Shape your adventure: With Extensions, every beginning and ending is yours to create. Learn More.

1-844 421 0109
CALL: 1-844 421 0109

Ask a Question
hero-image

Reviews

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

Here at Exodus we thrive on feedback from our customers. It’s the only way we can ensure our trips continue to be the best they can be. So, for the real tales, twists and turns of the trip you’re interested in, look no further than the reviews from our previous travellers.

Simply use the selector below to search our trip reviews and start reading real feedback from real Exodus travellers who have ‘been there and done that’!

Lots of our clients also like to post handy tips and advice about their travels. It’s great to know what to expect on an Exodus adventure before you go, so make the most of their experience and you’ll make the most of yours!

Haven’t posted your review yet? Here’s how to do it…

Once you return from your Exodus adventure holiday, you will be emailed a link to add your review. Any feedback collected is posted onto our website, totally unedited.

Alternatively you can navigate to the relevant trip page and add your review via the Reviews tab.

Select a trip specific review:

214 Reviews

4.8 out of 5

Reviews

Cycle back roads of Sri Lanka

Very varied 2 weeks cycling lush backroads through rice fields , visiting temples and tea plantations , afternoon safari and swimming in the Indian Ocean . Beautiful country , great food and lovely people

Most Inspirational Moment

So many- mostly the interactions with the Sri Lankan people. Waving , smiling children and always friendly staff in hotels , shops , everywhere

Thoughts on Group Leader

Excellent leader - everything well organised, nothing was a problem- even getting rabies vaccinations organised after monkey scratch! All the team were excellent.

Advice for Potential Travellers

If possible arrive a day before trip starts - our flight was delayed and so 6.30 am start and big days were quite exhausting

Cycling back roads of Sri Lanka

Excellent trip, great guide (Ruwan) and back-up team

Most Inspirational Moment

Cycling up 2000m in one day!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Excellent

Advice for Potential Travellers

It’s hot!

A good trip, but some things to be aware of.

The trip was great, but some of the roads are very busy with scary traffic which sometimes feels quite aggressive.
Most evening meals were at hotel buffets, as the hotels used were a way outside towns. The food quality was good, but it got a bit repetitive.
There was a lot more riding on unpaved rough roads than the trip notes says.

Thoughts on Group Leader

The group leader, Ruwan, was excellent and very knowedgeable about wildlife, plants and history of the country.

Advice for Potential Travellers

If you are not used to busy roads, or riding off-road, get some practice in.

Fab tour

Highly recommend this tour, so many different highlights to mention them all but cycling the backroads through the rice fields, seeing the wonderful wildlife, felt like i was on the set of Madagascar on several occasions, even saw wild elephants. The tour guide, Suresh, and his team are great. Making sure everyone is well looked after, with regular breaks with great snacks, sampling some of the local dishes..the pancake with dessicated coconut being one highlight. 😋 The food was great, suresh organising some great lunch stops and also an evening meal demonstration from one of the local chefs was great, so good to get some curry tips and it tasted delicious.. This cycling tour is a great way to see the country, especially with suresh providing great commentary, good insights and passing on his knowledge and passion for his country.

Most Inspirational Moment

Seeing the wild elephants. Cycling along the backroads and seeing all the wildlife. The descent down from ella was grt fun.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Suresh was great. Can see why he has been tour guide of the year twice. Very attentive, made sure everyone was happy. Gave some great insight into his country which he talked about with great passion and humour.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Do it. You won't regret it. Fab country. Maybe take a few days after to enjoy the beaches on the south coast near galle. They were fab.

Do this trip if you want a sense of adventure and don’t mind testing yourself on the hills

Our group had a fantastic 2 weeks cycling through the back roads (and a couple of busy roads) of Sri Lanka. There scenic views of course come with some hills and harder days but the bus was always available for those in need of a rest. Food was varied and safe (no real GI issues despite consuming salads and ice) and excellent especially if you love curry and usually consisted of a varied buffet at each meal which often included western options as well. I can’t eat gluten and there was no problem with options on this trip. Vegetarians also seemed to be well catered for. We saw endless monkeys, lizards, birds, fruit bats and much more and explored temples, coastlines, went in safari in search of leopards and elephants and stopped frequently for tea and local snacks. You’ll never go hungry on an exodus trip and this was no exception! While Sri Lanka has had some tough times in recent years, don’t let that out you off. The locals are friendly, the areas visited felt safe and Ruwan our guide was exceptional in his knowledge and leadership

Thoughts on Group Leader

Ruwan was excellent all round

Advice for Potential Travellers

Just do it!

Wonderful holiday - stunning scenery, delicious food

I highly recommend this trip. The cycling routes were superb, only a couple of days on main routes. Stunning vistas and a wonderful experience in a very unspoilt country of rural beauty. Standard of hotels was very high. The food was delicious. Buffets in all hotels for breakfast but one and likewise for dinner so a very wide range available. People very friendly. Our guide Ruwan was delightful and very knowledgeable. The other activities besides the cycling were also great. Really enjoyed the safari and whale watching. There can be heavy rain in the afternoons so waterproofs essential….

