Reviews

Cycling Cuba

This was my first EXODUS trip & it more than met my expectations. Cuba was a fantastic country to visit especially by bike. We saw so much of the island from the cities of Havanna, Trinidad & Santiago to the countryside where few tourists travelled. The history of Cuba was fascinating & our tour leader Laz was a wealth of information. The rides were well planned with regular stops for water & fresh fruit. All the staff – drivers, mechanic & Laz were always ready to help & support us as necessary. I met a fabulous group of fellow cyclists making the holiday a great experience.

Sri Lanka Discovery

Plenty of variety – walks, wildlife parks, cycling, visiting temples.
Hotels of a good standard.
Tended to be rather too many buffets – it would have been good to eat at a few more local resturants

Discover Sri Lanka

Exactly what it says on the tin – a really good insight into the variety Sri Lanka has to offer.

Cycle Central America MUC 160123

Hot, humid and hilly!
A wonderful trip hopping from the Caribbean to the Pacific twice. Breathtaking scenery as we ascended into the cloud forest. Such diversity of flora and fauna, and unusually stunning creatures to be seen along the way.

Most Inspirational Moment

Watching the sunset at Las Lajas Beach Resort hotel, Panama. The Pacific Ocean was as warm as a bath, the vast expanse of empty beach a beautiful location. An absolute treat after a long, hot cycle. The Tenorio River trip was wonderful, 2 hours of tranquility, with many birds and creatures being pointed out by our river guide. The bats were a fantastic find.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Roberto Abuilar was informative, patient and a great leader. Several events did not go according to plan but he managed to sort out the problems without majorly affecting the trip.

Advice for Potential Travellers

The included flight was with United Airways which was a huge disappointment to the start of the holiday. I can only describe it as a long haul budget airway. Food was sparse and kept to a minimum. Anything additional had to be paid for. Eat a big breakfast before you fly. Lots of cobbled roads and rough tracks in Nicaragua. If you have a delicate derrière take a gel seat pad for that leg of the journey. Take some binoculars to search for the Toucans.

Reply from Exodus

The full day boat tour is considered to be very good value at US$25 as it gives a fun and interesting overview of the islands whilst including dolphin watching and snorkelling. Sometimes the boat captain that we use is able to offer a small discount for larger groups but not always. We will remove the reference to this in the locally distributed trip notes to avoid disappointment. The charge for accessing Red Frog Beach is unfortunately out of our control and has seemingly only very recently risen from $3 to $5, again this information will be updated in our literature.

Cycling Cuba - the holiday of a lifetime!

16 day cycling holiday in Cuba, covering most of the island. Cycling between 35-80k for 10 days, with back-up support and bus transfers. Staying in huge variety of accommodation, from 5 star luxury hotels, to Russian utilitarian hotels, to beautiful colonial hotels, and a couple of casas, giving insight into how the locals live.

Cuban Highlights Ride

I’m not really much of a cyclist but I’d decided that seeing Cuba from the seat of my saddle was the only way to experience this fascinating destination. In the end, I fell in love with Cuba and fell in love with cycling too! The holiday was just the right mix of culture, history and beach and it was all done at our own pace. Each day we saw or did different things and I’d wake up each morning, looking forward to whatever the next day would bring! Also, I felt very safe on my bike. The traffic was very light and always gave us a wide berth.

A Taste of Cuba

A showcase of the contrasting landscapes this vibrant but rather relaxed island has to offer: – Vinales, the farmer seated on his cart drawn by horned white oxen along near empty roads, the musical vibes of the colourful houses of Trinidad spilling out onto intimate cobbled streets – the stately colonial style of Cienfuegos and the stunning sunset over the bay from the rooftop of the Palacio sipping the best Mojitos, the solemnity of the mausoleum at Santa Clara and the fine restoration work already extensively underway in Old Havana but so fascinating to see the juxtaposition of the crumbling, dilapidated but often still inhabited old buildings interspersed with the restorations, and, of course, old cars everywhere!

I feel I should add that after much I have read about the repetitive nature of the cuisine, I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of dishes and the delicious seasonal produce. Lobsters were succulent and meaty and the chicken so full of flavour. potatoes, I was informed, were out of season so not available but yam and pumpkin were plentiful.

Taste of Cuba - Delicious!

I have been all over the world on many trips over the last 40 years or so but I think this was one of the very best I have been on. Cuba is a fascinating country and the Exodus itinerary really showed it off to it’s best considering we had just 8 days on the island.

The accommodation ranged from Comfortable to Amazing, the food, (despite what most people said before we went) was more than plentiful and of good quality, in fact we were fed too much!

Cycling the Cape Winelands

An all round excellent trip. If taking your own bikes take a road bke. It is definitely Not for mountain bikes. We took our folding mountain bikes which we have used on previous trips but even with semi slicks could have done with 700c wheels and 21mm slick tyres. The wind and heat over the central sections was killing. Having to actually pedal downhill to keep going at times. The highlights were Franchoek and Stellenbosch with the wine tasting, Franchhoek pass and Troudapas, the whale coast from Simonstown to Gordon’s bay ( a long day at 90km with an absolute killer of a hill to start after breakfast, most of us made it up), Chapmans peak down to Hout Bay. Recommend to anyone but be reasonably fit before you go. You will be a lot fitter at the end.

A 'taste' of what Cuba has to offer

A busy itinerary which visits all the key places. I enjoyed the variety of the trip from the countryside to busy cities and felt I learnt a lot about Cuba along the way.