Absolute Escapes Traveller Reviews

We did a 100 miles of the John Muir Walk over 5 days to mark 10 years of our charity. It was quite challenging, it was meant to be. The John Muir Walk I couldn't recemend any higher as the scenery is amazing and being able to walk from Kirkintillock to Dunbar without hardly seeing a road was quite spectacular.

Absolute Escapes organised the walk, our accomodation and our maps itinary etc which were very well done and took a lot of the stress out of having to organise that part, nothing was a problem for them.

A friend and I booked a 7-day walking holiday of Hadrian's Wall through Absolute Escapes, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The walk was superb, despite rain, wind, mud, and sore feet and legs. The B&Bs that we stayed at were excellent and we were very glad of soft beds, warm showers and delicious meals every night. The scenery en route just gets better and better as you move out of Newcastle towards the west coast - even in the inclement weather, you just can't stop staring at the views. You can literally see for miles. The air was clean and fresh, the people friendly, the route interesting and beautiful, and you walk across a whole country! The team at Absolute Escapes obviously know their stuff - there were no glitches at all, apart from some recommended restaurants not being around anymore in Newcastle. Already we are looking at another walk next year and will definitely recommend Absolute Escapes to others for a seamless, professional and thoroughly enjoyable holiday.

Absolute Escapes was our tour operator/organiser and they did a superb job of arranging the accommodation details and ensuring our luggage was collected and dropped off each day at our destination. I had a couple of questions en route and they were answered quickly and happily by Scott. Nothing seems to be too much trouble for them!

We went from Edinburgh to Oban to Portree to Granton on Spey to Callander and back to Edinburgh staying 2 days in each area. This allowed us to move at a good speed but to have enough time in each area to have our own experience. The B & B's were wonderful and each one was special in it's own way leaving us wishing to go to all again as the owners were a credit to their industry. We loved it all. In Oban we went to the Distillery Tour, excellently delivered by Deirdre, we went to Dunollie Castle and had an outside tour by Ian which was very special and informative as well as a tour of the inside by a lady who's name I cannot remember but who should great pride in it and gave us some wonderful stories of Hope the previous owner who put an eclectic set of memorabilia together there. We went to Mallig, via Glencoe, saw the site of the massacre in Glencoe. Took the Ferry from Mallig to Skye, went on to Portree and walked and drove around Portree, Uig and that whole area, by the grave of Flora McDonald and Alexander McQueen. We visited Plocton village ( a real gem) on the way to Granton on Spey. Granton is a really lovely place and another lovely plave to experience tranquil moderate walks and chill out. We saw a red squirrell in the woods there (certainly a rarity in our eyes!). We went from Granton to Aviemore and up into the Cairngorms to see the Reindeer and went on the tour. This was possibly the highlight (among many lovely highlights) of our trip. The guide was brilliant and (didn't get her name) she showed a marvellous respect and love for these gorgeous if naughty creatures. They are a massive asset and should be cared for and encouraged. Children of all ages from 3 to 103 will love them! From there we visited the Wildlife Park where we saw the Red Pandas (asleep of course!), the camels, polar bears and lots more, another lovely experience. We then made a circuitous over the hills route to Callander avoiding the motorway and going through some lovely countryside. Callander was lovely too and had some excellent moderate to challenging walks. From there we went to Edinburgh for our last night before going home after 10 wonderful days. All through it has to be said we had super meals everywhere we went with great cooking and value all round. We hadn't realised though the need, even in October to book restaurants in Scotland, we know that now. Scotland was at its best with little or no rain and bright Autumnal weather a feature.

We asked Absolute Escapes (I picked them at random and boy was I lucky) to recommend and put together a self drive package that would allow us to tour Scotland, in particular the Highlands at a leisurely pace while at the same time maximising our holiday experience. They did this in spades. We wanted a high quality, good for value, B & B experience as we felt that this was the best way to get to the real Scotland and would be very affordable. We are thrilled with our package and they were very professional, courteous and friendly to deal with. At no point did we need to chase them, everything promised was delivered and exceeded our expectations, they are top class and a lovely team to deal with.

Absolute Escapes arranged a fabulous holiday experience for me and my long time travel buddy that took us by rail/ferry from Glasgow, to Fort William, to the Isle of Skye, up to Inverness and then back to Glasgow. It goes without saying that all the scenery was beautiful, but high points of the trip would have to be the Jacobite Steam Train from Fort William to Mallaig and a full day touring on the Isle of Skye.

Absolute Escapes was prompt in responding to inquiries, flexible (they planned a tour based on our schedule), and kept us informed all the way through the booking process and made sure to touch base with updates during the time leading up to our trip. All of the accommodations exceeded our expectations, the scheduling and set up of transportation was perfect, and the suggestions of local restaurants, attractions, etc. were right on the money. Just cannot recommend AE enough to anyone who asks!

