Private Tour: 2-Night Shandong by Bullet Train from Shanghai Including Temple of Confucius

Our guides were very friendly and helpful. Touring Confucius Temple, Mansion and family Cemetery was interesting - quite a lot of restoration work has occurred and it's easy to get around. Seeing Confucius tomb was a highlight along with his son and grandson's too. Mt Tai'an was very much a highlight - excellent views with surreal atmosphere. A wonderful day trip. Being able to stand next to the monument depicted on the 5 Yuan note was special. Definitely value for money trip and glad we added this to our overall China excursion.

Six family members all enjoyed the historical sites in Qufu and Taian. We especially liked Annie (sp) our tour guide who was very helpful at explaining the historical significance of the sites. She did everything to make sure we all enjoyed the tour. The sites were amazing and would be enjoyed by anyone interested in Chinese culture. There is a good bit of walking and stair climbing and may be a bit challenging for older folks like me. The hotel Queli is conveniently located near the Confucius Temple and is clean and comfortable. My one problem with the tour was that the six tickets that were purchased for us for the bullet train trip back to Shanghai were for assigned seats scattered around one car. Since the train was filled to capacity we were not able to sit together for the three hour trip to Shanghai. We booked this tour many weeks ago so there was no excuse for making the six of us ride in different places around the car. Since two of our party are children this presented a big problem. We have been on several Viator tours and we certainly didn't think it would be necessary to specify that the six of us wished to be seated together on the train. One benefit of using tour companies is to have knowledgeable professionals anticipate problems. If I had booked the tour on my own I surely would not have taken the trip if I could not get adjacent seats on the train. David Schneider