EASTRAVEL Traveller Reviews

We stayed in Panwa Boutique Beachfront Resort in Phuket, Thailand. It was a superb location & suited our needs perfectly. As a family group of 7 (grown up kids) it was far enough away from the hustle & bustle, but there was plenty to see & do nearby & just a 40min taxi ride away from the crazy night life.

Cathy from Eastravel was excellent. I hadn't travelled to Asia before & her advice & recommendations were invaluable. She understood our needs & arranged & booked the flights & hotel on our behalf. The hotel was beautiful & in the prefect location.

Just come back from the holiday of a lifetime and the most amazing honeymoon! We went to Thailand for 2 weeks, starting in Bangkoh, then to Khao Lak, Elephants Hills then ended in Koh Lanta. We honestly couldn't have wished for more! We loved every minute of it!

Dorothy at East Travel was so helpful throughout and offered us lots of options when booking our honeymoon, to ensure everything was exactly right for us. We loved the personal service and even went into the office to meet with Dorothy to go through every thing just before we booked. We knew we wanted to go to Thailand and with Dorothy's expert advice, we were able to pin point the exact areas we wanted to visit to make the most of our 2 weeks! We were extremely happy with all of the hotels we went too, the transfers in between all went very smoothly, and we absolutely LOVED the East Travel App. It was so handy as a referral point, each morning we would wake up and have a look! Would highly recommend East Travel, and we are already in talks with them to arrange our next adventure!

A TRIP TO DELHI FOR A WEDDING AND KERALA FOR A HOLIDAY

EASTRAVEL IPSWICH

Fabulous trip of 35 days taking in Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao, Thailand and Singapore.

Great communication before, during and after the trip to help plan and support our journey.

Thanks to the team at Eastravel for organising such a fantastic trip. It was informative, exhausting, fascinating, overwhelming, exciting and fun all at the same time. Pretty much what we were hoping for! Everything went to plan and was extremely well-organised. We particularly loved Pingyao, Guilin, Huangshan and Hangzhou. Our memories include: our introduction to Pingyao by mad golf cart ride; listening to Chinese music at night next to the lake in Guilin; walking on the inside of paths at Huangshan because we’re afraid of heights (until we weren’t); dumplings with chives for breakfast. The Yide Hotel in Pingyao and the Pig’s Inn in Xidi were perfect. It really felt we were in old China. The Ru Yi Boutique Hotel in Hangzhou showed the elegantly, modern side of China and had a fantastic restaurant. If we knew then what we know now, we would have dropped the visits to the Summer Palace, Forbidden City and Terracotta Warriors. This is entirely due to the sheer volume of other visitors.

Eastravel were extremely good. They helped tailored our holiday to our needs, found just the type of hotel we wanted and overall the trip went to plan and was well-organised.

