Absolute Escapes Traveller Reviews

Travelling from Kent , we flew from London Heathrow to Aberdeen(not part of the Itinerary) The holiday began with the collection of a hire car at Aberdeen Airport. This was a little complicated. The hire agreement was lengthy and would have taken hours to read the small print, so I just signed in hope! Disappointingly the agreement did not include breakdown or recovery, which was an added extra, probably hidden somewhere in all the small print. This was the ONLY part of our trip that disappointed. A six mile drive from airport to ferry, no problem and overnight sail to Lerwick, all seamless. Straightforward boarding process, allocation of cabin, all as set out in the itinerary, put together carefully by Absolute Escapes. There were so many highlights it’s hard to choose. Lerwick was a lovely town with all the amenities you would expect and close to many of the tourist attractions. The Hotel was great and fairly close to the centre. After 2 nights we moved from Lerwick to Hillswick we decided to do some Island hopping, the weather was atrocious on that day but we ended up at Haroldswick on Unst and decided to call in to Victoria Tea Room for a cuppa. Or that was the plan! When we got there we couldn’t get in because we hadn’t booked a table! (Perhaps worth mentioning to future travellers). Still it was a great day out and we enjoyed the ferry trips. Hillswick itself was lovely, the hotel, St. Magnus Bay was very nice, our room was outstanding, breakfast was exceptional and we enjoyed one evening meal from their restaurant, which was nice. There was a lovely beach which we shared with the sheep! Our transfer to Orkney from Lerwick was ok, we didn’t use the reclining seats reserved for as we found the seating area claustrophobic, very bright lights and games machines for the children to play with, so there was not much chance of us getting any relaxation there. We found more comfort and relaxation in the forward bar area. The Hotel in Orkney was beautiful, the host was very friendly and helpful and the breakfasts were out of this world! However, for our age group (70-75), it was a little far from the Town Centre, where we could only visit by car. Our Ferry from Stromness to Scrabster was fine, in fact we had fairly calm crossings on all our ferry trips! The holiday would normally end there but as we had family in the Glasgow area they arranged for the car hire to be extended for 1 more day so we could journey south to Glasgow, (with an overnight stop in Fort William which is somewhere we know well, not part if the itinerary) and returned the car to Glasgow Airport as arranged. All in all we travelled 688 miles by car! Fortunately there was no problem as we had no accident, bumps or scrapes and the damage waiver excess of £200 was returned promptly. The additional cost of breakdown cover was £119. Overall we had a fantastic trip and we thank Absolute Escapes for putting this together for us and making the adjustments as we requested with no fuss. . We would certainly recommend their services to anyone who enquires.

Initially came across Absolute Escapes from a "google search" as we new what type of holiday we were looking for and their website options seemed to suit our requirements, We found them very helpful from our initial enquiry all the way through to the final itinerary being put together, as varied by us. Many thanks to them.

We were lucky with the weather, only 1 day of rain, which allowed us to take many picturesque photos / videos. The accommodation booked for us was ideal for our needs, adding to a thoughly memorable experience. Although a warning was issued to us prior to our holiday about the path around Loch Lomond, I think the difficult terrain at times around this area, could perhaps be highlighted in greater detail. All in all a most memorable and enjoyable holiday.

Friendly, helpful, professional, and I would recommend others to book via Absolute Escapes.

We hiked the Dingle Way around the Dingle peninsula in Ireland. Stayed at many wonderful guest houses, and had great food and drink!

Zoe from Absolute Escapes was extremely helpful in all of the planning and our numerous questions and changes. She had excellent information on transportation, restaurants and sites to visit. Our group was a little large and she moved things around to accommodate us.

Walking holiday on the West Highland Way.

Their selection of accommodation, their itinerary brochure and their helpful hints for the holiday were first class. We did not have to worry about any aspect of the holiday.

Walking this magical route was like stepping into a Faerie land. So many gorgeous paths, awesome views and moments of complete stillness. We loved the different lochs all linked up by the Caledonian canal. Laura, put together an incredible plan of lovely B and Bs, all with their own unique charm. It was such a treat to have all the admin covered in such a supremely professional way. Accommodation on the GGW is fairly sparse and therefore hats off to Laura for pulling together such a brilliant itinerary. There was excellent recommendations for eating out which we made use of and this allowed us to feel in control of our holiday (important to us). Our legs are tired but our hearts and minds are totally relaxed and open. Exactly the holiday we needed. Thank you so much Laura for making it happen!

