Are Alexander+Roberts China Tours Any Good?
Jul 24th, 2016, 12:18 PM
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Are Alexander+Roberts China Tours Any Good?
I am thinking of booking their small group China Sampler tour for this October (2016)?
I am a male solo traveler. I want to travel as part of a small group, not on my own with a private tour guide.
If no experience with Alexander+Roberts, can anyone recommend another small group tour company for China?
I am a male solo traveler. I want to travel as part of a small group, not on my own with a private tour guide.
If no experience with Alexander+Roberts, can anyone recommend another small group tour company for China?
Jul 24th, 2016, 07:38 PM
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I can't speak specifically to the tour you mention, but I can say that tours to China are a notoriously poor option --
... and not just because hotels are generally poorly located and substandard,
... and not just because the meals are generally substandard and unrepresentative of delicious local cuisines,
... and not just because you are likely to face lots of "shopping opportunities" that eat your time and offer only lousy options,
... but perhaps <u>most importantly</u> because censorship means that tour guides in China simply <b>cannot</b> provide you with full or accurate information about what you will see because they are not privy to information that you can get on your own through a few good guide books and a bit of advance research. Even the best guide has no access to key information! There are lots of threads here on Fodor's about these issues -- do take some time to peruse them before you commit.
But: <b>You do not need to join a tour to visit China</b>! I'm one of many people who have traveled there independently, and I did so as a solo female (and I am <b>not</b> the only woman to have traveled there solo.) So another recommendation: before you commit, check my trip report, or that of any of the MANY other Fodorites who have had wonderful experiences traveling around China on their own. My report is from 2010; note that if anything, independent travel has gotten EASIER in China since then. (As a specific and important example: You can now book trains in advance and from outside China, something you could NOT do when I visited.)
Hope that helps!
... and not just because hotels are generally poorly located and substandard,
... and not just because the meals are generally substandard and unrepresentative of delicious local cuisines,
... and not just because you are likely to face lots of "shopping opportunities" that eat your time and offer only lousy options,
... but perhaps <u>most importantly</u> because censorship means that tour guides in China simply <b>cannot</b> provide you with full or accurate information about what you will see because they are not privy to information that you can get on your own through a few good guide books and a bit of advance research. Even the best guide has no access to key information! There are lots of threads here on Fodor's about these issues -- do take some time to peruse them before you commit.
But: <b>You do not need to join a tour to visit China</b>! I'm one of many people who have traveled there independently, and I did so as a solo female (and I am <b>not</b> the only woman to have traveled there solo.) So another recommendation: before you commit, check my trip report, or that of any of the MANY other Fodorites who have had wonderful experiences traveling around China on their own. My report is from 2010; note that if anything, independent travel has gotten EASIER in China since then. (As a specific and important example: You can now book trains in advance and from outside China, something you could NOT do when I visited.)
Hope that helps!
Jul 25th, 2016, 06:26 AM
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@kja - and what information can you access that they can't that would impact their job?
The above summary is correct but applies mostly to "cheap" tours. Also, a lot of companies will just subcontract the tour to a Chinese company, so you are not sure who you are dealing with.
Having said that, I never heard of this company.
The above summary is correct but applies mostly to "cheap" tours. Also, a lot of companies will just subcontract the tour to a Chinese company, so you are not sure who you are dealing with.
Having said that, I never heard of this company.
Jul 27th, 2016, 03:06 PM
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I am not sure about your price range, or the company are going with. I have traveled several times with Overseas Adventure Travel and found that their small group travel is really nice. Typically we travel independently, but some places, I find intimidating.
Jul 28th, 2016, 05:25 PM
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I went to China last fall on a Friendly Planet tour and had a wonderful time. I would definitely recommend it. We went to Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Xi'an and I did the Hong Kong extension. There were 13 of us. (I was the solo traveler.) It was contracted out to the Chinese state tourism agency and we did have to spend time at four state-owned stores, for jade, silk, pearls and terracotta warriors. But overall, I was really pleased with the quality of the guides, the sightseeing, the hotels and the food (which was delicious!)
