Customize Your Day: Flexible Hangzhou Tour Of The Top Sights

I am an avid solo traveler. I’ve been to 68 countries, but I was intimidated to travel solo to China, given language barriers, customs, etc., but I also wasn’t interested in a group tour. I found Your Way Holiday during my research and reached out. I was a bit leery of working with a local company, but got past that quickly when I started working with Jojo. Not only did she customize my time in Hangzhou, she offered their services in Beijing and Xi’an. They arranged site entry tickets, train tickets, and accommodated experiences I wanted to have. On. My. Schedule. Everything was seamless. The guides were all knowledgeable, personable, and really focused on what I wanted to do. I had a blast with my Hangzhou guide when we visited two ancient water towns. Those visits were not on any itinerary, but I wanted to see them. After the awe-inspiring Great Wall, it might have been the best part of my trip. Guides and drivers were all punctual and the guides made suggestions of what to do during my free time. This was an exceptional holiday and I highly recommend this company. I will return to China and it’s a no-brainer that I will customize my next visit with Your Way Holiday again.

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!

West lake and its surroundings are sooo beautiful. Everywhere green. Loved the place and dint feel like coming back

Bonnie was an excellent guide who was very attentive and knew a lot of information about Hangzhou. It was an incredible experience! The highlight was having lunch in the balcony of a farmer's home overlooking the tea plantation. West lake boat ride was amazing and the gardens and villas we visited were fabulous. I loved the street filled with vendors where we experience local goods and cuisine.

Collected at shangrila by the wonderful David! So many highlights ! I don’t want to spoil the surprises David has in store for the day! Fun filled! Boat, tea gardens, private homes, history,wisdom of our tour guide. Leisurely,Hangzhou is glorious! I was overwhelmed! Fantastic Thankyou David for all you did for us! Loved your humour! Come and stay in nz with our family!!!

I had a lovely day with my guide. She was friendly and punctual and accommodating when i needed to find a bank. The morning activities and lunch were lovely, as was the walk through the Bamboo Forest. The only part of the day I didn't enjoy was the visit to the Tea Village. I was on this tour on my own and the 'tea ceremony' was really just a hard sell to get me to buy some tea. Having had a lovely morning, i wasn't expecting the hard sell and was by myself and suckered into buying some very expensive tea. I take responsibility for agreeing to the purchase, but it really did detract from the rest of the day which had been lovely. After the tea village I felt uncomfortable and just wanted the tour to be over.

We booked last minute a tour with China Private Tour and had a great day. We saw all the Hangzhou highlights in just one day. Got picked up by our guide at our hotel in the morning and dropped off at the railway station in the evening. Everything went very smooth and well organized. Bonnie was a great guide. She is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Not only did she share lots of info regarding the highlights, she also told many stories about China today. She was also very nice to our kids and gave them a really good time.

We had a wonderful tour with Sharon, a kind, professional and helpful guide. She made it at full attention, concidering our difficulty walking too much We recomend Sharon as an excellent guide and person.

Thank you, Nancy, for a great day in Hangzhou! We had so much fun seeing everything with you. We loved the stories and history you told about the things we were seeing. So nice to get to know you. Come visit sometime in America!

We had a great day out with our guide, David. He was well versed in the history and culture of the places we went to and took the initiative to explain a lot of the places we went to. Brought us to the local Farmers for lunch and help us ordered their signature dishes which were all amazing! Highly recommend to go with David for anyone planning to go with this tour!

It was our 1st trip to Hangzhou over the weekend. Hence time was of essence and thanks to China Private Tours and Bonnie, our tour guide, we were able to appreciate the beauty of Hangzhou during the day tour. This was despite the day being a wet one (not to mention a cold one too) but Bonnie was able to make the day trip an extremely enjoyable one for us! The service was perfect and Bonnie went beyond to help us purchase a souvenir the next day (after our day tour) and delivered to our hotel when we overlooked to do so during the tour. Thank you, Bonnie, for making this trip of ours, so memorable!

This day trip to Hangzhou was my absolute favorite thing I did in China! Nancy was waiting there for us when we got to the train station with a clear sign and she was a truly spectacular tour guide. Her English was great and there were no communication problems. She was also extremely knowledgeable and told us everything from the population of Hangzhou, to the history of the landmarks, to the names of the plants and flowers we walked by, to the local myths and legends. Not only did she have a wealth of knowledge, but she was FUN! It felt more like a day hanging out with our friend Nancy than your typical tour. She also let us add a stop to the itinerary and go to a temple. We were able to see so much of Hangzhou and learned so much about the amazing city and saw so many beautiful sights. If you are thinking of taking a day trip, definitely take this one!! Hangzhou and Nancy blew away all my expectations! (Oh and the provided lunch was DELICIOUS! It was a homemade meal in a really cute house in the beautiful tea village. That meal was one of my favorite things I ate my entire trip!)

