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www.jennysshanghaitours.com

Amazing Guides. Great Prices. Guaranteed.

Jenny's FAQ

Our guides are locals, speak great English, are experts on their cities and always do whatever it takes to make your tour seamless, fun and memorable. We love China and helping our guests fall in love with it too.
We believe we offer the best price for our level of service and the quality of our guides. You can always find a lower price (hey.. it’s China 🙂 and we always encourage shopping around. We do offer discounts for multi-day tours, big groups, etc. so it doesn’t hurt to ask!
I started Jenny’s Shanghai Tours, as the only guide! We grew into Jenny’s China Tours in 2020. And I still love giving tours, but my tour guide friends are just as good (and usually better.) Today I am also the tour operator so you will always talk with me if you call 🙂
You may have seen some of our guide’s reviews and virtual tours about Apple, Portia, Celine, Amber, Alice, etc. They are all awesome and you are welcome to pick who you’d like to tour with and we’ll try to schedule them for you, but we can’t always guarantee it. They have to take some days off too:) But everyone is good (and did I mention we guarantee our tour service?)

Yes! And only one. We run an efficient company, so it’s just me as the tour operator and you always talk with me when you contact us. 

All of our guides speak English (certified) and we also have French and Spanish speaking guides… and of course Chinese 🙂

Of course! You can do it before the tour with Jenny or in real time with our guides. Our goal is to help you make the best use of your time!

We know plans change! You can cancel at any point up to 24 hours before your tour start for a full refund. However, if we booked hotels or other services for you that don’t have such a lenient refund policy, we’ll let you know. For layover tours, see our layover refund policy. It’s basically the same, but sometimes things happen the day of your tour we (and you) can’t control.

Either one is OK, but if you book directly with us we get your booking faster and get more complete information so there is no chance of miscommunication. It’s very secure too!
Yes! We specialize in private and custom tours and know that many tour operators require a minimum of two travelers. We want to help everyone experience Shanghai, so just you is no problem!
Yes, but we usually don’t include with our tours to provide flexibility for you to choose. But we’re always happy to recommend them. Just let us know your budget, style, etc.
Well… most of our tours do include at least one meal, entrance fees and of course our guide and private car. But some visitors like ultimate flexibility, so we can just provide a guide or even just a car and driver. It’s up to you!

If you have any questions, we’re happy to answer! Just contact us and we’ll respond ASAP

China FAQ

As long as you can 🙂  China is large and diverse. But having said that, there are many similarities of sites in each city, but each have their iconic sites. A good rule is allow two days in each city and one day to travel between cities.

ATMS are the easiest, but make sure they use your card service (Pulse, Plus, etc.) Not all banks support all of the payment services. Most hotels will also exchange money at decent rates (but not as good as the ATMs)
Tipping in general is less common in China than in Western countries, but it is getting more common. Is is really not necessary to tip at all, but most people – hotel staff, taxi drivers, doormen, restaurant servers, etc. – will appreciate tips and not be offended. Of course our guides love a good tip (but its still not required 🙂
China is very safe and we have never had a problem. Our guests have left items in rooms, taxis, etc and have always gotten them back! Of course you should always follow normal precautions such as keeping valuables locked at the hotel, etc.
Generally no. No one in China will say, “May I see your papers, please?” (Except at the hotel.) But our guides often need to buy train tickets or other tickets on your behalf where a passport is necessary. We will let you know based on your itinerary if you should bring your passport. But you should also make a copy of your passport and keep it separate so if you do carry it and lose it (oh no!) then you’ll have the information to replace it.
These services are generally not available and require a VPN to use them. I use ExpressVPN, but I’m sure there are other good ones. (No.. they don’t pay me to say this… hmm.. maybe they should.)
​Probably… but I hope you’re rich, because most visitors tell me roaming is EXPENSIVE. You can easily get a local phone or a sim card to get local service (but you will have a Chinese phone #.) You can get them at the airport or any of the 1000’s of phone stores around Shanghai.
They are hard to avoid with 1000’s of them on every corner. (A bit of an exaggeration, but not much!) The two biggies are Mobike and Ono. Mobike is more expensive, but still cheap. You need to download their apps and set up payment in advance using your passport as a photo and a credit card. Then you can use the app on your phone to just unlock the bike and it will track your movement, time and payments. (Don’t forget to try one of the e-bikes the same way! Super cool. See the the APP section on the right for the apps to download.)
Yes! We specialize in private and custom tours and know that many tour operators require a minimum of two travelers. We want to help everyone experience Shanghai, so just you is no problem!
Yes, but we usually don’t include with our tours to provide flexibility for you to choose. But we’re always happy to recommend them. Just let us know your budget, style, etc.
Well… most of our tours do include at least one meal, entrance fees and of course our guide and private car. But some visitors like ultimate flexibility, so we can just provide a guide or even just a car and driver. It’s up to you!

