Bamboo Travel Traveller Reviews

We had the MOST AMAZING trip. There were so many great & fascinating experiences… the Angkor temples near Siem Reap (Ta Prohm was totally superb); the cycle ride, bamboo train and bat cave in Battambang; learning about the atrocities in Phnom Penh, which was of course very harrowing but essential to hear about it (and Sa Em , our guide, handled it with such sensitivity); the stunning venue at Champa Lodge; and then the gorgeous hotel by the beach (couldn’t have been more relaxing)… and to top it all off, the Novotel in Bangkok was absolutely fabulous. Throughout our journey, the guides were excellent. The combination of beautiful landscapes & temples, learning about the culture and history, and meeting such welcoming and friendly people made this a truly wonderful trip through Cambodia.

We have experienced several tours with Bamboo Travel and each one has been fabulous. Always meticulously organised, building all our thoughts and preferences into the trip as well as giving knowledgable advice on where to go and what to do. Luke has supported us a 100%, he is brilliant! We will definitely be planning more trips with Bamboo Travel in the future.

This was a customised trip to South India. Started in Pondicherry, then to Chennai, then to Mysore, across to the West Coast and down to the Cochin area and finally to Mumbai. We had dedicated drivers and guides throughout, we stayed at superb hotels, b&bs and homesteads. We visited cities, villages, an overnight houseboat, wildlife/safari parks and beach resorts. Our 3 week trip gave us a wonderful insight into this incredible region of India

This trip to South India is the third holiday arranged for us by Bamboo Travel. Previously we travelled to Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Their planning for our trip encapsulated all of the likes and dislikes we wanted from the drivers and guides through to the quality of hotels, the sights and everything we wanted to see and do.

We had a great visit to Calcutta, where we spent three nights at the excellent Oberoi Grand.and visited old childhood haunts and included some sightseeing with an excellent guide and driver. Then flew up to Gowahati in Assam for our river cruise, seeing local village life in stilted houses,visiting temples and enjoyed a great elephant ride, followed by jeep ride in the National Park where we saw wild elephant, the famous one-horned rhino and wonderful birds, and rounded the whole trip off with a wonderful lunch at a tea estate before flying back to Calcutta fo the homeward flight.

Charming, helpful and patient. Nothing was too much trouble.

My mother Trish and I travelled to Calcutta via Dubai on 1st February to revisit my mother's original teenage home as well as City where she was born. As part of this trip we also did some local sightseeing including the Victoria Memorial and Mother Theresas centre. Our brilliant Periplus team drove us around the old districts and facilitated access to mums second home in Ballygunge. We flew die to Cochin via Chennai and enjoyed beautiful sigg5s, seafood, traditional dancing and even their bi-annual bienale. Next we had a two day houseboat cruise on the Backwaters and relaxation in gorgeous surroundings befor3 flying home on 11th Feb I wish we'd done two weeks!

Like Stapleton Smyth went above and beyond putting a bespoke holiday together for my 80 year Old mother and I to revisit Kolkuta where she'd been born and then on to Fort Cochin and the Backwaters in Kerala. Not only did he put up with endless phone calls and emails but he also went after work to provide details to my mother at home as she was loathe to go out very often. All the tour provision, guides and drivers were exceptionally kind, knowledgeable and patient throughout. Peripluswere fantastic in arranging all of the above. We especially enjoyed Eighth Bastion and Purity in Kerala as unique hotels. Special thanks to our exemplary driver/guide Santosh Kumar from Cochin. Fantastic experience thank you Luke et al.

Starting in Bangkok for 6 nights and then my Son & Daughter joining us 2 nights later we had a private tour guide for 3 days showing us all the sights and experiences we wanted to see. Our guide was lovely and we had an amazing time. My Son & his girlfriend then went on to Cambodia for 4 nights and again had a private tour guide show them the wonderful sights of Ankor and Siem Reap before joining us in Manila!

Ewen at Bamboo Travel organised our trip, once again perfectly. 2 years ago Ewen also organised a wonderful trip for us in Japan we would definitely come back to him for our next Far Eastern holiday.

