wildchina.com/. They offer many different group and private tours.

You mentioned Imprint Tours, which is owned by a former Rick Steves guide. The tours are run very much like RS. I have not been on any of the China tours, but I’ve done 5-6 Imprint tours and enjoyed them. They are still very much in operation.

Look at Gate 1 tour offerings. Their Discovery tours are very close to Rick Steves with limited size.

Regarding tour length and coverage, we did a heritage tour of China in 2017 and visited Beijing, Chengdu, Xian, Guilin / Li River, our daughter’s native province, and Shanghai over a span of just under 3 weeks. It was hectic but we saw quite a bit. Good luck with your trip!

Thanks for all the very helpful replies! I will read more about all the suggested operators - thanks!

I was very excited to find the Imprint Tours information, and they have what looks like a great itinerary - https://imprinttours.com/tours/china - everything we wanted except Tibet. We are considering adding Tibet as a 'one-off' visit before joining the Imprint tour.

The biggest concern about the Imprint Tour is that there's only one date in 2025 - Sept 16 to 29 - and the weather looks to be HOT at that time (over 80F in most locations in Sept); we'd much prefer an October / November visit, or early spring visit (we're getting tired of visiting places where the temperature is over 80F - we've had a few 'melting' tours in Rome, Sicily, Thailand, Vietnam, etc recently and the heat just ruins the experience). Our Switzerland tour was almost perfect weather - 50s and 60s most days. We may just bite the bullet and go for it anyways, as the overall package looks great. Further - I see no more China options on the upcoming schedule.

One question for those who have traveled in China - the 'Imprint Tours' itinerary includes an overnight train from Beijing to Xian (which sounds great). The details say "Overnight Train - Soft sleeper class (4 to a cabin)". What should we interpret from the '4 to a cabin' reference? We are both light sleepers, and I get up to pee several times a night; having 2 strangers in the 'cabin' might make it a sleepless night. I suppose it could be no different from a long-haul international flight where you are trying to catch some rest while surrounded by dozens of people, but it doesn't sound too appealing.

I really like OAT but they do not currently offer China.

If you’re on a tour, most likely the people sharing the soft sleeper car with you will be fellow tour members.

The downside of smaller tour companies like Imprint is that they offer limited date options. I assume this is due to their desire to offer many different itineraries with limited guide availability. They also have a more limited clientele and would be concerned about filling up a lot of tours. Large companies like Rick Steves, Gate 1, and OAT obviously have greater resources and are able to offer multiple dates.

I think you would be sharing the train compartment with other members of your tour - no longer strangers after only a few days! However, whenever I see that a tour is staying in accommodations other than a hotel or guesthouse, I pretty much resign myself to having a restless night and just focus on the good parts of the experience. For instance, a lot of people love overnighting on boats in Halong Bay or the Kerala Backwaters. I’ve done both — and I was glad to get to the hotel following those experiences (although I loved the scenery!).

China is an amazing country so I hope you find something that suits you!

We took a GAdventure tour of China 12 years ago. We enjoyed it very much. It's very much like a RS tour. There is a maximum of 14 participants. Our group had 4 British, 4 Aussies, 1 Belgian, and us 2 Americans. They do attract younger people, though 3 were in our 60s and 2 were in their 70s. They use a lot of public transportation, and the tour guide teaches you how to use it, also.

We had the overnight train from Xian to Shanghai. I believe there were 6 to our room in bunk beds. We allowed those who needed the bottom bunk to do so. Some of us shared the bunk beds with locals. There were squat toilets on the train. And many families were cooking their dinners in the train. Our guide brought dinners and breakfast onto the train.

"I really like OAT but they do not currently offer China."

Before I saw your comment, a neighbor also recommended OAT, and I found this:
https://www.oattravel.com/trips/land-adventures/asia/chinas-imperial-cities-natural-splendor-modern-marvels/2021/itineraries?icid=fyasearch_trippanel_triplink

"New! China’s Imperial Cities, Natural Splendor & Modern Marvels"

Basically, a 21 day trip to China! They also offer a 5 day extension to Tibet, which is what we really want. So now I'm going to research this some more.

They offer Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov departures in 2026.

Not sure if this could work for you, its a tour company that has offices in the UK and Australia, I did a Japan trip with them last year and they were great (22 on my trip, 5 from the UK and 17 from Australia). And I have a tour booked to China next year with them

Their UK website is - https://www.wendywutours.co.uk (The tours shown on this website will indicate prices in UK£ and this prices would assume the cost of economy flights UK/China.)

If the tours were of interest, it may be worth an email to see if they could work with you. I know on my trip, when i rang they were very helpful in sorting out specific flight arrangements, All of us on the trip had different flight arrangements to assorted airports in the UK and Australia, some of us had add-ons to the main trip to Hone Kong, South Korea, or extra days in Japan etc, and they sorted all the arrangements out, so may be worth asking. (Or may be possible to do a "land only" trip and you sort out your own flights),

Thank you, I stand corrected about OAT. That is a brand new one, looks interesting.

For those who have used OAT before, how would you 'compare and contrast' them with a Rick Steves tour?

The relevant 'features' of the RS tour, for us, were as follows:
1) Great group of people - seemed to be an intelligent, well-traveled crowd, and not one person mentioned politics, which was welcomed at the current moment. I described them as a 'typical PBS crowd'!
2) Good group size - 28 people is at the upper limit of what I think is 'good', but the coach we had seated 50 so we were able to spread out nicely on the coach. I see that the OAT trip in China is 'maximum 16 people'. That sounds good in many ways (better than RS), but - it may also imply a 'large minivan' vs a big motor-coach, which would ironically be more crowded.
3) Great guide. Our guide was fantastic (Nico).
4) Great itinerary. Nothing felt like a waste of time, everything seemed well-chosen.
5) Mostly good 'events' - we had a visit to a chocolate factory, a dairy farm, and others that were interesting and informative. We had one 'event' related to yodeling which was pure torture but it didn't last too long.
6) Nice mix of group meals and personal meals. Roughly, ever other night was 'free time' to find a restaurant on our own, interspersed with 'group meals'. The group meals were 'quite good' (always a challenge to feed 28 people at once). In China, I've heard that it's difficult to order on your own outside of major hotels (my partner went to China with her Chinese friend (speaks but does not read Chinese), and even she could not figure out how to order (her dialect was inappropriate for the location) so more 'group meals' are likely on the cards, which would be fine.
7) Luggage is your own responsibility. I actually liked the fact that you haul your own luggage to/from the coach. I've been on excursions where you have to put your luggage outside your room by 10pm, and I hate it. But I'm probably in a minority on this one.
8) Good hotels. Some were better than others, but all were 'acceptable'. The locations were always great (VERY central, walking-distance to everything) - which I imagine is a signature of Rick Steves tours.
9) Pricing seemed appropriate. This one is a tough one to compare, as I expect China is on the one-had relatively cheap, but then, they are having to cater to a 'western visitor' which may make options limited.

I'm not expecting to 'replicate' the RS tour exactly, but it would be interesting to hear how my list above compares to an OAT experience.