WindhorseTour is a 2020 Travelers’ Choice Award Winner by TripAdvisor
On August 20th 2020, WindhorseTour was recognized as a 2020 Travelers’ Choice Winner. Based on a full year of TripAdvisor reviews and ratings, WindhorseTour is in the top 10% of attractions worldwide. We are very proud of this distinguished recognition of our expertise, passion, and excellent service for travelers to China.
History of WindhorseTour
The founder of WindhorseTour - Helen has been engaging in inbound-tourism in Tibet before October 2006. Her genuine passion for introducing Tibetan culture and nature by traveling led to the birth of WindhorseTour when both Chengdu and Lhasa offices were established in December 2006. Since then, our travel agency has focused on Tibet inbound tourism till 2009 when our business has expanded to Sichuan and other mainland regions in China. From 2012 till now, we keep a perfect balance at fifty-fifty between the Tibet tour and mainland China tour. As a small scale but experienced local China travel agency based in Chengdu and Lhasa, we specialize in tailor-making China private tours to travelers in every corner of the world for over 13 years. Since the first-ever trip in April 2007, we have helped tons of travelers to appreciate the endless beauty of China with memories that will last a lifetime.
How We Plan Trips
Every traveler is unique with their own different needs, budget, and style, and we believe your trip should be too. As a local China travel agency, we know the ins and outs of our country and offer our clients honest advice on how to make their trip authentic and special. We share our inside information and expert knowledge of real China and leave the option to the travelers themself to decide where they should go and what they prefer to see. We are here to help our clients with customization, personalized events, special requests…anything they can think of to make their trips that are fun-filled, worry-free, and valuable. We’ll work tirelessly and keep tweaking every detail of your itinerary until it feels just right, even at the last minute of your trip.
Our motto is “Your China Awaits”, which is also what we are passionate about. We make sure every request of our clients is taken care of, and encourage them to discover China in a way that suits their needs and tastes. We usually offer the trip plans with a flexible schedule, so that our clients can enjoy the trip to the fullest without any stress. Travelers will see a lot during the journey when they are at the destination, but there is no way to see everything. Pushing clients to rush to see one more thing isn’t going to make the journey any better. Our expertise and relationships allow us to organize all trip activities into a smooth itinerary and ensure our customers get the most out of their vacation.
How We Partner
We have the main office in Chengdu, with one office in Lhasa. Our staff members have extensive and first-hand knowledge of Sichuan and Tibet and have created unforgettable travel experiences in the region for thousands of clients from all over the world. In line with the expectations we have for our staff, we have also selected local partners all around China that are trustable, friendly and have in-depth local knowledge, and keep the long-term cooperation with them to ensure that our clients will gain knowledge of local tradition, culture, religion, and history, as well as personalized service immediately upon their arrival at the destinations beyond Sichuan and Tibet.
In addition, we have built a strong network with reputable travel-related providers such as transportation companies, cruise companies, airlines, hotels, scenic spots, activity providers, restaurants, etc so that we can provide our clients with the most competitive rates and best value available.
How We Talk to Our Clients
Once we receive our client’s tour request, we aim to respond within 24 hours. The response may be slightly delayed since we treat every single client fairly and we need to make sure all clients continue to get excellent service. No matter if the clients will go on a tour with us, we are always happy to help with any questions they may have. We can be easily contacted by several ways posted on our website, including inquiry forms, phone calls, Facebook messages, and e-mails. And we hope a quick email or phone call with our clients can clear things up, to save their time and hassle for looking up answers online from strangers. We regard all our clients as our friends, and keep all our communication clear, open, and personable, with our first-hand experience and knowledge, instead of copying from guidebooks or other websites.
We stay in touch by email and by telephone during the trip-planning stage, because we understand that the most exciting time during the trip process may not be the trip itself, but the time leading up to the trip. Before our customers leave for China, we offer packing and travel tips, and the talk or help is never out of reach while on their trip. There is always a staff member on call 24/7 to deal with any unforeseen situations or unexpected glitches due to weather, transportation issues, or illness, and we do our best to react to the situation with work-out solutions as early as we can. From the initial contact, through the duration of their journey, and until they get home safely again, we are always got their back.
How We Listen
In order to provide a truly fabulous and customized trip for all of our clients, we actively listen to their desired travel dates, preferred travel method, what they hope to see and do on their trip, and then make recommendations and tailor a travel plan that fits their travel preferences and expectations. We take time to listen to our clients’ wishlist of travel experiences, down to the tiny details and try our best to make a few of their dreams into a reality along their way. We love to get questions from our clients and take their questions seriously because we are competent to give them the right answers.
