Asia Tours and Trips

The trip was as described. Kerala is beautiful and varied. Good mix of settings and activity: treks (2), ambles, houseboat mini-cruise, cookery class, dance performance, bit of sightseeing and shopping time. It was a good group: they always are. The food was great. Tour leader was excellent, hardworking and fun and he project-managed a complex roster of guides, cooks, drivers and hosts. One or two glitches e.g. accommodation were quickly sorted.

A fabulous trip with some truly spectacular scenery on the hikes. The camping was superb, a real highlight, as were the hotels and itinerary. My only 2 critiques would be that the 3rd and 4th hikes were classed as moderate, but at altitude and in the heat, they were quite challenging - although totally worth it! Also, the houseboat was a little grubby and the delicious Keralan cuisine a little watered down in terms of spice to cater for a more international palette! Kerala is a dream and thank you to Tinu for keeping our large group in check and showing off his beautiful home state to us all. We had a fabulous trip, our love affair with India continues and we can’t wait for our next adventure with Explore!

The trip is a great introduction to Sri Lanka well organised with a packed varied and interesting itinerary. There was a good mix of activities (walking, rafting, cycling) varied transport (buses, boats, bikes, tuk tuk and a train as well as culture (temples, ancient cities, tea & cinnamon farms, markets, botanical gardens and beaches. There was still enough free time to explore on your own or use the pools/swim in the sea. The hotels were better than we expected, in good locations, most with lovely pools. The exception was Araliya Red in Nuwara Eliya which was a huge cold soulless barn of a place with the worst food and service of the holiday.

A great time in Vietnam, you will spend a long time travelling, because it is a long way from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. But the cycling allowed an opportunity to get off the beaten tracks and into communities that you can't see otherwise. A fascinating insight to life in Vietnam

A very enjoyable tour of the highlights of Jordan with an extremely knowledgeable, personable guide (Saleh) who handled the group dynamics well. The camps turned out to be much nicer than expected and the trip was well paced. Personally I didn't find the walking aspect as challenging as I'd have liked but if you want to see the best of Jordan with some walking thrown in then this is a great choice. It was nice to have a good amount of time in both Wadi Rum and Petra rather than rushing through like so many do. The Dead Sea was also a highlight. Saleh always had lots of information to share, has an excellent grasp of history, and also shared more personal and cultural insight and stories. A thoroughly enjoyable trip.

Excellent holiday. Our tour guide, Bao, could not have been more helpful. Very knowledgeable and personable. Some lovely cycling routes and the stops to view local artisans were really interesting. Great fruit stops too!