Reviews

Bedouin Trails of Jordan & Egypt

Rome, Assisi & Magical Umbria - Premium Adventure

The accommodation was lovely, the food was an absolute delight and the walks through vineyards and olive groves offered a picturesque, peaceful escape. The region itself is a welcome retreat away from the crowds, making it ideal for those seeking a tranquil and authentic experience.

Excellent guide

Great trip.
Decent hotels except the last one in Kovalam- short of disaster. In a 20 year old guide book was already described as outdated, no words how it is now.
Excellent guide. Out of my 7 trips with Exodus I think he was the best one. Impeccable English, as opposed to some other guides on my other trips. Makes a difference when you understand what the guide is saying.

Great trip

A very different experience from the trips to northern India I had taken over the years. Made extra special as it was over Christmas and New Year.
A great variety of landscapes, experiences and people.

Cycling Vietnam Review

I rarely write reviews, but this experience warrants one. The trip leader and crew were excellent. They were organized, friendly and helpful. And the refreshments – the mangos, lemonade – everything was so good. However, the trip itinerary and discussions with Exodus personnel (though they were very nice) did not prepare me for the pollution, hazardous traffic (saw a semi-covered dead body in the countryside – could happen anywhere, but still marred the experience), subpar accommodations and lunches, and unexpected discussions of the US during the Vietnam War opened some wounds that I didn’t know were there. I suspect it would for many in the US, especially for those that served and their families The 12 out of 14 days of rain and wind in what was the dry season didn’t help either, but that’s weather. Everyone made the best of it. I got several items made in Hoi An. While they were very helpful and fast, I would not recommend getting anything tailored – overpriced and mediocre quality. I got to meet some wonderful travel companions. I saw some beautiful landscapes and smiles of the Vietnamese people. Unfortunately, the pollution and trash during 95% of the trip overshadowed anything good. For example, Halong Bay is ruined. Among the green waters and massive limestone structures is the smell of diesel fuel and trash with the immense number of boats/ships bringing so many people in to spoil it all. I would not recommend this trip. I hope that Vietnam decides to restore their environment and natural resources over tourism dollars. Exodus should be more comprehensive in its trip notes and conversations so that travelers like myself can better level set expectations. It’s surprising that an environmentally conscious company like Exodus would bring in people that contribute to the pollution. I wish Vietnam well and will look for ways to help. In the meantime, I will need to reflect on my life decisions. 🙂

Most Inspirational Moment

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Thoughts on Group Leader

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Advice for Potential Travellers

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Reply from Exodus

We’re grateful for Christina for leaving a review of her trip, and are glad to read her glowing praise of her tour leader and our local team in Vietnam. However, we really regret that she didn’t have the experience she was expecting in the country.
Vietnam is an iconic destination with a complex history which, unfortunately, does suffer from issues with pollution in some areas, especially those popular with tourists such as Ha Long Bay. Exodus travel in small groups and try to minimise our impact on local resources and the environment, and our local team do everything possible to ensure that any waste our groups produce is collected and disposed of responsibly. We’re working with our team to engage in local waste clean-up initiatives, and are confident that we’re doing our utmost to reduce our environmental impact on Vietnam, while still providing our customers with the opportunity to visit its most memorable sites.
We’re confident that we do a good job of setting our customers’ expectations about their visit to the country, but will consider reviewing our trip notes going forward.
We’re sorry to read that Christina found some of the accommodation to be subpar. The properties we use generally get very positive feedback; from the Holiday Evaluation forms we’ve received from customers who travelled to Vietnam on this trip in 2023, accommodation was rated at an average of 4.51 out of 5, which we consider to be an excellent score.
We wish Christina well for her future travels, and are glad that, despite the above, she saw some beautiful landscapes and came home inspired to help improve Vietnam’s environmental problems, which is an aim we share.
Kelly Reid, Exodus Product Manager

