North Africa Walking Trips

This is a trip of two contrasting halves, Kyrgyzstan for scenery, Uzbekistan for buildings. Difficult to assign stars when one half was a lesser experience for me. Kyrgyzstan was wonderful, stunning scenery, picnic spots, destinations. I highly recommend. The felt carpet making was very interesting. I recommend asking to see the golden eagle demonstration (an extra). Food was very good with plenty of vegetables. The walk to walnut forest is steep for the first and last 45mins. The track is high, exposed and gravelly. This was noted 7 years ago by a reviewer but the notes still not updated. You don’t need a sleeping bag or liner for the yurt camp, the bedding provided is fine. Accommodation good. Long drives but amazing scenery everywhere. We had an excellent guide who was friendly, knowledgeable and professional, thank you Aysulu. Uzbekistan - wonderful buildings, old cities and interesting history (but all has been extensively rebuilt). A completely different feel to Kyrgyzstan. The itinerary was as described however no excursions or information was given on the development of silk, wool or cotton along the silk road. This seemed a missed opportunity to me given the rich history and importance of textiles to this region. Would also bring variety to the roll call of mosques, mausoleums and madrasas. The yurt camp in Uzbekistan was mediocre and the long drive there and back not so interesting. Our guide was informed and friendly but there was some confusion at times within the group as to what was happening and when. She helped us enormously when we were sick, for which we were particularly grateful, thank you Maftuna. Yes I'm glad I did the trip to Uzbekistan but feel we could have organized it ourselves, (and searched out more textile history). Kyrgyzstan was perfect for a group tour and would be very hard to see by yourself.

This was our first Explore trip but it won’t be our last. We were especially pleased with Irina our tour guide. She was extremely knowledgeable and happy to share with our group. If there was a problem she was there to help. The accommodation was very pleasant and provided hearty breakfasts to start off the day. Both my wife and I felt that the itinerary was well thought out and provided us with a comprehensive first look at Albania historically and today.

Some of the walks were proper hikes rather than walks. But the itinerary is really flexible so there are loads of other things to do if some of the walks are too hard. Excellent tour

Italian Concerto was my Retirement Trip, and it did not disappoint! It was everything I wanted and more. We had a marvelous time. Our tour director, Sara Rossi, was amazing! Everything was planned out beautifully. She even managed to switch things around in Venice to work around the rain, so we could enjoy the Gondola ride, not an easy feat to rearrange activities for 42 people. Our driver, Massimilliano, was excellent, we felt very safe at all times. The trip covers all of the big ticket items in Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Florence, and Venice, while still showing lots of local flavor. The most wonderful part of Trafalgar tours is the "Be my Guest" dinners, a chance to really feel like you are a part of someone's home; on this trip, a 15th-century Chateau in the Tuscan Hills. Wow! I highly recommend Trafalgar. This was my second tour, and I can't wait to book my third.

Fabulous mountain scennery, lovely food and accomodation, and fascinating history and cutural highlights. We had a knowledgeable Albanian guide and the group size of 16 was just right. As described, the holiday was full-on!

The trip was great just a little too much walking the first 3 days. I wish I would have done it a few years ago. Giuseppe our group guide and coordinater was absolutely outstanding. He went out of his way to see to every little detail and make sure everyone one was having a wonderful time. He went above and beyond to make sure everyone was comfortable. I was the oldest person in our group and when he saw myself and two others having a little problem keeping up two of the days he arranged for a taxi to get us to and from our destination. I could go on and on explaining how special he was and all of the Little things he did to make sure our trip was absolutely wonderful and it definitely was absolutely wonderful........