Trip of a lifetime! Travel China Guide worked with me to create an excellent itinerary, booked great hotels, and connected us with wonderful guides. TCG took feedback in real time and made adjustments for the group (for example, my 81 yo mother was having difficulty walking and climbing and TCG worked with the guides to make modifications that really made the trip more enjoyable for her).

Our tour went the length of Vietnam and also included Siem Reap in Cambodia. It was a whirlwind trip, but there is not a single thing I would change.

This is my second time working with TCG (first time was in China in 2017, also with a family group). The company is reliable and excellent to work with.

Wonderful and enjoyable stress-free experience, not only getting to know the amazing attractions but thanks to the conversations with the guides, you get to immerse in the culture and nuances of this distinctive nation. We had a personalized private tour by Agate Travel and it was flawless!

This review is for 18 day Vietnam/ Thailand trip with Agate travel. We went with this travel agency because of the reviews, and reasonable pricing. It was a private tour, so we ended up doing some changes in the itinerary (Hanoi/Halong Bay/Hoi An/Ho Chi Minh City/Bangkok/Chiang Mai/Phuket). Overall, communication with the company was timely, and they were very responsive. The itinerary offers a variety of experiences and covers the highlights of the area. The drivers were excellent throughout, but the guides were a mixed bag. The best guide we had was in Hanoi, Mr Xuan, who said his name meant spring. He was in a class by himself, knowledgeable, kind and really caring. The rest were ok but did not reach to Mr. Xuan’s level. Given that English is not their language, I should be more charitable, but when it’s so hard to understand what is being said, it does distract from the experience. The hotels were well chosen, and in populous locations with lots of eateries around. The flights were as advertised in the itinerary. The included meals were acceptable and in varied settings. Finally, if you are from a country other than USA, make sure you are quoted in US dollars to avoid fluctuating rates of the home currency

I took a last minute 4-day solo trip to Malta, and had a private driver (Gerald) and guide (Mariella) to show me around the Archipelago and take in the history and culture. I was picked up and dropped off at the airport.

Mariella gave me a tour of Marsaxlokk, Hagar Qim and Valletta - she was very knowledgeable and knew all of the best places to see, we were also able to get speedy entry into places like St John's Co-Cathedral.

The team professionally adapted to my needs on the fly, allowing me to deviate from the original plan the next day to instead visit Gozo Island (Victoria and Rabat), and then onwards to Mdina where I saw beautiful architecture and learned more about Malta's history whilst also being able to pick up some wonderful display artwork for my home.

we booked a private tour with Agate, the travel agent Wendy is very organized and responsive, answered all my questions, made suggestions for our itinerary and adjusted with our preference. it was very pleasant experience to plan the trip. once we arrived the airport, our guide and the car were waiting for us. we shared a van with 2 more families, all 3 hotels are very close and we are the third stop, detour was like 15 minutes. very smooth.
we had a guide in Tokyo, she is very knowledgeable and good to tour around, she lived in Canada for about 2 years, served as translator for special Olympics and her English is awesome. She knows all the short cut and fun spots to check out. out bullet train tickets were delivered to our hotel front desk, and our guide walked us all way to the train cart. super nice.
the guide in Kyoto showed us in Kyoto and Osaka. He is super knowledgeable too, and both guide came prepared with binder that has introductions of all sorts Japanese history and cultures. my kids even learned a lot from all the visit. He also knows all the best picture spot. The intermarry was slightly adjusted with the sunset time, so we got a chance seeing the beautiful sunset view in the Kinkaku-ji temple, which become one of the highlights of the trip.
all of my family are very happy with the tour, we don't have to worry about the logistics and be able to bypass the crowds, truly enjoy our trip. we will definitely contact them for the future trips

We thoroughly enjoyed our private tour. Communication with Emily at Agate tours was very good. She answered our questions promptly and clearly. Our guide/driver John was excellent! His English fluency and extensive experience made our tour seamless. The accommodation, park guides and community visit he arranged were amazing. I would not hesitate to recommend Agate Tours. However, be aware that the company is based in China and this does complicate making the tour payment.

