China Travel Forum

Does anyone know of these tour groups? If so can you recomend either one? If not, why not? They are offering tayormade tours but need to be paid a month before arrival. I feel very dubious about prepaying a month before I arrive in case they are not there to meet me and have skipped off with my money. Can anyone recomend a local China tour that they have traveled with and are happy about and can trust? I am travelling in the shoulder months of late November/December on my own when most better known tours don't operate.

I took a chance with chinauniquetour and it worked out fine. I think they are like chinahighlights. Yes, they want payment in cash. It took weeks to get the wire transfer right. I was in touch with the Chinese travel agent every week and even at the airport when I arrived. \they do not run off with your money, though I was leery too. On the last leg of my China stay, they had someone come and refund me in cash because I had to cancel the Chengdu/panda part (due to the earthquake). The tour guides were wonderful and the vehicles were mini-vans --same genre as the tour guides when I booked with a large USA company last year.

Look on TripAdvisor (China) forums: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g294211-i642-China.html
There're quite a number of reviews for China Highlights, which don't seem too bad.