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Reviews

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

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276 Reviews

4.7 out of 5

Reviews

Stunningly beautiful country with fascinating history

My first Exodus trip and what a wonderful trip it was. Such a great insight into this wonderful country which has stunning scenery, amazing historical sites, wildlife, interesting fauna and flora, beautiful beaches and above all very friendly people who are desperate for tourists to return. As a single female traveller I always felt safe, and never felt hassled or threatened when having free time on my own.
The tour gives you a real mixture of scenery, temples, wildlife, activities, interaction with some local families, free time, beach days – although we covered about 1500 km in 2 weeks it never felt like we were in the bus too much – and there was so much to view outside. A couple of long days were nicely broken up with different activities.
Several of the hotels had stunning views and nice swimming pools – perfect for an early morning or late afternoon swim.
All in all a fabulous trip!

Most Inspirational Moment

Having lunch with a local family in their garden after a wonderfully peaceful cycle ride through the beautiful local countryside.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our local guide Roshan was wonderful - so knowledgeable about everything. He brought the country and its people to life in an engaging and entertaining way so I came away with a real understanding of his country. His great sense of humour went down well with our group ! Nothing was too much trouble for him

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be prepared for hotel buffets ... but its 90% Sri Lankan food so a good chance to try numerous things and far quicker than a la carte (can take 90 mins from ordering!) Take trainer socks for your feet in the temples as the ground is very hot Remember a good sized water bottle with large opening - the bus had huge water containers at the back with a pump system so we could refill whenever we wanted rather than buying loads of small bottles of water. A fleece needed for Nuwara Eilya as its much cooler - we had rain and it was actually cold up there

Amazing Sri Lanka

Amazing places, scenery, people and activities

Most Inspirational Moment

Climbing Lion Rock and the amazing sunsets

Thoughts on Group Leader

Roshan was incredibly knowledgeable with a great sense of fun

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be prepared for tge heat and humidity. Also be aware that Worlds End may not be possible if there is low cloud and it is wet. An alternative will be given and the alternative will mean that you will see/pass through Ella Gap during daylight hours

Great overview of Sri Lanka

This was a great overview of Sri Lanka showing what the country has to offer on culture, landscapes and wildlife. Hotels were generally of a good standard and some had spectacular views. There were some long days involved but these were broken with stops and lunches.

Most Inspirational Moment

Probably getting to the top of Sigirya and understanding all the history around it.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Sujan was a brilliant leader, nothing was ever too much trouble, he was very well organised, knowledgeable and passionate about his country. I felt he was very much part of the group and made every effort to make sure the trip went well.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Take socks for the temples as they can be very hot on the feet! Do the additional game drive as we saw elephants there but not Yala.

Everything Sri Lanka

A beautiful country with contrasting scenery from white sand beaches to green tea plantations and jungle and plains.
The tour was a great mix of history and temples with wildlife and scenery.
Welcoming, hospitably people with a rich and diverse culture
A range of hotels from satisfactory to good, expect buffet meals with some a la carte, but be prepared to wait.

Most Inspirational Moment

Unexpectedly releasing baby turtles into the Indian Ocean Climbing Lion Rock and exploring Lovers Leap waterfall

Thoughts on Group Leader

Sujan presented his country with great enthusiasm and knowledge. Always taking care of the group and making small amendments to the schedule to ensure we had the best of everything.

Advice for Potential Travellers

It's quite a full on trip with some early starts and long drives but go with the flow and enjoy. Don't expect many dining out opportunities as hotels tend to be slightly out of town and even in the towns options are limited. Expect it to be hot and humid

Truly discovered Sri Lanka!

What a brilliant trip, the itinerary is well put together, the first week we were doing towns and temples, and the second week was a bit more relaxed in scenery and nature. I was very impressed with all of the hotels used, most had swimming pools and all the rooms were modern and spacious . The last one in Colombo with a roof top bar !

Most Inspirational Moment

Climbing lion Rock, I didn't make it to the top but got to the lions claws and waited for the others. I also really liked meeting the village farmers, we played games and had a good laugh!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Sujan was a really knowledgeable chap, friendly and patient, with a wicked sense of humour. He did a great job!

