Reviews

Fantastic vacation!!

We had a great time hiking the Ligurian hills and the Cinque Terre towns. Michela was a great guide, she immediately became an integral part of our group with her gentle, yet thoughtful leadership. We had wonderful views, beautifully-maintained trails and a lot of laughs. Some of us raced ahead to explore all that nature had to offer while others meandered slowly taking pictures of everything. The trail options made our trip accessible to everyone in our group with all our varied walking and hiking abilities. We enjoyed exploring new towns everyday and trying our language skills with everyone we met.

Great trip

Romania exceeded expectations – what a beautiful and varied country! Cristi was a great guide and all in all I would highly recommend this trip.

Book this trip!

You must book this trek. I had about 2 years from the point of booking to departure and had read nearly all books on the market and scoured the internet for all available videos of the trek. None of which prepared me for the journey – in a good sense. I wasn’t sure how I would cope with the altitude, the basic tea houses or the food – all concerns of mine due to the fact I had never been on a trip like this before, but I was pleasantly surprised in each of these aspects. The Lodges are basic, but they are clean, comfortable and welcoming. The food selection is pretty broad, and you can enjoy Western staples such as pasta, pizza, potatoes and toasties if you wish, but do also try the local dishes like Mo Mos (dumplings) and Dal Bhat.

There were a few moments on the trek that I observed that confirmed I had made the right choice in going with a well-established ‘brand’ in Exodus. The organisation, contacts and professionalism of those involved meant that we felt fully prepared and most importantly, safe at every turn – Moreso than had I booked with a local, more independent company. These companies are perfectly fine, but I preferred the security and extensive knowledge Exodus was able to provide.

EXCELLENT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Trip walking in Andalusia. Accommodation very good and swimming pool a great relax after the walks.
As a vegetarian I was very well catered for bye the hotel staff who went to the trouble of preparing individual meals.
Hotel staff very friendly and very helpful.
Our guide Michael was excellent.The walks at level 2 were pitched very well in terms of distance, difficulty and especially gave a very wide range of differing terrain types in the area. Michael has a VERY great knowledge of the area and very well considered, but never intrusive, health and safety precautions due to possible heat.
His arrangements for our “free day” in Seville option were very well planned and his care pre-booking entrance to the
Real and for our evening meal made the day.
Michael took similar extra care to facilitate our group walk through the Canyon Del Ray, a stunning walk.

A highly recommended trip for the accommodation, scenery, walks and our guide

A wonderful, friendly week in Sardinia

We had an amazing week walking in stunning scenery, eating delicious food and enjoying the company of friendly and very generous locals. The walks have been tweaked so there is no longer an out and return by the same route. All the walks were interesting and gave an opportunity to see the beautiful vistas of this wild countryside. Our guide Michele was excellent and adapted the itinerary to suit the weather and the group.

Great walking, excellent refreshment, star guide!

Gillian and I had a great week enjoying the walking, spectacular views, brilliant wild flowers and varied wines (both Prosecco and some very good local red wines) in the beautiful Prosecco Hills and Pre-Alps, led by the enthusiastic and ebullient Vania de Paoli. It was hotter than expected for the second half of May, making some of the unshaded uphill sections quite taxing, but Vania timed the breaks to ensure that everyone in our varied and convivial group was able (literally!) to take the walks in their stride. A very good way to get back into the swing of foreign holidays after two difficult years.

Wonderful Week in the Stunning Hills of Tuscany

After having to change the departure date several times due to Covid, this walking week in the Stunning Hills of North West Tuscany was truly worth waiting for.
The area is blessed with stunning scenery in every direction, and throughout the week you get a front row seat in experiencing it up close and personal. The trip notes accurately reflect the walks and the summit finishes will get the blood pumping and lungs working overtime, however the reward for this effort is plain to see. A good level of fitness is required, however our group leader, Sara Bull, looked after us all and made sure everyone felt comfortable. She is a truly amazing person, with such local knowledge and obvious passion for the history of the locality and family run business. She delivers the experience with such professionalism and attention to detail, which is to be applauded. From arranging evening outs at local restaurants, taxi’s, train tickets & information to Lucca for the day off excursion, she has everything covered.
The Agriturismo Braccicorti is charming, and is a typical restored Tuscan Farmhouse, complete with its own cast members strolling the grounds. Accommodation is simple but comfortable, the Italian homecooked food is lovely, as is the red wine, and dining alfresco each evening made for a great opportunity to mix in our small group of eight people, and re-live the experience of the days hiking.
My tip to anyone thinking of going on this trip (or any trip to Italy) is try to learn a few words of Italian, as I had done during lockdown. Whilst I’ve a long way to go to call myself an able Italian speaker, my efforts in using my limited vocabulary were met with wonderful enthusiasm and delight on every occasion.
I would therefore thoroughly recommend this trip to anyone considering it – just go for it and you wont be disappointed.

