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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.

Reviews

A wonderful week in Tuscany with a great leader!

As an Exodus employee and previous leader myself, I was very grateful to have had the opportunity to join this trip. I was definitely impressed!
‘Tuscany Walks and Chianti Wines’ provides an excellent insight into the Chianti Region of Tuscany. We did three fantastic walks and enjoyed great wine tastings throughout the week. I am never bored visiting the amazing Towers of San Gimignano!

Most Inspirational Moment

Wine tasting at a local vineyard whilst looking out over the rolling Tuscan hills. Yes, it was as good as I hoped!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Tommaso was an excellent leader, each day he proved he was very knowledgeable, with a great sense of humour. He was a good communicator and as someone who was brought up locally, you could really see he loved showing the group his ‘back yard’ .

Advice for Potential Travellers

Bring a dry bag for taking a bottle of wine home safely in your main luggage. But don’t worry, shipping is offered by the vineyards too!

Worth Doing

I did the cycling tour in April of 2025, and it was better than I expected — which, for a trip I’d spent a while researching, is saying something.
The riding itself was well put-together. A mix of quiet back roads, some proper climbs, and long stretches on old railway paths. I used a regular bike and would say the level given is appropriate.
The highlight reel: Besalú is a very charming, well-preserved medieval town, and the Costa Brava section is as good as advertised. Alvaro, our guide, was the reason the week felt personal rather than packaged. He picked up on what people wanted and adjusted. Everything else — luggage transfers, route markings, daily logistics — all ran smoothly, which is how it should be.
Worth doing.

Not a walking holiday

An enjoyable holiday but wrongly classed as a walking holiday.
All the included walks were shorter than advertised and most of the walking was on city tours. There was a change to the itinerary from when I booked and instead of a walk to see sandstone cliffs on day 5 we had a 2.5 hour guided tour of Art Nouveau buildings in Riga. Acceptable on a cultural tour but not really appropriate when this is sold as a walking tour.
Most of the days were long, we rarely finished before 5pm and too much crammed in so that we always felt we were being rushed on to the next activity.
Hotels, apart from Islande Hotel at Riga, were good. Riga Hotel was just too big and almost impossible to get a seat at breakfast because of numerous large coach parties also at hotel.
Note for solo travellers paying single supplement – you will get a narrow single bed on at least 5 nights of the holiday.

Most Inspirational Moment

Helsinki - this was the best city tour and great to get a free afternoon to continue our sightseeing.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Inna was a good tour leader but possibly more suited to a cultural trip and possibly just as well for her that this was not a walking trip.

Advice for Potential Travellers

No need for walking boots. Most of the walks are city tours and when we did actually go for walks in the countryside these were on paths or boardwalks.

Magical wildlife holiday

This was my first Exodus trip and it was a wonderful two weeks exploring Costa Rica with a small group of 7, our fantastic guide Guillermo and excellent driver Carlos. Two nights in each location, very different landscapes. We saw a huge number of creatures and an amazing 174 species of birds. Great hotels and excellent airport pick up in San Jose. This holiday was fabulous!

Most Inspirational Moment

Esquinas Rainforest Lodge - one of the most beautiful places I’ve been.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Guillermo was a biologist and very experienced guide. His knowledge, organisational skills and friendliness helped make our tour magical.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Take a Costa Rica sim or eSIM. Download the Merlin bird app and PlantNet app to use in Costa Rica. Take 2 swimsuits as nothing dries. Due to this do a hotel laundry wash half way through the holidays and travel light. Invest in good quality waterproof binoculars. Regarding mosquitoes - take an anti histamine each morning, plug in a room diffuser and take deet spray.

Wonderful cultural week in Turkey

We were a small group of 6, lovely people who helped make this a great holiday – along with our wonderful guide Alkan and our driver Ugur. We packed a lot into our 6 full days – tours around Istanbul and Antalya plus visits to fabulous ancient sites such as Troy, Ephesus, Hierapolis and the ancient city of Perge and wandering around the back streets of pretty towns. Plenty of time to explore .

