We recently took a 12 day trip to Japan which was totally planned for us by Agate Travel and Wendy Lee at this travel agency. There were 5 of us in my family. We corresponded exclusively by email. I was introduced to her and Agate by a friend who also went to Japan in September of 2023 and has since taken another trip planned by Agate and Wendy Lee. Our Japan trip was absolutely excellent!!! Every single detail that was given to us took place without a single problem. The guides that were selected for us were superb! and such nice, caring, and thoughtful people. They were always there to greet us at the train stations and ready for us in the hotel lobbies each morning for the day's excursion. We saw many amazing and absolutely beautiful sights with good explanations of what we were seeing. In addition, we experienced a nice variety of events- a wonderful dinner with a Maiko in Kyoto, a river boat trip, a visit to the Nara deer park with wild/tame deer, and amazing botanical sights (which was very important to us) including Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa and also visited the incredible Bamboo Forest in Kyoto. Visiting Hiroshima was very important and our guide was outstanding in bringing understanding of what happened there in 1945 so that we could more fully appreciate the impact and the importance of never forgetting and therefore never repeating this tragic event in human history. In addition, we were able to do some very nice shopping in a variety of shopping streets and also in Takayama, which we especially enjoyed and wished we could have had another day there. Every detail of our transportation on the bullet trains, local trains, buses was planned to perfection. Hotels were all ready and waiting for us. We had a special train/bus pass provided by Agate and it was invaluable in making transportation very easy! I don't know how we could have had a better first trip to Japan. I am very impressed with Agate Travel and Wendy Lee. She answered all of my questions promptly! (usually within 24 hours) and gave me clear directions, both during our planning, right before departure, and in a packet when we arrived at our first hotel. She even seemed intuitive as to the reasoning behind my questions and took her answers a step further to give me additional information that was very helpful and appreciated. We loved our trip to Japan, had such a happy time experiencing it together as a family, and were very grateful to be in such competent and organized hands. I would highly recommend this travel agency and Wendy Lee. I will definitely use them again for future trips.

I had an excellent 4 day visit to Vietnam expertly arranged by Emily of Agate Travel. I went to Hoi An and ended up with excellent shirts, leather purses and pouches made for me in my one day! I also did the enchanting night boat ride. Then it was on to Hanoi where I spent one night before I was driven to Halong Bay for a magical one night cruise. When my wonderful guide, Mr. Thahn, picked me up and then we toured some before my last day day of intensive touring. A highlight was the unique Train street and of course the lake. Be prepared for crazy motorcycle traffic, but everything was great and I hope to come to Vietnam again some day. If so I would love to plan it through Agate Travel with Emily and have Mr. Thahn guide us again!

We had a great experience with Travel China Guide/ Agate Travel. We traveled from the USA to Japan and Beijing. They booked our hotels and tours. Emily Xin was super responsive throughout the whole process and made the best itinerary for us possible. Emily kept adjusting the trip, so it would be aligned with our budget and days. The trip was well organized and everything went smoothly. Thank you for making this dream trip possible.

Our trip to Vietnam for our 40th wedding anniversary was memorable. Amy and her team planned our stay for 13 days with great hotels transportation and great tour guides for the North, Central and South of Vietnam. My husband and I congratulate them for this great and amazing experience and the souvenirs.
Milton and Lilian Taboada

We traveled to India for 15 days on a customized private tour, and it was amazing! We visited Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Kochi, Goa and Mumbai, and we enjoyed the tour so much. The hotels were all excellent with great breakfast buffets, the local guides and drivers were very knowledgeable and friendly, and the food was amazing everywhere we taken for lunch. We were very well taken care of the entire trip. Thank you to Emily for putting together the perfect trip for us!

My husband and I had an amazing experience on this tour! Everything was perfectly organized from start to finish, making the whole trip smooth and stress-free. A special thank you to Mrs.Emily Xin, whose outstanding organization and attention to detail truly made a difference. She customized some parts of the program for us and was very professional and approachable making sure that we were always comfortable and informed about all the bookings that needed to be made. Thanks to her, the tour was both enjoyable and memorable. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone looking for a well-planned and enjoyable travel experience.

