Reviews

Your Words – We tell it like it is! Holiday Reviews by previous Exodus travellers

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167 Reviews

4.8 out of 5

Diane Ingrey

Reviewed June 2019

It was Amazing

Peru

My Peru holiday with Exodus was just amazingly fantastic. I have seen beautiful mountains before in the Alps but had not previously experienced the amazing sunsets you get on the Inca Trail or the stunning night sky. You could see the stars and milky way with absolute clarity. Nor have I descended down through Amazon cloud forest with its amazing flora and fauna. To do all that whilst walking such historic trails was mind-blowing. You feel really close to mother earth and nature. The descent through the Sun Gate to view Machu Picchu cannot be overstated as a beautiful moving experience. It is the best view of the site but what is undersold is that on this trip we arrived at the Sun Gate as Machu Picchu was closing and we had the site to ourselves. You descend through the site. I climbed the wooden steps to view the Gatekeepers Hut and it was occupied by just 3 Llamas! The next day on the formal visit there were swathes of visitors.
The porters on the trek were amazing, I have a new definition of fitness now after watching porters run past me with a 25kg backpack almost a big as themselves. After their trek they erect your tent put your stuff in it and have a bowl of hot water waiting for you and prepare your meal. Meals were all freshly made, healthy and very tasty. They really do carry fresh vegetables up the trail.
The joy of a shower and a flushing toilet after the trek is still with me!

Cusco is an amazing place to explore and just to sit and watch. Its pace can be manic, it felt like being in a Rio carnival at times. Traffic is crazy and controlled by women police officers who are fearsome and fearless. They need to be, horns toot endlessly and everybody just shoves as far as they can. Its noisy and very vibrant. The Cathedral is beautiful and the huge picture of the Last Supper where they enjoy guinea pig is interesting. I did eat guinea pig and Llama, the Llama is good, cross between steak and lamb but not keen on guinea pig. We visited Inca sites in Cusco and if you are a history buff you would be overjoyed as their is so many sites.

This holiday has completely changed my view of holidays, no more standard European Alps walking holidays. I crave history and culture experiences. I am still in a state of wonder a week after getting back.

Only downside of the holiday is the free roaming dogs, some of which have homes but are not allowed in, but some are just hungry and scavenging out of rubbish heaps. Not so much in Cusco centre but just outside. 3rd world regarding animals.

Most Inspirational Moment

Seeing Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate

Thoughts on Group Leader

Group leaders were outstanding, so helpful and so patient. They helped a member of the group who was very ill prepared for the trek to complete it (despite no appreciation from the member).

Advice for Potential Travellers

Don't take the altitude sickness medicine, it made those who took it ill. They were better when they stopped taking it. Make sure you are fit enough, not a lot of oxygen for muscles up there so you need strong legs. Its not an easy trek, I am a regular high fell walker and my legs were very, very tired. You need to be fit to enjoy it not "reasonably fit" as stated. If you are not fit and suffer at altitude it will be hard as one of our group found...but she still made it!! Porters and walk leaders are angels.

Suggestions

Thank you for the best most wonderful holiday of my life.

Richard Spink

Reviewed June 2019

The Inca Trail

This was my second trip with Exodus and the organisation could not have been better. I was pcked up from Cusco Airport, transferred to my hotel and introduced to the other memebers of the group. We had a day to acclimatise in Cusco and then started the Inca Trail. It was absolutely briliant. The walking was quite steady but some very steep sections. The scenery was spectacular and the night sky was equally as spectacular. We could clearly see the Southern Cross. The food at each camp was superb (How the chef managed to cook such good meals, including 1 vegetarian, on a 2 ring portable stove, beats me!.) The tour guide, Edwind, was very knowledgeable and each Inca settlement we passed, he gave us a “history lesson”. The timing of the walk to go through the Sun Gate, was exemplary, as we did so late afternoon and viewed Machu Picchu when there were hardly any tourists in the site. The views of Machu Picchu were breathtaking and it is no wonder it is one of the 7 natural wonders of the World. I would highly recmmend this walk but remember there are some steep sections, particularly the second day, so be prepared!! In short, an excellent trip well organised by Exodus and a great toour leader. Excellent value for money.

Most Inspirational Moment

Walking through the Sun Gate and looking down on Machu Picchu for the first time.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Edwind, our group leader could not have been better. Very supportive of everybody, very knowledgeable about all of the Inca site we passed, very friendly, helpful and professional. His assistant, Anthony, was also superb and equally as knowledgeable. A great team to be in charge of our group. They also spoke excellent English!!

Advice for Potential Travellers

Practice walking up some hills before you go!!!

Suggestions

The Inca Trail is a really enjoyable, pleasant walk, with stunning views around every corner. If you plan to do it, just take it steady, as nobody rushes you, and enjoy the fantastic views.