Advice for Potential Travellers

You don't need adapters if you're English as all hotels were 3 pin. Take an umbrella, it's too hot to wear a waterproof! And take socks to the temples, we burnt our feet on the cobbles even running haha Take a good water container and you can get it filled as many times as you need on the bus. Take clothes to cover arms and knees for the temple, or a pashmina to go over your shoulders. I changed money at the airport, I initially changed £300 but needed slightly more so I used the ATM which you get to every other day or so.

Amazing holiday

Had a brilliant time with varied activities, lovely hotels, excellent driver and most importantly one of the best guides I have ever had.

Most Inspirational Moment

None

Thoughts on Group Leader

Outstanding!

So much to absorb,fulfilled expectations and mores

This 15 day trip is described as easy/moderate however it is quite full on with so much packed into the time. Sri Lanka is a diverse and interesting country and we were very lucky to have such a knowledgeable and interesting guide, Roshan who brought not only the presenting experience but the history to life. All eyes and ears on him from everyone when we were discussing the day to come. I would add he had the patience of a Saint and witty and entertaining flow to keep us all engaged. The variety of walking, wildlife, history, belief systems, culture, flora, fauna, whale watching and even cycling which I sucked at gave perspective .so lovely to mix with local families on occasion and have such a variety of places and settings with something amazing around each corner. Our driver was remarkable, treating any road challenge like a confident puzzler and kept us safe in some interesting situations.for me the natural beauty of Sri Lanka left me in awe with such a variety of landscapes to explore. There were a couple of very early starts but totally reasonable to catch the hidden gems and avoid the worst of the heat. Dont underestimate the humidity. Hotels were all well placed for what we were visiting each day though if you like to shop or visit a village or town every day that’s not an option. There are days where the shoppers can get their fix along the way. Alot of food is buffet style but with great variety and always fresh fruit. Wonderful tea but no real milk to go with it, not alot of dairy produce at all and powdered creamer offered instead. Lovely to have a swimming pool or ocean opportunity to swim and chill out on the days with more free time or after a long day. All the hotels were of a reasonable standard, some more quirky than others but not your generic corporate cloned/squeeze everyone into soul less spaces , mostly fitting the environment they were in. Be prepared to take a variety of clothing, flip flops to walking shoes, vest tops to sweat shirts,shorts to walking trousers. I used my umbrella once. Options to get laundry done along the way. Read the brochure carefully so you know your likely daily spend and added trip costs. Roshan kindly worked costings out in local currency, dollars and sterling which helped on days away from atms.

Most Inspirational Moment

Everyone has their own personal wish for what they hope to get from a visit to Srilanka. I found some of the temples both Buddhist and Hindu and the craftsmanship and art work of such antiquity and some cases purity and simplicity quite moving. Other s hugely complex and thought provoking. The walk in Horton plains beautiful for its range, a bit scrambly on river beds. I think though the people and their demeanour , friendliness and positive response to visitors is inspiring.technically in terms of civil construction how water is managed to support agriculture and life is quite mind-blowing considering when it developed processes still working today.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Roshan was a joy, a real encouragement and support, open to trying to offer answers to every question and to make the travel experience interesting and fun. What a wide range of knowledge , actually a funny guy, full of humour but patience ,a real catalyst to enable the jumble of folk travelling together to build real camaraderie and ensure every need met if it were possible. He kept us learning, curious and safe , a positive leader with such warmth and respect and understanding for the chequered history SriLanka has experienced, great to get the non eurocentric take on it all, literally we grew to comfortably trust him with our lives...to make the experience a great one.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Insect repellant, earplugs if you need air conditioning on at night, it's very hot but the units to keep you cool are noisy. Change money at the airport, have a card for ATMs. Drink water at every opportunity. Be open minded to those travelling with you .

Wonderful Sri Lanka

I loved this trip, a beautiful Country, very friendly people, a great leader and another wonderful Group of people to share it with. One of my best Exodus trips.

Most Inspirational Moment

I celebrated a milestone birthday on this trip, and while sat on the beach eating birthday cake with the rest of the group a green turtle came out of the sea and laid her eggs right in front of us! A very special moment.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Roshan was lovely, very patient, very kind, supportive of everyone and their different needs. His knowledge was second to none and pitched at exactly the right level - everyone put their books down or electronic devices away when we heard the familiar 'tap tap' on the microphone on the bus each morning, we knew we were going to learn something important. He was a great wildlife spotter (better than some of the wildlife guides) and had a brilliant sense of humour, it was a pleasure to sit chatting with him.