During our clients’ stay in China, we keep in touch with them to listen if there is any service we have provided that they feel unsatisfied with. Ideally, we endeavor to make sure nothing will go wrong during their trip, but the truth is life happens whether we like it or not, things can go wrong. If something goes wrong on their trip, we will try to get their trip back on track and avoid similar problems happening again. We believe it’s how we handle those situations which really sets us apart.
We are a travel agency trying to seize every opportunity to improve ourselves. We ask for a closing survey at the end of each trip, to ensure that they have had a great time, and listen to their feedback on points that we can improve. Even for those who did not pick us, we would love to listen to their reasons. Every little thing we do is to make sure that we have continuous improvement.
Clients’ Feedback
WindhorseTour is an insured and fully licensed inbound-travel branch office of Chengdu Friendship International Travel Service approved by the local authorities in China with License No. L-SC-A-00089. Specializing in delivering tours in China including such areas as Beijing, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan, Guizhou, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, etc, we are held up to a high level of standards and practices to cater to English speakers worldwide. If you want an immediate account of how we operate, just take a look at our client reviews on TripAdvisor!
Our Service
We operate tours in every part of China. Popular destinations include Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Guilin, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Tibet. All trips can be customized to meet our clients' interests and needs. For those who have no idea where to start, we give recommendations below for what is possible when traveling to China, and they display routes we know work especially well. Our clients may treat them as inspiration because their trip will be created uniquely by one of our trip advisors.
For first-time travelers, the 13 days Classic China tour to Beijing - Xi'an - Guilin - Shanghai which included some highlighted cities and top places in China, let you ponder the legends of the Forbidden City, rediscover your sense of wonder on the Great Wall, fathom the timeless expressions of the Terracotta Warriors, cycle between the fairy tale karst pinnacles of Yangshuo, become entranced by Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces, feel the charisma, romance, and fashion in the modernized Shanghai, and experience the historic canalside atmosphere in the lovely canal town Tongli.
For travelers who are eager for hiking and photographing, the 7 days Daocheng Yading Nature Reserve & Danba tour can be a fulfilling experience with incredible scenery mixed with majestic snow peaks, expansive meadows, crystal clear alpine lakes, and primitive forests, with a visit to the authentic Tibetan’s dwelling village.
For adventure lovers who are seeking an overland trip, this marvelous 8 days Mt. Everest Base Camp tour will take them to head to visit Mt. Everest Base Camp. Driving along the Friendship Highway Tibet-Nepal itself is very splendid, with the landscape featuring more typical Tibetan high plateaus with snow-capped mountains, high passes, and deep valleys. During the 6-day excursion trip outside of Lhasa, they will stop at several places to visit Yamdrok-Tso Lake, Karola Glacier, Gyantse old town, Shigatse Tashilhunpo monastery.
For those who prefer to enjoy the varied natural beauty and diverse culture, check out the 9 days Yunnan highlights tour, which starts with an exploration in Kunming, then follows the Ancient Tea and Horse Road between Dali, Shaxi, and Lijiang, and leaves for an unforgettable road trip to the fabled Shangri-la with a detour to visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge.
There are so many other absolutely gorgeous places throughout China with unique experiences that will touch your soul and leave an imprint so deep it stays with you forever, please read our China tour package for more suggestions or connect us directly to tailor your own special trip in China.
How We Respond to COVID-19
When the COVID-19 emerged around China several months ago, none of us were made ready for it to turn into a worldwide pandemic. Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, it has been a tough year for our tourism industry, and our travel agencies are facing incredible challenges. During this difficult period, we have taken the opportunity to train and evaluate all our staff, review feedback, and implement improvements.
Meanwhile, as China and the globe do what they can to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we are doing everything we can to support the recovery of the tourism and hospitality industry. Even though we are a small travel agency, a small portion of the industry, we are continuing to make donations to Rotary which is an international service organization providing humanitarian service. Despite the reality that travel has just about halted and the industry is in dire trouble, as a time-tested travel agency, we always put ourselves in our client’s shoes, by active contacting our clients to push back their trip without losing nothing, providing a full refund to clients who have booked a tour with us if they prefer to cancel the tour due to concerns about coronavirus, making a purchase of face masks for clients who need when demand outstrips supply in the early period of coronavirus.
After ongoing efforts by our government in the past months, the epidemic of COVID-19 has been gradually controlled in China even though there are still a few scattered cases in some regions. Travelers’ desire to go and discover, whether the destination is an hour away or across the country, remains strong. We are passionate about guiding the expats who are working and studying in China to unfold the glamorous side of China and meet the lovely, friendly people on the road, with our rich experiences in handling unpredictable situations like flu and viral outbreaks as well as natural disasters.
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