Experience Travel Group Traveller Reviews

A wonderful experience, well arranged by the Experience Travel Group which took into account all our plans and expectations for the country. We covered most of the country, stayed in a wide variety of hotels, had game drives in two National Parks and two interesting city tours. We learnt a lot about the country, from the effects of the long war to the crafts, skills and modern cities and really felt we had an "Experience" rather than just a holiday.

Experience Travel Group went to much effort to put together a varied, interesting and inclusive itinerary for us and took into account our likes and preferences. We had an outstanding driver/guide for whom nothing was too much trouble and superb "in country" support. Highly recommended.

The most fantastic and utterly spell binding trip on the Jayavarman ship along the Mekong river that by far exceeded our expectations. Followed by a fascinating trip from Saigon to Hanoi including a night in HaLong bay. And of course the temples... This was an incredibly holiday, informative and fun. We travelled for four weeks and I wish we had even more time! We worried about nothing. I barely carried my suitcase because the travel arrangements were so well organised. The tours were private, personal and exceptional. What more can I say - apart from where can we go next year?!

Extremely knowledgeable and extremely likeable.

I had always wanted to visit Cambodia to learn more about its troubled history. This was the most incredible experience and I learnt about Cambodia's amazing ancient power and its stunning temples, all living up to their world heritage status. The Khmer are wonderful gentle people looking forward in hope for a better future and to leave the legacy of the Pol pot regimes and its subsequent horrors in the past.We were treated always with kindness and warmth wherever we went and we went everywhere.

They arranged everything as I had asked them, down to the minutest detail and were on hand at all times to answer questions.

Bangkok, then to Northern Thailand, down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. Plane to Sien Reap then Phnom Penh and then to Krabi on Andaman Coast to chill out. We did alot of sight seeing and arranged experiences such as Thai cooking day, elephant riding, hill tribe visiting and temple visiting then hit the beach for the last 6 days. Great mix of experiences.

We packed a lot into to 25 days and everything worked like clockwork. Hotels were all very good and we had a great time- what more to say!

We managed to combine cultural highlights, with wonderful scenery, the tea trails experience, a few days at a beach and a look at Colombo without feeling exhausted thanks to excellent planning with some three day stops to unwind.

The whole team is very helpful and always available to answer queries. Special mention to Lucy who was our main advisor, but everyone was happy to help.

We took a fantastic trip to Sri Lanka. Planned it with Experience Travel. Nick was a great help and highly knowledgeable. Having got the skeleton together, Nick put the meat on the bones and came up with a stunning itinerary. High quality hotels and wildlife experiences that will live long in the memory. Everything flowed throughout the 17days and we came home with many happy memories. Thanks for making it all so easy

We took a fantastic trip to Sri Lanka. Planned it with Experience Travel. Nick was a great help and highly knowledgeable. Having got the skeleton together, Nick put the meat on the bones and came up with a stunning itinerary. High quality hotels and wildlife experiences that will live long in the memory. Everything flowed throughout the 17days and we came home with many happy memories. Thanks for making it all so easy

21 days in Thailand travelling from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi to Chiang Mai to Koh Yoa. We spent 5 days in Bangkok visiting the major sights and travelling around by boat, skytrain, underground, taxi, and tuk tuk. We had an excellent guide who went the extra mile to ensure that we saw everything on our list as well as several areas that were off the beaten track. We moved on to Kanchanaburi to visit the Railway Museum, Cemetary, River Kwai Bridge, and death railway - this was a very moving experience. We stayed 1 night on floating jungle rafts with no electricity which was quite different, and 3 nights at the Hintok River Camp (on the site of an old POW camp) where we looked after very well. The next stop was Chiang Mai for another 4 nights where again we had a very good guide who took us to the main sights. We stayed in the Tamarind Village boutique hotel which was excellent and very well located. This part of the holiday included a day at Lisu Lodge where we went on a bike ride to a tea plantation and learned a lot about growing, picking, and processing tea. The accommodation was a bit basic but we were extremely well looked after. Finally we flew down to Phuket and on to one the islands in the Andaman sea for 4 days R&R in a luxury hotel. All in all we had a great time and saw parts of Thailand that many tourists would miss. We found the Thai people very friendly and helpful. We would certainly go back in the future.