Our trip was from the 23/10/19 to the 17/10/19. We flew from London to Denpasar Bali via KL with Malaysian Airlines. The flights were on time and as comfortable as it gets in economy. The timings worked really well and we slept as much as is possible. We had a few meals on the flights which I found to be nice (I had the more traditional style dishes) but my wife didn't like some of the options and therefore had to go without. All our transfers were via EXO Travel Indonesia who were brilliant (we had the same driver and guide the whole time and they were lovely people who told us about the different regions, events etc. we passed). Our speed boat transfer was with Blue Water Safari which was quick and efficient. We spend the first part of our trip in Ubud, Bali. The Komaneka Bisma is a beautiful hotel with great suites and a nice atmosphere. It's really close to the monkey forest in Ubud as well as cheaper and tastier Warungs along the slightly back road it occupies. The pool and grounds were lovely. Absolutely could not fault this hotel and it's staff, would highly recommend it and we were sad to leave. We then transferred to Karma Reef resort on Gili Meno via Padang Bai. The Karma Reef location is great as it's right on the beach and next to the arrival point (our transfer was to Gili T and the hotel boat picked us up from there). The resort is on the East of the island facing Gili Air and you can snorkel right off the beach. They also put on a band and cinema on the beach which we really enjoyed. The staff once again were great. We stayed in a beach tent which was fun but a little dark and noisy. The sounds really travel on the islands and we were disturbed by the music from the other islands and the mosque call to prayer until we got accustomed to it. The resort has paddle boards to use. We also took a boat trip with one of the local guides from a warung we ate at and saw the few different sites of interest for snorkelling around the island. Loads of good warungs to eat at. The lake wasn't particularly interesting and the dock wasn't safe to access and was barriered off. Walking to the different areas of the island was pretty easy. Lots of wild cats there but they are all friendly. The islands exterior looks pretty lovely but they haven't fully recovered from an earthquake and there is a lot of litter and fly tipping, more so within the interior of the island. Last place we visited was Plataran Menjangan. We had an ocean villa and the room was very nice and clean and comfortable. The loungers and plunge pool were a nice touch and we had monkeys and deer visit us. The key thing about this hotel is that it is completely isolated from anywhere else and takes a very long time to get to. Only one of the restaurants was operating during our visit and the food options were therefore very limited. A lot of the food didn't cater to our tastes and a lot of it was western which defeated the point we thought. We used one of the hotel kayaks and went over to the other side of the river on which the hotel sits. You can't really snorkel at this hotel as you can't swim unless it's from the pontoon. We didn't end up doing a trip to Menjangan island because we didn't feel the price justified the trip and they all included a meal of some kind which we didn't want. All in all an amazing trip with great people, beautiful views and perfect weather.

I had done some research into areas which we wanted to go on our honeymoon. Eastravel helped us to piece this together and gave us advice about how it would work logistically which really helped us to order things and get our durations correct. Everything went smoothly with the travel and accommodation and booking with them helped remove any stress from it. Thank you so much.

We flew into Miami as the start point of a two week holiday driving through the Florida Keys. After picking up our hire car at the airport, we made our way to the Holiday Inn in Miami Beach. As well as time relaxing around the pool and on the beach we took a hop on hop off bus tour around the city. Highlights were Little Havana and the Bayside Marina and shopping centre. We left Miami and headed for 2 nights in Key Largo. Enroute we went to the Everglades National Park, the $30 entrance fee giving you 7 days of access. As well as the landscapes we saw alligators, turtles, lizards and a variety of birds, a great spot for nature lovers. The following day we returned to the area for an airboat tour, where we were lucky enough to see more 'gators and turtles. We also took advantage of our 7 day Everglades pass and went for another drive through the park. Next it was on to Islamorada and a stay at the Amara Cay hotel. From here we drove to the Dolphin Research Centre where we had pre-booked a "family splash" session where we got to meet Pax and Talon. The centre rehomes dolphins from other centres or injured animals that can't be returned to the wild and was a great day out. The following day we went on a snorkelling trip, upon arrival at the reef the boat anchored up 100 yards from the reef and required an open ocean swim which was not suitable for younger children. This was a trip we booked ourselves locally and this was not made clear when booked, but our teenage son enjoyed the reef, but our 10 year old did not want to do the swim. The Amara Cay ran a Fish Like a Local session once a week, which took place while we were there so we were lucky enough to spend a couple of hours catching snapper under the tutelage of our very friendly and helpful instructor Patrick, all catches returned to the sea. Patrick also gave us some great local advice, like where to see a manatee in the wild which we managed the following day. The last leg of our trip was to the historic Key West. Here we visited a small but interactive aquarium where we helped at shark feeding time and hand fed manta ray. We visited the oldest house in Key West, had ice creams on Duval Street, went shopping in Mallory Square and watched the sunset from the dockside area. On the advice of our bus driver, we spent a day at Bahia Honda state park, where we hired snorkels and snorkelled from the beach. No corals but plenty of fish which kept us entertained for several hours. After our stay at Key West we headed back to Miami for our flight home, on the way stopping at the Fort East Martello Museum, home of Robert the Doll an apparently haunted toy doll and also called in at the John Pennekamp state park for some more snorkelling from the beach. A night in Miami before flying home.