Our holiday was a beautiful mix of nature, wilderness, cities, small towns, sea, river, mountains, lochs, rain and sunshine. Thanks to Absolute Escapes, all our guesthouses and B&Bs were warm, welcoming, perfectly located and served great breakfasts.We started from Glencoe and then headed to Skye. We spent a day in Gairloch, two days in Grantown on Spey and then three amazing days in Edinburgh.

Absolute Escapes took care of everything. We just had to stay at beautiful guesthouses and B&Bs. They customised the trip according to what we wanted from our holiday incorporating suggestions and giving their own ideas. Sine and Scott from Absolute Escapes were both really patient with us and responded promptly even to last minute changes.

We spent nine days walking the West Highland Way. The experience was memorable and largely very enjoyable. We experienced a few days of rain which made walking along the shore of Loch Lomond difficult and requiring great care. Overall we found the walking well within our capabilities although it took us longer than we had anticipated to cover distances on some days. The scenery was magnificent and we enjoyed all aspects of it. Accommodation was largely very good to excellent. Baggage transfer arrangements were executed impeccably. Two accommodation locations were disappointing on different ways. One Hotel did not provide a mattress protector for the bed, did not provide the requested sandwich option and supplied a badly bruised apple for the packed lunch purchased from the Hotel. The B&B in Kinlochleven did not quite live up to the advertising material assertion regarding a great Scottish welcome with a perception created that the convenience of the hostess with regard to breakfast was more important than the guests' desires. Provision of a used cake of soap in the bathroom was not appropriate. The Rowardennan Hotel accommodation was good but affected by the room being immediately adjacent to the kitchen door which was used multiple times, activating a sensor light, while we were trying to sleep. Otherwise, accommodation at Milngavie, Drymen, Balmaha, Beinglas Farm, Kings House and Fort William was excellent.

Absolute Escapes were extremely helpful and accommodating to our needs. Their information package was excellent and most useful during the walk. All arrangements for accommodation and baggage transfer worked without hitch. We were very pleased with our holiday. Thank you.

My husband and I spent 10 wonderful days doing a self drive in Scotland. We visited Inverness, Skye, Ft. William, Callander and Edinburgh. We had a teriffic vacation, and hope to one day return.

My husband and I used Absolute Escapes to plan our incomparable vacation to Scotland. I was completely overwhelmed with everything that Scotland had to offer. The staff at Absolute Escapes are the cream of the crop with their professionalism and in-depth knowlege of Scotland. Absolute Escapes hand taylored the perfect itinerary just for us. It was a real bonus having a travel agency local to Edinburgh. I will not hesitate to book with Absolute Escapes again, or recommend their services to anyone who wishes to plan that special trip to Scotland.

We spent 12 days touring the Scottish Isles and the North Coast of Scotland. The holiday was excellent. Everything worked smoothly, hotels etc. were fantastic and the weather was far better than we expected or planned for, including two superb days on Skye.

Great arrangements that worked like clockwork. Very attentive to our requirements and lots of consultation and attention to detail to tailor the holiday to our needs. We would definitely use Absolute Escapes again.

I walked from Milngavie to Fort William on the West Highland Way using B&B arrangements provided by Absolute Escapes.

Everything was perfect! Absolute Escapes was a joy to work with from the very beginning and I was extremely satisfied with the accommodations. Everything was always in order and I could concentrate on the walk without any worry about B&B details or baggage transfer. One tiny detail even proved extremely useful. In my trip materials, James included a brochure about the Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum which alerted me to the availability of hiking merchandise. It turned out that I had worn holes in my boot insoles (which caused blistering) and I would have had to do the whole WHW had I not been able to purchase new insoles in the Green Welly Stop. This was a real life-saver. Had it not been for that brochure, I wouldn't have suspected that the Green Welly Stop was a well-stocked outdoor store.

Good gentle walking on the John Muir Way, from coast to coast via a wide variety of terrain: coastal paths, woodland, canal footpaths, farmland paths, a few hills (but nothing arduous) and even on the beach. Stand out memories: the Kelpies and Falkirk wheel, the Antonine wall and Roman hill fort ruins, the Forth of Firth bridges, the view from the top of Arthur's Seat. We used the B&B and baggage transfer service which worked well. The B&Bs were good with one exception - it was adequate. We were fairly lucky with the weather considering it was October. The rugby world cup was on and we managed to find pubs in each place we stayed that were showing the matches and enjoyed excellent local beers.

Absolute Escapes were very easy to deal with, responsive to our requests and their actions matched their promises. No complaints at all.