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Discover the world with AVG Travels, where our team of destination experts combines local knowledge with a passion for adventure to offer you the vacation of a lifetime. At AVG, we not only provide an immersive travel experience, prioritize your comfort, safety, and enjoyment, but also showcase the beauty and cultural richness of stunning destinations.
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.


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4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles49 reviews
Excellent
24
Very good
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Average
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Lesley F
1 contribution
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2024 • Friends
I just got back yesterday from the 12 day China tour. The value for money was exceptional. AVG did a great job with their pre-tour communication and responded to all my queries in a timely manner. The tour guides were excellent however I tended to find that their main priority was selling the optional tours rather than providing us with interesting information about our locations.

As previously mentioned, the tour was exceptional value for money but that comes with another price - hotels will not be centrally located (they are excellent hotels but just not in central locations), there will be a lot of 'up selling' of their optional tours and lastly, we were taken to a number of locations for the specific purpose of selling us their wares. For example, the itinerary included a trip to a silk outlet, jade outlet, herbal medicine outlet, pearl 'farm' (we were taken to a shop, not a farm) etc. This is the 'price' you pay for booking a cheaper tour I guess. Some of the other guests were very vocal about their displeasure on the hard sell.

Overall, I would recommend the tour regardless of the above as even though we were taken to places designed to sell us their merchandise the sights we saw and value for money made it worthwhile.

Just pack plenty of patience!
Written 14 November 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for sharing your feedback! We’re thrilled to hear that you found the value for money exceptional and that our pre-tour communication met your expectations. We’re also glad the tour guides were helpful, though we understand your concerns about the focus on optional tours and shopping stops. We appreciate your patience with this, and we’ll work on balancing these aspects more effectively in future tours. While the hotels may not always be centrally located, we’re glad you found them to be of good quality. We do take your comments about the "hard sell" seriously and will continue to evaluate these aspects to improve the overall experience. Thank you for recommending the tour despite these points, and we hope your future travels with us are even more enjoyable!
Written 19 November 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Sarah D
1 contribution
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2024 • Family
We came to the trip wanting to experience china and with things in mind that we wanted to try and see when there, the Hotels especially in bejing were located hours away from the city we were unable to access local shops or markets, we told Jason we hadn't wanted to attend the forbidden city, and as per the itinerary we would return to the hotel.

Jason was very rude and snapped at us almost offended that we would say such thing. Lectured is about the need to attend the forbidden city then informed us that the bus would not be returning us to the hotel. We said ok well we will catch a didi and he shut us down saying that we couldn't possibly take a taxi in china where no one speaks English and we don't know our way around and insisted we attend the "optional tour" so we did. Our son has a medical condition and this much time walking had him in pain overnight.

On the 2nd night in bejing tips were demanded of over $100 AUD per person no concession for children.
When we asked about this as we hadn't seen it in our bookings we were told if we didn't pay we would not be provided with tickets for the bullet train the following day.

In leaving bejing we were accussed of damaging a TV in our Ramada hotel and asked to pay for this. We had not damaged a TV and as such refused to pay. We were then asked if we had photo proof that we had left the room intact, why would we take photo proof of leaving a room intact if we had no reason to be concerned in the 1st place.

Every outting was a sales pitch we were ushered into a sales room at every stop, with sales reps pushing us to buy, jade, silk, pearls and even green tea.

After leaving bejing we stopped attending all optional tours and took our own evening activities and had more fun and saw more of what we wanted to see.

We extended our fly out dates left the group and managed to take many taxi and didi even as a family of 6, thanks for you rudness Jason we were just fine.

We arranged another accommodation and visited disneyland shopped through shanghai CBD ate at local restaurants as we had wanted and that's where our family vaction really took shape.

I would like to say that lily our tour guide from Wuxi on was amazing but we were already so disappointed by then.

