Best Tibet Tour Companies

This is a review of the Uniworld China + Tibet + Yangtze tour in June, 2019, taken by my wife (80) and me (77). Since knowledge of a reviewer helps readers to judge the applicability to themselves: we are both former academics, normally spry and immersed in cultural, political, and healthful life activities, but we sometimes found the trip daunting, as discussed below. We resist aging, but not always with full success.

The tour had pluses and minuses.

The biggest minuses:
• My wife’s breathing difficulty in our 3-night stay in Lhasa, Tibet (she spent the whole time breathing oxygen and couldn't go on any outings)
• The (inevitable) problem of touring a totalitarian country where citizens are intimidated from talking honestly about the full scope of their lives

The biggest pluses:
• Our guide, Kevin, who was outstandingly attentive, helpful, supportive and patient. He went out of his way to help in difficult situations (like my wife’s breathing problems in Lhasa).
• We were also quite appreciative of Tiger’s brief stint with us.
• With a few exceptions, our baggage was always handled by others. And the exceptions weren’t overwhelming. Apparently for a group, the weight of any individual bag just gets averaged in with all the other group bags being checked. (Some travelers handled their own carry-ons.)

Most of the other people on the tour were quite amiable and unassuming—not always the case when you travel with people whose financial position has to be pretty good to afford this kind of trip (that financial position too often drives unwarranted expectations of privilege and reverence [if that’s not redundant…]).

The accommodations and included breakfasts (and many other meals) were luxurious, though we ourselves didn’t need them to be THAT nice (in this we’re probably exceptions from other travelers—and in this case, a number of our co-tourists had taken multiple Uniworld tours, so they knew and liked what they'd be getting); indeed, we had to learn to stop tanking up at breakfast just because so many goodies were offered, buffet-style. Had we realized those luxuries were part of what we were paying for (and in retrospect we SHOULD have realized), we might have taken a different, cheaper tour. Ironically, what most drew us to the Uniworld trip were the chance to visit Tibet and the expectation that at such a high cost we’d always be getting outstanding, highly informed guides (which wasn’t always the case; as retired academics, we’re unusually demanding in the critical analysis of what we want to hear).

GENERAL NOTES:

We spent several days on our own before the tour (in Beijing) and at its end (in Shanghai). These were quite valuable to us. Perhaps because of time, the Uniworld tour took us to few museums. We are museum junkies, and visited several during our non-tour times. Among other things, Beijing has a terrific national museum, an interesting (partly because of its political subtext) museum about women and children, and an extensive arts district. Shanghai has its own major museum and a tour of the city’s past relationship with Judaism that gives you a more general sense of the troubling antithesis of glitzy life highlighted elsewhere.

I’ve traveled to many parts of the world, and I’ve always been able to learn at least local alphabets and some minimal language skills. China is the first place I’ve gone where I could do none of the first and only a few words (probably wrongly intoned) of the latter. This was extremely frustrating, especially when we toured on our own. Few people outside the major international emporia (I never quite got used to how many upscale stores were in all places we visited) speak English (why should they?). The one ameliorating factor was that many people (especially store employees) had phone apps that did good to excellent translations between spoken English and spoken Chinese. You should have one for your own use.

In major cities, signs quite often include English, so that you can at least know where to shop and what you're looking at. Prices (which you can often negotiate) are typically typed into a calculator.

Perhaps even more than in the West, people are glued to smart phones. Pretty much everyone, it seems, uses an app that includes texts, phone use, and a payment facility, so that people seem to may carry little or no cash or credit cards. No one seems to care—or maybe everyone is just resigned to—that the government can monitor this app and know a ton of stuff about you. As a foreigner, however, you are unlikely to be able to use this app because you need to have a compatible bank account (probably meaning from a Chinese bank).

No matter how you travel in China, you'll see the amazing efforts to accommodate the expansion cities, so that a “town” of which you've never heard might have a million or more people. On the tour, you'll see almost only architectural and shop glitz that the government and cities bask in. You might get very brief glimpses of poverty.

While on the one hand the Chinese government talks a good game and takes some important steps vis-à-vis the climate crisis, on the other hand they still use an enormous amount of fossil fuel for electricity generation. I was also struck—dismayed—by the fact that from all appearances, people only drink bottled water (Westerners are warned against tap water, but I don’t know if local people build up an immuinity to its problems). Especially in warm weather, I can only guess at the billions of single-use plastic bottles that are used every day by the population of 1.4 billion (plus large numbers of visitors). On rare occasions, like at an airport, you might see a place to refill a water bottle (I assume that water is safe).

Please note that in criticisms like the previous paragraph, I do not intend a holier-than-thou American attitude. I am even more critical of what our government does—or more importantly, doesn’t—do vis-à-vis the climate crisis.