I rated this 5* because Wendy helped me craft it and this was executed by their team of an amazing driver Yashpul and three amazing tour guides.
Danish, Masood and Sanjay. All three guides are esteemed guides in their fields. I visited Delhi. Agra and Jaipur. Learned the history. Saw the amazing architecture and experienced the noise, smells and cultures of three amazing cities.
I would recommend Agate travel for solo a couple travellers. A unique tour with an individual look at monuments, temples, mosques and palaces. A must on everyone’s bucket list.

We had an amazing family vacation thanks to Emily and AgateTravel. We had previously used Agate for Vacation to Rio and Buenos Aires and had a great trip. We were very excited to book a vacation to Thailand and it was PERFECT. Emily and Agate Travel were very responsible, professional and highly skilled. They planned a perfect trip with every detail covered. From transport, to lodging, to dining, tour guides, and overall itinerary everything was flawless. We got an incredible taste of Thailand, felt safe and protected at all times, and had excellent guides throughout. They were very organized. I would give them my highest rating and recommend them to everyone.

My experience was excellent. My tour guides Alain and Reem were superbly knowledgeable and passionate about their subject matter. So much so that I was compelled to inquire about their qualifications, and was not surprised to learn that they both had undergraduate degrees in archeology. My visits to the ruins of Anjar, Baalbek and the historical city of Byblos were the highlights of my trip. The great city of Beirut is well deserving of it's reputation as the Paris of the Middle East. Lebanon is a delightful country. The people are kind, welcoming and hospitable. All in all a fantastic experience that was well curated. I recommend it to all with enthusiasm.

TWe toured Kerala, including Kochin, Munnar, Periyar, the backwaters and various stops in between. The tour was very well organised with lovely hotels, boat stay and excellent tour guides. I want to give special mention to our driver Mr Rajeev who went beyond his duties to make our time memorable and keep us safe, comfortable and informed. Of course he was an excellent driver and always on time.
Being met at the airport and helped through the complicated process when we left was much appreciated.

The trip, arranged by Emily and AgateTravel was excellent, to the extent that I would highly recommend it to my friends and colleagues. The admissions were all reasonable and even cheap for someone from a US dollar currency area. If I had more time, I would have done a longer tour but I was under a time constraint. The weather was great and the atmosphere was excellent despite being the "high" tourist season. The crowd size was perfect (no congestion) and the staff, my tour guide and the driver were the best one can expect on overseas tours. His English was very good and we shared interests since I am also from a tropical region. We keep in touch and correspond electronically even following my return home from the excursion.

I booked this tour last minute. It was an amazing experience and went beyond my expectations. The travel consultant Nicole has been friendly and helpful, always responded to me promptly. The tour guide in TOKYO was enthusiastic. He answered my questions with detailed information. I enjoyed chatting with him... He also took me nice pictures of Mount FUJI. Here I have to say I was VERY VERY lucky! The weather on the day was favourable and I was able to see the breathtaking view of FUJI. Thanks to agate travel for this wonderful travel experience. Highly recommend!

Bhutan is a very beautiful country with a lot of history and very nice people. It is place to take a moment intake to relax and re-evaluate life and recharge. I wouldn't mind going back there and explore what they have to offer. its a very peaceful and true it is is a happy place to be at.

We expanded the itinerary 9-day private safari to 11 days to include an extra day at the beach in Morondava and a day-trip to the Andranomandraotra geyser, Lily waterfall and Lake Itasy at Ampefy. Wendy at Agate Travel was efficient and effective at designing and revising our itinerary and communication with her was quick and thorough. The accomodations were wonderful and the local guides were excellent, especially Kris in the Andasibe area parks and Luru (sp?) at the sacred King’s Palace on the Royal Hill of Ambohimanga. Our driver-guide Valentin was so very helpful, accomodating, friendly and great at sharing his wonderful country and its bumpy roads with us. Our local guide Tousaint at Tsingy National Park saved my life when I fell while hiking through those dramatic and treacherous rocky peaks. What a country: gorgeous scenery, fabulous animal and plant life, friendly folks. Take it “mora-mora” (“slowly-slowly”) and you might love it, too.

