Guides · Sichuan services & pricing
What does a Sichuan tour cost —
and what does the guide fee cover?
People ask us what a Sichuan guide service fee actually covers, how a travel service price is put together, and what “catering and scenic-spot packages” means on a quote. This page answers all three the same way we quote: line by line, from the guide fee to the panda ticket — with the numbers we publish, the framework they sit in, and an honest mark next to everything that can only be priced on request.
Key facts
- The honest bandRoughly €300–400 per person per day, land only, for a well-run private Sichuan journey — party size, hotel tier and season move the number inside that band, not outside it.
- Published Sichuan anchorsOur 8-day Chengdu & Sichuan journey from €2,900 per person (four travelling) or €3,200 (two); the 6-day Panda Country journey from €2,100–2,400. Land only, same prices for every passport.
- What the guide fee coversFull-day guiding in your language, the planning before departure, and daily on-trip support — one line inside the land price, never a headline-plus-extras game.
- Personal customizationNot a premium tier and not a separate fee: the planning is the service itself, and the quote is the quote.
- Catering & scenic-spot packagingEntries bought ahead real-name and priced into the quote; most meals stay open by design — budget €45–70 per person per day in Sichuan.
- Honestly on requestParties above six, the Western Sichuan highlands, top-tier hotels and trade terms — quoted case by case in writing, never guessed.
What do Sichuan tour services cost? The answer in one paragraph
A well-run private Sichuan journey costs roughly €300–400 per person per day, land only, and our published prices sit inside that band: from €2,900 per person for the eight-day Chengdu & Sichuan route at four travelling (€3,200 at two), and from €2,100–2,400 for the six-day Panda Country route. That single land price is the whole service structure — guide, car and driver, character hotels with breakfast, scenic-spot entries bought ahead in your name, and the planning that stitched it all together — with international flights and most meals deliberately outside it. There is no separate guide-fee sticker, no customization surcharge and no shopping-commission subsidy inside the number: you get an itemised quote within one working day, and everything this page cannot publish honestly is marked on request instead of invented.
Where the money goes: the service lines, one by one
This is the rundreise-style transparency our German readers already know from our pricing pages: not one magic number, but six honest lines. What each line buys, and how it is priced:
| Service line | What you actually get | How it is priced |
|---|---|---|
| Guide service | A private local guide matched to your language — English or German as standard, French or Spanish on request, confirmed before booking — full days, plus the planning before departure and daily support on the ground. | Inside the land price; paid by the trip, never by shop or restaurant commissions. |
| Private car & driver | A quiet new-energy MPV or SUV with a professional driver — you never drive; international driving permits are not valid in China. Non-smoking drivers, water on board, charging stops planned into the day. | Inside the land price, per day of the itinerary. |
| Hotels | Character hotels with breakfast, roomed to match your party. | The biggest single line — hotel tier moves the quote honestly up or down. |
| Scenic-spot tickets | Panda bases, Dujiangyan, Leshan and the rest, bought ahead real-name in your name — panda-base entry runs at roughly ¥55 an adult at the time of writing, and peak mornings sell out days ahead. | Priced into the quote as described. |
| Catering | Breakfast included; most lunches and dinners stay open — chosen on the day, your guide ordering for the table. Market walks and cooking classes are priced in as described. | Not bundled by default — budget €45–70 per person per day in Sichuan. |
| Planning & customization | The route rebuilt around your dates and interests, an itemised quote within one working day, then everything re-checked booking by booking before you fly. | No separate fee — the land price is the price. |
Any line not published on this page or our journey pages — parties above six, the Western Sichuan highlands (private 4×4 and acclimatisation days), top-tier hotels — is quoted on request, in writing. Guessing those numbers would be the dishonest version of cheap.
How personal customization works — and what it costs
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Send dates and one stubborn sentence (day 0)
The trip in your head, in whatever words you have. We reply within one working day with an honest first take — including whether Sichuan is even the right province for you.
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The route is rebuilt around your party (days 1–5)
Over email and a planning call: trip length and pace, the food dial from zero-spice to full ma-la, hotel tier up or down, the highlands extension or not. This is the customization service itself — not a menu of surcharges.
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An itemised quote, every line visible (within one working day of the agreed shape)
Guide, car and driver, hotels, entries, classes — priced per line, so you can see exactly what moving each lever does to the total. The same logic is published country-wide in our private China tour cost guide.
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Locked with a €250 deposit per person
Full refund 45 days out, one free date change, balance only 60 days before travel — the plain-language version of how your money is handled, including what is not yet in place, is on our money-protection page.
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On the ground, daily
Your guide travels with the plan in your language; operational support runs every day of the trip, and payment setup plus SIM/eSIM advice is part of the service, not an extra.
