Reviews

Great fun

A superb cycling holiday through a beautiful country, and well away from the usual tourist paths.
We had a lot of rain the first week, but once you gave into the rain it was great fun and bonding. The second week brought fantastic sunshine and beaches! Suresh our leader was the star of our trip and ensured everyone was well looked after. Fantastic food too…you won’t go hungry!

Great trip , recommended - 9th cycling trip

I’ve done 9 cycling trips to date (not all Exodus), and this definitely rates as one of the best. I took my girlfriend (her first cycling holiday), and it was a good introduction for her to this format of holiday

I believe its organised by the same person that does the ‘Back Roads of Sri Lanka’ trip (done 2 years ago), maps you get everyday are certainly exactly the same format

The distances cycled on busy roads is very limited , so no-one had an issue in that regard. Some of us found the busy roads quite exciting, speeds are generally slow, so risk of injury is actually very low

Southern India coast to coast

If you do just one cycling trip with Exodus, make sure it’s this one. It’s slightly tougher than Kerala and Vietnam, but more rewarding. You don’t have to be anything other than keen and reasonably fit to complete the journey (says the forty-something year old drinker and occasional smoker), but you will discover new muscles and an overall sense of achievement. But isn’t that the point?

Wet and wonderful

You can’t have all that green without rain. But once you let yourself go and make peace with being entirely wet and muddy for days, there is a wonderful sense of freedom. You won’t be cold (except for the summit day) and you will always have a clean warm room to regroup at the end of the day. I can’t imagine a better way to see the variety of eco/cultural/historical systems than cycling through Sri Lanka. Suresh and his support team create an indulgent expereince where all details are taken care of and all you have to do is eat, ride, and enjoy the culture and views.

Two weeks of rain, cancellations & disspointments

I don’t want to sound like the traveller just complaining because the weather wasn’t very kind, but this trip was very badly effected by torrential rain, landslides, cancelled walks, waterlogged hotel gardens (the route from room to restaurant), all-night amplified religious chanting 50m from hotel room, a riverside campsite virtually under water, a cancelled train ride (line swept away by rain), a cancelled town tour (due to a political rally), power cuts, illness within the group, etc. etc. Add to this that some accommodation was terrible and the bus was far too small for a walking group of this size (all with back-packs, poles, etc) and you’ll see that this tour was not a complete success – but it was an experience though!

Most Inspirational Moment

I think it was about day ten when it finally stopped raining and the group actually cheered the sight of a small glimpse of blue sky! It didn't last long though.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Rowan is an excellent tour leader and I firmly believe that he personally learnt a lot from this tour - even by Sri Lankan standards, these conditions were extreme and nothing like anything Rowan had needed to deal with before. That said, he coped extremely well on the whole and even found us a few alternative activities when items in the itinerary needed to be cancelled. He was always helpful and informative, polite and efficient.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Don't let our experiences put you off going to this very beautiful island, but be aware that it does have a tropical climate and personally I would leave it for a while - the last few months of 2014 saw a lot of rain damage to the islands infrastructure which will take them a long time to recover from - many roads are now in a terrible state caused by numerous landslips and the Ella railway line will probably not be repaired for a long-time. Yala NP has also been very badly effected, now resembling a building site in places where roads have been washed away and with very few animals to see (just birds really) as they have mainly migrated north apparently.

Reply from Exodus

We are sorry that Phil’s time in Sri Lanka was impacted upon by the poor weather and that aspects of the itinerary were affected; regrettably the weather conditions his group experienced were exceptionally bad for that time of the year. A tour leader who has completed this trip since Phil’s departure has assured us that the routes have undergone repair work and services have returned to normal. We are confident that future Exodus clients will not be as disappointed.

Simon Clifford – Trip Manager for Sri Lanka

Fantastic Experience!

A fantastic trip. Very well organised throughout, and it felt like the trip managed to fit a lot in. We were lucky to have Carlos as our group leader and a really fun group. The jungle trip was amazing, and Frank was an excellent local guide who made it a really fun time. The Inca trail was a great experience, fantastic scenery throughout and a real sense of history.

Cycle Indochina

Good

Well organised, great cycling

We really enjoyed our holiday, our guide Is was excellent, very well organised. There was very littl hanging about The cycling in Thailand was excellent fun as very quiet roads where we could all go at our own pace, race if we wanted to or in my case bring up the rear. Roads were busier in Cambodia and Vietnam but was still great but we could not split into groups so much. I was a bit nervous about keeping up but it was nearly all totally flat and I found I could manage the distances much easier than I had thought. Bikes were excellent but please, please take padded shorts and a gel saddle cover, hardened cyclerswere struggling without. No need to carry a bag whilst cycling as a vehicle follows you around and you just need to take a drinks bottle. food was really good and as a vegetarian I did not have any problems. If anything there was too much food which was particularly true in Vietnam where we were given large lunches which we felt rude not finishing but they were just too big. Although lunches not included you do not get a choice of where to go so I actually think he rip would be better if lunches were included since there is no choice anyway. hotels were a very good standard, much better than I was expecting. The only downside to the holiday was the time in Phenom Penh which was quite a stressful place to walk round and except going to the market I could not find anything to do in our free time and I also found the home stay to be very different to what I was expecting. I was thinking it would be a quiet retreat but our guide cider to do karaoke very loudly from his laptop. it was great fun but not a quiet retreat, we also had a en suite room and it was just a bit strange! great holiday though and I would recommend it.

Alone in the Anti-Atlas Mountains

After stepping off on our trek in Irhem, we saw few sights of civilization until reaching the end point five days later. The only exception was a couple oases and small rural hamlets we passed through. There’s nobody else hiking out here! The Anti-Atlas Mountains are vast and stunning. The guide and his team was great. The camp cook kept us well fed.

Cycling India from Coast to Coast

Another great cycling trip with Exodus in late october 2014 when all official predictions for number of „wet days“ were wrong with heavy rain and flooding in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu is very different from Kerala and a great experience especially since the route has been improved and covers a very interesting area with long biking sections without any traffic.
The hotels and homestay were just great with good variation and luxury usually not seen on bike trips. Our drivers made sure the luggage arrived before or with the cyclists.