Reviews

Mont Blanc Highlights Sept 2017

An excellent holiday which delivered fantastic views of the mountains.
We travelled in the middle of September and the week began with some unseasonably cold weather which resulted in one day walking in the snow. It was not too demanding but be prepared for cold weather.
The second half of the week was much warmer and the variety of weather made the trip even more interesting as the snow was beautiful but we were also able to enjoy very sunny days.
The Chalet Chamonix was very comfortable and the meals provided by Sarah and Rich were absolutely outstanding, the best we have had.

Exodus delivers again!

An amazing trip up Kilimanjaro, with a professional leader, guides, porters & support team (66 in total). The team got all 16 in the party up and all were very supportive!

Machu Picchu

A fantasic trip with some great sites of historic interest and great views.

Classic Dolomites

This was a moderate walking holiday in the Dolomites, with Premium accommodation. The trip certainly lived up to its expectations – which, with Exodus, are always high! Fabulous walking that got more challenging and more rewarding as the week went on, great group, excellent leader and wonderful accommodation.

Sicily Was Grand But Tour Needs Tweaking

Sicily was beautiful and this tour provides an excellent taste of this lovely island, but, tour groups for this trip should be limited to a maximum of 12 people, as 17 is too many for this trip and resulted in numerous logistical problems.

The bus was too big to fit down the narrow roads, meaning that we were frequently dropped a long way from our destination and had to walk the remaining distance, including carrying heavy luggage. A smaller group would have enabled a smaller vehicle to be used that could get closer to hotels and sites.

Most of the destinations are small towns and do not have large hotels, meaning that a large group has to be widely dispersed across various accommodation, which takes lots of time and logistical effort to organise. When you’re tired after a long day’s sight seeing you just want to get to your accommodation and not have to lug your stuff for miles and then wait for ages whilst all of the logistics of who stays where are sorted out.

Some of the accommodation also appeared to have been changed at the last minute to accommodate our group size and we were disappointed by the quality of some of the accommodation, which did not meet our expectations. The hotel in Palermo was dirty, and the hotel in Taormina had poor standards and served us stale croissants for breakfast, along with random leftovers from the previous evening. Some of the beds were terrible, with the bed in the hotel at Syracuse being like a slab of concrete.

Restaurants in Sicily are also not geared up to cater for large parties and we encountered numerous issues with the group meals, including, in one case, waiting over an hour just for drinks. Two and a half hours later some people in the group still did not have food and many of the orders came out wrong. This was the worst experience, but it wasn’t unique.

Sicily also has towns with many steps and slopes, and a lot of the guest houses do not have lifts, meaning that you have to carry your own suitcases up flights of stairs. This is something that needs to be considered if you are a person of limited mobility.

However, many of the towns are truly beautiful and we did enjoy the trip despite the above problems.

Most Inspirational Moment

We loved Ragusa and wished we could have stayed an extra day. The Roman mosaics near Piazza Armerina were truly spectacular and a highlight of the trip

Thoughts on Group Leader

Milena worked incredibly hard and did a very good job, but we felt that she was hampered by the size of the group and the issues that resulted from that.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Check the group size before you go. Bring your own pillow if you want a good night's sleep If you like chocolate make sure that you buy some of the delicious chocolate from Modica!

Reply from Exodus

Exodus would like to thank Jamie for taking the time to review his holiday in Sicily, although we are sorry to read that his experience was impacted by a larger than expected vehicle being allocated to his group. We realise that this unforeseen issue created some logistical challenges during the trip, such as accessing sights in the historical centres, but we are confident that going forward future groups will not be impacted by a similar issue. This is the first time we can recall concerns about the size of the group being raised and we are confident that our leaders are well used to managing groups of up to 18 clients very well; we acknowledge, however, that Jamie would have preferred a smaller number of travellers and we will continue to closely monitor the feedback we receive regarding group sizes. – Marta Marinelli, Product Manager.

Best wildlife experience ever

The whole trip was fantastic with all the wildlife sightings. The big 5 in the Masai Mara plus the birdlife
was unforgettable. Every country visited had something special, but of course the highlight were the gorillas. All that being said the trip was made even better by Jacob our guide, nothing was too much trouble, Stone Cold (Boniface), fantastic driver, Godfrey, great cook, Ester the lovely assistant. The 4 of them were so friendly it felt like it was one big family. They are the A-Team.

Sardinia is special

Was on the 16th Sept. departure for Walking in Sardinia – proved to be a good time of year 25*C and plenty of sun but also some shade and gentle breeze. Lovely time to arrive as it was the weekend of the annual Dorgali festival, with small groups of singers and musicians touring the streets, street stalls, wine tastings etc. etc. Nice atmosphere and the town felt safe to wander any time of day. Local people were polite & helpful.
Walks were on the strenuous side for me – but I enjoyed the challenge and on the few occasions I needed advice or assistance it was available immediately from our leader and/or other members of the group.

Great trip for wildlife

Thoroughly enjoyed this trip. We had a great guide, Gustavo, and fab driver, Juan, who helped make the trip a success. We saw plenty of wildlife, including sloths, greenback turtles, monkeys, iguanas, frogs (including the iconic red eyed tree frog) and birds too numerous to list. Costa Rica is a lovely country with rich biodiversity and unspoilt countryside. The people were friendly and largely English speaking and very helpful in all the places we stayed. Our accomodation was of a good standard and the first and last lodges were particularly good. In spite of travelling in the rainy season the weather was kind to us – an added bonus.

Highlights of Albania

This was an excellent tour with a lot covered in the 10 days enabling us to understand the difficult times Albania has gone through as well as opening up the many things it has to offer as a destination. It was a busy trip but did not feel rushed at any of the places we visited as it has not yet fully embraced mass tourism (although some places like Butrint no doubt get very busy in the summer months).

Full on fun!

This was an excellent trip which delivered exactly what it said it would. The main downside is the long days in the bus between stops and the fact that as it stands there is a very limited amount of time to spend in Cusco. However, the scenery over the Andes is spectacular, as is the view of Peruvian life the bus affords.