Most Inspirational Moment

Enjoyed everything but highlights for me were Gallipoli, Troy and the heavenly vineyard hotel in Seljuk.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our Turkish guide Alkan was excellent. He was very passionate about his beautiful country, full of knowledge and he went out of his way to ensure we all had a great time. He took us to some great places to eat and as a vegetarian, always ensured I had something good to eat.

Advice for Potential Travellers

This is a great trip, you can see so much of Turkey is a week. As a solo traveller in future I will look out for free single room offers - two of our group had booked later and didn’t pay for their single occupancy, something to consider.

Rolling grape vines

What a fabulous trip. Great food, incredible walks and plenty of original Prosecco with the most amazing company.

Most Inspirational Moment

Walking up hill then finally seeing the view opening to see the snow capped dolomites.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Michele was an exceptional leader with great local knowledge and connections. Nothing was too much trouble. We enjoyed his company immensely and even forwarded him for leader of the year award.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Take some warm clothes just in case.

What a fabulous experience!

I had never joined a group activity or trip like this before but immediately felt at ease with everyone when we all met. This was largely due to the extremely welcoming attitude and manner of our great guides Miguel, and his highly trusted driver / bike mechanic and co-guide. They worked tirelessly and extremely well together to make this a very highly memorable trip for us all. I had never visited Catalonia before and wanted a mix of good cycling around the area, some basic tourism and the opportunity to experience a range of different Catalan landscapes with some good food and company. I am happy to say that the trip exceeded all my expectations in every way. All the hotel accommodation and hospitality of their staff was excellent, and helped to provide us with a great (and stress-free) holiday experience.

Most Inspirational Moment

I loved the constantly changing landscapes we experienced – passing through medieval villages, quiet countryside lanes, the stunning coastal villages and Besalu was an excellent destination to finish the trip. I think a lot of thought had clearly been put into planning the route very carefully.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Miguel is truly an outstanding guide and really made the trip a perfect experience. He is very skilled at working with a group of people from diverse backgrounds, since he has a very easy, approachable, highly inclusive and friendly manner, while always maintaining his sense of professionalism. His English is also excellent! Miguel's passion for Catalonia, outdoors activities and his wish to ensure that everyone enjoyed themselves in a safe, relaxed and fun way was inspiring. I also really enjoyed his knowledge of the local history, gastronomy, wildlife and his enthusiasm to share this with us. It really helped to make the trip memorable. All the daily logistics were handled with care and thoughtfully - the one 'traveller emergency' we had was dealt with calmly and professionally.

Advice for Potential Travellers

It’s not a cheap trip certainly, but I felt it was well worth it in every way as a special treat for myself. I felt that I was well supported by Exodus staff before embarking on the holiday, since they answered my email queries well, without delay and they made the pre-holiday admin all very easy. It was a great introduction to a beautiful part of Spain and as well as learning a huge amount about the area, I loved the cycling, company of everyone and have some very fond memories of the holiday.

Wonderful

Fast moving trip covering many Peru highlights. Excellent Guide (Renzo) kept us well informed, able to access elements of Peruvian culture which would have been difficult without him, and safe. Safe primarily with regard to altitude which is a significant consideration for this trip and most of it operates over 3000m and tops out at 4900ms.

Most Inspirational Moment

Colca Canyon seeing the Condors. I hadn't expected the wildlife to such a feature of this trip which I had taken mainly for the scenery. But seeing Llamas, Flamingos, Penguins and much more in the wild was surprisingly moving.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Fabulous!

Advice for Potential Travellers

A lot of time in the bus, which is brilliant for the views, but I would be cautious if you suffer with travel sickness. The roads are bendy and in places, bumpy. Machu Picchu is not the highest spot on the trip.

A unique experience - but the booking info and trip notes need a review please !!!

This was my first solo long-haul adventure and I felt privileged and grateful to be immersed in such a unique, fragile and important environment. The wildlife was abundant and spectacular – on land, air and sea. The boat accommodation was excellent and the guide and crew were always on hand, helpful and good-humoured.