Liliana Zlate

Reviewed May 2019

Amazing trip

I wanted to do something like this for a while but didn’t get the chance.
Going on this trip was amazing and now I am grateful I was able to do it.
Everyone was very nice, the porters were amazing(the chef even made a birthday cake for me), Beto and Mel really good and even though I struggled a bit on the second day the trip was just perfect.

Most Inspirational Moment

Being just a few meters away from reaching the Dead Woman pass and having my group cheering up for me. I was the slowest one in the group and reached the pass about an hour after the first person there. I later found out that Beto(our guide) asked them if they want to wait for me and they all said yes. Having an amazing group makes the trip a lot more memorable

Thoughts on Group Leader

Beto was amazing. He looked after us very well, took us to (mostly) nice restaurants, had a lot of knowledge about what we are doing and knew all our names from the first day. He helped me so much and I was able to finish my trek. Mel our back guide was such a warm and kind person, she knew exactly what we needed and helped us with all the little things and thanks to her most of us now have llama selfies 😊

Advice for Potential Travellers

Like most people say, everyone can finish the Inca trail but... Do yourself a favour and do some excercise before you start. Altitude sickness is real but so is lack of fitness. Just so you get an idea: I'm 35, work in a hospital and I'm over 90kg and finished but I did struggle going up, down was way easier for me.

Suggestions

Please Exodus do something about the hotel. The first 2 nights we were given ground floor rooms, looking up to a corridor, very loud and no privacy.the last 2 nights after we complained we got roos on upper floors with better views and decor. There are many hotels in Cusco and I'm sure we could have had a nicer view than cleaning trolleys. That was the let down of the holiday.

Chinthika Piyasena

Reviewed May 2019

Exceeded expectations

Well organised, brilliant guide and unbelievable porterage team.

Most Inspirational Moment

The work of the porters was humbling and I liked the effort made by the guides for us to get to know them better.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Friendly. Very knowledgeable. Diligent. Caring - went out of his way to help.

Advice for Potential Travellers

The walk is more strenuous than the rating on the website of 3/10.

Suggestions

I would like the website to highlight better the options to extend the trip. It is tucked away in the middle of the trip notes and missed when making booking and planning the trip.

Don West

Reviewed May 2019

Hiking the Inca Trail

Very challenging four day hike to Machu Picchu. The hike itself was absolutely beautiful, with incredible views all along the way. Our guides, Julio Santos (lead) and Josval were excellent. Julio was full of interesting facts at every site we were to stop at along the way, and Jos was more than willing to help may our experience a memorable one.
The porters, the head chef and his assistant were outstanding. Their professionalism, and extreme efforts were appreciated by all. The food was incredible!
A great experience I would recommend doing the hike to anyone.

Most Inspirational Moment

The entire hike. Day three campsite above the clouds, with a beautifully preserved ruin below. Touring Machu Picchu.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Julio Santos was a fantastic lead guide. To lead fourteen individuals on a four day hike through the mountains is no easy task. There are so many different logistics that he has to address from start to finish. He did an outstanding job with it all, and was never too busy to answer any questions I had along the way. He did it all with a smile, and positive attitude. Thanks!

Advice for Potential Travellers

Get in climbing shape, acclimate with a day or two of walking in Cusco (Diamox also helped me- I live 22 feet above sea level), and travel light.

Suggestions

This was my second trip with Exodus (Cycling In Greece last May being my first). Both were wonderful experiences. Exodus made my planning very easy, and stress free for both trips. I did book my own flights coming from the U.S.

Stephen Wall

Reviewed May 2019

Andes

Challenging but an experience of treking in remote, dramatic landscape aay from the 21st century!

Most Inspirational Moment

Descending into a steep sided valley with views of Mount Veronica

Thoughts on Group Leader

Helpful and informative.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be prepared for a rough trek at high altitude

Suggestions

The support of the porters and chef was superb

Tim Marshall

Reviewed April 2019

Try the Moonstone trek!

Booked trip late, so the Inca Trail itself was sold out. This didn’t bother me, as the Moonstone trek sounded great – and it was. Loved the fantastic scenery, the pre-Inca and Inca structures, the glimpses of Andean village life, the excellent food, and the peace and quiet of the trek. Rest of trip was great, too – good itinerary, excellent organisation. Cuzco is a wonderful city to explore. Really enjoyed optional Sacred Valley day trip. Machu Picchu did not disappoint, either (and I have found the odd big-name sight disappointing in the past). Overall, hard to fault this trip.

