China Direct Travel Reviews 

Excellent private trip organised for four of us. We told Lorimer at China Direct what we wanted to see and where we wanted to visit and he organised exactly what we wanted. He gave us personal assistance throughout organising our trip. Accommodation was excellent throughout our itinerary. Tours were also excellent with knowledgable guides and experienced drivers. We would highly recommend this company.

Just returned from a tour of Yunnan, organised by China Direct. We were glad we chose a specialist as we wanted a comprehensive overview of this fascinating part of China. Of the quotations we had this company was the best in providing a private tour itinerary that catered for our special interests (photography and architecture). As for the tour itself, accommodation was good, with some interesting boutique properties, especially in northern Yunnan. Guides were generally very good, and also drivers, despite some long distances to travel. Only downside was that some guides had strong accents which made comprehension hard sometimes. Would recommend this company to anyone looking for something different, or a bit more off the beaten track

I booked an 18 day trip with China Direct Travel. I have travelled to many countries including China before and with many different companies and this was by far the worst organised and provided the worst quality of guides that I have ever experienced. When issues and problems were raised with China Direct Travel at the end of the tour they refused to acknowledge that there were any problems and then just ignored any subsequent emails.
I have seen other reviews that suggest some of the negative feedback on China Direct is due to inexperienced travellers, a lack of understanding of China or a matter of taste. Given that I have travelled extensively and have been to China before it would appear that this is not the case.
Instead it appears that due to China Direct's method of booking local agents the quality that they provide is a complete lottery. So when booking with them you could get a good holiday or you could get a terrible one. For me when I am paying this amount of money for a trip I want to be sure of the quality that I am getting and don't want to leave it to chance. I would therefore not recommend China Direct Travel to anyone as the chances of your having a bad experience are significant.

We went on the China Direct Grand Tour on 10 October 2018 and were extremely disappointed. Our group of six had different local guides in each place visited and some of these gave a very poor service. In Beijing the itinerary was changed without warning. We were rushed through the major sites, especially around the Forbidden City and then wasted 2 hours in a pearl shop. The journey from the end of the Yangtze cruise to Shanghai had been changed from a flight to an 8-hour train journey which we had been told would get us there ’before the plane’ which was not correct. We arrived in Shanghai late at night and were not met by a guide but taken to a different hotel than listed. The local guide in Shanghai could barely speak English so was not able to tell us anything. It seems unlikely that he was a qualified guide. The Chinese acrobat show was dropped from the itinerary without telling us as it was ‘sold out’ but was miraculously available when we complained. While this was being sorted out we were left in a museum for 3 hours and then again left at the theatre for over an hour while the guide ‘bought’ our tickets. On the last day this guide told us the incorrect time to be ready for the taxi to the airport, causing us all a great deal of stress when the taxi did not arrive until an hour later.
One return all the people on the tour complained to China Direct who denied there were any problems and soon stopped replying to our emails. We wanted to give them an opportunity to resolve our issues, but they just ignored us. We then discovered they have no complaints procedure and do not belong to any independent arbitration body.
We would not recommend China Direct Travel.