Bhutan experience must never to be missed in one’s bucket list. The air is clean, the road is scenic and the majestic mountains are as Beaty to reckon with. The temples are centuries old but kept their promises of visits worth. The hike to Tigers Nest is memories of a lifetime and a boast to completion to friends and families. The walk of the suspension bridge was an exciting activity that would etched in my mind. Thank you to Emily and Agate travel for the wonderful trip.

Being in Bhutan is like being in a different world. It is mesmerizing! I think it's all about being "organic."
Reminder: If you visit Bhutan, make sure to hike the Tiger's Nest, otherwise you can't say you've been to Bhutan!

We had a wonderful time in LP, a UNESCO site. Emily, as always, had curated the best places for us to visit such as the sunset Mekong river cruise, hiking up the Pak OU Caves, the amazing hike of the Kuang Si Waterfalls, rice wine tasting and arts and crafts, sunrise and night markets, enjoyable tropical fruits, the hike to Mt. Phuosi for amazing sunset viewing and esp. the profound experience of participation of alms giving to the monks, an early morning procession along the streets from our hotel.
I highly recommend Agate travel in general and Emily in particular in planning our Laos tour.

We spent a marvelous week in Cuba with Abel La Rosa Camero of Agate Travel. Abel had a wonderful presence, and guided us in Havana, Vinales and Santa Maria del Mar. He was both patient and knowledgeable about Cuban history and culture, fielding all of our curious questions. Abel advised us on the things not to miss, and also a few to avoid. The trip went off without a hitch, from airport pick-up to airport drop-off, including daily excursions. We highly recommend Abel and would certainly work with him again on a return trip.

12 days of nonstop animal viewing from our 4-wheel drive pop-top Land Cruiser. Every game drive was an unforgettable experience thanks to our knowledgeable and experienced guide that was able to spot game that we often need binoculars to see.
The tented camps and the lodges were fabulous. The food in all 8 camps and lodges exceeded our expectations. Even when we arrived a bit late for breakfast or lunch at the camps, our table was always set for us and the cooks were ready to make us a perfect meal of our choosing. Each camp and each park was a wonderful new experience. The tour covered Kenya’s Masai Mara plains, mountainous areas, and desert areas with swamps and wetlands.
The tour we took started in Nairobi and ended in Nairobi. The title of the tour “TKY02: 12 Days Nairobi - Samburu - Ol Pejeta - Aberdare - Lake Nakuru - Masai Mara - Lake Naivasha - Hell’s Gate - Amboseli - Tsavo West – Nairobi” lists all of the parks we visited.
If time allows, 12 days is the perfect number of days for a private Kenya tour. Wendy Lee, the travel consultant at Agate Travel, was quite willing to customize the trip to meet our needs from hotel pick-ups to airport drop-offs. Our next trip to Kenya will definitely be organized by them.

We booked our Vietnam tour several months in advance, and worked exclusively with Amy Jian as our travel consultant. Amy was fantastic to work with and was quite thorough in addressing any questions or concerns we had. Since we had never been to Asia, we asked a lot of what I'm sure were minor questions, but Amy was always prompt and thorough in responding, and seemed as though she truly cared that we had the best experience possible. The hotels she selected and guides she assigned to our time in each city were fantastic, and helped make this a truly unforgettable experience. We've travelled extensively in Europe, Australia and North America, and have never before used a service or guided trip, but if we had not booked with Amy and her company, I'm certain we would not have seen and done half of what we were able to do on this tour.

