South East Asia Tours in November 2025

Great tour for people that want to see many cities and come back again or for people like us that have been to the cities 3-3 times and want to go to the things we missed. Marco was a great tour guide. The people were all awesome as well.

Two minor gripes. 1) It would have been nice to have been warned that the hotel in Cairo did not serve alcohol. 2) Explore should advise its clientele that a visa should be purchased at Cairo airport. The so-called e-visa offered by the embassy involves wrestling with an outdated website which frequently crashes, and requires a photograph of the passport at a resolution far lower than any smartphone will offer - I had to set my scanner at the lowest resolution possible to produce a file which the system would accept. Otherwise, things were great - especially the guide who went the extra mile to ensure that a visit to the Luxor workers' tombs was possible on the morning of our departure when officially her duties were complete.

The trip was great. We had a fantastic guide,Salah, who made the trip a really great experience. He adjusted the itinerary slightly which made it better for us. He rec commended good restaurants and he dealt with any problems that cropped up.

Comfortable transport in 4WD cars: skilled drivers, especially on ‘off roading’ in difficult terrain; very helpful and good chefs for camping meals/lunchboxes when needed. Tour leader very friendly, concerned we enjoyed each day. But - didn’t provide his mobile number (customary in case of emergency). One person requested it. Didn’t stay to end of tour: left for home after arranging optional boat trip from Muscat (great, well worth it) on 8 Nov. and arranging transport to airport for 2.10pm flight to London. We did wonder what would happen in emergency. Don’t know if concerned about children; don’t want to be critical.

Accomodation: • The standard of accommodation far exceeded my expectations and was excellent throughout the trip. All rooms were clean, reasonably sized for 2 people and had aircon and/ or ceiling fans. Itinarary: • The itinerary was well balanced between the well known sites in Dehli, Agra and Jaipur, as well as including other not-to-be missed activities such as the "home cookery class" in Agra, and the Craft Centre (Block Printing, Rug Making, Textiles etc.) in Jaipur. The visit to a Bollywood cinema was another unique experience ! • Travelling by road in India can take time due to the distances, but it gives visitors the chance to experience life in smaller rural towns and see a wide range of agricultural . The airconditioned minibus was very comfortable. • At most historic sites we had dedicated local guides who were well informed and spoke good english. Leader: • "G" (Gajendra), was an excellent leader and guide who kept us well informed as to the plan for each day, and also for specific local visits. He was very approacheable and easy to talk to. He dealt admirably with the challenges of shepherding the group into central Dehli on the Metro , and keeping us together as we walked through the Chandni Chowk market !

What a superb quick tour around some of India's most iconic sites (of course, including the Taj Mahal). As we have come to expect with Explore tours, our tour leader was excellent - a real advocate for the country. Accomodation was also better than expected with some really amazing 'heritage' hotels. Food, without exception, was fabulous.