Experience Travel Group Traveller Reviews

A three week Tour of Sri Lanka In July 2016 for our family of four. We wanted an experience for the children (17 and 11) and wanted to see real Sri Lanka as well as the more obvious bits. The use of a private chauffeur and Guide allowed us to tailor our trip exactly as we needed and change things as we went. Too many highlights to list but great People and such natural Beauty. The food was a great surprise and not like anything else we have tried. We would go back as there is more to see. We used a mixture of small to medium hotels. All excellent but the views at Kelburne cottages will always stay with me.

ETG know Sri Lanka very very well and tailored our holiday perfectly. Nothing was too much trouble and the local knowledge and support made our trip.

A family of four touring Sri Lanka with our own private chauffeur/guide incorporating seven boutique hotels and sampling the cultural, natural and culinary delights this fantastic country has to offer. We explored ancient cities, climbing the stunningly magnificent Sigiriya rock at sunrise then watched the sunset with the monkeys at Dambulla caves. We were honoured to be invited to particIpate in a Buddhist wedding, and a few days later a beautiful Tamil, Hindu bride and her groom. Early morning and late evening safaris forged unforgettable memories of elephants, crocodiles, Eagles, mongoose, buffalo to name but a few. A Train ride through tea plantations and yuk tuk rides through Colombo were brilliant fun, as was exploring the market in Dambulla, climbing mountains, swimming in waterfalls, watching Kandian fire walkers and the sun set over the Indian Ocean. Stunning hotels with the most fantastic, attentive staff and superb cuisine in some of the most exquisite locations I have ever experienced. A truly memorable holiday.

This was to be a special holiday for our family following a very difficult year. Becky, our travel consultant listened to all our requests, modifying and adjusting our agenda to suit our needs. She obviously had a good knowledge of Sri Lanka and planned an itinerary to satisfy each member of our family. We were given both electronic and hard copies of our travel plans as well as being able to access these documents through the Vamoos app. We were given a local contact in Sri Lanka who replied to our queries quickly and effectively. I would not hesitate to recommend Experience Travel to my family and friends

We only had a week in Sri Lanka following a diving holiday in the Maldives so we chose to visit only 2 locations to avoid too much wasted travel time. We first went to Udawalawe National Park and stayed at Kalu's Hideaway. The hotel was great with a nice pool and an outdoor spa for a massage. The morning and afternoon safaris offered different opportunities to see the elephants and other creatures at different times of the day. In the morning they were in the shady bushes whilst in the late afternoon they came out into the open and we were able to see families of elephants walking and bath bathing together. We also saw jackals, wild boar, mongoose, rabbit, eagles and lots of water buffalo. The safari guide was great at spotting hidden animals for us. For the last 5 nights we headed down to Galle for a bit of relaxation by the coast. Our tour operator was very helful and organised for us to change hotels after the original booking (Arabella on Boose) had building work going on and was sadly generally unpleasant. The new hotel - Apa Villa, was wonderful. A beautiful pool and surrounding gardens and very friendlt staff. The food was tasty too and a good wine selection. We organised a trip to a tea plantation and a turtle sanctuary as well as some trips organised by the operator. We did a fantastic authentic cooking course in the garden of a local family. A relaxing river boat trip and bike ride into the countryside where we saw lots of wild life and local village life. The tour of Galle for was ok but we found the area to be a bit of a tourist trap with high prices for gifts and some sneaky tricks played on us by the locals to get us into their friend's shops/tours etc. Luckily we didn't fully fall for it. I will remember Sri Lanka for how green it is, the rice fields and tea plantations and abundance of palm trees made it feel very lush and totally different from home. The food is a lighter version of a mix between Asian and Indian - the sambals were my favourite and my husband enjoyed the fresh fish.

The tour operator was easy to book through and gave us some flexibility to choose our trip in a country we knew little about so their experience was so helpful. We enjoyed the free stamped postcards to write to our friends and family back home. The staff were friendly in the UK and Sri Lanka especially when we needed to change hotels.

This was a Sri Lankan adventure that we will never forget. We saw the 'real' Sri Lanka, ate dinner with the farmers, cooked with the families, ate jack fruit at the roadside and spent time in the wild with the animals. The experience was beyond whatever expectations we had. An amazing country with truly lovely people.

Experience Travel where extremely professional throughout. Very knowledgeable about Sri Lanka and created a fascinating itinerary that introduced us to the real people and the real Sri lanka. The local guides and chauffeurs made history come alive.

We travelled through Cambodia and Vietnam. Our whole experience was amazing. The advice we received prior to going, our hotels , guides , excursions etc we wouldn't have changed anything.

We used Nick at Experience Travel for the second time. He is incredibly knowledgeable and patient - it's not easy arranging a holiday for 8 people , two different families with different needs , middle aged adults and teenagers. Yet again he succeeded in delighting us all !

This was a special holiday for a family who has rarely been beyond western Europe. We could not have had a better trip which mixed such a variety of experiences: history, culture, wildlife, cookery , delicious food and later relaxation. We mixed top end hotels with smaller,more quirky individual ones and were led through it all by a wonderful chauffeur guide who seemed able to read our minds! We cannot praise the planning and organization of our trip highly enough.

From my first call to the office I knew that Becky was listening carefully and matching her knowledge to our wishes. She was very patient as we changed one or two aspects after some thinking. Every aspect of our trip went smoothly and we had every confidence in our chauffeur driver and in Thusni (our contact in Sri Lanka)who kept in regular contact. We will certainly use Experience Travel again when we next plan a Big Adventure and highly recommend them.

An amazing variety of experiences and meeting wonderful local people with great knowledge and different activities every single day . We as a family loved every single minute and our teenagers loved it which was brilliant !

Nick at experience travel was patient, understanding and fabulous and really held our hands on this fabulous adventure - cant wait to book our next trip !!

The package was taylormade to our needs and budget. Our experience was more than what we expected. Every detail had been considered and it made it a truly memorable trip.

Professional, knowledgable and patient

We did a clockwise tour aroudn the highlights of Sri Lanka, during August with a private car and driver. We saw a little bit of everything (safari park, cultural triangle, hill country, perhara festival, beach, tea, rain forest, etc). Enough to fall in love with the country and its people.

We had a great experience in both the planning of and the actual trip itself. The accommodation recommendations were excellent and we were surprised with a couple nice upgrades due to the relationship they had with certain hotels. As with any trip some things did not go to plan but the true test of a tour operator is in how they deal with those and the fact that they were indeed little things and not many of them. In our case all the response times and remedies were immediate and without fuss.

We wanted to experience a mixture of Thai culture as well as fun for the kids. The guided elements of the trip in Bangkok and Chiang Mai fulfilled the cultural requirements and The Float House stay/ Koh Samui visit provided the fun. We experienced a huge variety of excellent food over the two weeks with no problems for any of us despite "food tours" which had us eating at many street stalls.

Having used Experience Travel the previous year in Sri Lanka, we liked the way the programme is designed around our requirements and the hotels tend to have a more authentic feel. Experience Travel were willing to change elements we did not feel would work for us and designed a programme which was full of activities which helped us to appreciate the cultural and historical background to Thailand.