We had a great experience with Agate Travel. They were very helpful and responsive and planned a wonderful vacation for our family. We added and changed some details to make it the perfect trip for us. Thank you for your attention to detail and great travel planning!

This trip was absolutely fantastic! Our guides were amazing and the sights unforgettable, from the baobabs to the beaches, and everything in between. We saw so many lemurs and other animals. It was a five star experience. Thank you!

Agate did it again! This is my second trip with Agate. Wendy worked excellently with me in creating one of my most memorable trips over the years. The in-country tours were excellent with knowledgeable, kind, and funny guides, the personal touches they each gave of their life in Vietnam were eye-opening. All the excursions we went on were excellent, from the HCMC Vespa food tour to the Backstreet Hanoi Food tour, and the Hoian basket river experience. I can't wait for my next tour in China!

My husband and I wanted to visit Cambodia for quite some time. When I was planning our trip, I knew that a visit to the historic Angkor Wat temples was definitely on our list, but I wasn’t sure about what else to visit in Cambodia.
Mrs Wendy Lee from Agate Travel did a really nice job helping us to plan our trip. We had a few conversations with her to describe what we were interested in doing/seeing and she came up with a suggested itinerary and made all the arrangements. From the moment I first contacted her, 6 months prior our trip to the conclusion of it, she always replied quickly via email. The price she quoted us was great, better than the prices of other companies I had also contacted.
Cambodia is an amazing place with so much to see. During our 14-day tour we visit Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, Battambang, Kampot and Koh Rong Island. The country is incredibly rich in culture and natural beauty. Every place we visited had something unique and special that made it stand out. Cambodian people are incredibly kind, gentle and their hospitality is superb.
From beginning to end, everything was perfect and there were no mishaps. The hotels were really good, the service outstanding and the guides and drivers knowledgeable, caring and concerned for our safety.
Of the wonderful places in Cambodia, Siem Reap temples were the most amazing experience made only better by our guide, Mr Heng Sourchanrith. He was brilliant in ensuring that we not only saw a range of sites, but we also had a lot of background information, giving us detailed explanations about the places, the historical context, the art and meaning of the symbols and writings that cover the walls and piles of the temples. Also explain to us many legends about the places we visited and the people who lived there in those times and about the live and the culture of the in Cambodia in nowadays. I also must note he was particularly good with the timing of our visits to the busier places, which avoided most of the crowds.
Thank you for an amazing trip. We have no hesitation in recommending Agate Travel. If we return to Southeast Asia, we will book through them again.

We visited a number of cities in China, Japan and South Korea during 24 days. Emily planned the perfect trip for us: all selected hotels were of good quality, the guides in each city were knowledgeable and courteous, always willing to help, cars were clean and of adequate size.
Coordination of so meny different resources across various countries is a logistics challenge, however, everything worked to near perfection.
This was a wonderful one on one experience so different from mass tourism.

We had some doubts about how this tour would operate. The tour operator is in China, and the tour is in Croatia. How could this possibly work? Very well, in fact. The tour operator was always very responsive to any questions I had. There is a local operator in Croatia who was both pro active, advising us of what and who was coming next, and responsive whenever I had questions. We were setup with a driver who was courteous and helpful. He knew quite a bit to tell us as we went along, but was not intrusive. The tour arranged excellent hotels, had very good and interesting suggestions for restaurants, and a fine itinerary. When bad weather meant that we missed our trip to Hvar and the Blue Cave, they were ready with a substitute. In short, this was a memorable tour. Expensive, but strongly recommended anyhow.

Agate Travel (and Emily in particular!) did an incredible job helping me and my family with the paperwork to travel to Turkmenistan, which is perhaps the most difficult country for a Westerner to travel to. We were always given clear and exact information about the whole complicated process. The itinerary was exactly what we wanted, but even if it hadn’t been, Agate Travel affords you great freedom to customize your trip.

