Explore South Asia through expert eyes with over 1,100 professionally guided tours. Local insights, historical context, and hassle-free exploration rated by more than 7,700 guided tour enthusiasts.
The tour was a very enjoyable and relaxing way to end 2024 (7-15 December). Our tour leader Mohamed Hailami (High) and the crew of Gulfaam were excellent - nothing was too much trouble and they worked hard to make it a memorable holiday. The food on the dhoni was very good - plentiful and varied. The snorkelling catered to all abilities and covered a variety of environments - particular highlights were the sunken boat and swimming with nurse sharks and cuttlefish. Through coaching and feedback from High and the captain I learned how to duck dive, make better use of my GoPro and fish with a line. The latter was with limited success but considerable pleasure - failing to catch any fish while sitting in the tender in the middle of the sea under the stars is one of my favourite memories of the week. Thanks to High and the crew for a great trip.
Active and outdoorWildlife
Tour Type
Small Group TourSmall group tours usually have 8-12 participants and maximum up to 18 travelers
An excellent tour of Nepal. Trekking through the jungle was a great experience and views of the mountains - simply amazing! I was very impressed with the guides. They were gracious, knowledgeable and pleasure to trek with!!! In addition, the breadth and depth of knowledge the guide has is phenomenal, he made sure everything ran to plan while maintaining a cheerful deposition at all times. 10/10 to the company and the trip!!
Trekking and Hiking
Tour Type
Private Tour
Accommodation
Guest House, Hotel
Age Range
10-79 yrs
Operated in
english
Destinations
Poonhill trek, Pokhara, Kathmand
Poonhill trek, Pokhara, Kathmandu, Chitwan National Park, Tikhedhunga, Ghorepani, Tadapani
We had an absolutely wonderful week with Explore in Sri Lanka. Our tour was packed with amazing locations and fascinating experiences, but our tour guide, Sudesh, still managed to fit in a few extras requested by the group.
Our only regret at the end of the trip was that the wild elephants had evaded us, but that was just bad luck!
For us, this trip was the perfect way to experience a very different country and culture with the insight and knowledge that comes from an excellent local guide.
Active and outdoorWildlife
Tour Type
Small Group TourSmall group tours usually have 8-12 participants and maximum up to 18 travelers
Accommodation
Hotel, Resort
Age Range
16-99 yrs
Operated in
english
Destinations
Colombo, Negombo, Wilpattu Natio
Colombo, Negombo, Wilpattu National Park, Mihintale, Kandy, Koggala
My time in Nepal was amazing. as i arived in Kathmandu i was little bit scared. the company ACE has received me on the airport of kathmandu and brougt me to my hotel. everything was perfectly organizes. specially my guide Pasang Sherpa and Bombo Sherpa. both of this extremly helpfull and friendly persons helps me to get my dream coms true. thanks a lot my friends. i hope you are well
Trekking and Hiking
Tour Type
Private Tour
Accommodation
Hotel, Resort, Guest House
Age Range
5-80 yrs
Operated in
english
Destinations
Pokhara, Kathmandu, Chitwan Nati
Pokhara, Kathmandu, Chitwan National Park, Lumbini, Ghorepani, Tadapani, Ghandruk, Chitwan, Palpa, Tikhedhunga
An excellent 3 weeks with 2 excellent guides. Sri Lanka section was well organised by our guide Nala. he tweaked the itinerary so that we got the very best out of our time and imparted so much information about every aspect of Sri Lanka. He kept us on time fitting extra stops in if we were passing something to see like a banana market and fishermen hauling nets in on the beach. Accommodation was exactly as described and the usual Explore authentic assortment of comfortable and more rustic.
There were lots of English style plug sockets in the hotels, but i would take an adaptor as well just in case.
Highlights were climbing Adams Peak starting at 2am, and passing some very elderly people making the pilgrimage to the temple at the top. A unique experience. Also the train journey over 9 arch bridge. Great fun.
Maldives- again we had a superb guide- Moosa. Extremely knowledgeable about the ocean and also gave us a lot of fascinating history and politics background of the Maldives. Island visits provided an insight into the real country.
