Customize Your Day: Flexible Hangzhou Tour of the Top Sights

Our family had a wonderful time touring Hangzhou with our amazing English-speaking guide Grace! We would highly recommend her to anyone visiting Hangzhou. She was attentive to all of our needs (making sure we had waters and knew where all the bathrooms were, all the while helping us get tickets, navigate crowds, order food, buy souvenirs and snacks). Grace truly went above and beyond for us, making sure we had a good time every step of the way. She was also extremely knowledgeable about the history and culture of Hangzhou. We learned so much! We saw so much in three days: The dragon boat festival and races in Xixi park, West Lake, the West Lake Impressions show (which we highly recommend), a boat tour, temple visits, tea house and bamboo forest, Hefang street and so much more! We enjoyed all of the local restaurants she chose for us and also appreciated her help telling what prices were good and which ones could be negotiated down (she handled the negotiations). Also we wanted to give a shoutout to our very savvy driver who brought us from stop to stop, and seemed to know shortcuts to avoid the traffic. Grace was also so generous and gave us several small cultural gifts along the way as souvenirs. We’ll definitely be back to Hangzhou!

The views were amazing, the tea tasting was nice and fresh. The lunch was wonderful. And on top of it, Wenwen, the tour guide is excellent. She was friendly, helpful, engaging and knowledgeable.

Private tour for the two of us with Tommy! We were picked up from Hangzhou East Station and taken to all the main sights of Hangzhou, hidden away from tourists which was appreciated. We especially enjoyed the history and the knowledge shared with us. Being tea enthusiasts, loved seeing how the green tea was made!! Thanks Tommy for your help :)

Visit to West Lake gave breath-taking views of surrounding mountain hills. Saw the artwork that is currently displayed on the 1Yuan bill. Also visited the Tea Plantation at Meljiawu and learned great things about the green tea. Thank you to our tour leader Sen Xu (along with his colleagues David and Marco) who gave a very enlightening education of the Chinese culture and provided numerous excellent musical entertainment along our many and long bus rides.

Scenic city.Very green.Guide Nancy took care of us very well.The tour was interesting,informing and could be changed to suit your personal needs.Only superlatives to describe the day.

Marin was a very good guide; knowledgeable, spoke good English, friendly and patient with the 4 of us. It was perfect to start the day on West Lake when hardly anyone was there; peaceful, quiet and interesting. The tasting and visit to the tea plantation was a highlight as well. All in all a great day with Marin. Thanks again.

It was a business trip and had a day off. We were picked up at my hotel lobby by my guide Sharon, she was very friendly, knowledgeable and experienced.Throughout the day, she used her way to show me the best part of the city.I really enjoyed the beauty of West Lake, which is the symbol of Hangzhou city. We also visited the biggest temple in Hangzhou, named Lingyin Temple. Sharon gave me a detailed explaination for the status and told me the story about Flying Peak. Thanks to China Private Tour and Sharon, I will definitly recommend this company to my friends!

Had a wonderful time in Hangzhou with Bonnie. She was very knowledgeable and friendly, and answered all my stupid questions :) it was a pleasure to be guided by her through the amazing city of Hangzhou. I was particularly impressed by the West Lake (it gave me such a peaceful sensation) and the Lingyin temple, an absolute gem! We had a great lunch at the farmers' house (I'd recommend trying the chicken cooked in green tea and the eggplants) and went for a walk in the bamboo forest. The trip was very well organized and everything went smoothly. I had such a great time that I won't forget. Ask for Bonnie next time you take a trip to Hangzhou!

We booked a day tour to Hangzhou for our family and we really enjoyed it. The tour was well arranged. Our private tour guide Sharon was professional, knowledgeable, patience and gave us an insight into Hangzhou. The agency provided air-conditional vehicle for us, comfortable and the driver was very polite. During the day, we visited the famous West Lake, Buddhist monastery-Lingyin Temple, Dragon Well Green Tea Plantation and the old street. Beyond that, we enjoyed the lunch at local tea farmer’ home that recommended by our guide, the food is simple home-cooking but good taste. We also had a short cooking class from local tea farmer. Finally, we walked along the old street, named Hefangjie in Chinese where you can buy some gifts for your friends. Hangzhou is such a beautiful city, please do not miss it.

Extremely disappointing 1:1 private tour. I live in China and have traveled extensively going to 11 cities and hiring a tour guide at 7 of them. I already have low expectations based on experience but this one took the cake! Truly horrendous, waste of time and the $20 round trip train. Cons 1. Mia the tour guide’s English was poor. It was a 2 or 2.5 out of 5 at best. She could not explain or express herself easily in English. 2. The tour guide did not work for China Private Tours, she worked for Zhejiang International Youth Agency Travel Company and was loaned to China Private Tours because they didn’t have an available guide of their own. 3. The tour guide told me she does international tours and doesn’t do Hangzhou tours. 4. The tour guide knew almost nothing about Hangzhou. She could tell me nothing about the history of the city or the history or stories/tales of ANY of the sites we went to: West Lake, Guo Garden, Yunqi Bamboo Path, Linyung Temple, Longjing Tea Village, Qinghefang Street. 5. She told me she had never been to Guo Garden or Yunqi Bamboo path. 6. I tried getting her to explain anything about HZ and these sites and she told me she would do so for anything she knew (but she knew nothing so I got nothing out of this) about but that she didn’t have any background on these places. I tried asking her specific questions and she told me she didn’t know and tried to look up background on Baidu. 7. At West Lake it took 30 minutes to get boat tickets because she didn’t know the correct place to go. Guide was asking Chinese Tourists for help. 8. The boat at West Lake she bought tickets for was the large ugly metal boat with 300 people on it not the traditional Chinese wooden boats for 30 that I’ve been on in other tours to Guilin, etc. 9. The meal was supposed to be at a tea farmers house where I was supposed to learn how to cook local delicacies. This may have been at a tea farmers house but it seemed more like just a small restaurant and I was just put in a room and served the food. That’s it. 10. She also didn’t know that the lunch was included in my rate so I had to show her the information on my booking otherwise I was going to have to pay 100+ RMB for the meal. Pro’s 1. Tour guide was very nice. 2. The Lunch meal tasted very good but not unexpected as most tours I’ve taken like this in China have been similar The only value I got from this was having a local person there and a driver knowing where they were going. Oh and she snapped some photos of me. But this tour was not as advertised. I easily could have gotten the same or better experience picking a random person off the street in Hangzhou and asking them to take me around with a competent driver at about 1/3 the price. I have had many friends take me around cities like Shanghai and Nanjing and they know a lot about city, dynasties and local tales and lores. This guide knew nothing of this. I complained to Viator sending the facts above and response from China Private Tours was guides English is good or bad depending on opinion/requirements and they believe they provided tour as described (Not true). They offered $60 of $224 refund. I responded to Viator that this was outrageous reply and unacceptable. Viator within 12 hours agreed to offer full refund. While not pleased given I repatriate in 2 weeks for good at least they did what they could to make it right. This may not show as verified review because I had to book direct with Viator because of website issues but this experience and review is 100% legit!