This was proven when, in the last minute, I decided to slot in a trip to Armenia in between the Turkmenistan trip and a Türkiye trip with another company. Despite the lack of time before my vacation, Emily, my Agate Travel Travel Consultant, managed to book the trip and customize it according to my desires.

Both trips were sensational, and the only hiccups I came across were because of the companies hired on Agate Travel’s behalf (guides, drivers, cars etc were arranged by different, local companies, and Agate Travel served as an intermediary). As someone who’s been to 28 countries so far, I highly recommend both Armenia and Turkmenistan if you enjoy exotic trips where you get to know the countries thoroughly.

The tour was very well planned. For a first comer to India, I saw the main landmarks of Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, which were fantastic. My driver was very attentive and (huge bonus for me) three of my guides were female. This made the communication easier (being a woman) and very interesting. Thanks to the excellent service!

Agate Tours set up a private 19 day tour of Turkey. They included ruins of the ancients, underground cities, Roman castles, Fairy Chimneys, time to tour the inner Istanbul, and a balloon ride over Cappadocia. The guides made trip with their information and the small details and sites a large group doesn’t have time for. Drivers were safe and got us everywhere as scheduled by the guide. What a trip we had. Everyday was different and offered rest days. I highly recommend them. This is our 11th trip with them and planning more.

Great, informative tour with friendly, knowledgeable guides. Charming hotels, especially in Chiang Mai. Beautiful elephant visit.

This was once in a lifetime experience. We enjoyed our tour of China and Japan very much, visited fascinating and impressive places and took a lot of beautiful pictures. Our guides were patient and knowledgeable. We would like to thank you our guides, Colin in Beijing, Tracy in Xi'an, Johnny in Shanghai, Akie in Tokyo, Toshiba in Kyoto. And above all we would like to thank you and show our appreciation to Emily, who has done excellent work to organize and made all so easy and possible to it.

Make sure your WhatsApp is up and running (the main form of communication) and get ready for an unforgettable trip through ancient and modern Turkey. Each city was something new, guided by extremely knowledgeable guides and highly capable drivers. The hotel accommodations were always in the center of the historic district and always jewels. Okay, Kusadasi was not our best hotel experience as the whole town has a 24/7 party vibe but the view was fantastic and nearby Ephesus made up for lost sleep! The cave hotel in Cappadocia was epic. Thank you to Serkan and associates for a seamless and memorable journey.

Tour was very well organized. Drivers and guides were reliable and on time. I would have liked a higher grade hotels in some cities. Transportation between cities by private car was excellent.

Our tour in Egypt has been amazing!
Emily at Agate Travel helped us plan a 7 day tour including the famous sights, a cruise on the Nile and arranged accommodation for 3 extra nights in Luxor and an additional night in Cairo.

We were very impressed with our tour guides who made us feel like VIPs on arrival. They have been with us at every step of the way, helping us at the airports, transfers to hotels, check in and check out.

We have learnt so much about ancient Egypt from our knowledgeable guide. Ahmed has a PhD in Egyptology, building a picture of 5000 years of history, and patiently answered all our questions! He kept us safe, and we have learnt so much.

Our 5 star hotels were comfortable and a welcome oasis from the heat of the day. We did the shorter cruise downriver from Aswan to Luxor and it was lovely watching the banks of the Nile glide by.

We had the opportunity to learn about essential oils, papyrus art and rock carving and delighted with our purchases.

Our tour covered all the important ancient sites; pyramids, temples and museums. We bought an extension to see the Karnak sound and light show, Dendara temple (very quiet when we were there), and an unforgettable early morning hot air balloon ride with clear views of the Nile and Hapshepsut’s temple.

Altogether an amazing experience we will treasure always!

