A few years ago my husband and I visited China on a group tour. We went to Beijing, Xian, Nanjing, and Shanghai. We would like to visit the country again, but all of the tours that we can find include at least two of these cities, and we’d prefer not to retrace our steps. Are there travel companies that can help us? Lee Sherwin, Cardiff

Sunday Times travel expert Richard Green responds: This dilemma crops up often, especially with big countries like China, India, and Brazil, where so many of the trips on offer seem to cover the same few big-hitting cities and sites.

However, if you talk to a good China specialist tour operator, they can certainly help. CTS Horizons (020 7836 9911, www.ctshorizons.com) for example, has a 17 day trip to South Western China’s Yunan Province, which visits Kunming, the extraordinary Stone Forest at Jinghong, the Wild Elephant Valley nature reserve, and passes through spectacular mountain scenery up to 11,000 feet and the fabled mountain town of Shangri-La.

You also take in the narrow Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtze, where the river squeezes between two mountains at the base of 6,000 feet cliffs, and ride a chair lift up the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. This escorted group tour is an excellent journey through the lands of some of China’s many traditional peoples, and costs from £1,895pp, including flights from London, all local transport, hotels, sightseeing and meals.

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Or you can revisit the northeast on a 21-day tour around the mountainous country to the south of Beijing. You do have to have a night in Beijing at the start and end of the trip, but you’ll visit the remarkable Hanging Temple – built half way up a sheer cliff – at Datong, the mind-boggling Yungang Caves, which took 40,000 workers 100 years to build, and relax in the harmonious grounds of the exquisite Jinci Temple in Pingjao.

Then there are the ancient underground houses of Yuncheng, and the Buddha crammed caves at Luonyang, before a visit to the birthplace of Kung Fu at the Shaolin Temple, and a cable car ride to the summit of sacred Mount Taishan, and chance to see the oldest section of the Great Wall. The escorted group tour is from £2,095pp, including flights from London, all local transport, hotels, sightseeing and meals.

Or try Bales Worldwide, China Direct, or Transindus.

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