Hong Kong Holidays

Wendy Wu - A China experience with Hong Kong in focus extension beforehand October 2024.
An amazing holiday, in which I briefly visited four large cities and saw the highlights of each - Hong Kong, Shanghai, Xi'an and Beijing.
Good hotel choices, great food (western palette, nothing odd - which was a relief, in fact many dishes were suitable for vegetarians).
Just long enough at each site, it's as much as can be achieved in 12 days.
Thanks must go to national guide Gary and local guides Troy, Eileen and Jade - as well as the rest of the tour group, who made the whole experience enjoyable.

We had been to Hong Kong & Beijing before, but the Grand Tour was a whole new level of understanding of China. The trip organisation by Wendy Wu was faultless & our national guide, David He, was exceptional, showing patience & understanding where needed plus a great knowledge of China. He worked hard to satisfy Gluten / Veggy food needs – not always easy with this style of meal service. Local guides in each town were also really good. Hotels varied from good to great, with priority usually being location. The Yangshuo hotel, for example, was a bit older but we stepped straight out onto West St, and breakfast was simple but had an exceptional view. There is a lot of travel involved with 3 each internal flights & trains, but Chinese trains & airports put the UK to shame! Overall the food was at least good sometimes great. Breakfast did not always include a wide ‘Western’ selection but then we were foreigners in China - How many foreign breakfast options do UK hotels have? Bus management was brilliant – a snap of the electronic fingers & it was there. We had not done a ‘follow the flag’ holiday or used Wendy Wu before. We will definitely do both again. Thanks again David. 

If you are considering a long trip in China for the first time – lessons we learned:
> Grand tour lunch & dinner is 26 days of Chinese food, with set dishes, off a lazy susan except for a few packed lunches & the Yangtze cruise. Some of the dishes may not be to your taste – be flexible.
> You will need to handle your luggage – journeys involve suitcases + escalators + airports & stations
> Out walking at night in China - this is the safest I have ever felt either at home or travelling.
> Don’t think too hard about the tip pot, it just works, saving time & hassle.
> Alipay attached to your UK credit card is super quick & easy to use if you have an active phone.
> Install Wechat to contact family in case you cannot get Whatsapp to work – basically the same (Family will also have to install).
> VPN’s did not reliably work. But they do have 30 day money back warranty. I tried Express / Nord
> If your phone accepts e-sim, get one. Ours gave us access to Western websites with no VPN and always worked.
> You may be sharing China with lots of domestic tourists – check when their major holidays are.
> The Yangtze cruise was great & we are happy we did not upgrade either room or meal options. Upgraders were equally happy with their choice - do not worry about it.
Totally recommended.
Paul & Tracy

Very well organised throughout the holiday apart from pick up from airport Not enough information on arriving to Hong Kong Jackie our main tour guide was very professional took meticulous attention on our needs felt very secure and looked after. I couldn’t recommend him more. Sammy in Shanghai wasn’t so good. I kept asking her to walk slower ended up getting lost for half an hour in the pouring rain Lily was absolutely lovely very knowledgeable and Jackie made a wonderful team. Angie was okay but didn’t give that little bit extra unlike Jackie and Lily all the restaurants were excellent very accommodating all the hotels were clean and some were excellent. The hotel in Hong Kong nice hotel, but the rooms were very basic . The guide in Hong Kong was very knowledgeable a very nice man who looked after the two of us perfectly old transport was good from taxis, coaches and airlines no complaints overall an excellent holiday. Very good value for money. I loved the whole experience of China and Hong Kong and I would definitely definitely, recommend Wendy to anyone

Service rating : Excellent & varied itinerary. Delivered to us with no hitchesat all.
Product : Guides, city tours, shows, coach & food excellent.
They tell you to bring comfortable shoes. Do so, especially for the Great Wall & the fascinating three hour walk in Tiananmen Square & the Forbidden City.
The offices in London & Shanghai very helpful in getting us out of Hong Kong before the typhoon arrived, so that we were able to join the tour on time.