An experience like no other

This was my first visit to India and hopefully it’s not my last. Certainly it was a different experience from my trips to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand but not in any way negative and with Manu’s guidance and Sunny’s support the minor challenges were all manageable. Cycling in the larger cities and towns required one to be alert at all times and the constant blowing of horns from motor bikes, tuc tucs, cars and buses took some getting used to. The Indian way clearly!! But as with any change one does adapt and we even managed to have some fun on a few tuc tuc journeys. One was never too far away from the many shallow and ‘without warning’ speed bumps which will keep you on your toes.
We crammed a lot into the 2 weeks but it was all very worthwhile and our time in Agra where we visited the stunning Taj Mahal in the late afternoon, and even though crowded due to the holiday period this was still an amazing experience. Then a visit to the Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was quite impressive. We had also spent a few hours the previous day visiting the beautiful bird sanctuary in the company of a wonderful guide.

If I had boxes this trip would tick all of them

Exceptionally well organised trip with a good standard of accomodation throughout. The focus on maximising the chance of seeing tigers in three different parks meant there was a good balance between spending time wildlife viewing, seeing a variety of habitats and having a cultural experience of India. There was a much higher density/abundance of other wildlife than I had expected which was also a real pleasure to see.

Good description

The week is a mixture of activities, snowshoeing, dog sledding, reindeer’s and forest skiing through the amazing arctic wilderness. You stay in a chalet and eat and have talks in a main building. The hosts are all amazing as is the food.

Stunning Landscapes

This trip was a great way to see the top highlights while leaving you wanting to explore more! Perfect ‘Discovery’ trip! There are a lot of flights and the airline can move around the timings so you have to be flexible and open to late nights/early starts. There really is no other way to cover so much distance in just 2 weeks. Its well worth the travel as you get to see 2 completely different sides of Chile, the Desert and Salt flats of the North and the Lakes and Mountains of the South, both equally beautiful but very different. The food wasn’t as expensive as I thought, similar pricing to London restaurants so by no means cheap but not unaffordable and if you take some snacks with you its easy to skip lunches as dinner portions in every restaurant we went to are very generous. The hotels were clean, spacious and comfortable. The only pool in use (we were early in the season) was in San Pedro. Both optional excursions are well worth doing but I would recommend doing a little research into star constellations before going to help things make more sense as its a lot of information to take in. Our guide Miguel was very knowledgeable and clearly loves his country and the outdoors we were in good hands especially in the National parks as he knows the area well. He is also a keen photographer so we were going to great photo locations and he was always willing to stop the bus whenever wildlife or a good photo angle was spotted! There are long drives, but the scenery was so beautiful that the drives were just as special as the walks and plenty of stops to stretch our legs or take a photo or toilet stop.

Like a Fairytale!

This whole week felt like being in a fairytale! The scenery was absolutely breathtaking – the snowshoe hikes and cross-country skiing routes took us through the forests of Oulanka National Park with beautiful snow-covered trees, picturesque spots along the Oulanka river/rapids like a frozen waterfall, and vast frozen lakes covered in snow! We were lucky to be there during a week with very clear skies which meant lots of pink, purple and orange colours which made it feel extra magical. Because of the clear skies, we were also able to see the Northern lights on most evenings! All the activities, such as husky sledding and snowmobiling were extremely fun and took us through even more beautiful places.

We were there during the coldest week of the season (most days were between -30 and -35 degrees C) but we did not feel the cold at all (and I am someone who always suffers the cold back in the UK) because the clothes provided by Basecamp were extremely warm! I even felt too hot at some points! The accommodation was lovely, cozy and warm – there was underfloor heating which warmed up the whole room and made drying clothes very easy. There is a sauna and hot tub available for the whole group to use each afternoon/early evening which was a perfect way to wind down every evening after a day full of activities. The food was also delicious!!!! We ate very well during the whole trip and we could eat as much as we wanted which was great! All of the staff at basecamp were very friendly and helpful!