If you have any questions, we’re happy to answer! Just contact us and we’ll respond ASAP

Virtual Tours FAQ

Our virtual tours are real tours with live guides. You connect by video to watch and interactive with our guides. We provide free versions through our partner, HeyGo.com, as well as private virtual tours. 

You don’t need to, but of course it would be nice 🙂 Our guides conduct them for free and tips help support them as well as the HeyGo platform. A typical tip is USD 10, but it’s up to you!

Yes! On our private tours you can talk directly and see each other. For free tours you can use HeyGo messaging feature. Our guides are amazing at doing tours and responding to questions in real time. (They really are 🙂 

Yes! If you choose our private virtual tour, it’s up to you! We have toured shopping malls, hospitals, schools and anything you can think of. Just Contact Us and let us know what you have it mind. 

Generally our virtual tours have amazing video quality (mostly HD), but it can depend on the location and available bandwidth. We do our best! 

Yes! We embraced virtual tours early to keep busy during the Covid pandemic and will continue to offer them for people can can’t visit in person. Of course we’d love to see you in China live!

Yes! If you have a bit of techno savvy. You need to use your mobile or PC screen mirroring capability. Find a teenager and have them help you 🙂 Some TV web browsers may support live streaming directly, so be sure to test before your virtual tour!

Can’t find your answer? Just Contact Us and ask. We’re here to help.

Layover Tours FAQ

If you’re just passing through China and have 12 hours or more at an airport, cruise terminal, or railway station, you may want to best use your “layover” time to take a tour! I love doing this when traveling to see a city quickly and not just waste time sitting at the airport!

Layover tours are still personal tours, but we typically pick you up and drop you off at the airport or cruise terminal. You still require a visa, which you can get at the airport or cruise terminal, but there are restrictions. Read our other FAQ to learn more. 

In order for customs officials to allow you to leave the terminal where our guide meet you, there are several requirements to note:

  • You need at least 12 hours between arrival and departure times due to the time between ports and time to obtain a transit visa. (If you already have a Chinese visa, you’ll save a bit of time when you arrive, but you’ll still need 12 hours between flights.)
  • You must stay within the designated Shanghai Administration area during your stay, and stay no longer than 144 hours. When touring with us, this is no problem since we will not take you out of this zone and be very aware of your time constraints.
  • You must obtain a transit visa
Here are the general steps and rules for getting a transit visa when traveling through either Shanghai or Beijing.
  1. When entering an airport or a cruise terminal, go to the special immigration area for 24 to 144-hour transit visas. (There is no fee for a transit visa.)
  2. You must provide your flight or cruise tickets that show you are going on to a third country. For example, you are coming to PVG from America (or one of the 51 supported countries) and then continuing to travel to another country, such as Singapore.
  3. You will likely need to pick up get your luggage, and re-check your luggage when returning to your departing terminal. Please check with your airline when checking in. (If you book a layover tour with us, we’ll keep your luggage safe while your tour.)
    1. To get the official transit visa information, here is a link to learn more:
    http://cy.chineseembassy.org/eng/lsqw/t1567073.htm
We have had several times when visitors were denied transit visas. We’ll continue adding to this list as we learn more!
  1. If you use the same airline (such as United) to travel to PVG as well as to fly to your next destination, you may have a problem getting a transit visa since your luggage will not pass through security at PVG and they want you to stay with your luggage. One way to get around this is to check your luggage ONLY to Shanghai, retrieve it, and then recheck it after your tour. 
  2. If your passport expires within 6 months of entering China.​
  3. If you have had any problems in the past such as arrest record or other previous issue.
  4. If your layover is less than 12 hours (and we just saw a customs official require 24 hour layover!) (See the important note to the left for our cancellation policy.)
  5. Even when following the guidelines, some travelers have been denied visas! This seems to be at the whim of the customs official if they are having a bad day.
To reserve our guide/driver, we ask for 50% deposit. Unfortunately, if you’re delayed and can’t make the tour for any reason, if we can’t get advance notice of 24 hours, we won’t be able to return your deposit since we have committed the guide and driver for the day and this helps partially compensate them. Even if you meet the requirements, some of the possible reasons you may not get a transit visa or are not able to make your tour:
  1. Your flight is significantly delayed or canceled.
  2. A customs official decides that your layover is not long enough (12 hours is the usual minimum layover policy, but we’ve seen customs official require up to 24 hours based on their own opinion.) Note that it helps to show your itinerary, ask very nicely, or even beg (yes,, we’ve seen begging work.)  All of this helps, but is no guarantee.
  3. Any other reason the customs official does not think you should have a transit visa.
  4. If you already paid in full, and you can’t make your tour, we’ll immediately refund you 50% of the fee. We’ll also give you credit for 25% off any future tours with us to make your next visit a little easier.