I had an excellent 4 day visit to Vietnam expertly arranged by Emily of Agate Travel. I went to Hoi An and ended up with excellent shirts, leather purses and pouches made for me in my one day! I also did the enchanting night boat ride. Then it was on to Hanoi where I spent one night before I was driven to Halong Bay for a magical one night cruise. When my wonderful guide, Mr. Thahn, picked me up and then we toured some before my last day day of intensive touring. A highlight was the unique Train street and of course the lake. Be prepared for crazy motorcycle traffic, but everything was great and I hope to come to Vietnam again some day. If so I would love to plan it through Agate Travel with Emily and have Mr. Thahn guide us again!

This was a great well paced tour. Emily from Agate was excellent. Always easy to contact and responded quickly. The organisation at the Turkey end was excellent. Guides were informative and knowledgeable

We had an amazing experience on our 11 day tour of Sri Lanka in July. I was nervous about booking with an online travel agent, but Amy from Agate Travel (Travel China Guide) was so efficient and helpful, accommodating our needs and concerns to book us a magnificent customised tour. On our arrival, late in the evening we were warmly welcomed by Nisal, our local driver and guide, who even gave us each a shell necklace. Nisal was friendly, informative and catered to our needs and wishes. He was always punctual and we were grateful to have him do all our travel navigation and pick up times. We were impressed by all the 5 star hotels/resorts that were booked for us and the fabulous service, food and facilities at each. Overall, we had such a seamless trip we didn't want to come home. We hope to book another trip to Sri Lanka to see more of this beautiful island.

The trip was excellent! Emily Xin is an excellent travel consultant and Njara was an excellent driver. I wholeheartedly recommend Agate Travel and I will definitely use them again for future travel to Africa and beyond. When I do, I hope Emily will be my travel consultant again.

This trip was fantastic from start to finish. The booking agent with Agate Travel was friendly, helpful and always quick to respond to any questions. Our guide, Mia and driver Julian, for the Morondava portion and to/from the Tsingy were wonderful. The drive to get to the Tsingy was even worse that other reviews or other information platforms had indicated--the road is truly horrible and it takes 10 hours, but was well worth it. We spontaneously attended a village party and were readily accepted. We quickly bonded with Mia and Julien, and felt like old friends when we were transferred to the airport. Our guide, Valentin, in Tana and the area around Andraside was also wonderful and went out of his way to help my son find vinyl music. We were invited to a village celebration for a young child's circumcision and felt very honored to attend. All in all, it was an incredible trip. It was my first time using Agate Travel and it won't be my last.

I have a amazing time with the Agate 9 Days Best Madagascar private tour. Many thanks to agent Emily and the Madagascar local tour to re-arrange my tour due to some cancellation on my flight, even though the tour get reduce I still be able to see all my bucket list I want to see in Madagascar.
My tour guide Njara and Eddy are both friendly and have lot of knowledge about the country and the nature.
I will absolutely recommend this tour to anyone that want to go to Madagascar, they made it so simple and worry free.

David Ng

We had a wonderful time with our 9-day private tour of Cairo/Nile cruise provided by China Travel Guide. This is the second time we have picked the same company because of the great satisfaction from last year’s trip to China. For both trips thanks to the company’s senior travel consultant Wendy Lee for her dedication, details, and coordination throughout the entire planning process. Wendy was very responsive and patient to customize the itinerary to meet our desires, including payment options, airport transfer/drop-off, hotel accommodation, cruise selection, and local tour guides/drivers. The total package cost was very reasonable, exceeding the standard itinerary provided by most tour companies. We not only visited both the Giza Grand Egyptian Museum and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo but also had a wonderful camel ride around the pyramids and got inside the Khufu Pyramid to see the burial chamber. Towards the end of Nile Cruise at Aswan, the tour also offered a private shore excursion to Abu Simbel.

In summary, the Egypt trip was a lifetime experience provided by the China Travel Guide. We will highly recommend Wendy to our friends and families for her professionalism and dedication.