Save yourself from the shamless cash grab go yourself the locals are friendly and helpful down load wechat and alipay for paying and translation and you will have a great time.
Written 26 October 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Sarah, Thank you for sharing your detailed feedback about your trip. We truly value hearing from our travelers, as it helps us improve our services. We’re sorry to hear about your experience in Beijing and understand your frustrations regarding the hotel location, the interaction with Jason, and the issues with optional tours and tips. Your concerns about accessibility and communication are important, and we’re actively reviewing how we can better support our guests in navigating these challenges. We’re pleased to hear that Lily made a positive impact on your journey in Wuxi and that you were able to enjoy the remainder of your trip on your own terms. Your suggestions about local apps and independent exploration are valuable and will certainly help future travelers. We hope to learn from your experience and improve our offerings. Thank you again for your insights, and we wish you all the best in your future travels. Best regards, AVG Travels Team
Written 28 October 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Sharon R
Adelaide, Australia8 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2024 • Solo
I booked the 10 Day Highlights of Vietnam tour. Once the tour was booked and paid for communication from AVG was very poor. I received my flight itinerary 4 weeks before travelling. I repeatedly requested flight booking numbers with no response until I called them 4 business days before I was due to leave. I received my flight booking numbers later that day and my whole flight itinerary had changed to a different airline and flight times.
Upon arrival in Vietnam 2 out of the 3 hotels I was due to stay at changed without notification. As a solo traveler this was quite distressing. I emailed AVG twice during my trip to raise concerns and never received a response.
The only positive were the guides in Vietnam. Considering the amount of people on the tour and the varying itineraries for everyone they did a great job. Unfortunately we also missed out on going to the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City which is supposed to be visited in the included city walking tour which was really disappointing.
Glad I got to see some of Vietnam but overall AVG were really disorganised and I would not book through them again.
Written 24 November 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for sharing your feedback, and we apologize for the communication issues you encountered. We understand how distressing it must have been to face changes to your flight and hotel arrangements without prior notice, and we regret that your concerns were not addressed promptly. We're glad to hear that the guides in Vietnam provided a positive experience, but we are sorry to hear about the missed museum visit and overall disorganization. Your feedback is invaluable, and we will take it into account to improve our services.
Written 25 November 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Linda R
2 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2024 • Couples
We began very poorly when no one was at airport to pick us up! We waited almost 2 hours in which we were very distressed; needed to buy something to brake noes into coins to use public phone to contact your emergency number … all this with the assistance of airport staff.
Our guide Zoe is a very nice person but her English understanding was not up to the job as she had difficulty understanding us and we had difficulty as well!
We expected more ongoing information about Japanese culture, what we were passing on long drives and playing with learning some basic Japanese words and phrases, as we were driven in bus for the long hours.
Also when long queues (over one hour to get in) a set time for the entire activity should have been set, if it cannot be completed in the time period guide needs to plan/ suggest alternatives!
We majority don’t want to climb up in palaces the quite should offer alternative for tourists to do at the site e.g. instead climbing stairs we could walk through other buildings e.g. wait Bailey and long corridor (which I found myself be accident).
The average of tourists was senior but guide walked too fast!! And needs a flag high above crowds so we could follow!
Getting to Takahama at 8pm on a long holiday weekend then telling us to find our dinner at near by restaurants … we walked around for an hour finding a restaurant that was not full, had an English menu, did not need phone to order!!! This was very unsatisfactory!!
Driver - professional, friendly, no English, helpful.
Bus - clean but cramped for Australians long legs!
Hotels - were of varying cleanliness for 3 star.
Our past experiences from other tours was much more support and involvement from our guide after arriving at hotels; and available if issues occur!
When planning a tour my question there must be quieter attraction than where were taken and where the crowds so large that we could no move at times and a couple of our groups were knocked over! And not dropping at “busy street” for lunch. E.g. bamboo forest - there must be other bamboo farms other than the crowded area we were taken too.
Also guide should have maps for our free days and make some suggestions to see or do. Explain differences between train lines, buses.
Overall were are disappointed with this tour, the only thing that stands above some other tours was the size of the group of only 10!
It should be advertised that roaming wifi is essential to safely get around on free days as maps that some hotels offered were not accurate.
Would I recommend your tour … no.
Written 24 October 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Linda, Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us! We genuinely appreciate your constructive comments, as they help us improve our offerings and ensure our guests have the best possible experience. Your satisfaction is important to us, and we are committed to ensuring that future travellers have an even better experience. Thank you once again for sharing your insights. If you have any more feedback or further suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out. Best regards, AVG TRAVELS TEAM
Written 26 October 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Wayne C
41 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2024 • Solo
The tour was fantastic with excellent friendly local guides and Bus Operators. Could not fault their knowledge, professionalism and problem solving on the run. Fixed a few issues with no fuss, all in a day's work. My ONLY real concern and speaking with many in our group of 26 was that of the non existent pre tour information that wasn't provided in the time frame in the terms and conditions. Said 30days prior. I and others made many phone calls and emails to find out flight details and final Itinerary changes and these inquiries were not respond to. I and other thought we'd been scammed. I and many others were not provided with flight details until 10 days before departure leaving myself with no opportunity to book a Melb motel if needed if the flight was early morning. Flight was during the Melb Cup Carnival. I think this was extremely amateur and could have been avoided by 1 call or email. The AVG travel agent on the Sri Lankan end is excellent, we had a person visit by the boss in Galle ( he drove from Colombo just to present the group with small momentoes ) to check on how everything was going. On the other end in Australia was Diddy squat. I payed for Whale watching in the original Itinerary when I booked and with the changed Itinerary there was no opportunity to do it. Extremely disappointed as it was one of the reasons I had booked the whole tour. I will be ringing up to claim a refund, if my calls to the call centre get passed on to the Travel Assistants and they can be bothered to call me back.
Other than that Sri Lanka is a fantastic place with genuine people, great array of animals to photograph and fantastic food. I'll definitely be going back but maybe book with The Sri Lankan Branch of AVG Travel.
Written 21 November 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for sharing your detailed feedback. We're thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the local guides, bus operators, and the overall experience in Sri Lanka. However, we deeply apologize for the lack of timely communication regarding flight details and the itinerary changes, as well as for the missed opportunity for whale watching. We understand how frustrating this was and will work on improving our communication processes. We appreciate your patience and will address your concerns promptly. Thank you again for your input, and we hope to serve you better in the future.
Written 25 November 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Andrew G
South Yarra, Australia1 contribution
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2024 • Family
We’re just back from the 12 day highlights of China tour including the terra-cotta Warriors. It was myself my wife and our 14-year-old son. we had a fantastic time and would highly recommend this tour to anybody. We had five days in Hong Kong before the tour and we were met at the airport in Beijing and transferred to our hotel where we met our tour leader, Jason.

