This Wendy Wu trip was a wonderful mix of experiencing both some of the most amazing natural scenery in the World and the hustle and bustle of Chinese city life.

Our prime reason for booking this tour was to visit places like Zhangjiajie and Jiuzhaigou and these places were indeed AMAZING! For us, however, we found that the two weeks were extremely "full-on", action packed with one visit after another after another, with very little opportunity to come up for air. We would have loved a little more down-time, with opportunities for us to opt out of some of the city visits to go and explore a little more for ourselves. For example, squeezing in visits to some of the extremely crowded places like Hongyu Dong in Chongqing after a long day was not a lot of fun.

We have come home with fantastic memories and photos, but also really exhausted, far more so than after our previous Wendy Wu "China Delights" holiday in October 2019.

The highlights:
1) EVERYTHING in Zhangjiajie, from the National Forest Park to the Glass Bridge and especially the visit to Tianmen Mountain - just breathtaking! LJ, our local guide was exemplary, guiding us as best he could through the crowds and queues around for the Qingming Festival. He was so informative, a great communicator and a real "people person", an absolute gem.
2) the visit and walk in the Black Mountain Valley was an unexpected delight. So tranquil and picturesque - a perfect day!
3) The simple breathtaking visit up to the astonishing Huanglong area, so high up in the mountains and just the most amazing sight to behold - and such a sense of achievement ascending to 3500 metres altitude!
4) The Dazu Rock Carvings were so interesting and awe-inspiring! I now need to read up on all the history and origins.
5) Inevitably, the pandas in Chengdu were just a joy to see.
6) All the meals were excellent (except the Farewell HotPot dinner in Chongqing which was arranged for 4:30 pm, far far too early to enjoy, particularly as we had tucked into a good lunch just a few hours before with no knowlege that dinner would be so early! Such a shame, as we would have loved to indulge fully in this special meal).

We also particularly enjoyed the odd occasions where we had time to go off and explore by ourselves, away from the organised schedule and experience the sights and sounds in our own time, in a more relaxed manner. These included:
- travelling on the subway over to Orange Island in Changsha, and then trying some of the street food
- our scheduled free evening in Chengdu after the panda visit, strolling along the riverside and trying food at one of the street food restaurants.
- an early morning hour's stroll around the little city park below our hotel in Chongqing, at Louis' suggestion. Such a peaceful start to the day, watching groups and individuals doing their early morning exercise, inspiring us to do some of our own stretching exercises by the lily ponds!
- The scheduled free evening stroll around Fenghuang, taking in all the beautiful illuminated sights and sounds along the river. A really vibrant and colourful scene.
- it was just great fun interacting with Chinese people, trying to talk some mandarin with them, and enjoying their requests to have photos taken with us westerners! We found them so helpful and friendly when trying to master Alipay, or buy tickets for the metro or select food in the street food restaurants.

The downsides:
We felt that the tour was just a bit too relentless, with too much being squeezed into absolutely every day. There were moments when we were too exhausted to appreciate everything. It would have been preferable to have some of the visits, particularly in the cities, as optional extras that you could either partake in or opt out of. Being jostled by crowds and crowds of people, trying to "follow the flag" and not lose the group were not our idea of fun, or time well spent. Maybe the tour could be a extended by a couple of days to allow for a bit of "recovery time" between places and activities.

Specific suggestions:
- maybe have an opportunity to see the night life of Chongqing from a river boat cruise (rather like the experience in Shanghai), rather than in the thick of the crowds?
- maybe in the Nine Villages Valley have a private shuttle bus for the Wendy Wu Group to take us from lake to lake, rather than having to join the manic jostling for a place on the shuttle buses with everyone else. This was exhausting! A private mini-bus would also give us more flexibility on timings and walks we could do between lakes?

Finally, a word for Louis, our Wendy Wu national ******. He was wonderful, quietly efficient and friendly and patient and very very knowledgeable. Our group of travelling companions were great fun. A group of strong and very individual personalities who all gelled very well together right from the start.

Thank you Wendy Wu for such a wonderful trip. Now the task of sorting through all the photos ....

An excellent itinerary packed with breathtaking scenery and magical places. Our national ******, Louis and the local guides, LJ, Viola and David were all fantastic to run the tour, very knowledge and well organised.
A huge thank you to Louis who went extra miles to show us more beautiful landmarks in his home city, Chongqing.
Hotels were all excellent except the ones in Fenghuang and Nine Villages Valley. Our farewell dinner Hot pot was so much fun!
Food was mostly very good.
Physical level for this tour should be 5 not 2! Most days involve walking 4-5 hours. In Nine Villages Valley the public shuttle buses should be replaced by private mini buses. The days are long enough and involve lots of long hours walking so waiting in long queues for public buses make days more tiring....
In Zhangjiajie, VIP services should be used all the way to avoid waiting in long queues.....
Dazu Rock Carvings on the last day of the tour should be an optional excursion to give chance for some to have free time to spend in Chongqing.
Airchina was not aware of our special meal request.
The optional show in Zhangjiaije was an amazing performance. Must see!
I highly recommend this tour. Every day of this tour was a highlight from the spectacular national parks to vibrant cities and of course adorable panda. All superbly organised!!
Thank you so much Wendy Wu and the team for giving us such a memorable fabulous holiday!🥰

Dreams of Nature UKQ660552
5th to 27th September 2024

This was without no doubt my one of the best and
truly felt like a Wish and Dream come true fulfilled
with absolutely excellent experiences and bringing back lifetime lingering memories

It was very well organised with detailed daily itineraries and seamless tour culminating in my safe return home. The Travel Consultants are very friendly, knowledgeable and very professional in portraying its Owner Wendy Wu's passion, enthusiasm and offering a unique travel experiences not only as China but worldwide Tours

The Hotels were of high quality standards and unique in its own ways!
.
Our National guide Raymond Lu was very professional with excellent historical and Geographical knowledge, fantastic customer services, always eager to help and support with positive attitude and always had a good focus for care safety and with great attention to details no matter how minute it may appeared throughout the journey - be it Hotel check in, comfort breaks dietary requirements, Bullet train and cruises checking and
to endless lists of the questions etc fellow travellers!
We were also fortunate to have local guides Oscar,LJ and Peter showing their respective regions with Passion expertise and made us feel welcoming

I would highly recommend without any hesitations to Feel, See, smell, Taste, Hear and experience with Difference these incredible Natural wonders of China - my favourite Zhangjiajie and the national parks with breathtaking and stunning views of the sandstone pillars,gorges and the canyons- unique experiences walking on the Glass bridge and the walkways.
The magnificent Yangtze River Cruise with the Professional and friendliest Crew ever, Three gorges Dam with its historical and magnificent Engineering feat and the Upstream & Downstream Ship upliftment and many more excursions were well organised My another favourite was the
Part of Tibet - Nine Villages Valley with mesmerising crystal clear lakes,Rivers Waterfalls and natural , serene and tranquil views

The culinary dietary requirements as a vegetarian were well looked after plus all the local folklore and evening entertainments were amazing!

In my views China is openly welcoming back Tourism and I will certainly look forward to explore other known parts of China and book the tour with One & Only Wendy Wu Tours my all time Favourite.

Dreams of Nature UKQ660552 certainly exceeded my expectations 😘

With much appreciation and from the bottom of my heart I Would like to say a big "Thank You to All at Wendy Wu Tours in making this dream come true!

Acknowledging the virtual Tour clip with Wendy and her Top Team first visit after China reopened made my heart set to visit these lovely place - want to revisit the dream !!!