Real China Travel
Real China Travel
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City Tours • Cultural Tours • Sightseeing Tours • Private Tours • Photography Tours
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Where pandas live, Chengdu, Real China life! Hi there! I am Victor Wang. I am from Leshan where the Giant Buddha is and now live in Chengdu where the pandas live. I have been taking tourists around China for a few western tour companies between 2004 and 2011. During this time, I bought my first camera and then I fell in love with taking pictures. The magnificent views, the impressive persons, and especially the memorable moments with my guests gave me a fantastic memory. In order to spend more time with my family, I quited the tour leader job and then worked in Chengdu as a local guide and photographer 2 years ago. I have been to most of the places of Chengdu, especially the poor, backward and minority areas, for both groups and pictures. All these built me a passion to Chengdu and I really want to show it to the visitors. On the other hand, after 10 years working with the foreigners, I knew what you want to see, Real China life, but not just the morden cement forests. I will share my working experience in the Panda Base with you when we visit there. I will lead you to meet the real monks or Daoists in the temple, even eat with them. I will recommend you to try the culinary(yummy!) gems off the beaten tracks in the city and you can also learn how to make them. I will introduce you to see the lama's sutra-debating at the biggest tibetan buddhism institute. I will sugguest you the right place and right time to take a best picture. In a word, I will show you the best of Chengdu whilst saving your time and hassle. If you are planning to visit China, please do not miss Chengdu, if you want to visit Chengdu, please do not forget Victor! Let us meet as strangers but part as good friends!
Chengdu, Sichuan, China

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Tours and Tickets by Real China Travel
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.

5.0
119 reviews
Excellent
115
Very good
4
Average
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Kristina S
66 contributions
Oct 2019
Just to begin with, we were so lucky to find Victor at Real China Travel! I always do a lot of research before our travels and once again, it was worth it. We have contacted Victor way ahead to plan for us 8 day trip around Sichuan Province with our two kids (14 and 12yo). He suggested the itinerary and we have visited the following sites: Mount Emei, Leshan Giant Buddha, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Mount Qingcheng, Dujiangyan Irrigation System and Dujiangyan Panda Base. Victor accompanied us the entire time, doing the driving and travel guiding. He was so knowledgeable about everything, it really blew our minds away. We loved to spend the time with him, getting to know all details about the history, culture, sports, food, etc. As not many local people speak English, Victor was our connection to the exciting place and we could not imagine not having him around. After a long day, he always took us for some special culinary treat. He was just a perfect guide and we could not thank him enough! We had an amazing time. Next time, for sure we will go with Real China Travel again.
Written August 11, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

CarlCDonnington
Newbury, UK52 contributions
May 2018 • Friends
Victor looked after us excellently , Pandas in the morning and a tour of Chendu in the afternoon , tea house , old Chengdu , and a monestery
Victors English is excellent , as is his knowlege of Pandas , Tea and Chengdu Heritage
Good quality transport and very punctual on time to pick us up .
Real China treavel have also arranged me tours throughout China and have very good knowledge and contacts to arrange you a complete internary to Tour China as well as City and one day tours
5 stars for Real China Travel and Victor
Written May 19, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much, my dear friend!!!
Written May 20, 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

bull c
1 contribution
Mar 2017 • Friends
A huge thanks to Victor for being our guide from the moment we arrived at Chengdu airport until the time we left a few days later. Victor arranged appropriate transportation for our group of six also taking into consideration our luggage and comfort.

He was with us from the morning until night, in Chengdu we ate at the traditional authentic restaurants, visited the Panda Centre, driving to Leshan for the giant Buddha, and touring the streets of Leshan.

Totally professional and very knowledgeable, it was an educational and fun experience. He stayed away from the tourist traps, thank you Victor!

Our only regret is that we didn't spend more time in beautiful Sichuan. Perhaps on our next visit we will make it a point of seeing more of this beautiful province, with Victor, of-course!

We simply had a blast!

Highly recommended, Victor will not disappoint. A+++

Thank you, Victor!
Written April 3, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much for the reviews!
Written April 27, 2017
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

