Malaysia and Singapore Explorer

Very few small group tour operators offer tours of the Malaysian peninsular. This one reads great in the trip notes, but overall I would say there was less free time than I expected, and fewer opportunities to explore adventurous food options. Apart from that, the group was fantastic, the tour leader was friendly and super-accommodating (the Singapore guide was also excellent) and most of the hotels were good. I feel like I've had a taste of what the peninsular offers and look forward to returning there independently.

Our experience on our travels never relate to tick boxes, but what we do is be honest about the trip. Our leader, Mo, was excellent, but with only 4 clients one of whom was American and not been on an Explore trip before seemed to have her own agenda and did not join in on many trips, dinners etc causing little interaction of normal sized groups. We are not “city people” but thought there was enough in the trip to excite us. Singapore was great, but not so enamoured with Kuala Lumpur. The hotel in K L was not great either. The Homestay hosts were brilliant but the room and facilities were quite rough, probably great when we were younger but now in our seventies a bit challenging. Melacca, Penang and Langkawi were good. Will not go down as one of our favourite trips out of many with Explore, but still richer for the experience and making us realise as age creeps on, that comfort becomes more important to us.

It was a well-balanced trip. Highlights were a visit to an old man's traditional family home in Melaka and the rolling hills of the tea plantation in the Cameron Highlands. The food was varied, interesting and delicious. Joey worked hard as our tour leader.

Humid but great, plenty of variety in activities and a good balance of organised events and free time. A wonderful group. Tour leader Joey was great and invited us to all eat together every night at local affordable places.

This was a very interesting tour that included cities, temples, historical homes, a tropical island, and tremendous food experiences. Our tour leader, Joey, was awesome. He displayed a genuine love of Malaysia and shared a ton of local knowledge, history and stories. He always had a lot of suggestions for how to fill the free exploring time in each location. He made this trip better by adding activities and local food and coffee stops. This was to make sure we had the opportunity to experience local fruit and other Malaysian snacks and desserts. The most memorable stop was at a Durian fruit stand which allowed us to experience this very expensive and stinky fruit. The accommodations were as expected for our price level and were fine. Staying with a Malaysian family at a homestay was a very good experience. Even though I had a rough night’s sleep in a non air conditioned cabin, I had never slept under mosquito netting. I really enjoyed Langkawi as it provided the true tropical island experience and the opportunity to swim in very warm ocean water. I would recommend this trip for any foodie who is looking forward to delicious southeast food and some very interesting food experiences.