Yangtze Gold 7

Hi Elk,

"Yangtze River Cruises and more specifically Elk has been helping us organise a very good tour in China: we were aiming to visit Chongqing, and observing that this could be combined with a crude on the Yangtze River, we opted for this, and given that this cruise at this time of the year was only 4 days, I searched extension options on the company website, found 2 extensions of interest for me and my husband, namely in Chengdu (where the tour organiser is based) and in Zhangjiajie. 

1. Organisation

Booking the tour, I was a little uncertain: there are so many scams online, that I was afraid we pay for that tour and end up with nothing... but it was not the case :-)

A few days before the start of our tour in Chengdu, Elk sent me the mobile numbers of the 3 guides that would be taking us through each station of our tour, and to my great pleasure, each of them was waiting for us at the agreed meeting point. All these scheduling and organisation elements were super well defined.

Elk also asked me which category of housing I wanted and booked for us hotels and cruise bedroom in the relevant category. I was pleasantly surprised in each location.

2. Comfort

Another special comment: the hotels and cruise ship have aircond, which is as expected, and also heating systems (which in December and January was very helpful as we visited Zhanjiajie under the snow). I specify this because some people told me before the trip that in these regions, considered South China, there is usually no heating system. It's true that in some restaurants and coffee shops, there was no heating, but al our hotels had some.

3. Food

In each location we had usually at least a breakfast and lunch included, plus dinner during the cruise. All was very good and to our taste: the guides asked us ahead what kind of food we can / cannot eat and esp. for us, it was "not spicy please" and we got it alright all the time.

4. Sightseeing and Guides

In each location we had a guide speaking well to very well our language and a driver; full comfort! 

In Chengdu guide Ben took us to the panda reserve and visiting it has been great fun: they are so cute. Then we went for lunch in the old city in a delicious restaurant, and visited and old temple, the touristic area, and park... and he was also kind enough to propose to us to join the local theater show (not included in the tour), which was amazing... The following morning he took us to the train station from which we would join Chongqing. He insisted to take us up to the last passport check before the train platform... that's very useful for overseas tourists not familiar with Chinese trains. Many thanks to Ben!

Then in Chongqing, Jacques took us through the city museum and main places of interest before dropping us at the gate of the ship; here also, no chance to get lost :-)

During the cruise, the staff and guides speaking our language were taking care of us onboard and during the excursions. We also took the ship lift add-on at the 3 gorges dam, which I can also recommend, what an experience! 

Finally in YiChang, our guide for Zhangjiajie was waiting for us at the cruise terminal to take us to Zhangjiajie. There she took us to the 2 famous parks there, the one with Avatar peaks, great even with overcast and rain, and then to the park of the Tianmen mountain, with the glass bridges and and the 999 steps... We visited that one under the snow and walking on snow, and it was amazing, even if we could not take as many glass bridges as planned, for safety reasons. Each day, we finished with delicious lunches, too much food actually, thus we did dabao. 

Thus only one summary: fantastic tour, great organisation, we are looking forward to the next one! 

The only thing that was a little less good was our guide in Chongqing, Jacques: he was always speaking very loud, like if speaking to a group of 20 people while we were only two. Otherwise, nothing to improve really, it was excellent!

Best regards,

Valerie

The following photos were shared by our customer Valerie:

Chengdu City Tour | Late December 2025 | Curated by Elk

Chongqing City Tour | Late December 2025 | Curated by Elk

Three Gorges Cruise Journey with Century Paragon | Early January 2026 | Curated by Elk

Two-Day Nature Escape in Zhangjiajie | Early January 2026 | Curated by Elk

Hi,

Thank you for your email. The trip to China was great. I will update you when I get back to Spain. All the best to you.

Regards,

David

Hi Elk,

We had a wonderful experience booking our Yangtze River cruise through Yangtze River Cruise Company. Elk was especially helpful throughout the entire process - extremely communicative, responsive, and patient in answering all our questions, which made the booking smooth and stress-free for our family.

The cruise itself on Century Paragon was excellent. Everything was well organized, the facilities were comfortable,and we truly had a great time. Overall, it was a fantastic experience from booking to the actual cruise, and we would highly recommend both the company and Elk's services to others planning a Yangtze River cruise.

Chen

Thank you Rita,

The Cruise has been wonderful, everyone involved has been very helpful. My wife and I are having a good time.

Thanks again for the arrangements.

Joseph

Hi Wonder,

Thanks for your presents. Thanks for arranging our hotels, restaurants, transport and the tour guides.

There were some small problems but we managed to overcome them.

Regards,

Richard