We took a group tour of three cities in China with another company but decided hire a private tour guide from China Tour Advisors for the Xi'an leg because it was important to me to spend more time seeing the Terracotta Warriors. I am so glad I went this route because our private tour was excellent.
Our tour guide, Agnes, took us in a private van with our own driver to see the warriors, the Xi'an city wall, the Wild Goose Pagoda and a terracotta warrior factory where they make replicas. Agnes was very knowledgeable and taught us so much about the various sites. Her English was very good and we had very little problem understanding her. It was definitely worth the extra money to deviate from the group tour for this one day. Don't get me wrong, the group tour we took was very good but I wanted special attention for this one segment.
Agnes never rushed us and there was no pressured sales pitch at the terracotta factory which was also a store. It seems that every tour has one of these store stops but this one was actually very informative and interesting. I heard our main group was taken to a jade store which is a classic sales stop for tourists - much less interesting.
I have absolutely no reservations recommending this tour company for a private tour in Xi'an. Go ahead and ask for Agnes! If I am in China again and can afford it, I will probably hire these guys for more sites.