We know this can be confusing! Especially since the policy changes often and sometimes without notice or at the whim of the officials. Just Contact Us and we’re happy to answer any questions.

We pick you up directly as you exit customs at airports and as you exit your cruise ship at cruise terminals. We provide detailed instructions and our guide will have your name on card. You can’t miss us! And of course you can contact your guide or Jenny if you we do happen to miss each other (which rarely happens 🙂

We support all airports and cruise terminals in the following cities: 

  • Shanghai
  • Beijing
  • Xian
  • Chengdu
  • Tianjin
  • Hangzhou

Sometimes you can send it through to your final destination, but if you have it with you it’s no problem. We store it safely in our vehicles and it’s always with our driver so secure. (We’ve never had a problem!)

We don’t recommend layover tours if you have less than 12 hours for three reasons:

  1. Most airports and cruise terminals are an hour or so from the city or any sites. And you need to be back at your terminal two hours before you depart.  so you don’t have much time! 
  2. Customs officials often deny your transit visa if you have less than 12 hours. It’s not a stated policy (but probably should be.) 
  3. It just creates a lot of pressure for everyone. If anything goes wrong, our guide is frustrated, Jenny is frustrated, airport people get frustrated…. and YOU will get frustrated. Did I mention a lot of people get frustrated? 🙂

Can’t find your answer? Just Contact Us and ask. We’re here to help.

Why We're Different

We’re not a big tour agency… just me and some of my professional tour guide friends. We love sharing authentic China and our goal is to make sure you have a great time based on your interests – guaranteed! All of us agree to a code of conduct that focuses on you, our guest, and not on taking you places you don’t want to see or touristy shopping areas. And because our overhead is so low, we can offer you great prices along with customized service.

Why are we in Beta?

We're expanding to Jenny's China Tours!

We're adding new guides and tours!

Our network of guides have grown to new friends (all certified English speaking guides of course) in Xian, Chengdu and Guilin. We're adding new tours and working through amazing itineraries and experiences.

Some bugs still? We hope not many!

We're a small team, so don't have a BIG IT budget, but doing our best to create a great website that matches our amazing guides. But we know there may be some bugs still that we're working through. We appreciate your patience!

The need for speed :)

We know a fast website is really important and we're not super happy with the current speed... but working on it!

Shopping Cart Upgrade

We're also working on the shopping cart to ensure a smooth experience and allow our visitors to have an account that you can come back to see status, download your itinerary, cancel if needed, etc.

Jenny's Shanghai Tours??

We'll still have our original website: www.jennysshanghaitours.com working while we transition. We'll see what happens to that after we're all done :)

Question? Contact Us for Fast Reply

Contact Information

P:(China) +86 186-2171-9434

P: (US EST): 1-980-395-3733