A colleague and I had a spare day at the end of a business trip and decided to take a tour around Hangzhou at the very last minute. David worked with us to make sure we could see exactly what we wanted and literally made it happen within 12 hours. He assigned Nancy to be our guide for the day and she was wonderful. She was knowledgeable and friendly, knew all the ins and outs of the places we were going. It was a day well spent! Thank you Nancy!

Our day tour to Hangzhou was my favorite part of my trip to China all thanks to Nancy and our kind driver! They were at the rail station early to pick us up and explained the itinerary before we got going. There was one sight that we wanted to attend that wasn't in the itinerary and Nancy rearranged the tour to make it possible for us to see everything we wanted and get us back to the rail station on time. Throughout the day, Nancy was very informative and sweet and her english was excellent. I don't think we would have been able to see everything we were able to (gardens, boat ride on West Lake, tea village with lunch and tea tasting, bamboo forest, and more!) if we had gone to the city on our own. We highly recommend Hangzhou and this tour with Nancy to all of our friends and anyone interested in visiting China!

I went to Hangzhou with colleagues from different countries. David, our private tour guide, explain all details in fluent English. He is really friendly to take care of every member. He is also professional and knowledgeable on scenic spots and tea culture. The whole journey is pleasant and relaxed. Thanks for our great tour guide, David.

On arrival in Hangzhou, we were met by Nancy who introduced herself to us with a very friendly smile and an explanation of what was to come. Her knowledge of the tours she took us on was first class and her english was excellent. Nancy was a joy to have as a guide as her friendliness made the tour all the more enjoyable. Her choice of restaurants was excellent where she made sure we had no problems with what foods we could or could not eat before ordering. By the end of our time together we had become good friends. Nancy is a great credit to the company and the tour industry. Regards, Lloyd, (laughing buddah)

I'm currently working in Shanghai and wanted to visit other areas during a day off. This was absolutely the right way to do it. Bonnie met my group at the train station, she and the driver were both very professional. She was warm and engaging, answered all of our questions and asked us what kinds of things we wanted to do or see besides what was listed. She kept us on time (even though we were running late from the train) but I never felt rushed. Lunch was lovely at a family residence and the tea chicken that Bonnie recommended was one of my favorite dishes. I will book more trips with them, and if you're in Hangzhou you should ask for Bonnie

Great service and a great tour. I was staying in Shanghai and wanted to take the Hangzhou highlight tour. Bonnie/Sam were very responsive and communicated with me during the planning process. They gave me a great website to book the train ticket to and from Hangzhou. When I arrived at the Hangzhou train station, Rachel was there to greet me. We drove from attraction to attraction and stayed the right amount of time at each location. There wasn't a lot of driving as everything seemed very close. The Westlake, the gardens and the tea plantation were awesome. Just beautiful. We ate lunch at a local restaurant which was very accommodating since I'm a vegetarian. The food was so delicious. Rachel, my guide was amazing. So knowledgeable, sweet, fun, warm and she took great care of me. She took me back to the train station, waked me to the platform and sat with me until the train arrived. Loved her! Overall a wonderful day!

We were met at Hangzhou airport by Nancy, as this was Day 17 of a 20 day trip her friendlness and professionlism was a real joy. Nancy and her driver took us to our hotel and she ensured we were safely booked in and given all the relative information. Next morning she met us on time and again her friendliness was the precursor for a fantastic day. We were taken to the beautiful garden and took a brief stroll through the gardens to the West Lake for our boat trip. Nancy's extensive knowledge of the area and her excellent English ensured we got the best from the visit. After an excellent authentic lunch in a tea farmers home all arranged and organised by Nancy who again ensured we were well cared for, we went to a tea plantation. Nancy's knowledge of the process of tea making from growing to the final product made this a fantastic experience. Then after organising another fantastic dinner for us, she ensured we were returned safely to our hotel Nancy's good humour and professionlism made this part of of our trip to China a memory that we will keep in our hearts forever. Nancy is a fantastic ambasdor for her company,Hangzhou and China. Thank you Nancy

We came to Hangzhou essentially to visit our son, an exchange student at the Entel School in Hangzhou. Given all the activities planned with him and his host family, we had one free day to tour Hangzhou about which we'd heard such positive comments. First, the tour was excellent giving us a great sense of Hangzhou's historical and cultural background. But, the tour is well detailed in the Company's literature. What we'd like to praise is David, our tour guide. He has a wealth of balanced knowledge about nearly every topic...from driving restrictions by license plate # in Hangzhou to the incentives to go to electric vehicles to the growth of the subway system to the careful role of Buddhism in modern China to the Richard Nixon friendship well on West Lake to the current dynamic changes in traditional Chinese family culture occurring in modern China. Really, there was no question that we asked that he did not answer carefully and thoroughly. We should probably call out the lunch as well. The lunch was a moderately traditional lunch superbly prepared. Our table for two on a balcony overlooked the tea plantation hillside. The setting was absolutely exquisite. In summary, we learned so much about so many important topics in China thanks to David, who spoke English very well. We highly recommend David as a tour guide. Vaughan and Marty Hennum