Reviews

Annapurna sanctuary

This was an amazing trip with Poon hill sunrise and Annapurna base camp sunrise , both of which we were spoilt on clear skies and lovely weather, The guides and porters were all amazing, trying to communicate with their broken english, our main guide Milan was fantastic , with his knowledge of mountains and other areas in nepal.
I would highly recommend this trip, just be sure that you love steps and that you love mountains and breathtaking views!!

A great experience

A lot of travel but the rewards are well worth it. The scenery highlights are outstanding and provide once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
The towns and cities visited en route are characterful and offer a great opportunity to see a different approach to life.
Our guide’s knowledge and enthusiasm kept us stimulated throughout.

Himalayan Highs

1st time in the Himalayas and what an introduction. Expectations were high but easily exceeded, both by the scenery and the people (guides, porters and fellow travelers).

The trek was challenging but hugely enjoyable, helped greatly by the brilliant weather that allowed us the best views of the stunning mountains and valleys.

Our guide, “Milan” and his team of assistants and porters were phenomenal, making everything run smoothly for us pampered western travelers. It was humbling to see how they and the local people cope with what seem harsh conditions compared to those many of us take for granted at home.

Overall, an excellent trip that I would not hesitate in recommending to others.

A fantastic guide

I found hiking the trail a real challenge but our guide Holger Collantes, and his assistant Mel, were just amazing. Their support and encouragement got me through. They really were the best! Holger was also an absolute mine of information about Peru – there were no questions he couldn’t answer. The Inca remains and, of course, Machu Picchu itself were magical. The people, the food … all incredible.

Great Fun

Really fun trip with a very sociable bunch of fellow trekkers.Quite a lot of travel(as it says on the tin).Not a trip for anyone not used to fairly strenuous walking.Bunk beds in refugios so if allocated a top bunk you have to be quite agile.Be aware that weather notoriously fickle in Patagonia and seeing the mountains not guaranteed.

Highly recommend this trek.

This is my fifth trek in Nepal and definitely my favourite. Happy to have done this before the road is complete as this will change the remote nature of this trek.
We had a fantastic group who supported each other, particularly on the day crossing the pass.
This trek is more challenging than Annapurna Circuit and Gokyo/Everest.
Our guide Keshar was simply the best, can’t say enough about him. Also great to have Zoe from Exodus London office as my roommate. I feel very fortunate to have been on this trek.

Fabulous experience - and responsible tourism!

Loved every minute of our Atlas Panorama trip. Good balance between city and village life. Lovely trekking routes. Great hospitality. The trip notes are accurate. Highly recommended.

We didn't have a great experience

Our experience was that there were a number of significant issues with this Exodus tour;
– The tour lead was quite poor and we had issues with poor communication, being rushed from place to place, pressure to cycle quickly and therefore unable to enjoy the sights/views.
– Bikes provided were basically ‘end of life’ and we had issues with poor gear changes.

It contains quite a bit of bus time (4-5 hours at a time) and you feel like you are being rushed around all the time – the result is that it isn’t very relaxed, and we were frustrated that we didn’t have time to enjoy many of the places we visited/went through.

We were told that demand for this tour meant that Exodus had increased from 1 to 4 tours/week, but it looks like the bike maintenance/replacement hadn’t taken this into account, and possible why we ended up with a Tour Lead who was below par (as they didn’t have enough good tour leads).

We think Exodus need to take a good hard look at this tour and make sure that the quality is massively improved.

Wonderful Experience

A wonderful insight to this facinating country. Seeing the country by bike is certainly the best way to do it, giving the opportunity to get an insight into the real Japan and it’s people. We travelled in late November, spot on for autumn colours but obviously run the risk of colder, wet and windy weather. That said a bit of rain and strong headwind are a price worth paying. Accommodation was a mixture local Ryokans and modern hotels. The standard of the hotels was mixed, but generally very good. The food was one of the highlights, lots of real japanese food in all its guises from formal set meals (dressed in traditional kimonos) to simple noodles or curry/rice for lunch. Another highlight was definitely the guide Tatsuya ‘Tea’ along with his driver Tiachi and assistant Akiko. Organisation was calm and slick with clearly a lot of effort going on behind the scenes. The last couple of days are in Kyoto, this is good, but the hords of fellow tourists at the big attractions make you realise how special the time cycling away from the crowds was. If you are thinking of visiting Japan and are modestly cycle fit I would wholeheartedly recommend this trip (and in our case it attracted a very pleasant, like-minded group of people to share our experience).

Wonders of Egypt

This trip offered a wide variety of experiences along the length of the River Nile.The trip was very well organised and Andrew our guide was extremely knowledgable and helpful.
The trip was full on with many early morning starts. Take extra money for the add on activities as without them the holiday would not have been so exiting.Be aware of extra charges at some of the sites such as a camera tax.
In my opinion the group size was too large and made it difficult to hear the guide at some sites that were always crowded.However the chemistry of the group was excellent and I very much enjoyed everyones company.
Accommodation throughout the trip was satisfactory to excellent.The Nile cruise experience was something I’ll never forget, but the highlights of the trip were the astounding places we visited.My favourite was the Valley of the Kings that simply ‘blew my mind away’.
I left this holiday with a feel good factor and my only regret is that we didn’t have more free time especially in the Cairo Museum.