Reviews

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

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47 Reviews

4.5 out of 5

Joanna Bending

Reviewed April 2024

Comprehensive trip, well organised, great guide

The trip was well-paced, with a good variety of activities, transport and visits. It was great to have a larger coach, so we all had a window seat for long journeys. The hotel in Samarkand was nice, but a bit far from the main attractions when we had free time.

Most Inspirational Moment

The long drive from Bukhara to Samarkand, stopping for drinks and toilet breaks in places where people have been doing exactly the same thing for thousands of years!

Thoughts on Group Leader

The group leader, Dilshod, was excellent. Incredibly knowledgeable and experienced, he balanced the needs of a diverse group very well.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Don't listen to anyone who tells you that Uzbekistan is unsafe or inaccessible. The recent tourism initiative has got rid of pretty much all red-tape, and there is virtually no street crime etc. Much less stressful than travelling in Egypt or the US! The vegetarian food is also much better than everyone leads you to believe.

Suggestions

There were several problems with the admin before leaving - I'd requested an extended return flight many months before departure, but incorrect docuemts were sent through repeatedly. I'd already paid for this and was provided with the updated invoice, but the onus was on me to find the emails where this had been requested and agreed. Luckily I requested to be booked into the end hotel for additional nights, as otherwise the error would not have come to light and I would have been stranded at the other end! I requested additional nights at the end hotel, but was booked into their sister place. Luckily the leader was able to resolve this for me but, if I had known I might need to move hotel, I would have booked myself into a cheaper/more conveniently located place. It seems that everything is fine if you book the standard arrangement, but I'd now hesitate to arrange even the simplest extensions through Exodus again. I spent more time checking documents and pushing for what I'd requested than I would have spent making the arrangements myself, and feel like I paid a premium for this.

B Jeffs

Reviewed October 2023

The Silk Road cities of Uzbekistan do not disappoint

Uzebekistan did not disappoint. All the main sites in Tashkent, Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand are stunning, and the Uzbek people extremely friendly and welcoming. We were also lucky enough to get to visit the Savitsky Museum in Nukus due to the lack of flights to Urgench, and this was an additional highlight of the trip – I would recommend that Exodus consider including this in the regular itinerary, as it really didn’t add on much time to what was already a long drive anyway. Unfortunately, I can not be so positive about the night at the Yurt camp. While I enjoyed the drive through the desert and a chance for a little more wilderness and wildlife on what is generally a city-heavy trip, the actual camp was just an uncomfortable gimmick. There was no effort made by the camp, nor our team leader, to explain the history of Yurts and its relevance to Uzbek culture, and in reality we found ourselves in a busy basic campsite alongside about 3 other large noisy tour groups with limited and dirty toilet facilities (unlike the picture on the Exodus website which shows a small group of Yurts). We also weren’t given the opportunity (unlike the other groups) to camel ride as advertised in the itinerary – we had to either do it immediately on arrival, or not at all. Most worryingly, there was an enormous pile of abandoned plastic and broken glass behind the main Yurt buildings – hardly a sustainable experience. I would strongly recommend that Exodus just forget this Yurt experience, especially as it still requires a subsequent long and tiring ride to get to Samarkand the next day, which is especially painful after very little sleep in the Yurt and waiting arounf until 9.30 am to leave (unlike the other groups). If this trip must visit the desert, I would have preferred to stay in a local guesthouse in Nurata or somewhere similar (as some other companies do), and find out more about living in the desert environment – we leaned nothing at the Yurt camp other than not to do it again!

Most Inspirational Moment

Strolling around the beautiful streets of Khiva at night - hardly anyone else around and very atmospheric.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our tour leader Barbor was very proud of his country, and certainly knew his history. However, he was not the best at handling or organising a group, and I feel that our tour did suffer because of this - it felt like we had a lot of wasted opportunities. For example, instead of using the long bus journeys to explain what we would be doing that day, and the approximate timings and activities, he would wait to tell us everything on arrival, wasting valuable time. In addition, he was often vague about the sequence of sites and visits. This was particularly relevant in Samarkand when we lost the opportunity to visit the bazaar, which then turned out to be closed the next day when we had some free time. He would also sometimes "disappear" when we most needed him (e.g., on our first day in Tashkent when we were told we had 30 minutes for lunch but had no idea how to find it [especially given we had just arrived on a late night flight]). I feel that with another guide we could have had a richer experience. As it was, the tour was just ok.