The boat was spacious clean and comfortable. Didn't expect the hotel like room services - bed making and towel changing! Food on the boat was amazing. Plentiful and a variety of dishes inc freshly caught fish. Had 2 snorkels a day building up the length and difficulty of them. So many colourful fish, it was like swimming in a tropical fish tank. Also saw turtles, moray eels, sharks and rays including a manta. The tender was always out with us keeping an eye on us whilst snorkelling.
Overall a fabulous itinerary and guides on land and sea
Active and outdoorWildlife
Tour Type
Small Group TourSmall group tours usually have 8-12 participants and maximum up to 18 travelers
Explore leader: for Sri Lanka only satisfactory. Not easy to understand, didn't seem to feel part of the group, didn't join us for meals, a poor communicator (relative to past explore trips)
For the dhoni Maldives cruise: Moosa was excellent in every way.
Active and outdoorWildlife
Tour Type
Small Group TourSmall group tours usually have 8-12 participants and maximum up to 18 travelers
Molt recomanat!! D'entrada perquè en Gokul i alguns dels seus treballadors parlen molt bé el castellà i ens han ajudat amb totes les barreres lingüístiques que teníem tant a dins com a fora de l'hotel i en les visites/excursions.
En Gokul i el seu Staff són encantadors. Tenen un hotel que està situat en una zona molt cèntrica a prop de Thamel i de la parada de busos per anar a Pokhara/Chitwan.
L'espai és molt bonic i tranquil. Les habitacions són molt còmodes. I ens ha agradat molt en relació qualitat preu.
Ens han ajudat amb tot el que ens feia falta. Les excursions i visites guiades eren planejades per l'agència d'en Gokul i han estat una experiència increïble. El guía (en Siri) ens ha explicat fins l'últim detall de les històries de la ciutat. I l'excursió a Chitwan que ens ha planejat en Gokul ha estat una passada! Dues nits increïbles en una mena de resort amb piscina (molt bo qualitat preu) per viure l'experiència plena del safari i altres activitats en el Parc Natural.
En definitiva, en Gokul i el seu Staff ens han permès viure l'experiència nepalí en plena essència!
City sightseeing
Tour Type
Private Tour
Accommodation
Hotel
Age Range
9-98 yrs
Operated in
english
Destinations
Pokhara, Kathmandu, Chitwan Nati
Pokhara, Kathmandu, Chitwan National Park, Chitwan
Looking back at our photos now we've returned to the UK we can't believe the amount we saw and the amazing experiences we had on this tour. Sri Lanka is an amazing beautiful country with some much going on - we only scratched the surface. Our tour leader Cham worked so hard to make sure that we had everything we needed, resolving our problems and sorting out food for our fussy son! His knowledge about Sri Lankan history and wildlife was immense. He even found the best place to buy genuine Sri Lanka cricket shirts for the sporty members of our group. The only thing we'd change was the pace of the second half of the Sri Lanka leg of the trip. The first half gave us time to chill and bond as a group, as well as hang out in the pool at Giritale and play cricket. The second half we moved every night and covered a massive distance, though interesting, this was quite tiring (especially for the kids), so we'd suggest that a two night stop in the middle of this element would resolve this issue easily. This was clear in the notes, however, as was the high chance of not getting the train. The pace did slow considerably for the Maldives element, with a lot of time on our boats travelling between reefs. The snorkelling was quite frankly mind-blowing, and even the more nervous swimmers loved it. The crew were fantastic, and the food was delicious. The guide knew his stuff, and made sure we had great snorkelling experiences. Our only criticism of this part of the trip was that splitting the group when we'd got to know each other and were getting on really well was disappointing. There were larger boats, and we'd have preferred to be on a single boat given how long we spent travelling separately. The crew did what they could to mitigate this by tying the boats together when we moored for snorkels, meals and overnight and that was great. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable trip, and with a few very small tweaks it'd be perfect!
Active and outdoor
Tour Type
Small Group TourSmall group tours usually have 8-12 participants and maximum up to 18 travelers