THE PEOPLE

Almost everyone was pleasant and upbeat. We mostly moved among middle- (and presumably upper-)class people; we encountered many others, but they were kind of in the background (just as in capitalist countries), and while we made it a point to notice their existence, we had no meaningful interactions with them.

The westernization of outward behavior was almost palpable. My wife had visited 10 years ago and regularly commented on the difference. My impression is that the young (teen-agers, young adults) are especially into western fashion and culture—and to what to me was a surprising extent, seemed to be able to afford indulging that taste.

For what it’s worth, my observation was that people are quite materialistic, focus their lives on that, and increasingly able to afford to indulge themselves. Outwardly, at least, they have little concern with the strictures of their government. Tiananmen Square seems to be in the distant past. Treatment of Moslems and Uighurs (not unlike our current treatment of immigrants and Moslems or our like history of racial and ethnic conflicts) was far away. So far as I could tell, people like Americans (though we’re also bizarre outsiders—there are occasional instances of Chinese people, especially ones who live far from the cities we visited, walking up to a foreigner and asking to take a photo together (this happened to me on the Great Wall, with some pretty young guys).

SECURITY

This abounds. You need to carry your passport everywhere. You'll encounter frequent security checks where you have to put whatever you're carrying through a scanner and show official IDs. In Lhasa, these checks were even present as you wove your way through street markets.

At every airport check-in, you not only go through a security scanner, but you then step up on s short stool so that someone with a hand scanner can go over every inch of your body. (I have sometimes wondered whether proliferation of security folk, including regular police, in nations like this is a clever device for combining meaningful security with full employment.)

The government must have an incredible volume of disk space and incredibly fast computer programs to be able quickly to access information about any given citizen or visitor. Check-in at airports always includes a live photo of you. I’m sure if anyone in the security services had wanted to track me down at any time, it wouldn't have taken more than a few seconds. (For each accommodation where you stay, you have to register with the police. Hotels typically do that for you.)

IN-COUNTRY TRAVEL

We had 4 in-country flights (part of the reason for what Uniworld charges), and much as we wanted to visit the places to which we flew, the time and effort involved in getting from to shuttle bus (then sometimes a long walk) to hotel to airport to check-in to security to boarding to flying to disembarking to shuttle bus to the next hotel became overwhelming.

The tour included 3 nights in a luxury boat on the Yangtze River. This was quite pleasant and included a night’s visit to a show (I don’t remember exactly which one, but when on our own my wife and I went to a couple of shows in Beijing—well worth it even if they're not something to your normal taste). Here, we had some down time. At our ages, we needed more of that. I got sick while on the boat and got what seemed like pretty good medical care.

(By American standards, medicals for my wife in Lhasa and for me on the Yangtze boat were low but not miniscule.)

By American standards, taxis are cheap. They were pretty easy to find in Beijing. (The “universal” app includes signups with services like Uber.) But in Shanghai, they were extremely rare, and we had to get help from strangers to order one. As you would expect, this is especially hard when it’s raining and you're a very long walk from your hotel. Among maybe a dozen or two cab rides during our entire stay, we had two bad experiences with cabbies; I advise photographing the driver’s information and the meter area. I found that this significantly mitigated the problems.

We took the metro in Beijing. After brief adjustment, it was very easy to use. The main difficulty is that stations are far apart, so on (say) a rainy night, you will still need an umbrella and endurance. Shanghai seems to have an equivalent subway system, but we never used it there.

LHASA

Part of the altitude problem my wife (and a few of our fellow travellers) had appears to be the flight’s forcing a lack of transition from sea level to an altitude over 2 miles. (On the other hand, a slower, staged transfer probably would have added cost to an already expensive trip—and maybe loss of a day’s touring.) Especially for older folk, however, I think this is a relevant concern.

I don’t know why, but although I could feel very mild pressure in my breathing, I was fine for the entire Lhasa visit. I had a different disappointment (perhaps idiosyncratic to myself, an academic and non-religious person): if I remember correctly, our entire stay involved visiting Tibetan religious locations. I quite support SOME such visits—religious history is central to human existence—but I would have liked to see aspects of other Tibetan cultural history.

Because of Beijing political issues with Tibet, filing out your Chinese visa involves the charade of not mentioning you're going there (if you do mention it, your visa apparently will be denied).

And a warning re Lhasa (and at least the Great Wall): there can invite lots of climbing, and a number of us, especially some of the older people (even when altitude wasn’t an issue), chose to climb minimally (just enough to get a sense of where steps were going and what the resulting view would be). Kevin and other guides were totally understanding—indeed, we were offered climbing options.