Planning runs in English by default. The company was built around European travellers, and Americans and Canadians are equally welcome on the same published prices — with one honest difference: US and Canadian passports currently need a visa where European ones travel visa-free under the 30-day window. We confirm the current rules for your nationality before anything is booked.
What we don’t do — the part worth reading
No shopping stops, and no commissions. The €100–150-per-day “fully guided” offers you will see elsewhere are funded by scheduled stops at jade factories, silk showrooms and tea halls whose commissions subsidise the headline price. Nothing on this site works that way: our guides are paid by the trip, a restaurant is chosen because it is good, and an hour in a showroom is an hour not in Sichuan.
No invented numbers. If a rate is not published here or on our journey pages, it is on request — not a lowball figure to win the enquiry and a correction later. No promises we cannot book — keeper-for-a-day volunteering at the panda centres exists only when the centres are actually running it; we check for your dates, then tell you. And no pretending on protection — insolvency insurance is not yet in place; exactly how your money is protected instead is written down on our money-protection page, including the parts that are still honest gaps.
Trade partners and planners: the B2B version
The same Sichuan ground services — guide, fleet, hotels, real-name ticketing, the catering-and-scenic-spot packaging above — are available to travel agents and tour operators. An RFQ is acknowledged within two working hours; a day-by-day quote you can forward to your client follows within 48 hours. While your clients travel you have a named contact, seven days a week, in English, on WhatsApp. Trade terms themselves are shared on request rather than published as fixed percentages, because they depend on the programme and the season. The country-wide B2B story — who we are for the trade, and how the partnership works — lives on our travel-professionals page; this page is where the Sichuan lines are priced.
Planning Sichuan? Ask for the itemised version.
Send your dates and the trip in your head. Within one working day you get an honest, line-by-line quote — guide, car, hotels, entries, exactly what is and is not included — before you pay anything.
Ask us about SichuanSichuan tour services & costs — asked before you plan
What does a Sichuan tour guide service fee include?
Full days with a private guide matched to your language — English or German as standard, French or Spanish on request and confirmed before booking — plus the route planning before you fly and daily operational support on the ground. The guide fee is not a separate headline: it is built into one quoted land price, and our guides are paid by the trip, not by commissions from shops or restaurants. Gratuities stay discretionary — this is not a tipping culture.
How much do Sichuan travel services cost per day?
The honest framework is roughly €300–400 per person per day, land only, depending on party size, hotel tier and season. Our published Sichuan anchors sit inside that band: the 8-day Chengdu & Sichuan journey from €2,900 per person at four travelling (€3,200 at two), and the 6-day Panda Country journey from €2,100–2,400 on the same basis. Parties above six, the Western Sichuan highlands and top-tier hotels are quoted on request, because the logistics genuinely differ.
What are Sichuan tourism catering and scenic spot packages?
They are the bundling logic of an honest land price. Scenic-spot entries — the panda bases, Dujiangyan, Leshan — are bought ahead, real-name where required, and priced into the quote, so nothing extra is paid at the ticket gate; panda-base entry runs at roughly ¥55 an adult at the time of writing. Catering works differently by design: most lunches and dinners stay open, chosen on the day with your guide ordering for the table (budget €45–70 per person per day in Sichuan), while market walks, cooking classes and special tables are priced in as described. We take no restaurant or shop commissions — a table is chosen because it is good, not because it pays.
Does personal customization cost extra?
No separate planning fee exists — personalization is the service, and the quote is the quoted land price. Customizing moves the number by real costs, in both directions: fewer days, simpler hotels or a bigger party bring it down; the highlands extension, top-tier hotels or a deeper food programme bring it up. You receive an itemised quote within one working day of sending your dates, and a €250 deposit per person — full refund 45 days out, one free date change — locks them.
Can trade agents reach a Chengdu contact on WhatsApp?
Yes. Travel professionals get an RFQ acknowledged within two working hours and a day-by-day quote within 48 hours, and while your clients travel you have a named contact, seven days a week, in English, on WhatsApp. Individual travellers plan over email and scheduled calls. Trade terms themselves are shared on request rather than published as fixed percentages — they depend on the programme and the season.
The journeys these prices anchor to: Chengdu & Sichuan in eight days and the Panda Country in six. And if something goes wrong on the road — illness, a lost passport, a missed train — what happens if is written down publicly, before you pay anything.
Sichuan, priced honestly
Tell us the dates — we’ll show you every line.
A person replies within one working day: an itemised quote, the honest season read, and what your party size actually does to the number. No guide-fee riddles, no shopping-commission arithmetic.