Most Inspirational Moment

Loved the trek from start to finish. Beautiful on third day of trek to see glaciers high up, then regular mountains, then the Sacred Valley down below, all at same time.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Mike (main tour leader) was great - very knowledgeable, and proactive in responding to people's needs and requests. Henry (Moonstone trek leader) was a quieter character, but had the necessary skills to lead us competently.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Get as fit as you can to enjoy the walking more. Altitude can affect anyone, even if it has not affected you previously, so be prepared to feel out of sorts or have a headache. At the same time, don't worry overly about it - the guides are good at monitoring people's wellbeing, and know what to do.

Suggestions

On the Moonstone trek, you miss out on the classic view of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate high above, where 'The Inca Trail' ends. But the Moonstone trek is a far less visited Inca trail, and you still get a full tour of Machu Picchu. If doing the Moonstone trek, you might want to check how many are in the group, as the groups are apparently smaller for this than the classic Inca Trail. We had four trekkers, which was fine, but a smaller group than that might feel a little odd.

Sarah Fordham

Reviewed December 2018

An amazing experience

This was one of the toughest challenges I have put my body through but was so worth it. I had an amazing time and the trip was so well organised. I am in love with Peru now and already thinking about when I can go back.

Most Inspirational Moment

It was incredible to make it to the top of dead woman's pass. It was a tough day but it was an amazing sense of achievement when we were at the top looking down. And of course the first view of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate is breath taking and made it all worth while.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Ollie was so knowledgeable and really made the trip special. I think the whole group learnt a lot and he bought the culture and history to life for us. He was able to answer all of our questions and he is clearly passionate about what he does. He was also patient when we were physically struggling and needed to rest a lot, and was full of good advice.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Make sure that you acclimatise as much as possible in Cusco and also make sure that you have decent equipment as you will be relying on it for the days you are hiking. Learn a few Spanish phrases so you can at least introduce yourself to the porters, I had to rely on others in the group and the group leader.

Suggestions

The porters were amazing! They were all very kind, despite the language barrier, and looked after us all very well. The food was some of the best that I had while I was away.

Peter Hadsley-Chaplin

Reviewed December 2018

Inca Trail - Exodus rating: Excellent!

I couldn’t praise the Exodus team more highly for helping to provide me with one of the holidays of a lifetime!

Most Inspirational Moment

Entering the Sun Gate and seeing the City of Machu Picchu below me for the first, with the stunning mountain backdrop. The photos simply don't do justice to the real thing.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Holger ('Ollie') was absolutely top rate. He was patient, kind and considerate as well as exceptionally well informed, not just about Inca, and pre-Inca, history but also about the wonderful flora and fauna that we encountered along the Trail.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be prepared for very cold nights in your tent (in December). Whilst at times beautifully warm and sunny during the day, the temperature got to 5 or 6 degrees at night so wearing a couple of layers of clothes, plus a liner inside my sleeping bag, kept me snug and warm. For the fair-skinned, wear a hat with a suitably wide brim as the sun could be quite fierce at times during the day.

Suggestions

Be sure to travel with Exodus - from the team in the UK office (especially Alec Worthy and Treherne Francis) to the team in Cuzco, plus our wonderful porters, our fantastic chef and, last but not least, our brilliant guide, Holger, everyone couldn't do enough to ensure that we had a fabulous, and memorable, trip!

John Wood

Reviewed November 2018

Superb

Fantastic atmosphere, brilliant guide, porters and support team. Just wish it was longer!

Most Inspirational Moment

For me, day three on the trail was the best, as we moved into the forest and the soaked up the atmosphere, including many Inca ruins previously unknown to me. And of course, arriving at the Sun Gate and looking down on Machu Picchu, just as the late afternoon sun lit it up, almost devoid of day trippers!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Frank was incredible. He was inspirational in getting us to gel as a team and ensure we all helped each other to get through the tougher sections. His knowledge of Inca and current local culture was encyclopaedic and he was so funny! He was also something of a talented photographer with all our cameras (is there a camera he doesn’t know how to operate better than we do?). It’s hard to imagine anyone better.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Some of our party struggled a bit and sadly one (plus her husband) had to drop out through altitude sickness. Though that can affect even the fittest, it’s fair to say that this is quite a tough trek (most of us felt it could be rated a bit higher than the grade 3 “moderate” rating). To enjoy it fully, make sure you do plenty of training on hills or similar - it is almost constantly up and down and often steep steps. Those who had trained by walking on the flat found it difficult.

Suggestions

Make sure you bring spare batteries or a charging pack for your phone / camera. Some of us had exhausted our batteries before reaching The Sun Gate. It was also very cold at night after days 2 and 3, so make sure your sleeping bag is properly 4 seasons and you also bring thermals. Finally, the 7kg baggage limit on the Inca Trail is strictly applied, so plan carefully what you need to take on the trail and weigh it before you set off (surplus stuff can be left at the hotel). A slightly bigger day pack, to enable you to pack things that would take your baggage over the 7kg limit, would give some flexibility.

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