Most Inspirational Moment

From a cycling perspective, making it to the end of the really hard hill climb was very inspirational from a personal perspective! I loved the view from the hotel in Lake Girithale, breathtaking view. The final beach hotel was wonderful. Standing on the sand looking out at the ocean at the surfers was wonderful and the final poolside BBQ was very special. The pools at that hotel were fab as well as the one at Chaarya hotel Seeing elephant and leopard on safari and a fin whale while whalewatching also very special.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Ruwan was a wonderful group leader. He was incredibly patient, knowledgeable, flexible, attentive, great wildlife knowledge too.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Bring your own loo roll and hand sanitiser. Bring cycling shoes and trainers because one will get wet. Bring high quality camera. Bring a sarong for easily going into temples to tie round your waist

Wonderful Sri Lanka

Absolutely wonderful trip. The country offers so much in the way of beautiful scenery and wildlife and so much better to be able to see it at your own pace on a bicycle. The standard of our accommodation was well above what we were expecting and the choice of food was exceptional – there was a great mix of both Sri Lankan and western food available most days, often via an an all-you-can-eat buffet. The entire trip was made so enjoyable because of the exceptional organisation and knowledge of our group leader Suresh helped by a great local support team.

Most Inspirational Moment

Too hard to pinpoint a single moment. Climbing Lion Rock at Sigiriya, the ascent to Nuwara Eliya, visiting Yala National Park, swimming in the warm Indian Ocean, having a cooking demonstration in a family home followed by delicious meal cooked in banana leaves...it was all good.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Could there ever be a better group leader then Suresh? He said at the beginning that we just needed to enjoy ourselves and to leave everything else up to him. True to his word, we barely had to think. He organised everything and any additional request or service, big or small, was no hardship at all. Always available, friendly and funny and always having everything under control to ensure we had a great time.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Just do it! The cycling was rated moderate and there were a couple of very hard uphill days, however, although I had done next to no training due to illness, I opted for an e-bike and everything was doable with the option of an air-conditioned mini-bus always available!

Another fantastic trip in an amazing country

We have done many Exodus cycling trips and this one was up there with the best, if not THE best. There are 4 different things we enjoy about these trips, and these vary depending on where we are – 1.The cycling 2.The country we are visiting 3.The food 4.The group of people you are with. Sri Lanka ticked all 4 boxes, The cycling was varied with easier days, and one extremely challenging day, but the scenery was spectacular with lush green vegetation, beautiful waterfalls and tea plantations up in the hills, temples and local villages. The food is to die for, simply delicious (as long as you like a bit of spice). Finally we were lucky enough to have a fantastic group of people, we had so much fun. The Sri Lankan people could not have been more welcoming, warm and friendly. I thought the accommodation was of a particularly high standard on this trip, lovely hotels, mostly with pools.

Most Inspirational Moment

Finally getting to the top of the big climb at Nuwara Eliya after nearly 3000 metres of climbing, group photo at the top with great sense of achievement! "Life saving cake" organised by Suresh half way up.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Suresh was the best - very experienced, has fine tuned the trip so things runs like clockwork. Nothing is too much trouble, he worked so hard to ensure all our needs were met and went the extra mile to make sure all our annoying requests were sorted for us! He is extremely organised and hard working and professional, very assertive without being rude (making sure we all were on time etc. and kept his team in order!). He was fun and enjoyed teasing us.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be prepared for a couple of days of hard cycling, take wet weather gear (we were lucky, didn't get wet too often, just a couple of showers). There are quite a few days of heavy eating - easy to eat too much at lunchtime with big curry buffets - hard to get cycling sometimes after a big lunch, so pace yourself!!

Most amazing experience of Sri Lanka

Our cycling trip in Sri Lanka far exceeded our already high expectations. From the incredible cycling (mixture of tough and relaxing), to the delicious food (most amazing local curries), to the lovely fellow guests and staff, to excellent accommodation, to varied and enjoyable non-cycling activites…it had it all! One of the main factors for the success of the trip was Suresh, the trip leader, who managed the itinerary superbly and added so many enjoyable local-flavoured extras.

Most Inspirational Moment

Everyone completing the tough ascent up to Nuwara Eliya - it was long and challenging but everyone was so encouraging and motivated to get to the top!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Suresh was incredible and deserves major credit for the success of the trip. He mixed hard work and going beyond the call of duty, with being friendly and sociable. He was always there for us and gave us a local-perspective in so many ways e.g. taking us to family restaurants, introducing us to delicious food, arranging curry cooking lesson.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Sit back and enjoy the ride!

July 23rd 2023 Sri Lanka

Cycling Back Roads of Sri Lanka, outstanding experience. The scenery is stunning, as you move from the irrigated rice fields of the lower elevations to the tea plantations in higher elevations and pristine beaches at the coast. Plenty of wildlife, including many different bird species, water buffalo, crocodiles, wild elephants and a leopard. The cycling was a good pace, with some hills to keep us challenged, especially the 18km climb to Nuwara Eliya. Plenty of opportunities to experience Sri Lankan style cuisine and culture of the country. The Exodus Trip Notes describe the tour accurately.

Most Inspirational Moment

The scenic countryside, majestic wildlife and resilience of the Sri Lankan people really stood out.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our team leader, Suresh, did a phenomenal job with the help of his support team, all crew members went above and beyond to make our tour memorable. Suresh's attention detail is exceptional, he made sure the needs of all members were taken care at all times. The hotels were well organized, bikes were in good working order, meals were coordinated and none biking excursions were well thought out. Suresh is friendly with the customers, creating a good atmosphere between customers and support staff.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Cycling in late July / early August it is hot and very humid.