Professional, incredibly easy to communicate with. Managed to put together a brilliant holiday for us with professionalism and care for every detail.

2-week Self-Drive Tour of Cornwall & Devon in the UK

Arranged itinerary, car & all accommodation bookings; communication & customer service was excellent.

We had a lovely time walking the Great Glen Way from the 4th July to the 10th July. Accommodation was perfect and our hosts were very friendly. Our luggage was always waiting for us at the appropriate destination making it all in all a lovely holiday. Thanks again for all your assistance. We would certainly use your services again.

Absolute Escapes worked with us to tailor our walking holiday to suit our timescale and dates. Nothing seemed to be too difficult or a problem to them.

We flew into Glasgow and spent two days in that city before beginning the Absolute Escapes itinerary. Kate (our travel agent) provided us with vouchers and tourist information for Glasgow and surrounding areas, including interesting markers for our route to the first ferry. We felt well equipped as soon as we arrived in the UK. Our first stay was in Portree, on the Isle of Skye. On the ferry to the Isle of Skye, we saw porpoises swimming near the boat! This area had such a wealth of stunning views, historic sites and lively pub scenes, and the Bosville Hotel was a great place to have as a base. Also, I love tablet and I brought back some extra bags of it to sustain me during my teaching year. My daughter and I booked a coasteering morning with Skye Adventure, and it was amazing. Two guides led 4 of us on a swim/cliff-umping excursion off of Kilmaluag, the northern tip of the isle. It felt absolutely safe and very special—we saw comorants and other seabirds in their nests on the cliffs and felt like the only people who had ever been there. We ferried to the Outer Hebrides and spent two nights at Scarista House. it was truly an escape, and the beaches were incredible. My teenager looked so at peace, just looking at the horizon. We were very lucky with the weather—it hardly rained at all, and it was warm enough that we took a short swim in the ocean by Scarista House! We loved the constant presence of sheep and cows, and my daughter was particularly enamoured with the heilan coos.

Kate was wonderful. She was very clear and communicative, and we really appreciated her help with shaping our trip to exactly what we wanted. We altered the original package, and Kate was forthcoming with advice and understanding of how to best include Glasgow and the road trip for our family's pace. We emailed several times and had a Zoom appointment as we put the trip together--every interaction was warm and informative. We felt we were in very good hands.

We had a ten day self guided walking holiday along the South West Coast Path from Minehead to Bude with accommodation booked along the way and baggage moved. The walk was challenging but the scenery and views were absolutely stunning and we always had wonderful accommodations to look forward to when we got to our destination.

Communication was excellent throughout. The accommodations chosen where always well located, close to the path and generally of a very high standard.

For the first time in my life, I did such a Trail all alone. And it was the best experience ever! I did the West Highland Day in 8 walking days, with a restday in Kingshouse. The nature along the West Highland Way is so beautiful and diverse- it never gets boring. The stage between Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy was not so interesting and beautiful and because of the closeness to the street a bit boring. But the rest of the 142 km were just WOW! For me it was a hard walk, not because of height (there is never more than 700m up), but I was not used to walk every day +/- 20km in distance. I should have trained that better in advance. The West Highland Way is the perfect way for everyone who doesn't seek solitude and enjoys it to meet people from all over the world. You never walk longer than 15min without seeing other people. I loved it to be able to walk alone in my own speed, make a break whenever I needed it, but still have other hikers around to chat if I wanted to. You meet the same people again and again. On the trail. In the B&B, at the restaurant in the evening... and it builds an amazing trail-community. After two days in Fort William, I went on the Great Glen Way and walked it in 6 days. The Great Glen Way is much less crowded. There I walked easily 3-5hours without meeting anybody. Because there is not enough people, there was no such thing as a trail-community. The scenery is nice, but less diversified. So, personally, I enjoyed the WHW much more than the GGW, but as it is so nice to walk all the way to Inverness, I wouldn't want to miss it. And don't get me wrong: when I give the WHW a 9/10, the GGW is still a 7/10!

I can wholeheartedly recommend Absolute Escape. Everything, without exception, was planed carefully and there was not one single problem from beginning to the end. The choice of accommodations were very good. The always friendly, supportive and fast emails from Nairne McBeath is a major contribution to this good experience.