Cycle Kerala & Tropical India

One of my best ever cycling holidays lead by a brilliant local team (Vini and Arun) headed up by the amazing Safi. It was good to experience the chaos of a city in Mysore with crazy traffic and cows in the road. Fort Kochi, which is a world heritage site, was laid back with lots of interesting things to see on our day off the saddle and lovely boutique shops where there was no hassle from vendors! The night on the converted rice barge was lovely and relaxing and so nice to float past everyday life on the river. Cycling along the coast, it was good to see fishermen hauling in their catch and to paddle in those warm waters. I particularly loved waving at friendly locals as we cycled by (and them waving back) and the school children so excited to see us and practice their English. Apart from the climb up to Ooty which is optional, I felt this holiday should be rated a difficulty level of 3 rather than 4. Once you've finished the Western Ghats, the cycling is very flat. Added to all that, we had a truly lovely group of fellow cyclists on the holiday who all helped make this such a pleasurable trip.

The perfect balance of a fairly challenging two weeks of cycling, varied scenery, activities out of the saddle that are just as good as those in it, and a beach ending that is the cherry on top! Who doesn't want to spend their rest day searching for tigers & elephants in Bandipur National Park? Our leader, Safi, had 15 years experience and his local knowledge made sure we saw the real heart of India. I would go and do this very trip again and I don't think I've ever said that about a trip. 10 stars!

Surprisingly beautiful, challenging and hospitable.

Our first cycling adventure with Exodus (after a great various activity tour to Vietnam last year) and this tour was just perfect for my husband and I as we love being active. However we still enjoyed the free days to explore and the sightseeing too. We had a great group and excellent guides. It was also our first trip to India and we felt as though we saw the real India, especially in the first week. The people were so friendly and they never stopped smiling and waving at us. The bikes were very good quality and suited to the mixed terrain. The hotels were generally of a good standard although a couple not so much but appreciate that it’s not always easy to find suitable accommodation in certain areas.

This trip is certainly an insight into real India, we definitely felt we were in at the deep-end! We've previously cycled in Vietnam and Sri Lanka with Exodus and this trip was very different. Our previous holidays included a lot of information about the abundant flora, fauna and history of the countries, this trip not so much. However, it is very interesting to cycle through the villages and towns to see how the people are living and the people were very friendly towards us. Don't under-estimate he climb up Ooty Hill, it's an unrelenting slog, but well worth the pain for the sense of pride at the top and the lovely stop at the Highland Cafe. Some people in the group had asked for electric bikes and 2 of them were small-wheeled and, in my opinion, looked quite poor and not up to the job. However, our non-electric bikes were absolutely fine. The roads are very busy and we had some sections cycling on the highway so I would say that this isn't cycling for the faint-hearted. However, our guide was excellent at keeping the group together through the 'dodgy' bits! The cycling for the first few days does include a fair few hills so don't expect it to be flat! Also, some of the road surfaces can be a bit rough, or even non-existent in some places, so don't forget your padded cycling shorts! Eating out is very cheap in the south and we had some delicious food. Also as far as I'm aware no-one in our group suffered with any tummy upsets. In the main, the hotels were good. We had a couple which were a bit basic, but our guide explained that this was because there wasn't anything else in the area, but other hotels were excellent so it's swings and roundabouts. All in all, a very good trip and we definitely feel like we've seen real, incredible, India.