Western China Tour Companies

To travel with Peregrine Treks was a great experience. They took very good care of us, before, during and even after the trip. The guides were all verry experienced, educated, giving us a deep cultural insight in a proper english. The drivers were excellent with amazing driving skills needed in the sometimes rough areas of Nepal and Tibet. The Manager was always reachable and very helpful, he even organized things when the official trip was over. Travelling trough Nepal and Tibet was an unforgettable experience touching our hearts.

Although I didn't respect my trip, what I was offered by the local agency Perigrin and its boss Pradip met my expectations.

We had a great guide but local provider was not so much

This trip takes you from the hustle and bustle of Beijing to the serene beauty of the Tibetan Plateau! So much variety, the train ride was a highlight, getting to talk to locals and share stories and snacks was a truly incredible experience. Breathing the fresh mountain air and taking in the scenery, I will never forget it. Our Tibetan leader was the best part of our trip, wildly knowledgeable and funny to boot. I would do this trip again in an heartbeat.

Attempted to book the Forbidden Lhasa and Everest Base Camp tour with Adventure Himalayan Travels. Caveat emptor (buyer beware): You cannot enter Lhasa by air without using a China gateway city (Chengdu). You cannot enter Lhasa without a Tibet permit. To get a Tibet permit you must spend five days in Nepal and then fly to Chengdu and then to Lhasa. The PRC will not issue a China visa if you book travel to Tibet unless your tour operator has already obtained a Tibet permit. The tour operator does not disclose any of this in their brochure and you can be stuck with large expense.

The guide and driver provided the seven persons on the tour, which included me, with excellent service and information about Llasa and the southernTibet sites we viewed. I particularly enjoyed the Mount Everest Tibet basecamp visit and our tour of a Bhudist nunnery.. The accommodations were first class. While the roads in Nepal are unpaved and rocky, the driver and 4by4's shocks and suspension took us through the jolting terrain.

Best trip ever! Potala palace Is a jewel!

Thank you Asmita & the whole team of Outshine Adventure for making this great tour possible. We've been in safe hands with a very sympathic guide and driver that conveyed us a lot of knowledge about the fascinating culture in Tibet. Highly recommended, Haiko & Manuela from Germany.

The trip was very well organized by Silk Road Tour. The local tour guide and program were well coordinated and offered great insights with opportunities for independent exploration. A delicious and varied lunch was the daily highlight. The group was nice and small with four people. The tour guide and driver were responsive to special requests and I felt safe and comfortable.

Although the weather was very cold, hotels were warm. The history and sights were amazing. Guides were helpful and knowledgeable. I could have spent an extra day in the sand dunes. Arrival was delayed and didn't have enough time to see everything.

Tour was excellent. Better than expected. Amy (the tour leader) was particularly good. Great itinerary - a lot packed into a short time.

Delighted with this tour in particular with Lackdon, our guide from Great Tibet Tour. Super attentive and very knowledgeable about the history of Tibet.

The Tour was good with a caring, responsible informative guide.