After reviewing several fixed program tours we eventually arrived at this 9 day program. We wanted to explore as much of the silk road as we could having already visited China. We had a late evening flight from Istanbul and went straight to our hotel. The following day we set of by train for Samarkand. We were met by our guide and driver and after dropping our luggage at the hotel and having a quick lunch we set of to explore the first of these great cities. Our journey then continued by train to Bukara - Live just got better and better. Just being there seeing real history was an amazing experience. Our journey continued with a drive across the desert to Khiva. The hotel was opposite the main city walls and presented a wonderful sight. We turned to Tashkent by flying from Urgench. Our tour finished with a day tour of Tashkent. All of the drivers and guides were great - everything worked to plan. We had great food and a wonderful experience all round I should not forget Emily who helped to plan our trip and the local operations crew who made it all happen. We learned to love Uzbekistan and its people

We chose a private tour so that the journey and activities could be done at our pace.

I commented more than once that my video camera couldn't do justice to the views we saw.
From our very late night / early morning arrival until our early morning departure the whole trip went amazingly well.
Our guide and driver came from a local Ulaanbaatar company Amicus. Enya and Erdernebat took great care of us throughout the whole trip.
We carried with us a travelling wheelchair and apart from a couple of occasions my wife was able to enjoy the whole trip.
There are 58 million horses / sheep / and goats to see - every herd and flock was a magnificent sight on the hillside with the accompanying cowboy either on horseback or motorcycle
We had chosen accommodation which included a private bathroom. Each Tourist Camp we stayed at had something special. The Gers were very spacious twice the size of your average hotel bedroom. Ah the warmth you get from the wood burning stove.
Food was plentiful and nicely presented.
Once you get a taste of the dirt roads you will not want to go back to metalled roads again.
Some of the days were long but there was always something special to see during the journey.
Sunset over Lake Uggli is still in our head.
We were able to use a Park Ranger telescope to view the Hustai Park wild horses.

Go and see for yourself

Through the years we had seen may films and TV shows featuring the British Raj and how they all moved to Shimla in the summer.
Using the standard Agate tours for Northern India we built this program which also included a visit to Dharamshala as suggested by a friend who lives in India.
We arrived in New Delhi in the early hours of the morning from a separate Agate tour in Uzbekistan. We spent the rest of the day recovering then headed out by train to Chandigarh - this was an experience in its own right designed by a French Architect - remined us of Frank Lloyd Wright .
Continued our journey by road and toy train to Shimla. We were not disappointed and enjoyed seeing the buildings from the British Empire days.
We continued on to Manali in the mountains - blue skies big mountains temples
The final leg was to Dharamshala with its tea plantations. We returned to New Delhi by plane and finished our time in India by a tour of Delhi.
This was not the usual first visit program to India but gave us exactly what we wanted.
Our driver did a wonderful job even with the construction obstacles on the way to Dharamshala. The local guides were all knowledgeable and could not have done a better job for us. Again credit to the local operations staff who made it all happen on time.

Amazing trip. Our guide Deema was excellent. 5 day road trip starting and finishing in Ulaanbaatar, full of culture and activity. Accommodation including Gers was excellent. Had so much fun.

My family and I had a great private tour of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Wendy from Agate Travel did a great job coordinating everything—she worked closely with me on the itinerary and made the e-visa process smooth.

The local tour guides and drivers were all polite, respectful, and always on time. The guides were generally knowledgeable about the region’s history, though at times the storytelling didn’t align with historical records.

The only minor downside was the limited availability of vegan and vegetarian food options—but honestly, it wasn’t a big deal for us!

Both countries are rich in history, especially during their golden age from the 9th to 13th centuries. Unfortunately, most of the original buildings from that era hasn’t survived—due to factors like the use of fragile sun-dried bricks, destruction by Mongols, and earthquakes. Many sites have been reconstructed, especially during the Soviet era. That said, the buildings from the Timurid period (14th and 15th centuries) are still in good condition and truly impressive.