A varied holiday with a good balance of sight seeing in northern Thailand followed by total relaxation in the south at Khao Lak

A holiday when everything ran smoothly and we were free to discuss with our guides and drivers, the pre planned itinerary in detail. This often lead to small changes based on their local knowledge to make the days even more memorable.

Vibrant cities, ancient culture, friendliest people, exciting and stimulating food and stunning, varied scenery. Tokyo - so much to see and do, but go to less well visited places. Masumoto - fantastic hotel, food, and stunning castle, Tsumago - real "old" Japan and warm hospitality - no street lights, just the sounds of nature and real family life. If you only go to one place in your life make it Japan!

Brilliant!!! Met all our wishes - in fact more. Ewan at Bamboo travel made sure all our wishes were met and offered so many extra exciting ideas and things to do and see. He made sure our trip was the most memorable we'd experienced.

Our holiday was a return to Manilla for my wife to show the rest of us where she grew up. AS a result, she had specific places she wanted to visit and people that she wanted us to meet. Therefore, we couldn't just buy a package, we needed a customised itinery. Luke Stapleton Smith at Bamboo travel arranged a fantastic schedule for us and after to-ing and fro-ing several times to take into account our feedback and his local contacts advice of likely weather and other conditions; the itinery was agreed. We knew the trip was going to be memorable, but had no idea how much until arriving at Manila where we were greeted airside and taken through to be introduced to our 1st guide. From that point 100m into the airport, we had the most spectacular time with plenty of pleasant surprises and great guides and driver. We are normally independent travellers, and were reluctant to use a travel agency. We felt that in this case, as there are cultural differences, it would be better to travel here with the benefit of local knowledge. Bamboo Travel did not disappoint! We would not hesitate to recommend them. We have no connection with Bamboo Travel, we just like to recognise a job well done!

A fantastic itinery was put together for us and revisions happily made until we had a plan that we were all happy with. On the basis of our experience on this one trip, I happily recommend Bamboo Travel.

Private 2 week tour of Taiwan, visiting Taipei, Taroko Gorge, Sun Moon Lake and Tainan among other places.

Bamboo Travel did an excellent job adjusting one of their standard tours to match the time we had available,and our preferences. They also added a stopover in Hong Kong at our request. The standard of accommodation was very high and the local guide extremely friendly and efficient.

Bamboo Travel have been helping us with our travels in South East Asia for quite a few years now and, although their website shows suggested tours, they are expert in tailoring trips to suit individual travellers' interests. On several of our trips, Bamboo have arranged for us to travel between destinations by train rather than by car, as trains are one of my husbands great interests. In Bagan, having no head for heights, I preferred to miss the sunset view and, while my husband and our guide climbed the pagoda, our driver refused to leave me on my own and took me to see the rest of the drivers taking a break – the older ones playing a card game while the younger ones played their version of « keepy-uppy » '. On the same trip to Myanmar in 2015 we visited the usual sights in Mandalay, Bagan and Yangon but Bamboo also arranged for us to spend 3 hours on horseback in the countryside around Bagan. The land out in this area is deep soft sand, inaccessible by motor vehicle, but easily negotiable by ox-cart or horse. We passed through villages where the women and children rushed outside to wave to us and were even invited by the men of one village council to dismount and take coffee with them, something we regretfuly declined. The horses were initially surprised by the white oxen but soon became accustomed as every time we rounded a bend there were more to see. The oxen, however, on one occasion took serious exception to our group of three horses and riders and took off at a gallop across a field, towing the wooden plough behind them and pursued on foot by the farmer. We still giggle at the memory. In Yangon instead of showing us the University buildings, our guide took us to an artists' gallery and workshop where she also interpreted for me so that I could exchange ideas with the artists.

Bamboo Travel are specialists in tours to South East Asia. Their staff are experts in finding side trips and extras to add to or modify suggested itineraries. The companies they use locally in each country are all excellent, both in terms of organisation and personnel.