Most Inspirational Moment

For me, taking a cooling dip in a shallow bay after a hike and finding myself swimming with sea lions who had no fear of me, just curious and playful. This is how man’s relationship with wildlife should be.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Fabricio our guide was a knowledgeable naturalist who also knew about the history of and geology of the islands. He was outgoing, personable and witty, able to engage a mixed group of nationalities and ages.

Advice for Potential Travellers

This is the important bit for Exodus and potential travellers! The trip notes and information provided in advance of the trip were not correct in some key aspects. A fundamental error, although it did not ultimately matter as I thoroughly enjoyed the journey, was that I was informed I was on Itinerary C but was actually on Itinerary B! The trip notes state that a transfer is provided from Quito airport to the hotel for the first night and that the guide meets the group at the hotel and there is a welcome meeting. None of this is correct and I was left entirely to my own devices until I actually reached the Galapagos. Fortunately the hotel provides a shuttle service to the airport. Another thing very important for travellers to know is that the advice in the itinerary and trip notes to not carry a suitcase or wheeled bag and use a soft holdall or rucksack due to space on the boat can safely be ignored. Basically it is up to you to decide how much of your cabin space is taken up by your luggage! I crammed over a week’s worth of gear into a rucksack only to see everybody else’s hard and large wheeled suitcases comfortably accommodated on the boat. I was asked more than once where my luggage was!! Not at all clear why Exodus advise this. Otherwise it is worth noting that Quito and Quayaquil airports have good facilities and seem to run quite efficiently, although passport control at Quito is pretty slow. Staff were helpful.

Review Centre
Reply from Exodus

We’re really grateful for Chris’s review and are so glad he had such a good time in the Galapagos!

 

We noted Chris had some concerns about a couple of aspects of the trip, firstly about his arrival transfer. We arrange for a local guide to meet customers either at the airport or the start hotel in Quito to explain the schedule for the coming days, and are surprised that this didn’t happen on Chris’s trip. This has been raised with our local operator and we are looking into what happened, but this is certainly the first time we have been made aware of a guide not being present on arrival.

 

We’re apologetic that Chris felt mislead by our trip notes regarding the size/type of luggage needed for the boat – we are changing this in the trip notes as a matter of priority, as customers are able to bring any size of luggage onto the boat, as the suites are around 23 square metres and can comfortably accommodate most standard pieces of luggage.

 

We hope this can show that we take this kind of feedback seriously, but are very glad that overall, Chris had an excellent time on the trip.

– Holly Parkinson, Exodus Product Manager

Excellent Trek - Do it whilst it's quiet (April 2026)

For a new trip, we were really impressed. Excellent organisation and adaptability. A few tweaks from Exodus regarding the itinerary and hotels can make this a best seller. We were only a small group (3 single travellers and us – a mother and daughter), and we had a fantastic time!

Most Inspirational Moment

Walking through the tea plantations and through the cloud jungle of Horton Plains. Apart from the walks around Ella, we saw a handful of walkers the whole trip - giving us a peaceful and special experience. Go now before it becomes more popular.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Mac went the extra mile throughout the trip. He arranged for leech socks to be bought for us (these weren't included on the Exodus packing guide and were needed during our trip). This is not a trip that can be done self-guided, as signage was sporadic and you could easily get lost in the middle of a tea plantation. Our deputy / tracker particularly looked after the back of the group, especially in poor weather (ensuring their safety). He was also a wealth of knowledge about the local flora and fauna. Conversations with Mac were always interesting and illuminating, particularly on the topic of Sri Lankan culture.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Leech socks are a must. Be prepared that there are some challenging walking days; particularly some days of long ascents, and some with back to back stages. One person in our trip added a day in Kandy to the start of the trip, which was a good idea to be able to see the city and it's attractions. We added some extra nights on the coast at the end of the trip (near the airport), which was lovely icing on the cake to relax after the walking.