TongBo
Pisa, Italy270 contributions
Sep 2015 • Couples
I contacted Daniel and his travel agency to organize a tour to South Sichuan (Bamboo sea in Yibin, Xingwen Stone Forest and Hanging Coffins in Luobiao). I usually like travelling by myself, but in this case I wanted to rent a car, for it needed too much time to go there by public transportation. Among the many agencies I was in contact with, Real China travel seemed the most serious and reliable one. I exchanged a lot of emails with the owner, who was very attentive in defining each detail of the itinerary and providing suggestions and adjustments. As for the prices, although expensive (as generally private tours are), they are in line with the quote I was given by other agencies. Moreover, I deliberately chose the best hotels in the region.
In sum, I decided to choose Daniel because of his carefulness in arranging plans and also because on his website I was well impressed by his statements about responsible tourism (and by his beautiful photos of natural sceneries too). Once in Chengdu, he was very kind and went to my hotel to meet me in person. I greatly appreciated this courtesy. He did not accompany us personally, but he sent us a guide and a very professional driver. In particular, I would like to praise the excellent services provided by the driver. As for the guide, she was fine and helpful, but I would suggest to include a further option of arranging tours with drivers only for those who are "lonelyplaneters" (as I stated, I am very independent and like travelling by myself, even in China). Unfortunately we had to cancel part of the tour because of bad weather and of illness (Daniel was very honest and refunded me the cost of one night in the hotel), but we had nonetheless the opportunity to appreciate and visit a beautiful region. In particular, the Boren Xuanguan, or Hanging Coffins of the Bo people, which are a very interesting, although little known, site at about 2,30 hours from the Shunan Zhuhai, the bamboo sea (yes, distancies in China are Greater than I could imagine). Besides, the countryside there is very interesting too and by passing in the village of Luobiao you will enjoy a typical aspect of traditional China, which often escapes to mass tourists.
I wish to thank Daniel and Real China tour for having arranged all this in a perfect and impeccable way, therefore I cannot but reccommend him for his very professional services as travel agent.
Written October 19, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

bjrmd
New York City, NY92 contributions
May 2019 • Solo
Just completed a 7 day itinerary arranged by e mail and done in 2 parts Sichuan and Yunnan. Victor organized and arranged the ground transportation and guide portion of the trip and everything worked out perfectly. He is completely reliable accurate and flexible, and a pleasure to spend time with.
Best of all he really knows where to go and what to do and how to make the most of three days in and around Chengdu. He quickly assess your interests and will accommodate...This is not a cookie-cutter Tour. For us one of the highlights was a visit to a tea house in the suburbs of Chengdu that was something out of a movie set. Completely original unspoiled and cinematic!
The Yunnan portion of the trip was arranged with a partner agency and was filled with multiple stops and covered a lot of territory and again very flexible and very accommodating.
Overall a comprehensive and terrific time in China in places that are well known to Chinese tourists but we did not see many western tourists.
Thank you Victor!
Best Barry and Shelly
Written May 31, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

J.Dub
8 contributions
Mar 2019 • Couples
We took the tea tour of Mengding mountain in early March, when the early Spring tea buds just began to sprout. It was our first time visiting Chengdu and the south western China. Our guide, Victor, is a native Sichuanese who knows a lot about the history of Sichuan and Chengdu. He’s a nice, friendly guy, well prepared, exceptionally fluent in English, and for the most part, quite accommodating. (For instance, he loaned us money at the tea farm because we were out of cash, and ATMs weren’t available on the mountain). We liked Victor a lot, so it really pained me to write this not-so-stellar review for his tour.

The overall experience of this tour was underwhelming at best. We spent about 5 hours on transportation (driving to and from the mountain, and round trip cable car rides), for a barely 3 hours guided tour that could’ve been condensed into two. The actual activities include (1) a quick stop at a vista point for a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains, (2) a 30 min slow walk on top of the mountain (not much to see there really, and would’ve been better if it was more of a real hike), and (3) a visit to a small tea farm nearby. There was a lot of sitting around waiting for lunch and chatting with the tea lady without translation help from the guide (I know limited Mandarin—not enough to understand everything that the lady said. I was looking for our guide to help with the translation, but couldn’t find him so I just nodded mostly and translated whatever I could to my boyfriend who doesn’t speak a word of Chinese). We had lunch at the farm that was very healthy and delicious. We looked around the small tea garden a bit (the area that we got to see was really small, like backyard size), picked a few tea leaves, and for the most part, watched the tea roasting demonstration by the tea master. The tea master let us try our hands at tea roasting and rolling a bit, and we acknowledged how difficult tea processing is. It’s interesting and all, but I just don’t think it’s worth spending the whole day traveling so far for so little activities. The cost of the tour is also not cheap, and we still have to pay extras for all the entrance tickets, cable car tickets, parking ticket, lunch, and the tea farm visitation.

Just a few days before our trip, our guide informed us that tea farm visit’s price has gone up by 62% due to the price of tea. He asked if we would still like to do it, but it wasn’t clear what the alternative would be. Given what we know now, there is not much else to do on the mountain. Why would we pay for the tour otherwise?