Everything worked out beautifully. It was a perfect mix of personal guides and free time. Guides were on time everyday. We were able to have some fun experiences such as sushi making, samurai class, tea ceremony, bike riding, and on river adventure. I was a little hesitant with the payment to be a bank transfer but did use a credit card and this worked fine.

We did a customized private tour for just 2 of us throughout Poland for 16 days. Wendy Lee was excellent to work with, and always quickly responsive in answering any of our questions. The tour operator they provided in Poland was also excellent. Hotels, private drivers, trains and multiple tour guides throughout the country met every one of our expectations and even exceeded most! It made the trip one of our best. We highly recommend this company and would certainly use them again!

Trip: We did a private tour for 14 days and had a great experience. Everything was very well organized. The five guides we met during our trip were knowledgeable, answering our questions about history and society, and very helpful in suggesting restaurants serving local dishes.
Travel agency: Kina, our contact with the travel agency to establish the program, was helpful and very efficient, and we thank her for her suggestions. Umi, the local contact, was also efficient during our trip. Written

My husband and I did a custom private tour in Madagascar with Agate Travel that included Morondava, Tsingy, Andasibe and Antananarivo. It was a fabulous experience. The driver/guides were so friendly and knowledgeable, the accommodations were perfect, and the itinerary took us from west to east to see so many amazing sights. Loved the small villages we passed through, the baobobs, the rainforest and the lemurs and chameleons. It was exactly what we wanted and an experience we will never forget.

We just came back from an amazing visit to Jordan. This is the second time we have used Agate Travel for a trip and like the first time, everything was meticulously planned and executed. We had a personal driver (Radwan Alshwikee) the entire time who went to great lengths to make sure we were taken good care of everywhere we went. He provided insights into the culture, took us to great local restaurants, and helped us with anything we needed every step of the way. In Jerash and Petra, we supplemented our visits with extremely knowledgeable tour guides who shared great insights and information about these ancient sites. We went back to Petra in the evening to experience it by candlelight and with the help of our driver, Radwan, we were able to be among the first people to get in, so we largely had the place to ourselves before other people showed up. Jordan is a wonderful country to visit, the history is unmatched, the desert is spectacular, and the people are very friendly. If you are contemplating visiting: Go! You won’t regret it.

A fun time and an easy way to see so much in a short time.

In Hanoi, our guide Tony was excellent. He was very enthusiastic, knowledgeable about the area, and informative throughout the whole trip. We enjoyed visiting a hat making village and the walking the old quarter

In HCMC, Khang was an outstanding tour guide. He was extremely knowledgeable in both the area and culture and gave good recommendations for food and activities. With his guidance, HCMC became our favorite stop on our trip.

The communication with Kia to help plan our trip made it so easy and she was able to accommodate all my requests.

If you’re looking for someone to take care of all the details, I’d recommend agate!

Great company to deal with, responded to any queries overnight. Good value for Money all hotels were well located and of a good standard. Have used this company before and would not hesitate to use again

I highly recommend Agate travel for Sri Lanka, they are a very professional, patient, knowledgeable and friendly and better quality than most of the popular American and European travel agencies in my opinion that offer the same quality at a higher price or the same price at a lower quality. The hotels were all 5 star and the food was delicious. I never felt unsafe nor did I have any food problems. The food was delicious and the fruits were divine especially the pineapple. There is plenty of vegetarian or vegan food for you if you have dietary restrictions. The guide and driver were polite, professional and knowledgeable. Sri Lankans in general are very friendly and always have a smile on their faces. If you love elephants, Sri Lanka is the perfect country to visit!

Sri Lanka is a beautiful country and with Agate travels, you can experience and see this beauty. Sri Lanka is a top 10 country for me thanks to this agency. The only bad thing about my trip was it was too short, I wish I stayed longer in this tropical paradise but I had few vacation days.

Fantastic holiday. So many things to see and do. We went to Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Halong Bay, Dong Hoi, Hue, Hoian and HCMC and would repeat the exact same holiday again without exception. Agate Travel (Amy) were brilliant every step of the way.