Eastern Europe Walking Trips

The bus tour was extremely nice. Loved our accommodations especially Ashford Castle. I wood have preferred staying there two night rather than Abbey Glen. Ashford had lots of activities that would have been nice to try. I also loved seeing Kylemore Abbey and experiencing the sheep farm and seeing the border collie do their job. We really like the Irish National Stud Farm. Seeing the Ring of Kerry was a bit boring and wished we had stayed back at the hotel for the outing. Overall it was a very good adventure

A fantastic week of hiking with some days more challenging than others. Our small group of 8 got on brilliantly and our guide, Emre, was friendly and supportive. Beautiful scenery and wildlife, interesting archaeology, and we were lucky with weather which was dry but not too hot. There are some steep drops on the trail which those with a fear of heights won't enjoy and some steep sections both up and down over unstable ground. I was glad to have walking poles for stability and encouragement from the guide and the group. On many of the more remote sections, we had the trail to ourselves. As others have mentioned in reviews, not all of the accommodation is to the same standard, but the food at the Gey village house was delicious. The boat trip is a lovely, relaxing end to the tour.

Excellent trip overall. Using Explore enabled us to see a lot of interesting places in a relatively short time without dealing with any of the travel logistics, tickets, hotel booking that we'd have had to do if we'd gone independently. The hotels are quite mixed - some excellent, others less so but all had great central locations. Our tour leader was good. She was very organised, easy to get along with and helped to create a harmonious group which added to how much we enjoyed this trip.

This was genuinely one of the best experiences of my life, and a huge amount of that comes down to how well Explore organised the whole thing. Pabel, our tour leader, was absolutely brilliant - knowledgeable, warm, and incredibly well-organised. Everything ran smoothly from start to finish, and you could tell the whole operation had been carefully thought through. The route Explore uses is particularly impressive - we managed to avoid the bulk of the crowds on the trail, which made the whole experience feel far more immersive and special than I'd expected. We were a small group of seven and that made such a difference. Everyone gelled immediately and we had so much fun together. The porters deserve a special mention: they were phenomenal, and the food on the trail was genuinely outstanding. They even baked a birthday cake at the highest elevation campsite, which tells you everything about the spirit of the team. The one thing that held me back from a perfect score was the main hotel in Cusco. The location is excellent, but my room was really noisy - you could hear the reception phone and conversations drifting in from the courtyard throughout the night. For a trip this good, it felt like an easy fix that would make an already brilliant experience flawless. Highly, highly recommend Explore for the Inca Trail. Already thinking about the next one.

Excellent holiday- the scenery is stunning. This walking tour is marked Leisurely/Moderate but I think all the walks were moderate, because the terrain is challenging at times. Walking poles & good supportive boots are a must. That being said, our amazing guide Satva ensured the whole group walked within their capabilities, offering alternatives if anyone felt the whole walk wasn’t for them. Satva helped to create a wonderful group experience, she is fun, caring & has a great singing voice! I would definitely recommend her as an amazing tour leader. I throughly enjoyed myself.

The Tour Director was amazing! Knowledgeable, courteous, fun, thoughtful and efficient. All of the on-site tour guides were great. We covered a lot of territory, making the most of scenery and stops along the way.