Highly professional, customer focussed team. Extremely knowledgable about the areas visited in china. Our national tour guide, Jason Goa, who stayed with us throughout our Glories of China tour was the best we have ever had and the local guides supported him very well.
When we had a mix up regarding the breakfasts in our Hong Kong two day add on, Wendy Wu in the UK were very helpful in sorting it out by email and that was at a weekend.
The booking arrangements were smooth and carefree as they offer the Visa service. The itinerary and tickets arrived on time and with enough information for each day without overloading us with paper.
Transfers and internal flights were handled seamlessly and we didn't have to worry about the luggage. We just had to turn up and enjoy ourselves.

Service rating : The whole tour was superbly organised from the moment we landed in Hong Kong to our departure two and a half weeks later in Beijing. We didn't have to worry about a thing. The bulk of the credit for this has to go to our fabulous Tour Guide Element Ning who was not only totally professional and worked really hard to keep everyone happy, but to his personality and rapport with the other members of the party. All our requests were catered for and nothing was too much trouble for him, he made our holiday.
Product : The whole Tour was wonderful, but my favourite part was the four days on the Yangtze River, it was so peaceful and the boat was lovely. We upgraded our room and were very pleased that we had done so. We had lots of space and a balcony to relax on. The Pandas came a very close second. Having said all that, it really was difficult to choose as it was all superb. The food also was excellent and very varied.

Service rating : Enthusiastic, well-informed, reassuring and supportive advice and leadership from all our Tour Guides, but above all our National Guide Sophie, who adopted me on my arrival as a solo traveller on her first Asian trip, whose suitcase hadn't made it from Hong Kong to Guilin. She went shopping with me to make sure I had everything I wanted until my suitcase caught up. And never lost her charm, calm or sense of humour during our 3 weeks of travel around many hotels in several provinces.
Product : All inclusive, trains, planes, coaches, hotels and nearly all our meals. Not to mention all the time, patience and assistance from all our Guides, who didn't just accompany us in working hours, but went out of their way to assist with any additional exploration we wanted, such as a local massage in Chongqing, cocktails in Giulin and coming shopping with us to help get clothes and toiletries

Great tour of Chins with a couple of nights in Hong Kong too! Our guide (Sophie) was great and Great Wall Terracotta Army Shanghai and River Yangsee were the highlights....highly recommended!!!!

Service rating : Faultless. Myu our Myanmar guide was truly amazing. Nothing was too much trouble. He went far more than the extra mile. The drivers were all very safe the hotels were good and all had interesting features. The food was wonderful but really it all came down to myu and all his tremendous hard work ensuring each and everyone of us had an unforgettably wonderful time. I would highly recommend Wendy wu tours. Myanmar was an unforgettable experience. One black mark in Hong Kong we were made take heavy cases and hand luggage down an escalator when there was a lift available , that was down just to the local airport guide. Ever other aspect was truly five star
Product : It gave a terrific overview of Myanmar. They packed so much in. We were able to see many sides of the country. We were lucky on two counts. One was myu our guide who was absolutely fantastic and the second we were there at festival time

Service rating : Yes 5 star for the China experience but 1 star for the stop off in. Hong Kong, thiis was our Anniversary and in Hong Kong had the smallest room and Hotel was being renovated had Wendy Wu contacted us we would had upgraded
Product : Excellent tour guide Johnson you are a star

Service rating : From the day of booking our holiday, our actual holiday and return home we have been given excellent service throughout from Wendy Wu Tours. Our tour representative, Alice, was wonderful. She was very informative and was always a pleasure to be with. The whole tour was brilliant - we saw everything that we wanted to see and more. We would definitely recommend Wendy Wu Tours to all our family and friends. Thank you very much.
Product : Our trip to Hong Kong was brilliant. Wendy Wu Tours had arranged a half day tour to Hong Kong Island. This was excellent. We were taken to all the memorable places and able to walk around and take photos. Overall experience of the whole holiday - excellent.