Advice for Potential Travellers

It is easy to change money from dollars/pounds on the first day - we found that $200 each for the whole trip was just enough. It is almost impossible to use your credit card anywhere you visit apart from Samarkand, so you will need cash. Enjoy the bullet train from Samarkand to Khiva. I is a real treat and it was fun getting to 231 km/hr - beat that! Walking around at any time of day or night felt completely safe, and the tourist police (in Bukhara) are especially helpful even if it is just o ask directions. Buy any souvenirs in Bukhara or Khiva - Samarkand surprisingly does not have the same opportunities. Organise your own final group dinner in Tashkent or, perhaps better still, have it the day before in Samarkand. We ended up at the Gabrielle hotel in Tashkent were we were staying, the service is awful and the food expensive (perhaps why the tour leader chose not to stay and eat).

Suggestions

David Arnold

Reviewed June 2023

Stunning architecture

95% of the mausoleums, pishtaqs and madrasahs, though built many hundreds of years ago, are subject to very frequent maintenance and in some cases rebuilding. As such they look like new! There are a few ruins but these are mainly to be found in the desert.

Most Inspirational Moment

Gur-i Amir at night in Samarkand

Thoughts on Group Leader

Encyclopaedic knowledge of the country and it's history.

Advice for Potential Travellers

As with any tour the local agency make changes to the itinerary. In this case the camel ride (Day 8) was just 10-15 minutes shortly after we arrived at the Yurt camp (Day 7). The trip notes highlight a 10 to 11 hour drive on bad roads (Day 4) but it doesn't advertise the 6 hour drive under similar conditions on Day 8. Unfortunately the vehicle used throughout did not have suitable air-con so in the 38-40C we all struggled a bit. Day 10 "we have a farewell dinner..." states the trip notes. If you want a farewell dinner you have to arrange it yourself as the local company doesn't do it. Having said that after the journey from Samarkand to Tashkent you arrive back at the hotel at 20:45 and several did not want to eat at that hour knowing we had an early start for the airport the next day.

Suggestions

The trip was advertised as 'Leisurely' and it certainly was though the early mornings on Day 1 and 2 are a bit brutal coming immediately after the 7 hour flight from London. The 'Free morning' on Day 10 is, because of the absence of trains, a Free Day! Having covered all the main sights the previous day the group generally passed the time looking in shop windows and drinking tea/coffee. Ultimately this is a wasted day.

Nick Potter

Reviewed May 2022

A revelation!

Finally travelling again after a tough couple of years and I couldn’t have picked a better place for my first trip – Uzbekistan. I understand the group I was on was the first time the trip had run since the lockdowns, but everything ran smoothly, and it was a great group of people I was travelling with.

The toughest part of the trip was arriving into Tashkent at 3am, getting to the hotel at 4am and then back up at 10am for a day tour around the capital! However our guide – Dilshod – was excellent and pitched things at the right level considering most of the group were sleep deprived!

The next day was another early start and a flight up to Khiva. Part of the reason I chose the Exodus trip is because it went there (some tour companies skip this) and it didn’t disappoint. The hotel was ideally situated just by the gates into the old city allowing us to wander in and explore on our own after Dilshod had shown us around the main sites. We were also lucky enough to experience the preparations for an international traditional dance festival the Uzbek Tourism board have started and as a result there were many locals in traditional costume wandering the old city.
Next stop was Bukhara which I adored. There’s so much to see and do here and whilst the area around the hotel (Lyabi House complex) did feel very touristy, there were many locals around too and it was a short walk to many of the key sites. The free time here in the evening and during the afternoon on the final day in Bukhara was great to just wander at your own pace, or, after a few days in the heat, to visit a hammam as a couple of us did, to relax and get the knots in your shoulders/back pummelled away!

The drive from Bukhara to Samarkand is a long one which I’d guess is why there’s a stop at a yurt camp in order to avoid a super long day. I’ve spent a couple of weeks in yurts in Mongolia which were smaller but nicer than those here. I’m not sure if its because they haven’t had many guests during the pandemic, but the yurt camp felt a little run down, but it was only for a single night.

Samarkand, like Bukhara has loads to see and keep you busy but definitely feels more of a big city than Bukhara did. However, the scale of the buildings here dwarf anything in Bukhara with their sheer size. The jewel in Samarkand’s crown is of course the Registan and its certainly impressive. Definitely go back on your own when the sun has set to see it lit up.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Kudos must go to our guide, Dilshod. He was superb – even rearranging personal evening plans a few times to help the group out ordering dinner, etc and on the long bus trips was full of knowledge, history and jokes, keeping everyone entertained.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Nope - just book it and go! You won't regret it.

Jill Haydock

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