16 day Kailash, 4 day Kora I’m sharing this review in as many places as possible because, during my search for detailed feedback on this agency, I found very little. I do not recommend traveling with Tibet Vista if your goal is a spiritual journey. You’ll face numerous worries and constantly feel helpless and disregarded. We paid around $2,700, plus hotel upgrades, not to mention tickets, visas, and insurance. For that amount, you expect at least some quality; unfortunately, we experienced none, along with disrespect. Transportation: We were provided a bus with no AC or heating, sealed windows, and a broken roof window. You spend 6-8 hours a day in a bus with no airflow. Accommodation: We were given the cheapest and filthiest accommodations. Our Tibetan agent called it “basic,” but it was truly filthy. The towels and bedding hadn’t been washed in ages, plumbing was clogged with waste floating on the bathroom floor, and there were questionable stains on the blankets. You might think, “It’s a remote area; what do you expect?” Well, there are decent hotels nearby that cost only $20-30 more but are clean. Tibet Vista is simply too greedy to book them. Guide: Our guide had no touch with reality. He was just an interpreter. The guy had no idea nor about cultural heritage, nor if there is an ATM in the city. During the Kora, he left people behind and walked off on his own. On the second day, he arrived at the dorm long before the last group members, leaving them alone with the porters. His passive attitude cost four people a significant amount of money. Due to weather conditions, we were stuck in Gyirong and were unable to drive to Lhasa, which meant those four could not leave for Nepal. While other guides made sure their customers departed before the road closed (the night before the closure and early morning), ours was counting stars and didn’t do a thing, resulting in people being stranded for days and still had to drive to Lhasa in the end (the agency was inadequate as well, providing them with false information). Agency Management: The Chinese boss of Tibet Vista is quite deceptive. We signed up for a 16-day trip with a 4-day Kora. Upon arrival, the guide informed us that it was forbidden to approach Kailash due to recent deadly accidents. We are all in for safety, but we would want to know this prior to the trip, so that we could postpone it, as touching Kailash was our main goal and the agency was well aware of it. The agency attempted to push a 15-day itinerary on us instead. When we confronted our agent, she claimed ignorance, while the boss insisted he had permission for us to proceed. They even brought their YouTube star, Jamyang who swore on everything being safe because according to him he had just returned from touching Kailash. When we arrived in Tarchen, the agency made a big show of taking us to the police to secure permission to approach Kailash, but we were rudely turned away. Ultimately, we ended up doing a 3-day Kora, and on the evening of the third day, we received unexpected news that we could do the inner Kora and touch Kailash. Which was great and we did it. While that was a relief, we were informed it was a 5-6 km walk, but it turned out to be 20 km. Our guide disappeared ahead of us, forcing us to navigate on our own, which was quite challenging. If you still choose to travel with Tibet Vista, bring sleeping bags, as you will often find yourself sleeping in “filthy” conditions, which they label as “basic.” If you’re a vegetarian, pack food for at least a week, as vegetarian options are scarce and all meals (both veg and non-veg) are typically fried in one pot. Hotel breakdown: 1. Gang Gyan - Lhasa: You don’t want this place to be your first impression of Tibet. The rooms had fungus, no ventilation, and were dirty, with a terrifying bathroom and toilet. Previously used bedding and towels. All topped up by rude sour faces at the front desk. Upgrade to St. Regis. Yes, it’s more expensive, but you won’t feel like gagging when entering the bathroom. 2. Shigatse: I don’t recall the hotel’s name, but we arrived to find a clogged toilet and bathtub, with water and waste flooding the floor. This issue wasn’t resolved by the time we left. Upgrade to Hilton. 3. Everest Base Camp: Accommodation consists of small mobile homes that are warm and comfy. Recommendation: Upgrade to a private room; otherwise, you will end up sharing one large cot with 5-6 strangers back-to-back. 4. Saga: We stayed at the same hotel on the way to and from Kailash. It was pristine on the way there but surprisingly way less clean on the return trip. However, it was bearable, so an upgrade isn’t necessary. 5. Tarchen: A clean hotel; no upgrade necessary. 6. Kayirong/Gyirong (the last city before departing for Nepal): Recommendation: Upgrade to Qomolangzou. The original hotel was the filthiest of all. As for the dorms during the Kora, their condition was poor, but not that there was a decent hotel nearby, so it was understandable.

The guide Kunchok was very good. The hotel in Lhase was terrible. Front desk ladies service very unpleasant. The hotel has no air conditioning and I was arranged a room at the south side which was a boiler room. I woke up twice sweating during the night sleep and in the moring with bleexing nose. Complaint but was declined. Had to request the guide to deal the situation and finally received a change room at the north side which was cooler. Very unpleasant experience and first impression was minus towards this hotel in Lhasa.

