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A fantastic mixture of countryside walks and town visits, giving a rather complete view of this beautiful part of Tuscany.
It has to be the view over Florence, but it comes so close to Siena!
She was very professional, enthusiastic and paying attention to details.
If you lead a sedentary life (e.g. office work) do some regular walking before starting this holiday and focus on the "moderate" part of "leisurely to moderate"!
This was a tremendously varied trip in so many ways – we went from high altitudes in the Andes to sea level, we wore many layers of clothing in the Andes to as little as possible at sea level, we covered up because of mosquitoes in the humidity of the jungle. The people were always friendly – we really enjoyed helping farm in the indigenous community of San Clemente where we learned. among other things, how to yoke oxen and plough fields and were then served an enormous home grown lunch (we had to lie flat out on the lawn to digest!). We saw waterfalls, volcanos, alpacas, vicunas, watched an amazing game of ‘national ball’ in a town square, stayed at beautiful haciendas and interesting Ecuadorian hotels.
Experiencing the altitude at Chimborazo
Our group leader was great. His English was very good, he was fun, informative, inclusive, personable, interesting, and always willing to find an answer if there was something he didn't know (which didn't happen often).
You really do need clothes for four seasons.
Great trip. Walks, views, guide, hotel, village, the lot!
It was all good. Amazed how lovely and green it was.
Alvaro Saiz. Excellent in every way.
It's a great trip - one of the best. I found buying a local map and Alvaro marking it up for me with the walks at the end, a wonderful summary and souvenir of the trip.
Our trip took place between the 4th and 18th of April 2015 and along with my wife and I were another married couple and four other independent women travelers, two being close friends. For some of us this was our first trip to India while others had been before and three were seasoned Exodus travelers. We got on well as a group and had a fabulous trip! The weather was typically hot varying between 28 and 40 degrees centigrade in the middle part of the day but could be cool at 5:30 in the morning when you are waiting to enter a park. It also rained, heavily sometimes in Bandhavgarh.
We saw tigers in both Pench and Bandhavgarh National Parks but sadly NOT in Kanha and even had a brief 5 second glimpse of a leopard before he or she ran off into the undergrowth. We had plenty of other wildlife and bird life sightings although not the same diversity that you would get in Africa but then India is like that.
For my wife, seeing tigers in the wild was a big thrill. On one occassion we were about 5 to 6 meters away from a pregnant tigress just lying amongst the bamboo. We also observed tigers drinking, bathing, using a tree as a scratch post and scent marking their territory. For me, getting out into the local rural community was also a big highlight. You are up around 4:30 to 5am for an early morning game drive from 6 to 10am and then an afternoon one from 3 or 3:30pm to sunset. The middle part of the day is free or on days when you’re transferring to another park you have a bit of free time before breakfast. Two of the lodges (Pench and Kanha) had complimentary bikes for guest use, although working brakes were an optional extra. I’m sure the sight of a 52 year old white man dressed in lycra on a pink girls bike came as quite a surprise to the locals but they were very friendly and waved as I passed by and never once did I feel unsafe. At one point a local motorbike cop came alongside me, welcomed me to Kanha and wished me well before riding off. I even managed to keep on track with my training for the Edinburgh marathon and I’m sure that not many villagers had seen that sight before! It certainly raised eyebrows and a few laughs. Somehow I don’t think I’ll be running the Edinburgh marathon at the end of May in temperatures of 36 degrees.
Try to get the jeep drivers to slow down while in the National Parks. On our last of fifteen jeep safaris we had a young man driving us who was 18 or 19, although he looked about 14. What a brilliant driver! He drove normally outside the park but inside reduced his speed to around 20 kph. The journey was significantly less bumpy and more comfortable, and we all felt we had the best opportunity for trying to spot wildlife. We even had our one and only fleeting glimpse of a leopard before he or she ran off into the undergrowth. All the other drivers went too fast (40 to 60 kph) and trying to spot tigers when you’re going slowly is difficult enough without having to hold on because you’re being thrown around. I just wished we’d had this driver first so that we could have tried to impress this on the other rally drivers we had. I’m left wondering how many tiger and leopard sightings we missed simply through going too fast or making too much noise and spooking them, especially the leopards. The government supplied park guides are assigned to each jeep when you arrive each morning and afternoon for your game drive. Neither the tour leader or Exodus have any influence over this, and out of 15 different park guides, our jeep of four (my wife and I and two independent women) only felt three were good – able to speak good English, able to understand and answer any questions and say much more than simply point and identify a bird or animal. Some barely spoke English and one or two seemed more interested in texting than providing a useful guiding service. Apparently you can hire an interpreter according to one park notice board, but that means another person taking up space in the jeep. Basically, just be aware that you may need to take the initiative in asking lots of questions to get some of the guides to be forthcoming with useful information. The three good guides we had were excellent and could tell us about the local wildlife, their habits as well as how the local people interacted with their environment and used the native trees and plants. It made for a much better game drive on those trips where you didn’t see much. All of the drivers and guides we had were happy to stop and accommodate any photo requests and waited until we had finished before continuing on. The jeeps are not overly spacious so don’t take too much gear with you. On one of our daily game drives our tour leader would sit with us up front with the driver so that the park supplied guide would sit with the two on the back row with two of us sat in the middle row. On the other drive, our tour leader went with the other jeep leaving the park guide to sit up front with the driver. The two rows of seats for tourists can sit three people, but it is a bit tight. Basically just bring your camera/binoculars, water and rain jackets/extra layers for warmth. Most of the time I used a Canon EOS 7D with a 100-400mm IS lens. Keep a large plastic bag or towel handy to cover the camera/lens while moving because it does get very dusty. First thing in the morning and toward sunrise I had UV filter on the lens but switched to a polarising filter when the light levels were sufficiently high enough to compensate for the loss of 2 stops. For most wildlife shots I was on aperture priority mode with an aperture of f/5.6 or f/8 for larger animals at close range, and simply changed the ISO to keep the shutter speeds at an appropriate value – most of the time ISO 200 or 400, sometimes 800 or even 1600 if necessary. The confined space in the jeep makes a tripod impractical, especially if the driver is practising for the India rally, and even a monopod could be a bit cumbersome.
