We are Travel Buddy — a small, stubborn team of Chinese guides and trip designers who believe the best way to meet China is through someone who lives there.
Our story
Travel Buddy began with a simple complaint. Every time our friends visited China, they came home with the same stories: the wall, the warriors, the wall again — seen from behind a raised flag. We knew the country they were missing: the breakfast stall at 7 a.m., the tea farmer who pan-fries leaves with his bare palm, the Shanghai alley where a 90-year-old barber still cuts hair for ¥10.
So we built the company we wished existed: hand-picked local guides (we call them buddies), private and small-group tours priced fairly, and a booking experience that respects your time. No flag. No speaker. No 6 a.m. shopping-stop ambushes — we don't take a cent of commission from shops, which means our only agenda is you.
The numbers that matter
- 400+ travellers hosted every month
- 50+ buddies across 8 cities
- 40+ original experiences
- 98.6% five-star reviews
What we believe
We operate the tours we sell. Every itinerary on this site was walked, eaten and argued over by us. When you book, the money goes to the guide and the guesthouse, not to a chain of middlemen.
Experiences beyond the ordinary. Anyone can show you the Forbidden City. We time it to the half-hour so you hear the throne hall echo, not the tour groups.
Guides you'll actually connect with. Our buddies are ex-chefs, engineers, art historians and one retired lawyer. All of them are storytellers. None of them read from a script.
A team that stays with you. From your first question to your flight home, one English-speaking concierge follows your journey on WhatsApp — usually replying in under 12 hours, usually much less.