Asia Beach Trips

The itinerary was beyond expectation - each experience was thoughtful and interesting. The variety was brilliant! From the Blue Elephant cooking class to the Hellfire Pass and museum, the range of experiences was amazing. Best of all was the day with the Buddhist Monk - we were all positively changed.

We thoroughly enjoyed this trip in a country about which we knew little in advance. As always with Explore the booking process was very smooth and the trip itself was well planned. It was fast paced, we covered a lot of ground in a fleet of 4x4 vehicles which gave the whole experience an exhilarating feeling. It also meant we experienced the wide variety this country has to offer, coastline, desert, mountains and old towns and villages. The accommodation was generally excellent, especially the desert camp and the View resort with its spectacular location. The decision to spend 2 nights in Nizwa worked well and the town centre location of the hotel was a great base for wandering Our guide, Muatasim, looked after us very well. He was passionate about his country and made sure we all had a good experience. A lot of the time we travelled in a vehicle with 4 people and we were very lucky to have a driver, Harib, who spoke good English and was keen to help us understand his country. He was also a brilliant driver! Overall we really enjoyed our experience of Oman and would thoroughly recommend this trip

Sri Lanka in Depth was a wonderful experience and, even though we were moving around a lot, it meant we saw so much of the country. So many different experiences, from lovely beach hotels, to jeep safaris, to seeing the ancient sites of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. I would definitely recommend Sri Lanka as a beautiful country to visit. The food is also delicious. Our tour guide, Niruth Ashendra (Ash) was so knowledgeable about his country and went out of his way to ensure we all had an excellent trip.

Abhi was an excellent leader with excellent attention to detail and care. Nothing was too much for him. The overall experience was excellent and all the accommodation except at Goa was first rate. In Goa we were in a hotel room above a noisy band for a wedding that went on until 3..00am. After much persuasion we were moved late the following evening to a more suitable room. I would not recommend staying there in future but everything else was excellent especially our tour guide leader.

Sudesh is an outstanding guide. His knowledge of the culture, history, religions of Sri Lanka was wonderful and we loved his stories, told with great delight and enthusiasm! He showed care and compassion for all on the trip. His sense of humour and fun was infectious. He really “made” the trip for us all. I loved the trip. I saw so much of Sri Lanka and learned so much about its history and people. It was awesome to see the sunrise at Lion’s rock and Adam’s peak and the views were breathtaking. They were 2 of my “must dos” in Sri Lanka. But I was disappointed that we could not take the train ride as that was my 3rd “must do”” and I’d been looking forward to it and it seemed that some trains were running. Also I felt that the tea plantation was a little disappointing as we didn’t get the chance to sample different teas. Thank you for this excellent trip. And big thanks to Sudesh, the driver and helpmate. The driver was great and helpmate was kind and courteous.

Overall this was an upgraded experience with a brilliant guide. However the last hotel, The Taj Cidade De Goa Heritage, which was not the hotel in the Explore trip notes, was not an upgraded experience. I recommend only staying the minimum days here associated with the tour. If you want to extend your stay in Goa, do so independently so that you control location, cost and standard of accommodation thus ensuring value for money and an upgraded experience.