Fabulous trip in a great location

Cortijo Rosario is a lovely place to stay, just outside the village of Algamitas in a beautiful part of Andalucia. Our room was fairly spacious with a comfortable bed and en-suite. The public areas had been fully refurbished with a small bar, lounge and dining room. There is also a reasonable sized pool which we used every day after the walks to cool down. The food was delicious and there was plenty of it; the Paella on the last night was superb. We ate all our dinners outside on the terrace with the added attraction of a wonderful view.
The walking was enjoyable without being too challenging with a fair variety through the week from easy tracks to mountainous limestone scenery.

Brilliant trip with a superb leader!

My husband and I loved this trip! The walking is varied, in quite different but equally stunning areas. It is correctly labelled as leisurely/ moderate, as the walks are not technically difficult at all and are not too long for most reasonably fit people – but are long enough for the heat, and leisurely enough to give us plenty of time to look at the rich variety of flora and fauna and to observe the huge number of birds that live here or pass through, which included large birds of prey such as eagles and flocks of vultures.. Michael, our guide, is simply superb. His knowledge of nature is second to none and he was well -organised and kind too. The base, a coverted farmhouse which we had sole use of, is not ‘luxurious’ but is homely and very welcoming. The owners are lovely! Our room was clean and comfortable and the shower was very good, although the hot water took a bit of time to arrive! The views from our balcony were stupendous. The food was plentiful. The breakfasts were a bit limited in choice but the lunches were very good and the evening meals – taken on a terrace with stunning views in every direction! – were massive and delicious (Ref a previous review: They definitely did NOT lack piquancy!). Our group were friendly with a lot of solo travellers, nice people to spend time with!

A revelation!

Finally travelling again after a tough couple of years and I couldn’t have picked a better place for my first trip – Uzbekistan. I understand the group I was on was the first time the trip had run since the lockdowns, but everything ran smoothly, and it was a great group of people I was travelling with.

The toughest part of the trip was arriving into Tashkent at 3am, getting to the hotel at 4am and then back up at 10am for a day tour around the capital! However our guide – Dilshod – was excellent and pitched things at the right level considering most of the group were sleep deprived!

The next day was another early start and a flight up to Khiva. Part of the reason I chose the Exodus trip is because it went there (some tour companies skip this) and it didn’t disappoint. The hotel was ideally situated just by the gates into the old city allowing us to wander in and explore on our own after Dilshod had shown us around the main sites. We were also lucky enough to experience the preparations for an international traditional dance festival the Uzbek Tourism board have started and as a result there were many locals in traditional costume wandering the old city.
Next stop was Bukhara which I adored. There’s so much to see and do here and whilst the area around the hotel (Lyabi House complex) did feel very touristy, there were many locals around too and it was a short walk to many of the key sites. The free time here in the evening and during the afternoon on the final day in Bukhara was great to just wander at your own pace, or, after a few days in the heat, to visit a hammam as a couple of us did, to relax and get the knots in your shoulders/back pummelled away!

The drive from Bukhara to Samarkand is a long one which I’d guess is why there’s a stop at a yurt camp in order to avoid a super long day. I’ve spent a couple of weeks in yurts in Mongolia which were smaller but nicer than those here. I’m not sure if its because they haven’t had many guests during the pandemic, but the yurt camp felt a little run down, but it was only for a single night.

Samarkand, like Bukhara has loads to see and keep you busy but definitely feels more of a big city than Bukhara did. However, the scale of the buildings here dwarf anything in Bukhara with their sheer size. The jewel in Samarkand’s crown is of course the Registan and its certainly impressive. Definitely go back on your own when the sun has set to see it lit up.