We met all our tour mates the next morning. Jason was a fantastic guide around Beijing very knowledgeable and personable, easy to understand and great to work with. Tiananmen Square and the forbidden city were great and the Peking duck dinner delicious. The wall was a highlight of the trip and the jade factory was great as well. The Hutong tour and the Golden mask show were also highlights in Beijing.

We took the bullet train to Wuxi and we were met by David who was our guide for the next five nights. We didn’t think anyone would be better than Jason, but David was brilliant, such a nice guy, so giving in sharing of his culture and his life in China, it gave a lot of insight. The canal tour in Suzhou was fantastic and not to be missed. Shanghai also was amazing and the acrobat show was brilliant.

We were transferred to Xi’an via domestic flight which was a bit of a good news, bad news thing as it was a two hour flight instead of a six hour train trip but it left at 8.00 AM which meant a 4.00 AM wake up call. Lui was our Guide in Xi’an and he was also good, warm and friendly with a good knowledge of the local area and history. Moslem street was a sight to behold and Lui took us downtown after dark to an amazing street that was lit beautifully and had an abundance of street food stalls for our dinner. We saw the warriors the following day and that was another amazing experience. Lui arranged for us to go to a show about Xi’an’s role as the Eastern end of the Silk Road called the Legend of the Camel Bell and I would urge you to go if you get the chance, it was the best large scale theatre performance I’ve seen.

Overall, China exceeded my expectations, it was clean and vibrant, the people were warm and friendly, and the experiences were first class.

I would highly recommend AVG and this tour, though one thing they could communicate better is that the optional tours are done with your group and in your bus. Before we went I thought they were being run by a third-party operator and I wasn’t sure which ones we could and couldn’t fit in on the same day so there were quite a few I didn’t book. It was OK though as we were able to add them once we arrived and learned how it was done. We ended up doing every optional except the cultural show in Hangzou as we needed a night off and it didn’t appeal to my son.
Written 25 October 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Andrew Thank you for taking the time to share your positive experience with us about your recent China trip! It's great to know that you're happy and satisfied with our services. We always strive to ensure that our customers have a stress-free and enjoyable vacation experience, from planning to execution. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any more questions or if there's anything else we can do to assist you. We're here and ready to help in any way we can. Thank you for choosing AVG Travels, and we hope to be a part of making your holiday a wonderful and memorable experience! Best regards, AVG TRAVELS TEAM
Written 26 October 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

