Most China itineraries are built for adults with good shoes and no bedtime. Yours will not be. We plan two big things a day, not five, and we put the car close to every entrance so the walk back happens in a vehicle and not in tears.
Our family guides tend to be parents themselves. They know which museum has a lift, which restaurant will do a plain bowl of rice without a discussion, and when to abandon the plan entirely and find ice cream.
Every day here is a suggestion. Your guide rewrites it with you the evening before — that is the whole point of travelling privately.
Forbidden City with a treasure hunt your guide has refined over years. Great Wall by cable car, toboggan down. One afternoon completely free.
Panda Base at opening. People’s Park with the bubble-blowers and the tea house. A morning at a cooking school where children make their own dumplings.
Li River cruise, bamboo raft, cycling on flat country lanes. Rice terraces only if everyone is happy with stairs; otherwise a village walk and a river swim.
Add three days in Shanghai for the science museum and the water town, or fly home from Guilin.
Tell us what they eat and we brief the guide. Plain rice, noodles without chilli, steamed buns and fruit are everywhere — the myth that China is hard for children is mostly a chilli problem.
Squat toilets are common outside hotels. Carry tissues and hand sanitiser; your guide knows every clean option within a ten-minute radius.
We fit rear-facing, forward-facing and boosters. Send ages and weights and they are installed before you land.
Under-6s do best on 7–9 day trips with two cities. Ten days is comfortable from about age eight.
One brief, one reply within 24 hours, two or three guides who have done this trip before.
Start planning — it’s free