The other thing that is extremely disappointing is that prior to our trip, I asked Victor if he could give us some tips to this other tea house in Pengzhen so we could go there ourselves (not part of the paid tour). Our guide said the transportation might be difficult, and kindly offered to take us to this tea house during our tour date without extra charge (it’s kind of on the way). Because of that, we didn’t go to the Pengzhen tea house by ourselves earlier. However, on our tour date, after we finished the tea farm activities (3pm), our guide said it’s already too late to go to the Pengzhen tea house because all the tea goers would be gone. It was our last day in Chengdu (and our guide knew) so unfortunately we had to miss out on that tea place that I was really looking forwards to (more so than the Mengding mountain). Our guide could’ve taken us there the first thing in the morning if he knew it might be too late after the tea farm. I just wish we had gone to that tea house ourselves prior to the tour date instead of relying on an empty promise that our guide couldn’t deliver.

In conclusion, while we had fun here and there, this tour was really not a good use of our time and money. We felt the need to write this review because I had read reviews of a similar tour on TripAdvisor (done by a different guide) saying that this tour was the highlight of their trips. We booked this tour in part due to those reviews, and Victor seems to have solid ratings from his other tours. We want to provide a different perspective to other travelers. Maybe this tour in particular isn’t what our guide is known for. We don’t recommend this Mengding tea tour, no matter how much you like tea (we do!). As for our guide and the tour operation, they are fine—professional, well prepared, but don’t expect them to go the extra mile.

I’m sad to say that of my 7 days traveling in the China southwest, this tour was possibly the most underwhelming one.
Written March 13, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

clyg22
San Francisco, CA15 contributions
Dec 2018 • Family
Victor and his team in Chongqing and Beijing were wonderful. We were travelling with 11 family members from the ages of 84 to 13 years old. We had limited time in both places so it was very quick moving. Oliver, the guide in Chongqing was extremely accommodating and showed us as much as he could in 6 hrs.

Our guide, Demi was great in Beijing. She was very sensitive to my older parents' needs while keeping the young members of the group engaged.
Written January 3, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much for the reviews and it was our honor and pleasure to work for your family trip. All the bests!
Written January 7, 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

yluzzatto
Israel10 contributions
Oct 2016 • Family
Victor was our guide in Chengdu, Emey Mountain and Panda tour.
We could not have asked for a better guide.
He is knowledgeable, speaks good English, well organized and most importantly a really nice person.
He had a good rapport with the children, was flexible when we asked for small changes to the schedule, helped us to avoid tourist traps.
He was also available to us on the phone for advice even after we left Chengdu!
We had great time with him and had a hard time leaving.
Written February 11, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much!!! I miss you all!!!
Written February 20, 2017
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

KentCandy01
East Peckham, UK39 contributions
May 2016 • Family
What a great tour by Daniel, we were a party of four and found Daniel with recommendations from people on trip adviser and how right they was. We spent the day going to Dujiangyan Panda base and the irrigation park. Daniel sorted everything out picking us up at 07.30 from our hotel, he done the arrangements that we wanted for photos with the pandas, which is an amazing experience, we stopped for lunch where Daniel helped us order some amazing food that was a really good price, the irrigation is much better than it sounds with beautiful gardens, temples, shops and more. After all this we chilled out at a bar or u can go to a tea house before going to the Chinese face changing show, Daniel spent all this time with us and dropped us back at our hotel. It was an amazing day and Daniel was great, his English was perfect, a really nice person and gave us great value and a wonderful day that was a highlight of our holiday. I will definitely use him again if in Chengdu. Email him on realchinatravel@foxmail.com
You won't be disappointed he really is the jackpot of tour guilds.
Written May 26, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

DamianS_11
San Francisco, California10 contributions
Nov 2015 • Solo
I had always been interested in Sichuan food and so on a trip to Shanghai, I opted to spend a few days in Chendu to get the real deal. Since Chendu is not as well documented as other major cities, I opted to contact Victor as a tour guide. I have to say that it was the best decision I've made in a while on a trip. Chengdu turned out to be a bit "opaque" to a person that doesn't speak the language and tour books don't give that much deal. I hired Victor for a few days, and he carted me all over Sichuan in his car, showing me everything from the sublime (Giant Buddha at Lushan) to the charming (an old tea house) to the whimsical (pandas). One of the highlights was his arrangement with the Museum of Sichuan Cuisine where they gave me a one-on-one lesson making mapo tofu and kung pao chicken. They gave me a certificate and a detailed tour of the facilities, which were fabulous. I am certain that on my own, i never would have even thought of such a thing, much less arranged it.
Victor was knowledgeable about history, off the beaten path sights, and was worth every cent of the fee. Having him navigate lunch menus alone was worth his assistance. He is extremely patient and agreeable as a traveling guide and he goes the extra mile. He even emailed me some photos that he himself had taken.

So bottomline: If you go to Chengdu and want to see it well, be impressed, and make your friends hopelessly jealous, hire Victor and don't flail around overwhelmed in a strange and highly rewarding place that you may not go back to so soon.
Written January 19, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thanks a lot, buddy! Please keep in touch!
Written January 25, 2016
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

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