Amazing trip arranged by Amy at Agate, our driver Raj quickly became a friend, so professional and helpful, the trip was well planned and organised, allowed us to see a lot of India in a short space of time, and nothing was too much trouble for Raj, the car was spotless, hotels amazing and guides were interesting, thanks both for making us have our dream holiday!

I had a great experience setting up a custom tour for my family. We visited Thailand and Laos and had excellent tour guides in each country. Crossing the border from Thailand into Laos was easy and our private long boat down the Mekong was next level. Highly recommend

this was our third private tour with Agate, and another resounding success. Everything ran seamlessly once in South America. The internal flights and ransfers all ran to time, the guides were uniformally excellent and flexible. it was a very varied trip from the beach in Rio to glaciers in Patagonia, so factor in packing wisely and allow for the fact that internal flights have a 15kg weight limit unless you pay extra. We really appreciated the free days in both Rio and Buenos Aires, to fit in the sights and experiences not in the itinerary. The hotels were all fine and very well located. although only breakfast is included, that wasn't a problem at all as South America has plenty of places to eat well and cheaply, though this is slightly less the case in el Calafete which is, understandably, pricier and the hotel is located outside town though runs a free shuttle bus service into the town centre. In fact the worst bit of the holiday was waiting on the tarmac at at Heathrow once our return flight had landed and a arduous taxi journey home in the UK due to roadworks/closures. NOT Agate's fault at all! Thank you to Wendy for being an excellent travel consultant.

We had a wonderful 11 days trip in Tajikistan. Bobo, our tour guide was above and beyond, and the entire itinerary was very interesting. Really recommended tour.

The tour has been perfect: a beautiful experience to know the country, its natural beauty and its people. The national parks visited are wonderful.

Emily was amazing from start to finish. Very professional, punctual and created an amazing trip for us. Highly recommended

I was very pleased with the recent Madagascar tour organised by Agate travels. They were very helpful, transparent, accommodating and the itinerary was well planned. The local driver/guide Falantine was superb. I would happily recommend Agate travels and would without hesitation use their services for future trips.

As a UK family of 4 wanting a wow factor holiday in Thailand, we approached Agate Travel (specifically Wendy Lee) who were wonderful from start to finish. They helped us to build a bespoke private tour covering Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai. We had an incredible trip experiencing everything from amazing temples, food and waterfalls to jungle trekking, local markets and elephant sanctuaries. And so much more. Our two guides were passionate, friendly and knowledgable and spoke excellent English; drivers were kind and courteous; and transport was in very comfortable minibuses. All of the hotels were excellent 4* recommendations by Agate. Wendy even helped us with some advice on local flights in Thailand after our tour had finished and we were on Koh Samui. Amazing service. Furthermore, the cost of our trip with Agate was considerably cheaper than that quoted by a couple of UK luxury tour operators for the same trip (with a lower standard of hotel accommodation). Thank you Agate for arranging a brilliant holiday that we will never forget!

We had a great experience with Travel China Guide/ Agate Travel. We traveled from the USA to Japan and Beijing. They booked our hotels and tours. Emily Xin was super responsive throughout the whole process and made the best itinerary for us possible. Emily kept adjusting the trip, so it would be aligned with our budget and days. The trip was well organized and everything went smoothly. Thank you for making this dream trip possible.

Mongolia is a lot different from what we have seen on the internet; its BETTER! There are beautiful national parks and landscapes that are surreal. Our guide, Miss Deema and our driver Eric took us to some the most breathtaking scenery one could imagine. Great photo opportunities abound! Both Hustai and Terelj national parks were different in their own way with unique geography and wildlife. Accommodation in the yurts (gers) was warm and comfortable and is highly recommended. As was the Bactrian camel ride! And the introduction to throat singing. Deema's knowledge of the country, its people, and its history was outstanding. As was Eric's driving skills. Both much appreciated. Overall this trip is a GREAT introduction to this great country and it's unique culture and people.