Very good trip, very scenic and good walks, although some more leisurely walkers struggled a little on the hills at first.
Villa Cimbrone, well worth a couple of hours.
Christine was very good, with good background knowledge and worked hard to make the holiday a good one for us. It also helped that she was well known and liked by all the locals.
If your knees are in any way dodgy, get the bus back from Ravello, don't go down the long steep and uneven steps to Amalfi. Use the extra time in Villa Cimbrone.
A diverse itinerary from temples to snow monkeys, geishas and locals in stunning kimonos, relaxing onsens, castles and other historic areas, rural settings and Tokyo illuminated at night
The tranquility of japanese gardens, quality of food, cleanliness, meticulous organisation and punctuality of public transport, warm friendly hospitality.
Chiko Hansen was amazing and escorted us to places such as Fushimi Inari Taisha and Arashiyama Bamboo Grove from Kyoto (as featured in the movie 'Memoirs of a Geisha'. She gave me a schedule of train times from Takayama to go to Kanazawa to Kenrokuen garden which was amazing and a schedule to make my way back to Kyoto after stopping off at Himeji castle (featured in 007 film 'You Only Live Twice' after the day at Hiroshima. She introduced the group to a wide array of delicious japanese food.
As I read in a previous review it pays to do some research on what possibilities are available on free days. If you stay at the Hotel Metropolitan in Tokyo, I highly recommend the Est restaurant offering fine dining with a European (mainly french) set menu. Also in Tokyo the New Otani hotel has an amazing japanese garden with waterfall and huge koi and offers various dining options.
This was a great week from start to finish. Each walk was different and always through a stunning landscape and the walks were challenging enough to feel a sense of achievement at the end of the day. Jim and Pilar and the rest of the team at the hotel were great; welcoming, friendly and experts about the local area. Nothing was too much trouble for them. It was the best holiday I’ve been on in ages.
All of it was pretty inspirational. I especially loved the ascent we made to La Mesa peak through bushes and across snowy patches and the sense of joy when the mist cleared and we got a view of Urriellu.
Alvaro,our guide, was fabulous. He was a real font of knowledge, passionate about the area and engaged with the whole group. He was utterly professional and caring and always kept a subtle eye on everyone to make sure no-one was struggling. To top it all he even made a post-walk evening trip to to a col from earlier that day to look for my "lost" phone - and found it!
Just enjoy being led through these beautiful walks. On a practical note, there were several rocky and some muddy areas on parts of the walk so poles may be useful for some people, although there were some with and some without in our group.
Excellent holiday, guide Christine couldn’t have been better. Walks were well organised and hotel was clean and comfortable.
Views of almafi Coast on the walks.
Excellent, well organised, looked after everyone the whole week.
Another excellent trip from Exodus, lots of train journeys of all sorts were part of the fun. Japanese onsen were great fun.
A difficult question to answer, Japan is culturally so different to the UK that there was something different at every turn. Hiroshima was a very moving experience.
Chiko was an excellent tour leader, providing additional guiding not part of the tour itinerary for the group on free days as well as details on excursions for those wanting to do additional trips alongside the itinerary.
Japan is not as expensive as the guidance in the trip notes suggest, entrance fees not covered by the tour price were typically much lower than you might expect to pay in the UK and eating out was not as expensive either.
A lovely holiday staying in Menton with the chance to visit Monaco and Italy on either side. Hotel was quiet and clean, very near the beach so always easy to locate. Some lovely walks with impressive views, and visits to picturesque old towns and villages.
Having packed lunch bought from the local bakers in Menton overlooking fabulous views in the sunshine
Stephanie was excellent, she looked out for things of interest on the walk and gave us lots of information about the area. Exceptionally helpful and organised with very clear instructions when needed.
I would thoroughly recommend the trip, excellent walks and very good food in the many various restaurants in Menton. I went in April and the weather was lovely for the whole week, although raining on the day we left. I found the walks were generally moderate standard and a couple can be done in trainers, however a couple of tricky downhill parts on other walks so bring good walking gear too.