The trip seemed very poorly organised. Hotels were a few times overbooked. We had two reasonably good hotels in 15 days. The rest was crap. Overrunning toilets, no heating or airco, tv’s did not work, Wifi never worked, screaming and yelling from the staff all evening and nights long. Staff can’t speak a word of english. Beds were rock hard. Felt like just dump the tourist somewhere, as cheap as possible. Price/ quality did not match at all. We have seen Tibet mainly by endless busrides up to 12 hours a day. The bathrooms we had to use on the way were undescribably dirty and disgusting. The guide was good in doing the paperwork for the checkup's, and taking us from here to there but seemed not really involved in trying to get us the information we needed or telling us about Tibet, the people, the boeddhisme (where I came for!) We did the Kailash trek. I booked a horse in front because of my lungproblems. It seemed no one knew about this arrangement and because many people came to the Sagadawa Festival, there was probably no horse available. Same thing, I had to pay 450 dollar in front for a horse. And I had to pay approximately 1050 yuan for a someone who would carry my backpack. When we arrived at he Kailash all the horses were overbooked. I encouraged the guide to fight for it and he finally turned up with a very old and skinny horse and a boy from 12 years old to guide the horse. It was the boys first time. When we came to the Drolma pass the horse refused to walk any further. So I climbed the hill on my own and almost died 60 meters from the top. A german tourist/ docter helped me. She measured the oxygen in my blood (60!!) gave me oxygene and helped me te get over the top where i found people of my group who helped me another 6 km downwards over loose laying slippery rocks. No guide of the agency to find anywhere. Other tourists cane to my rescue. The agent I booked this Saga DawaFestival tour was Nepal Hiking LTD in Kathmandu, mr Tilak Thapa Magar. He did not answer the many questions I asked him, so I (so to speak jumped in the deep without knowing anything about what, why and when.) I tried a phonecall with the man but his english was so poorly, that did not work either. The confusion was about the question: would I travel directly to Lhasa or better to Kathmandu because of the reluctancy of the chinees to welcome foreigners to Tibet. Finally, He encouraged me to come to Katmandu first. So I changed my original flight from Adam to Lhasa into Adam to Kathmandu. Turns out I was the only one who made that choice, so I had to pay another €1000,- to get from Katmandu to Lhasa. Because I wanted single rooms, he also charged me €500,- extra. At the end of te tour my flight was cancelled from Lhasa to Kathmandu and instead I had to fly to Chengdu and from Chengdu to Kathmandu. ( in Kathmandu I have a retreat for 5 days now) A woman from the agency (the guide did not want to tell the name of the agency ??!) took care of that. But first, mr Tilak wanted €150 more to do so. That is where we stand now. I have no trust or faith what so ever because nothing in this trio worked out according to plan. All and all: the country Tibet with the mountains and the people and the display of boeddhisme I was able to see. But the trip itself was a accumulation of stress and sorrow. Extra costs: €1000 for the unnecessary flights Kathmandu - Lhasa and back. €150, extra for a flight to chengdu- Kathmandu ( because the flight from Lhasa to Kathmandu from Himalaya Airlines was cancelled) $ 450 dollar for a horse that was to old and skinny to do the job. 1050 yuan to carry my luggage over the mountains which was done by car told the guide smiling. I would like Tourradar to react on this response.

I have toured twice with this company in 2010 and 2016 and most important the guides are always concerned about your well being and health. I was never left alone and this is important when dealing with issues such as high altitude and felt comfortable with the guides. I have recommended this tour company to friends

Overall arrangement is quite smooth and flexible to adjust if need be. Guide is very knowledgeable to share with us the history and makes the journey a lot more interesting. I am a pescatarian-there’s one dinner they specially make me special dumpling according to my diet. For internal flight , plane didn’t prepare my food (seafood/vegetarian) - not sure if the airline company don’t have such arrangement or travel company forgot to inform.

Shopping stops were too long and a waste of time (eg silk factory). Only 2 hours at the Great Wall was not enough not give the relevance to the place. That was a dissapointment