Reviews

All round excellent trip. Stunning towns. Good quality hotels. Great Tour Leader.

A great trip with some beautiful scenery and stunning towns. Cycling on some of the days was quite tough given the weight of the bikes combined with the undulating terrain and Puglian heat (end May 2022). Great tour guide Antonio and driver Piero could not have been better. Very good standard of accommodation.

Stunning scenery.

Wonderful scenery in a quiet, unspoilt area of the UK. Great group of fellow walkers and a friendly and enthusiastic leader.

A Greek Delight

A most wonderful trip – spectacular awe inspiring scenery in magnificent locations along with expert guiding with the lovely Aris supported by Stephania and a fabulous driver who all took excellent care of us. The accommodation, restaurants visited, a lovely group and all aspects of the trip were at the very least good, at best excellent.
I can’t recommend this trip highly enough.

Walking the Amalfi Coast

An enjoyable trip – thanks

I want, above all, to write about travelling to Italy and back by train. I was so pleased that you have added train travel to trips and I really enjoyed getting there and back this way. When I mentioned it to people in my group, most were unaware that it was an option and said they would have done it too had they known it was a possibility. I think it needs to be flagged up much more prominently and perhaps featured more prominently in your promotional material. I booked a couple of extra days here and there and had such a good time exploring cities and extending the holiday.
A couple of notes:

I booked in January? and was given details of hotels at that time. I was also asked to pay an additional £30 to cover hotel costs. I was contacted again much later about the travel arrangements and given details of a second set of hotels. When the train tickets were finally secured, only a couple of weeks before I went, I was given the details of a third set of hotels. Not great as I wasted time printing out details and looking the hotels up. I don’t understand either why the train tickets were not bought sooner. I understood that they would be un-refundable and had taken out insurance to cover myself. Surely, it would have been cheaper for Exodus to buy them as soon as possible? I was also booked on a slow stopping train between Naples and Florence, meaning I lost out on time there.
All the hotels were fine, although I was asked to pay for the Turin hotel. I have been in touch about this already and this is in hand. One point though: the Park Palace Hotel in Florence was lovely and in a beautiful part of the city, but I spent £50 on taxis getting from and to the stations which I thought was rather too much.

Sunshine, rain and an earthquake in the Azores

The weather wasn’t very kind to us but we did get out walking on all the days.
Bruno our guide was very good. His knowledge of the islands was excellent and he made every effort to tailor the walks to the group. He also adapted the program when we were unable to visit Sao Jorge because of the earthquake.
Loved the botanical gardens and Lagoa do Fogo (although it was difficult to sit by the lake for very long because of the biting wind). I found the islands we visited very interesting.
I didn’t go whale watching in Horta, instead went to the whaling museum (Porto Pim Whaling) and did the circular walk on the hill (Monte da Guia) behind it. Both were excellent alternatives.
The food was very good and the hotels and various restaurants. The accommodation in Ponta Delgada was very good and an excellent location.

Intense, fun, camaraderie, breathtaking

First trip to mountains post Covid. Marrakech was sweltering, mountains were sunny and windy, summit was chilly and bright. Really fun and interesting and supportive group with a wide age range and great guides. We had a shared endeavour and though it involved two very long days of walking, and not a lot of sleep, it was a great feeling of satisfaction to have made it to the top and back again, all of us. I chose the “long weekend” due to shortage of leave from work. For me, it was a bit too short and I would have liked to spend longer there to take in the spectacle and watch the High Atlas mountain light.

Excellent trip

Excellent holiday. Michela was a very good guide, the best I’ve had from Exodus. I learned a lot of Italian! The walks are a suitable length and great scenery. On my free day I walked to Sestri Levante from the hotel in Moneglia, this 10 mile walk was much more remote than the group ones with amazing views. I would recommend the holiday.

Beyond the beach

This is proof that The Costa Blanca has far more to offer than beer, chips and turning pink on the beach!
About an hour or so drive Inland from Alicante, the Sierra de Aitana rises to heights greater than Ben Nevis.

The treks are based around the Hostal Rincon De Pepe, and from there a minibus links up with the start and finish of each hike. The trek is graded as moderate to challenging, but be aware that the climbs and descents are often very steep and over loose scree. it can also be extremely hot and dry throughout the day.

Each trek has been developed to give a different aspect of the Aitana massif so no two days will be the same.
Breakfasts and packed lunches are provided……And the evening meals are all home cooked Spanish specialities!

A Very Good Trip

The itinerary is well thought out and the pace was good. The beauty of Petra and peacefulness of Wadi Rum have to be experienced. No words can really describe them. Our group also got along very well. It was a pleasure to travel with them.

The side trips to Bethany, Little Petra, …etc. were all interesting. Maybe they should be part of the main itinerary.

Water was available on the bus but we were not always with the bus, e.g. when we were in Petra for 3 days. So we ended up buying a lot of bottled water.

Hotel in Amman was barely a 3 star hotel if one is kind. Since we spent 3 nights in Petra, it would be nice if the level of accommodation is slightly improved. It was not a problem for me but one has to set the right level of expectation.

Two activities that I would have liked to do but was unable to do so were:
1) night visit at Petra: there was no notice about it. When someone asked as we were approaching Petra, the guide mentioned if we were to go, we had to go that night because it was not offered every night. I couldn’t go with such short notice.

2) hot air ballon over the desert: I really wanted to do this and kept asking every day about booking it. The guide kept saying he couldn’t book until the day before. When he finally called, it was booked out 2 weeks from that day. I hope Exodus would offer this WAY AHEAD of the trip so the guests could book before the trip even began.

A Wonderful Walking Holiday

This was a wonderful walking holiday, staying the week in a homely villa set on the hillside above Algamitas, used just by our group. The owners were friendly, and the chef served delightful meals every evening on the terrace overlooking the surrounding countryside. The area is varied, so the walks are different and generally easy going terrains, and provide great views and interest. Three of them started from the villa and three needed minibus trips. It was lovely to have the pool at the end of the day. The day trip to Seville was an interesting change where we were able to have a restaurant meal, experience flamenco, see the Alcazar and other sights, and sup the occasional beer. Our group was friendly and sociable and Michael, our guide provided the perfect amount of guidance, with superb local knowledge, a real polymath. Nothing seemed too much for Michael to ensure we felt safe, at home and well-provided for. I have done a number of Exodus walking holidays and would thoroughly recommend this one. I extended my trip to visit Granada, which was well worth it (but pre-book the Alhambra).