We used Eastravel in Ipswich for our trip who we have used several times before and have always provided us with excellent tailor made holidays and offer a very personal service. They work hard to deliver an itinerary that meets your requirements and budget. We highly recommend them.

Eastravel organised a bespoke holiday visiting the Sabah region of Borneo for 10 days and a 4 day stopover in the Maldives on the way home. The holiday catered for our interest in wildlife and conservation with some slightly more adventurous activities included for the 2 teenage members of the family. We visited an Orangutan and Sun bear sanctuary, stayed in a remote rainforest lodge and saw wild orangutan, monkeys, flying squirrels, lizards, snakes, bats, crocodiles and exotic birds; visited mount Kota Kinabalu, learned about WW2 in Borneo, helped with some conservation in the marine park and had some excellent snorkelling in the Maldives. All the activities and transfers went as planned, the local teams were always on time and very polite and helpful and the guides for the tours, nature walks and rafting were very professional and interesting and did their best to find the wildlife or explain about the plants, people, history or region. A great holiday and lots of good memories from our visit to these two very nice countries.

Eastravel were very helpful in planning and customising our holiday. They were very prompt in responding to any questions; the information, documents and even an app were very clear and professional. Dorothy was very helpful when unfortunate World events meant we had to change most of the initial holiday plans, and she was even in contact during the holiday checking everything was going according to plan and assisting when our luggage got delayed. We would highly recommend the service as it covered everything from the initial queries to checking we were safely back home. We wouldn’t hesitate to use Eastravel next time we holiday in Asia.

Our holiday began with an overnight flight to Singapore, arriving late afternoon and transferring to the Marina Mandarin, an hotel we have used on previous occasions and deem excellent. After 4 nights of meeting up with friends and seeing new things, we flew to Bali for a 13 night stay, the first 3 nights at the Maya, Ubud and 10 nights at the Nusa Dua Resort. Bali was fabulous. Both locations were superb and the staff at the resorts were fantastic. We thoroughly recommend them as well as our tour guide from Destination Asia who provided transfers and a guided tour of Ubud and it’s surrounding area. After Bali, we flew to Hong Kong arriving at the Harbour Grand Hotel late at night. As in Singapore, we met with friends and explored the island of Hong Kong. This was my first visit and as such I wanted to explore as much as possible. My wife had traveled to HK as a child and wished to rekindle her distant memories of the place. Needless to say, in the short time we were there we covered a lot of ground. Overall this holiday was one to remember, from the serenity and beautiful people of Bali to the hustle and bustle of Singapore and Hong Kong. Saving like crazy for our next venture.

We have been using Eastravel for almost 20 years, since being introduced to them by my wife’s parents. I have never had any problems with the company and have always found them to be superb at suggesting itineraries and locations. They are extremely friendly and quickly get a feel for what you want out of a holiday. When I choose my next Far Eastern adventure it will, without a shadow of any doubt, be with Eastravel. Dorothy, Cathy and the rest of the team are like old family friends.

Our trip to China was to be our retirement holiday of a lifetime so we wanted 2 – 3 weeks that would truly immerse us in the culture and history of the Country and its people. Planning started 18 months in advance but none of the brochures from the specialist companies offered quite what we wanted so we started to wonder if we could afford a bespoke service on our budget. We contacted Eastravel knowing that they specialise in Asia but not really believing that we could get a one to one tour for what we could afford. However, Dorothy Heng totally understood what we wanted to achieve and arranged the perfect experience for us. When we ‘discovered’ Zhangjiajie less than four months before we were due to fly and wanted to rearrange half of our tour, Dorothy took this in her stride, cancelling and rebooking hotels and all of the other arrangements. A tour guide met us at every location and each one spoke good to excellent English. We had a complete range of hotels, as requested, from a new five star hotel to a 200 year old charismatic, traditional hotel in the Beijing Hutongs with a rural, boutique hotel converted from traditional farm buildings on the way.

We cannot recommend Eastravel highly enough. We are a discerning couple who know what we want and Eastravel delivered this in spades. I would not hesitate to use their quality service again.