Absolute Escapes Traveller Reviews

My husband and I walked the Herriot Way. My husband is a vet who, as a young boy, was inspired by James Herriot. We had a wonderful week walking in the Dales. Beautiful scenery, beautiful villages and excellent food at every stop we made. The walk was manageable for us and I would highly recommend it for people who are new to walking holidays.

Erin at Absolute Escapes organised the whole thing for us: bag transfers, taxi transfer when required, accommodation at each stop. Everything ran like clockwork meaning all we had to do was walk each day and enjoy it!

We celebrated our 30th Anniversary with this very special trip of a lifetime. We opted for the self-drive option with castle stays so we could explore the glorious Scottish lands at our leisure. We landed in Edinburgh which was a fantastic start to grounding ourselves in the depth and richness of Scottish history and continued on to delightFULL Port Appin at the Airds Hotel, through the Glencoe with a stop to see the infamous Harry Potter-inspired Jacobite Railway, onwards past Inverness to soak in the glorious sea at the marvelous Dornoch Castle Hotel with a day trip to the fairytail Dunrobin Castle and then to the stunning and elegant Fonab Castle at Pitlochry with a return to Edinburgh via the iconic St. Andrews and a warm Scottish welcome at Rufflets St. Andrews, with a short day trip to see the Firth of Forth Bridge in the quaint Queensbury.

Given our busy life and this being our first time in Scotland, we put our full faith in Hamish from Absolute Escapes to plan our self-drive holiday and castle stays. It was a true delight and gift to have everything planned so meticulously with all our wishes fulfilled and MORE. We are already dreaming of our next Absolute Escapes experience.

It has long been an ambition to tour the Hebrides further, following a holiday on Skye, a long time ago. When circumstances meant that had an opportunity to achieve our ambition presented itself, we found ourselves not really knowing how to go about getting a worthwhile trip sorted out. After a bit of research, we entrusted our Hebridean Adventure to the Team at Absolute Escapes. The service was excellent from the start, everything easy to arrange, even with us having some pretty exacting requirements, nothing was too much trouble. Before we knew it, we had a suggested itinerary, information about our accommodation and ferry crossings, stress free. Car packed and off we went. We thought we knew some of the areas we were going to travel to and through, but to our absolute delight we found ourselves exploring areas we had not previously ventured into from Day 1. Accommodation was top notch right through the holiday, all friendly hosts, comfortable and of course you can not forget the marvellous food. All of them gave a perfect base from which to explore further. Our only real concern before setting off was being in the right place at the right time for the ferries. We need not have worried, all we had to do was follow the detailed itinerary and we were fine. Everything going like clockwork, again pretty much stress free. Everywhere we went had something to offer, everywhere you looked there was a view, stunning mountain ranges, rolling wild moors, jagged cliffs and bright white beaches, as well as historic places, just fantastic. We probably would never have ventured as far without the help of Absolute Escapes, we can not thank them enough for an amazing trip, simply marvellous.

Absolute Escapes were helpful, approachable and ensured that we had everything we needed. The suggestions in the information were diverse and the information was excellent. No "high pressure" selling, just friendly advice and sensible suggestions. We can't fault them.

I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted solitude. I wanted a path that would lead to contemplation and reflection. The Pennine Way seemed the perfect fit. I knew nothing of the trail or the area prior to planning this excursion. I spent the winter studying maps, books, and blogs of other walkers. While I became familiar with the aspects of the path, nothing really prepares one for this walk (especially if you have never done distance walking in the UK). It was everything I anticipated and so much more. The logistics were all perfectly set up by my tour operator, which enabled me to concentrate on the joy of the walk, the quirks of the countryside, the beauty of spring in the Dales... and yes the rain, hail, bogs, and slabs. What a once in a lifetime experience!

Absolute Escapes was like the best of friends: they provided the information and support needed for my trip from the planning phase all the way to the end of the trail; they were standing by, always ready to assist, making my first UK walk (the Pennine Way) a huge success. I greatly appreciated the encouragement, the key advice and tips, and the accuracy of the information provided. I am already planning my next trip!

Four of us walked the Dingle Way from start to finish. It was a great hike going from easy to hard and everything in between. Our accommodations and breakfasts were fantastic. Again the crew at Absolute Escapes did a fantastic job of setting this up.

Very helpful and was quick to respond to our questions and concerns. If we had any problems they were quickly resolved. Katia was wonderful to work with,

Organised to meet all our custom needs, budget, convenience.

Communicated promptly, clearly, efficiently.

Third annual week-long hiking in the UK with father / son combo, this time to celebrate son's graduation form college. We chose Rob Roy Way this year based on loving the Scottish citizens that we have encountered on past trips as well as reviews of gorgeous countryside we would encounter.

Kate from Absolute Escapes was great from start to finish with our planning, follow up questions, logistics, payments, etc. B&Bs in which we stayed each night were convenient, clean, and well staffed. Zero issues with daily luggage transfers. Small handbook provided by Absolute Escapes on route and surrounding history was well done and used frequently.

Fabulous 60 mile walking week along the River Thames (East Section). Peaceful yet fascinating - loved the way the scenery and sites get bigger and better as you approach the centre of London with some truly iconic sites to photograph and remember. Even though the weather wasn't great - a bit early season - that didn't matter and I had a blast...

This was my third walking holiday with Absolute Escapes (previously St Cuthbert's Way & Isle of Wight Coastal Path) and I love the fact that they feel like they really understand what makes multi day walking such a pleasure for some of us! Faultless website information and pre-walk preparation is the norm, flexibility and quality is built in and on the one occasion I needed to speak to somebody to check a BnB booking they were available and swiftly sorted it. Love this company - they feel like my Edinburgh "walking family".

SUW is VERY quiet - but very beautiful too. Its a solid hike - none of the days are overwhelmingly long - but each of them has something of interest to see. Only negative is that due to the low density of population the area has lost a number of B and Bs - which means there's no place to stay several nights - which means taxi transfers to and fro. Its not the end of the world - but its not as relaxing as eg the Coast to Coast where you just hike point to point every day and never get in a car the whole way.

AE was great - arrangements were very professionally done and the team was a pleasure to deal with. I would definitely book through AE again.

Walked the Rob Roy Way from Drymen to Pitlochry in Autumn. Planning by Absolute Escapes was good, and info supplied was helpful. I took each day's info with us, in a waterproof cover. Autumn was absolutely the right time to go, as I already knew from having visited the area decades ago and enjoyed the colours. Kingshouse travel were very good. In general the accommodation was fine. We did feel slightly over charged for the quality of the meal we felt obliged to take in Strathyre for want of other alternative places to eat. Their packed lunch was also much higher priced than others I'd been accustomed to (my reference is recent - I did the St Cuthbert's Way in May this year. The actual walk is just as many reviews had warned:- nice scenery, not particularly strenuous, but way too much tarmac or very hard surfaces.

Good communication. Rapidly made changes when flooding put one of our overnight accommodations out of action. Good descriptions of each day's walk. Used a very good transfer/taxi/baggage company who were very responsive and 100% reliable.