Has anyone traveled with Collette tours to China, or anywhere else in Asia? We are considering a 16 day trip to Shanghai, the Yangtze River and Beijing. I have read some rather negative things about Collette, but those postings were from 2010 through 2011, and so I am hopeful that people may have more positive things to report in recent years?

The important things to us would be -- how good the tour guide is, how well travel and transfers were arranged, how comfortable is the travel, the interest level and quality of the sites toured, the activity level (we are very active and prefer to not sit on a bus for 10 hours a day), good but not necessarily extravagant meals, and clean and comfortable hotels with some local charm.

Thank you!!

To be honest with you, you couldn't pay me enough to take a tour with any of the big companies in China. They all have major problems - forced shopping stops, inaccurate info from guides, mediocre food, etc.

I agree

The problems with tours in China are not limited to the big companies -- almost ANY tour of China will be filled with problems.

On the other hand, China is actually quite easy to visit independently.

Another vote against tours in China. And you might want to reconsider the Yangtze since the dam was finished. You need a good guidebook and a good phrase book.

Thanks for these comments. This has certainly made us reconsider this trip completely.