Advice for Potential Travellers

It is much cooler in the tea plantations so definitely take some warm clothes. For the walk to World's End make sure you have sturdy shoes, I did it in trainers but might have preferred my walking shoes. If you are a little unsteady on your feet take a walking pole, some of the paths are quite rocky.

Disappointing

This was my first Exodus trip since lockdown and was highly anticipated. Unfortunately I came home feeling that the holiday just hadn’t lived up to my expectations. The hotels were situated well outside of towns and almost every evening the group meals were in the hotel restaurant. Because we were a full group of 18 (the largest group I have travelled with in my 20+ group tours) the hotels served buffet meals. I have not come across this on previous trips and I was disappointed that we did not get many opportunities to visit local restaurants. In some hotels there was the option to order from the a la carte menu but this usually meant a wait of over an hour before food was served.
The itinerary was changed for day 10 a few days before the trip started – this meant a 6am start for hiking on Horton Plains. This was followed by a train ride from Ella to Badulla rather than from Bandarawela to Ella and this meant that we missed the scenic train journey to Ella and, by the time we were picked up at Badulla for the drive to Katharagama via Ella, we did not get any views at Ella Gap because it was evening and too dark to see. We did not reach the hotel that evening until after 8pm so the itinerary for that day needs a rethink.
On day 13 almost everyone in the group went whale watching. A private boat was arranged by the guide and trip notes suggested that the larger commercial boats do not always respect the welfare of the animals. As a group we were concerned and disappointed to find that all the whale watching boats, including our boat, chased after the whales and dolphins if any were spotted. I appreciate that this is a difficult situation as we have all paid to go whale watching and obviously want to see something but the noise and pollution from 20 boats chasing around trying to get a good view cannot be environmentally sound practice and is perhaps an optional activity that Exodus should reconsider.

Most Inspirational Moment

Meeting and talking to the local people.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Roshan was a good guide however he lacked the sparkle and enthusiasm that I have come to expect from Exodus guides. I think this could simply be because he does back to back Exodus tours and is probably exhausted. As soon as our trip finished he was off to start the next trip. He answered all queries and questions with a smile but it almost felt as if we were having to raise the issues and it would have been good to find out more about the country and people today.

Advice for Potential Travellers

A good trip and covers a lot of ground. When there is the opportunity try and eat in local restaurants - cheaper and far better food. Take plenty insect repellant.

Review Centre
Reply from Exodus

Thank you for taking the time to submit a review, Linda, although we were saddened to learn that your most recent Exodus holiday did not meet your expectations in some areas. We try to select small, independently run hotels that offer a more personal service, in keeping with our commitments to support local communities. In many of the locations this tour takes in, particularly in the “cultural triangle” region, we are extremely limited in terms of centrally located accommodation options which offer suitable quality, and many of the nearby towns and villages tend to feature hotels that are either unable to host groups of our size or provide unsuitable menu options for tourists. Where possible, our leaders are happy to suggest local restaurants, although we have found that service can be very slow, which is why groups usually prefer to dine at their hotel. Although we endeavour to maintain the itinerary as described in our literature, the nature of adventure travel is one that sometimes requires last-minute changes due to various factors, for example local festivities or adverse weather impacting the standard activities. Our leaders will always try their best to avoid any significant disruption to the itinerary and have a “plan b” to ensure the trip can continue as smoothly as possible and we sincerely hope this was the case on your trip.  We are proud of our responsible travel ethos and were, therefore, regretful to hear of your concern regarding the whale watching activity. This is something we have been monitoring very closely with our local operator and we are actively looking into viable ways to encourage better practice across the industry. We recognise the impact our tour leaders have on our customers’ overall enjoyment of a trip, so we were sorry to hear that Roshan missed the mark for you. He is one of our best-performing leaders across all our trips and has been a regular nominee and past winner of our Leader of the Year Award. Nevertheless, it’s disappointing that your experience of him fell somewhat short and we will address this with Roshan ahead of future trips he leads. We sincerely hope that this has not discouraged you from travelling with us again as we’ve hugely appreciated your loyalty and wish that you will give us another chance.

 

Sarah Puttnam, Product Manager

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The Discover Sri Lanka trip was a wonderful combination of culture, activities and rest.

Most Inspirational Moment

Many! Spending time with families and seeing how they live was very memorable.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Roshan. Excellent. Knowledgeable, approachable and very concerned about every participant.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Go on this trip!