This Wendy Wu tour was arranged well and lots on the itinerary. The hotels generally were good but at times food was so repetitive and quite bland except when eating in local restaurants. I think they try to play safe by eating in other hotels with international foods.
Our guide was knowledgeable and so helpful, nothing was too much trouble, suggesting extras for us.
On the whole I would recommend this tour if you like different cultures/temples etc.
Be aware of hear and humidity and importance of keeping hydrated.

Overall the holiday was quite good and the programme was very varied, but we did not think it was as good as holidays we had had with other companies. The mix of different nationalities within the group was good, but we found the group size, 27, larger than we were used to, which probably contributed to communication difficulties. The guide was conscientious and worked hard, but it was difficult to understand him, we only understood about 50% of what was said. The hotels varied in quality and despite a warning about expectations, they were not all up to the standards I expected. One hotel, The Mida Resort, had a policy of charging people who had mistakenly opened the wrong bottle of water and tried to charge us for a glass they wrongly claimed was missing. This held up the departure for half an hour and left us feeling annoyed. With the exception of the Laluna in Chiang Rai, which was excellent, better hotels were available at the other locations and could have been used.
There was also an issue when a week into the holiday 2 members of the group were asked to leave, apparently because of complaints about their fitness/disabilities. A difficult problem for Wendy Wu to resolve, but this led to a difference of opinion within the group as to how it was handled.

I loved the service I received from Wendy Wu - from start to finish communication was not ever an issue. Last minute plans for a Christmas trip and Wendy Wu made it happen. Nothing was an issue.. I know there was not much lead time but fabulous service and all taken care of.

The service I had was fantastic. They helped quickly and smoothly. Was able to accommodate my requests and was incredibly responsive.
I’ve been in a tour with Wendy Wu before and the service was flawless back then too.

Polite , helpful and informative member of staff Natasha . Confident to book with her .


Offered flight options which gave me a choice of routes and times

Easy booking process. Helpful advice on the telephone. This is our 5th tour with them and all have been very good.

Saw some amazing sites and enjoyed travelling through three very different countries. Our guide in Malaysia was fabulous and really made the trip for us due to his enthusiasm for the culture and food of Malaysia, his never ending energy, and his brilliant organisation - he also added in some extras such as the boat tour on the mirror lake number 2 which was a beautiful hidden world and should be part of the core trip in my view. However the trip was heavily mis-sold as it was not a rail trip at all - whenever we were on the train our bags were being taken by the coach to the next stop (and often getting there much quicker than we did), so for those booking a rail trip for environmental reasons this was disappointing. The Thailand part of the trip was not good at all, with a number of excursions detailed in the itinerary being cut short or not possible due to lack of time, not helped by the Phuket hotel being on the opposite side of the island to the excursions, resulting in the requirement for 3-4 hour round trips each day and multiple very early (5am, 6am, 7am) starts and late finishes on consecutive days resulting in the group rebelling and adjusting the itinerary and a number of people being so exhausted they opted out of a couple of days trips to sleep and recover. Finally, the FAQs stated an average age range of 40-65 but all but 2 travellers were over 70 so may be an important consideration for some younger travellers.

Having booked this tour on 2 other occasions only for it to be cancelled, we were very excited that this tour was now running until we saw the reviews from the previous November 2024 tour. We contacted Wendy Wu to query the issues the reviewer had raised regarding the flight changes and the poor roads to the Plain of Jars and frankly the Wendy Wu representative was completely unhelpful and was either unable or unwilling to answer any of our questions /concerns regarding this tour.
We approached the tour with some trepidation; the stay in Luang Prabang was OK but as with the majority of the hotels throughout the tour the breakfast was very basic for the Western palate and the hotel was not centrally placed. Due to the tour group being split between 2 mini buses (due to UNESCO restrictions on size of vehicles) you did not always have access to the guide.
The real issues started on the journey to Phonsavan, yes Wendy Wu had warned us that the roads were not in the same condition as Western roads but not in my wildest dreams did we imagine that the journey would be this bad. For the majority of the 11 hour trip in a mini bus there was no road surface, you were basically driving on sand and rubble with regular potholes that really tested the suspension and safety of the vehicle. We wondered if we were on an episode of the World’s Most Dangerous Roads! The journey was extremely tiring and very uncomfortable. A 4 by 4 would have made the journey more comfortable and safer. It was telling that on this road to a UNESCO site we only saw one other tourist mini bus. Unfortunately having endured this journey, 2 days later we were back on the same road again for a further 7 hours.
The last 5 days of the tour were very rushed with only one night stops. We understand that this was due to an itinerary change as Lao Airlines stopped flying from Pakse to Bangkok in 2024 but why wasn’t this adjusted on the Feb 2025 tour?
In addition there was a major issue with internal flights although fortunately we were not directly affected.On 2 occasions there were no tickets on the internal flights for 9 of fellow travellers, on the first occasion people managed to fly on a standby ticket although 4 of the tour plus the guide had to endure a 14 hour minibus journey to the hotel arriving at around 5 am next day then had to do a day of touristing. Despite the guide checking with his head office and given reassurance that all the tour had tickets on the next internal flight, the same 9 passengers again had no tickets for the flight. Yet again they had to wait for standby tickets and 1 person had to go to Thailand to catch a flight to Bangkok. The end of the holiday finished on a low and the farewell meal was not enjoyed.
Fortunately our guide Pet was extremely knowledgeable and very calm despite all the challenges of this tour.
Whilst we acknowledge that on some occasions itineraries need to be changed at short notice Wendy Wu were fully aware of the issues this tour suffered in November 2024 yet allowed our February tour to go ahead with the same itinerary. Due to Wendy Wu’s inability to address our concerns and provide information when we contacted them prior to the tour and the inefficiency of the local company used in Laos we would be very unlikely to book Wendy Wu again which is a shame as this was our third trip with them.

This was an excellent tour but don't agree with Wendy Wu stating quality hotels located centrally on website when you book only to find the last 5 nights in LAOS are not central. Either too far to walk or unsafe to walk. 3 nights in a hotel that did not provide western breakfast cold fried eggs and using a microwave to try and do toast. Last day we were free from breakfast until 18.30pm when we were being taken to airport and nothing to do and nowhere to go and out of our room by 12 noon. Guide did not give any suggestions. Waste of our time. When we arrived in LAOS was dropped at hotel at 14.00pm and told free time until 18.30pm no options of what we could do. If we wanted to travel independently would not be booking group tour. Too much free time in LAOS and wasted time that could have been spent more constructively. We don't expect to pay the money we did to Wendy Wu to find hotels costing £30 a night when hotels with facilities were centrally located for £70 abd were available. Wendy Wu has got too greedy since we went to China in 2016. Won't be using them again. Guides were saying the tipping money was too much they did not know what to spend it on. Wendy wu has lost the plot.

An excellent holiday , the group was the correct size 14, and we all got on well after a couple of days. The guides were excellent and put in the extra effort that was appreciated by everyone. The venues were good , though the first day in. Bangkok was hard work after a long flight and getting used to temperate and humidity. Thailand was amazing I saw places that were exceptional. Laos was much more 3rd would and the hotels were a bit remote. Apart from the one on the river section. A super holiday which I would like to do again but to a different part of the planet !

It was the worst holiday ever

Online booking friendly and eficient