David T
Redland Bay, Australia36 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2024 • Solo
Value for money the tour was amazing - we were on the go everyday with somewhere new to visit, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Bullet Train and the tour guides were fantastic. We had buses for our group with excellent drivers who got across and around the maze of freeways and road networks making the day trips enjoyable.
What was amazing was the quality of the accommodation - except the Holiday Inn in Shanghai - beds were too hard - better off sleeping on the floor in that one - otherwise the facility, dining and bedrooms in the other venues was at least 4.5 star. The Ramada at Beijing was absolutely 5 star. Amazing.
The tour got us past a long line up when we went to some of the top class venues and sightseeing like Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and boarding the Bullet Train.
I would highly recommend this tour to everyone especially my friends.
Written 31 October 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear David, Thank you for taking the time to share your positive experience with us! It's great to know that you had a great trip to China. We always strive to ensure that our customers have a stress-free and enjoyable vacation experience, from planning to execution. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any more questions or if there's anything else we can do to assist you. We're here and ready to help in any way we can. Thank you for choosing AVG Travels, and we hope to be a part of making your holiday a wonderful and memorable experience! Best regards, AVG TRAVELS TEAM
Written 31 October 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Dickie M
21 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2024 • Friends
Cannot fault the actual tour experience.. Everything went like clockwork. All four of the guides were really good but in different ways. The quality of their English varied with the Cambodian guide the most fluent, but there was very little difficulty in us understanding them. They were all very passionate about their countries and keen to ensure that they passed on as much info too us as possible. The only issue to me is that a couple of them tended to forget that they were young and fit and that most of us were older and slower and occasionally we had to remind them to slow down.. It was a full on tour and at times tiring, but it was an unforgettable experience and well put together. All the accommodation was excellent. Of the 18 nights we only had one night where the room was a bit ordinary, (the bathroom and shower had some issues).
Our only concern was dealing with Avg prior to the trip. They seem to have a high staff turnover, as every time we rang to check up on progress the previous agent had left, and we had to go through a bit of heartache to ensure everything was on track.. We were also asked to re send some information that we had already sent months before, which caused us some consternation. At times the language barrier was more of an issue dealing with Avg agents on the phone than it was with the tour guides, on the tour.
However we now know how they work and perhaps if we used Avg again we would not have the same concerns.
THE GOOD NEWS IS.. that the whole tour experience was exceptional and I would recommend this tour as a must do..
Written 4 November 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Dickie, Thank you for taking the time to share your positive experience with us! It's great to know that you had a great trip to Vietnam and Cambodia as well as the services from our tour guides. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any more questions or if there's anything else we can do to assist you. We're here and ready to help in any way we can.
Written 5 November 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Getaway10856479910
1 contribution
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2024 • Couples
Starting with the airline, Hainan Airlines was very comfortable, food served in airplane was very generous and of good quality. Fligh attendants were very friendly.
Tour guides are very professional and treat everyone well. They have broad knowledge of the places & advised us where about to eat or buy things for reasonable prices.
Hotels booked through the journey where mostly clean and comfortable, with open buffet breakfast have variety of products and options.
The trip etinerary was fulfilled with activities & beautiful historical places.
Overall, the trip worth the money .
Highly recommended to take this journey because it worth every penny paid for it.
Written 19 November 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your wonderful review! We’re so glad to hear that you had a comfortable flight with Hainan Airlines, enjoyed the generous food, and found the tour guides professional and knowledgeable. It’s great to know that the hotels, breakfasts, and itinerary met your expectations. We truly appreciate your recommendation and are delighted that you felt the trip was worth every penny. We look forward to welcoming you on future journeys!
Written 25 November 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Jason Geoffrey P
1 contribution
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2024 • Family
My mum (81 yo) had never been overseas and was keen to go, so I (52 yo) accompanied her. She chose Japan and wanted to do a tour. I chose AVG's Japan Endless Discovery tour. I was a bit nervous booking with AVG because I'd never heard of them, but their tour dates suited me and we wanted to visit Hirsoshima (which some other tours didn't). In terms of the basics / essentials, everything went very smoothly. No issues with flights or airport transfers. I was very happy with the standard of accommodation. Many of the twin rooms had two double beds rather than two singles, but even the singles were a good size. Most hotels were in good locations. The included breakfast options in Tokyo were limited (pastries) but the rest were full buffet. Our guide and driver were on time every morning and very friendly. Our group was a good size (only 10), we got on very well with the others who were all in their 60s and 70s. On some days I think we should've visited one more attraction during the day before returning to the hotel. e.g. some days we'd return to the hotel at 3:30/4:00, would've been better to see something else and return at 5:00/5:30. Given their ages, once we got back to the hotel of an evening most of our group weren't going to go exploring on public transport, they were just looking for somewhere close by to have dinner. The last full day in Osaka was a free day (no activities planned), I would've preferred another day of tour activities because we still had another free half day after that before we had to depart for the airport at 2:30 p.m. Overall, mum and I really enjoyed the trip and I'm happy to recommend AVG Travels.
Written 5 November 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Jason, thank you for your details feedback. We're glad to be part of your mom birthday celebration - it such an honor to us. Please feel free to reach to us if you are planning the upcoming trip in the future.
Written 7 November 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

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*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.

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