China Highlights is one of the best China tour companies that specializes in customized and creative China tours. Our reputation is second to none as the China tour agency with the most positive review on TripAdvisor. We exist to help you discover China your way.
China Highlights is about "Discovery Your Way". No groups, No flags, No fixed dates. You can see the parts of China that interest you most, on your dates, with your own driver and guide.
Unlike travel agencies and overseas tour operators that mostly just resell fixed tours, we work with you to create your very own unique trip. Every China Highlights trip is designed to your interests, with 1:1 help from your own dedicated China specialist, every step of the way!
Discovery your way: We arranged our clients' visit to a local cave-dwelling family with a knowledgable guide.We’ve been building our team for over 20 years, handpicking our team of China specialists, guides, drivers, and experiences throughout China. As locals, we know the secret paths to stunning scenery, the hidden history, and the hidden problems — like booking elusive tickets, seats, and tables at amazing local restaurants, not those tourist hangouts or hotels group tours use.
Our team serves 10,000 satisfied customers a year, winning TripAdvisor’s certificate of excellence year on year, we have thousands of 5 star reviews.
Read more on China Highlights' company History.
What's a tour with China Highlights like?
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We've got a story to tell…
Meet Victor, our founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
- Victor founded China Highlights the same day Google was founded.
- As a tour guide Victor was frustrated by inflexible vanilla group tours, tourism tricks, hidden costs, and detours.
- Victor decided to start something he would be proud to put his name to, something that showed people the best of China.
China Highlights founder and COB Victor Shu was a guide in the 90s but was frustrated that travelers only scratched the surface of China. Victor knew there was so much to see and experience outside the group tour experience. Back then all tours were fixed, and travelers had zero flexibility to create a trip around their interests.
Victor wanted to get people off the beaten track, off the guidebook, out of sterile parks, official attractions, and beyond the typical tour routes.
He wanted to remove detours to commission-motivated stops, those shops disguised as museums and listed on the itinerary as a "sight-seeing spots", and instead take people into the countryside to talk to the farmers and to try some authentic food at the kind of restaurants his local and overseas friends loved.
On the same day Google was founded, September 27th 1998, Victor set about creating an award-winning tour operator, starting a website to help people discover China their way (chinahighlights.com). China Highlights was born. The passion, motto, and purpose have never changed:
Discovery Your Way!
Meet Steven, our Chief Executive Officer.
- Steven joined China Highlights right after his graduation in 2004, first as an SEO trainee, followed by a time in sales, then as a project manager, our marketing director, and other roles before becoming the CEO.
- He is a history fanatic, who believes that the future lies in the past, and most present-day challenges can be answered with historical wisdom.
- He is also a travel enthusiast, who likes taking his history books to travel destinations and exploring the profound historical culture behind them. His last trip was along the Silk Road into Central Asia and Iran.
- The company is his passion. He even met his love in the office, and they continue to work and travel together.
Chosen by ...
Celebrities, magazines, royalty, NBA stars, US singers, even a former US president.
China Highlights has been the agency of choice for the many important and famous people.
Meet Our Specialists...
When you create your trip with us, you'll be safe in the hands of one of our travel specialists throughout your journey.
China Specialist Lily
I had six years' guiding experience before working as a China travel specialist for China Highlights for almost 10 years. I have traveled most parts of China, including Tibet, Xinjiang, Sichuan, and of course popular Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai. And I still keep exploring. I am looking forward to sharing my travel experience with you and helping you with your China tour.
China Specialist Robert
My love for travel began in my childhood, when I had the incredible opportunity to travel around China with my family. I love to photo beautiful scenery when travelling. I have spent the last decade providing each and every one of my clients with unique and profound travel experiences. Talk to me about travel to China with your camera, and more.
Get to know more our travel specialists to start planning your China trip meet more
Why Travel With China Highlights
We understand traveling to China is a big decision. It is not every day you travel across half the world to walk along the Great Wall of China or marvel at the architectural wonders of the Forbidden City. Being in the industry for nearly 60 years, based in China, we know tourism in China back to front. Unlike many travel agencies who just sell trips, we create unique experiences — designed to your needs and budget, using our expert knowledge.
1-1 China based expert 1-1 China based expert is allocated to you – China is all we do
Flexibility Your preferred date, destinations, experiences, and hotel
Quality: Award-winning Service No dodgy detours, unexpected shops, factories, or sneaky extras, with our money back promise if we don't meet our service level