Jul 29th, 2016, 01:57 PM
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ginger50 - Thank you for the Overseas Adventure Travel recommendation. I traveled to Iran in April with a couple who also recommended them. Unfortunately, all of their China trips for 2016 are either already booked or have itineraries that are too long for what I am looking for. I will definitely consider them for other locations though.
EstherIris - Thank you for the Friendly Planet recommendation and trip report. The trip you went on sounds exactly like the one I would take, if I used them, for October, 2016. Did you have a tour manager who stayed with the trip throughout, supplemented by local guides in each location? Can you tell me more about the food? I am very interested in Chinese food culture. For breakfasts, did the hotels you stayed at have any traditional Chinese breakfast options, or only Western? What kinds of places did you stop at for lunches?
EstherIris - Thank you for the Friendly Planet recommendation and trip report. The trip you went on sounds exactly like the one I would take, if I used them, for October, 2016. Did you have a tour manager who stayed with the trip throughout, supplemented by local guides in each location? Can you tell me more about the food? I am very interested in Chinese food culture. For breakfasts, did the hotels you stayed at have any traditional Chinese breakfast options, or only Western? What kinds of places did you stop at for lunches?
Jul 29th, 2016, 05:26 PM
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Yes, we had one tour guide who was with us from the beginning. She met us at the airport. We had separate guides for some of the cities, like Shanghai and Xi'an. But our main guide also acted as the guide for Beijing. And those of us on the Hong Kong extension had a different, Hong Kong-based guide.
We stayed at really nice hotels, comparable to top of the line Hyatts or Marriotts. Each hotel had a huge breakfast buffet with Western, Chinese and Japanese food. It was really extensive.
Most of our meals were group ones. So we all sat at a round table and they'd bring in dish after dish and put it on a lazy Susan in the middle. It was the best Chinese food I've ever had - fresh, flavorful, not greasy or drowning in oil. It was everything - all kinds of beef, poultry, pork, fish, vegetable dishes. One night we Peking duck. Another night, in Xi'an, we had dumplings stuffed with all different fillings.
I didn't recognize a lot of it from U.S. Chinese restaurants, so I'm assuming it was authentic. I mean, it was kind of similar but it's not like they gave us chicken and broccoli or sweet and sour pork for every meal. So I feel like I got an authentic experience.
We were on our own one night in Beijing and one night in Shanghai, and the two nights in Hong Kong. But most meals were covered. When had lunch in Xi'an and we stopped at this big complex with different food stalls. I think there was also a KFC and a Starbucks! I went off into the food stalls, did a lot of pointing, and got some tofu and vegetables. We also went to the Muslim Market in Xi'an, where they had all kinds of street food, lamb stew.
I also tried to use chopsticks pretty much the whole time. My technique was awful but I was determined!
Let me know if you have any more questions. My tour was the Taste of China, btw.
We stayed at really nice hotels, comparable to top of the line Hyatts or Marriotts. Each hotel had a huge breakfast buffet with Western, Chinese and Japanese food. It was really extensive.
Most of our meals were group ones. So we all sat at a round table and they'd bring in dish after dish and put it on a lazy Susan in the middle. It was the best Chinese food I've ever had - fresh, flavorful, not greasy or drowning in oil. It was everything - all kinds of beef, poultry, pork, fish, vegetable dishes. One night we Peking duck. Another night, in Xi'an, we had dumplings stuffed with all different fillings.
I didn't recognize a lot of it from U.S. Chinese restaurants, so I'm assuming it was authentic. I mean, it was kind of similar but it's not like they gave us chicken and broccoli or sweet and sour pork for every meal. So I feel like I got an authentic experience.
We were on our own one night in Beijing and one night in Shanghai, and the two nights in Hong Kong. But most meals were covered. When had lunch in Xi'an and we stopped at this big complex with different food stalls. I think there was also a KFC and a Starbucks! I went off into the food stalls, did a lot of pointing, and got some tofu and vegetables. We also went to the Muslim Market in Xi'an, where they had all kinds of street food, lamb stew.
I also tried to use chopsticks pretty much the whole time. My technique was awful but I was determined!
Let me know if you have any more questions. My tour was the Taste of China, btw.
