South Asia Farm and plantation visits Trips

The Walking in Sri Lanka trip was very well put together, travelling to a number of key sights without feeling too hurried. The walking elements added a lot to the trip, with time spent looking around, enjoying the countryside and talking with guides and other members of the group of 14. The accommodation was well chosen for convenience and a taste of the real Sri Lanka rather than "international" hotels that could be anywhere. The leader, Su, was very knowledgeable and able to put things into context very well. He suggested restaurants which were very good and arranged a number of picnic lunches which were very tasty. There were a number of early starts, but there was always time to recover later in the day. The drivers were brilliant and drove both on narrow windy roads and in city traffic with confidence and made me feel safe all the time.

As stated in the trip notes, this is a fast paced tour that covers a lot of ground. There are some long drives although there are often stops to visit somewhere of interest. Overall the tour was excellent, there was plenty of variety in the programme. The only disappointments were that Puducherry was oversold and there wasn’t much French heritage to see and the trip on the houseboat in the Kerala backwaters was a cruise on the lake and didn’t venture into the canals. The hotels were very good, the final hotel in Mamallapuram was more basic but this was more than offset by its location in the centre of the town. Replacing the overnight train journey with a daytime express train is a good decision by Explore. The food was delicious throughout. We had an excellent tour guide. This tour would be ideal for someone visiting India for the first time.

This is one of the best trips I have been on with Explore in a beautiful country. The guide was excellent, the walks were good, lots of wildlife and visits to some of the main sites in Sri Lanka. Would thoroughly recommend although the steps up and down to Adam’s Peak were challenging and there were plenty of leeches on some of the walks.

Had a great time in Kerala, with a fabulous bunch of fellow Explorers and a very knowledgable guide in Sam. Weather was kind, despite rain being forecast for the whole trip, only one heavy shower which was quite welcome in the very hot and humid conditions which made the cycling a little tougher. Accommodation was of mixed standards, had more cold showers than hot! Often welcome tho. A/C or fans throughout and much needed. Backwaters just as expected, lush and green, teeming with flora and fauna, binoculars useful, also enjoyed blowy coastal rides and the start of the trip in hippie vibe resorts of Kovalam and Varkala, excellent restaurants overlooking beach and lots of shops selling clothing and fabrics. Trip ended in Fort Cochin, iconic fishing nets ‘Cheena Vala’ didn’t disappoint along with architecture left by Dutch and Portuguese, nice feel to the place - an excellent trip with lots of good and cheap food, a few G and Ts too.

Loved that it hit all the highlighted tourist area, but lots of walking. This was our second Insight tour and again it did not disappoint on our first trip to Italy! Travel director was knowledgeable and lots of fun. Highly recommend Margaret Stefanski!

Yes, we had a great trip, which we attribute to our fabulous tour guide Margaret. She was wonderfully informative, extremely helpful and took us to some out-of-the way interesting places. We did not love the crowds in Rome and Venice and plan to take future vacations during the off season, but that’s not your fault.