This trip is wonderfully varied with each day having something different to
the last. The accommodation throughout is very comfortable especially if you
love an adventure. There are highlights such as heritage and eco hotels and
lodges , and full service camping with roomy tents . In March and the
beginning of April the weather included sunny days in the cities of Delhi and
Calcutta , contrasting with cold fresh nights on camp , with a hail shower .
The hotel in Delhi has a pool and relaxation facilities , and for anyone
arriving earlier , there is time for city tours to see the sights . The
drives from the plains to the Himalayan hill stations revealed beautiful
rivers , terraced tea plantations and habitations on high and steep slopes .
We visited colorful Buddhist temples and the Unesco World Heritage site of
the Toy Train at Darjeeling .
Being woken at 0500 and being lead by Rajeev our leader , to the top of the
ridge near the Kalijar campsite to see the sunrise lighting up Kachenjunga ,
the 3rd highest mountain in the World , and seeing the whole range of the
Himalayan snow capped mountains in front of us , which included Mount Everest
in the distance . Rajeev was tremendous in pointing out and naming each
individual summit . The team took the trouble to ensure we even had cups of
tea and had lots of time to savour the amazing view and take photographs.


Rajeev was excellent in leading our group which had walkers with varied
experience , and walking pace . He gave detailed information about the region
, farming methods , his country and the mountain ranges , and answered our
many questions . He is a very capable leader .


Come prepared to try out different food , and with fitness preparation for
walking to summits on fairly steep slopes. Bring a camera too !


I think the highlights wee often the optional parts of the trip like walking
to the summit of Singalila , and seeing the Everest range on a clear day so
make the most of these . The 16 Zoe's , a cross between a Yak and a cow ,
were the fantastic animals that carried our camping gear for us , and the
team of herdsman and cooks provided an amazing service during our camping
trek .

A crazy, exciting and fascinating trip to Northern India. The trip was
amazing, full of surprises, and took us into lesser known areas and small
villages.
So many highlights and so many experiences, ranging from Kulfa ice-cream
brought to our hotel one day, to advice on the best place to purchase a
singing prayer bowl, to a visit to see His Holiness the Dalailama.....and
loads more too! Much of the trip was off the beaten track and I felt we were
honoured to be able to meet some truly lovely people at various places
en-route, including at a Tibetan children's orphanage and a village with it's
own health centre, recycling project, and support for women.


Our guide, Phillippa, has, along with her family, lived in India for many
years and consequently has acquired a wealth of knowledge and contacts, which
assured us of a very full experience


The trip is described as leisurely...it is however "full-on", with some very
early starts on occasions. Overall, a fantastic, rewarding experience not to
be missed! Dave


Go there! You won't regret it!

We have just returned from this busy and full on trip. As other reviews have
said 'China is big!' We saw and experienced so much - from the different
styles of food, transport and sites. Our guide was informative and shared
lots of information regarding Chinese culture and history as well as the
amazing development that has occurred during the last 20 years.
Realising just how far China has come and how far it plans to go. This is awe
inspiring rather than inspirational. The infrastructure projects, buildings,
size of cities, numbers of travellers/ tourists/people. Reading about it
can't really prepare you for the reality.


Dragon was extremely good at managing expectations and ensuring the whole
group navigated the busy schedule. He was professional, funnyGo patient and
very good at helping us make the most of the opportunities available. This
included where to stand on the boat to get the best view, upgrading our
dining option on the Yangtze cruise to avoid the scrum in the dining room. We
enjoyed hearing his anecdotes of growing up and life in China.


Be prepared for the crowds but don't let them put you off as the Chinese were
always friendly, helpful and good natured. Take mosquito repellent and wear
comfortable shoes as there is a lot of walking but it is all manageable. Use
the 'farmers' to carry your bag on to the cruise boat there are a lot of
steep steps down to the river. Have an open mind and be willing to go with
the flow. Foot massages were great (especially the ones on the cruise).
Enjoy!


We met lots of interesting travlleling companions and the group size of 16
worked well with a mix of couples and singles, so there were always people to
hang out with if you wanted to. Go for it - you won't be disappointed

Great trip ,great guide.so much going on!!!
One of the best of 10 trips I have been on with exodus.Thank you Chris .
Just loved the cycling

A very good and interesting holiday taking in all the fascinating places that
China has to offer.
Seeing the Terracotta Army was for me the most inspirational part of the
trip. The size of the find and how much they still have to uncover, so much
so that they are leaving a huge proportion to future generations to explore
as they have so much to do already.


Our group leader Jane could t have been more helpful or considerate, she was
a delight and went out of her way to help everyone making sure that we were
all comfortable and supported. She was also very knowledgeable about every
part of the trip. She will be truly missed.


August is the Chinese school holidays and also the hottest time of the year
so really crowded everywhere and extremely hot and humid. Think about going
at a different time of the year!


I throughly enjoyed the trip, we saw so much and experienced so much. All was
well organised. Comfortable hotels and great food. Lots to see and do. And
many many steps! Worst day was 45 flights of stairs! Wish I’d started
counting the steps when I arrived. Lots of walking and half of them upor down
or so it seemed! If you go in the summer take clothes that can be easily
washed through, it’s very, very sweaty!