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.
A memorable trip based in a perfect location for both trekking & leisure time.
The walks are lengthy but well planned to made more manageable with long gradual ascents/descents.
A basic hotel but with friendly staff & excellent food fuelling you for the long days ahead!
It does have a pool for warmer days (larger than a plunge pool as described in the particulars).
Most Inspirational Moment
Summiting Puig Campana on the final day
Thoughts on Group Leader
An excellent guide very experienced & good company. His brother also joined us who enjoys sharing mountain survival skills & detailed local knowledge.
He creates the best sandwiches for lunch I have ever seen! Don't expect to lose weight!
I was disappointed at not summiting Aitana & did feel he was overly cautious given low cloud/mist. It felt as if he thought that if there was to be no view then it wasn't worth it. The cloud & mist was negligible & we could easily have managed the summit without any significant risk.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Do some pre-investigation & planning for the day off. The local coastal town is very limited & the alternative beach is very nice but again very quiet. Obviously it depends very much what you are looking for.
Five excellent guided walks in the mountains surrounding our accommodation at El Trestellador. Each day was very enjoyable and the walks took approximately 6 hours. It was extremely hot for October and the mountains have little shade, so plenty of water had to be carried. The packed lunch provided was superb and enjoyed on the peaks each day. Returning to El Trestellador for a cold beer was equally enjoyable.
Most Inspirational Moment
I loved the accommodation. It was simple, very clean and our hosts were so friendly. The food provided each night was exceptional and more than enough for the largest appetite.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Jose is a nice guy with a passion for the Sierra de Aitana. He knows everything about the area and makes the walks interesting. He also is responsible for the excellent sandwiches.
Advice for Potential Travellers
This is not an easy week and deserves the Activity level 4
Marvellous walking but needing good fitness and some ability to walk on difficult rock ascents and descents. A beautiful area, great guides in Jose and Jaime, very friendly and comfortable hotel and excellent food.
Most Inspirational Moment
Standing on top of Puig Campana after a long and in places complex ascent and seeing all the other places we had been to in the week.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Jose and Jaime were both excellent. Very safety conscious and very experienced and full of interesting information about the area. Exodus has some excellent local leaders and these two are among the best.
Advice for Potential Travellers
This is more demanding than the Picos challenging week. Partly due to the length of walks and partly due to the more technical sections. There is very little height exposure and what there is not precipitous. Poles are useful, even to a non pole user like me. It does rain and can be very wet so you must bring waterproof bottoms and an umbrella or poncho are useful as it is also hot (Sept/Oct). They advise boots and those who did not use them did have a few problems. You can get away without using them but be prepared for blisters/ sore feet.
Great trip to a beautiful and interesting area. The fragrant wild flowers (in June) were an added treat. Probably not considered a headline destination but shouldn’t be missed. The local accommodation was clean, comfortable and hospitable and situated near two lovely villages.
Most Inspirational Moment
.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Our group leader was very good, professional and enthusiastic with great local knowledge and spoke excellent English.
A really good trip in a part of Europe that it would be very easy to miss / ignore. A nice hotel with good food and wine supplied with dinner. Extraordinary G&Ts. The hills are not as high as others or as epic, but they are beautiful and amazingly green. The huge variety of plant life was staggering, and I’ve never had a walk smell so much like a herb garden. Good week for re-charging batteries after a busy start to the year.
Most Inspirational Moment
Standing on Serrella looking at the difference between the two valleys separated by only a few hundred metres.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Jose was great - knowledgable, good humoured and relaxed. He makes unbelievable sandwiches for lunch.
Great walking – shame about the rain and snow (in April!) but the guides made the right decision about curtailing and altering walks where the climbs would have been dangerous in wet weather. If you want to get away from it all this is the place to be. Most days we saw no one else walking. This is an unexplored area of Spain.
Most Inspirational Moment
Getting to the top of Puig Campana in perfect weather - fantastic views over the sea and mountains.
Thoughts on Group Leader
We had 2 leaders for different parts of the week (Jaime and Jose Miguel) - both were very good and supportive. The perfect climb would have been to have had both at the same time! Very good sense of humour which is always essential. And they created great sandwiches.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Take hat and gloves and waterproofs (including over trousers) even if the trip notes don't say it! You need to be reasonably fit and not to to be put off by small amounts of scrambling and difficult terrain. And steep ascents!
Fantastic week’s break in southern Spain; well organised; strong walking in ideal temperatures. Just what we were looking for.
Most Inspirational Moment
Walking on the high ridges of Aitana with magnificent views.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Jose is an excellent leader. His enthusiasm for and knowledge of the area was inspiring. His attention to detail as particularly memorable especially in the sandwich that he provided for our lunch often eaten on high mountain ridges.
We walked in the Alicante mountains, it was inspiring and awesome.
Most Inspirational Moment
The scenery and our great guide Jose. It's such a beautiful and stunning, visually. ..part of the World. Our group was also the best ever..love to see them all again.
Thoughts on Group Leader
He was fab. Jose was fun to be with, also very knowledgeable about the area and extremely attentive to the groups needs.
An inspiring week in a wonderful part of the world
The Aitana mountains offer a fantastic experience for trekkers, with challenging, rugged landscapes, breath taking views and a real sense of place and history. The air is pure, the people are warm, the food is glorious.
Most Inspirational Moment
Summiting Puig Campana felt like a huge achievement. It's a proper mountain and you need stamina, concentration and energy to get to the top and back. Seeing how life works in the mountain villages and meeting locals gathering wild mushrooms was great.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Jose was exceptional.
His ability to communicate his knowledge of and passion for the area added a lot to the trip and you always felt secure. He did a great job encouraging the group to get to know one another and ensured every level of ability was catered for. His picnics deserve mention as well - delicious and well planned to give enough energy to keep you going.
Jaime was also terrific, guiding us to the summit of Aitana and enriching the experience with his knowledge of local flora and pointing out distant Moorish ruins.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Although not overly challenging, this trek really demands you have a good level of fitness and the range of terrains you will encounter means experience on the hills will make the trip a bit easier. There's some light scrambling and underfoot conditions range from flat roads to loose scree so be prepared.
The treks are long - up to 18km and 8 hours - but rewarding.
The weather was perfect for most of the trip but remember weather can change quickly in the mountains so pack a fleece and a waterproof.
On your free day it is worth visiting the Valor chocolate factory/museum down the coast in Villajoyosa - easy to reach and free entry. Don't miss the Valor chocolate shop by the beach - the hot chocolate is the best you will ever have!
Great walks and superb scenery in the Alicante region
This was a really enjoyable week of walks in an unspoilt and very interesting part of Spain.
Most Inspirational Moment
There a number of memorable parts of the trip, and each day brought its own highlights. It was great to be able to walk in countryside that has preserved traditional ways of farming, and where everyone seemed friendly and welcoming. Being accompanied down the last stretch of the Puig Campana by a stray mule was an interesting experience! Fortunately Jose knew the owner and we were able to ensure that the mule got home safely ...
Thoughts on Group Leader
Jose was great - an interesting and informative guide and good fun to be with. He seemed to know everyone in the area, and to be very well respected.
Advice for Potential Travellers
I'm very glad that I'd got fit before the holiday - the walks were long and there were some 'challenging' stretches, though nothing too daunting.
