Private Custom Tour: Shanghai in One Day

was raining...so...

We booked this tour as we've used Viator tours in the past, and have always been very satisfied, however this time around, that wasn't our experience. Our guide Tom spoke very good English, but offered very little commentary about life in Shanghai, other than a proscribed script delivered in a rather wooden fashion. The guide seemed more interested in checking his phone and shunting us from one destination to the next. The visits to the Temple and garden were both lovely, but certainly these parts of the tour felt rushed there was limited time to stop, take in the beautiful surroundings and have photos taken. The visit to the Silk factory was interesting, but the prices were obviously inflated, and there was pressure to buy. Our guide seemed offended when we told him we weren't interested in visiting the Pearl factory. We have been to these places before and were not interested in another visit. We had to ask several times for recommendations for shopping as we were keen on doing some bartering at a local market and it was our expectation from what we had read on the website that our guide might be able to assist us with bargaining, however this was not the case, and instead we were dropped off at the shopping market. Having said that, the place was great and we were spoilt for choice. We had booked a whole day tour, but by lunchtime, we'd had enough, and when after only a couple of hours, the guide asked us to sign a paper acknowledging we'd received the goods we'd ordered, we did so, and we decided we'd be better off doing our own thing... We had to find our own way back to the hotel. I would not recommend this tour.

Our guide, Frank, was very knowledgeable,friendly and helpful. He introduced us to so many new areas and sights in a city we have visited many times. We would highly recommend Frank and an independent tour of the city.