We have used Experience Travel Group before to arrange a holiday in Cambodia and Vietnam. They have an extensive knowledge of South East Asia and are prepared to use this to tailor make a holiday for their clients. Nothing is too much trouble and questions are investigated quickly and responded to promptly. We spent several weeks finalising our itinerary with Lauren Boyd and, with one minor exception, I don't think we could have improved on the schedule. The guides provided were first class and did everything they could to ensure that we saw everything we wanted as well as some parts that many tourists would miss. At every stage from initial contact through to our welcome home, we were treated as important clients and not just customers. We would wholeheartedly recommend Experience Travel Group to anyone visiting this region for the first time.

We booked our second holiday with Experience Travel Group, this time to Laos. The attention to detail pre travel was impressive, and even during the holiday, our agent always had our best interests at heart and genuinely cared that it was a holiday to remember. Any minor issues that we faced eg change in flight schedules were met head on and dealt with in a very positive manner. I had complete trust in this company to deliver a fantastic holiday and they did not disappoint. Their customer service is an example to all.

David Gookey has become a friend. He has at all times communicated changes and sought to ensure we had a brilliant holiday

From the first pick up on arrival in Vientiane in Laos to our final departure our holiday went smoothly. There was no uncertainty, our pick ups were there waiting for us. The holiday was a mix of experiences. We wanted to see Laos in some detail (of course we didn't achieve this: it has much more to offer than the 10 days we were there), we needed to meet up with our daughter in Chiang Mai and finally we wanted some rest and recreation on a beach in Thailand. We left most of the details to Experience travel. In total we were away for three weeks. The holiday itself broke up into separate experiences: all delightful in their own way. In Vang Vieng we enjoyed cycle rides, kayaking as well as visiting one of the local cave beauty spots. We then journeyed through beautiful mountain scenery to Phonsavan which we used as a base to visit The Plain of Jars. This was well worth a visit, Phonsavan itself was not. This is a pity as the surrounding mountains and the jars are well worth the time spent to get there. Our next destination was the old capital of Luang Prabang. Our biggest regret here was that we didn't have as much time as we felt this place deserved. We only had two days here and although Experience travel had packed in a lot for us to see and do what we also needed was some time to just wander and soak up the atmosphere of the place. This has always been a problem with our holidays: we have never wished to cut anything out but so often would have liked more time at each place. The next phase was a flight to Chiang Mai where we were meeting up with our daughter and the plan was for my wife and daughter to find a dyeing course on which to enroll. The Rachamankha had been chosen by Experience for us. One small criticism I have of the otherwise excellent details sent out by Experience is that often the photos included fail to do justice to the quality of the places they chose for us. The Rachamankha was worth a look round in its own right as a piece of architecture. We were very pleased that this had been chosen for us. Part of our time in Chiang Mai was to involve a trek out from the Lisu Lodge. This was another location were the photos failed to convey the beauty of the location and the comfort of our stay. The trek up the mountain was demanding was worth the sweat and the candle lit meal prepared by our guide at the end of a long hot day will be as memorable as the stunning view out over the mountain from the toilet! The final phase of the holiday was a beach holiday in Khao Lak as reward for that hot sweaty climb and descent. The choice of accommodation was excellent and had we wanted there would have been plenty of tours that we could have undertaken.

Once again we left things to the last minute, handed over a vague idea of what we wanted to do and the places we wanted to visit and then left it to Experience Travel to sort out the details for us. Once again they delivered the goods. The places we stayed were exactly as we expected and in quite a few cases exceeded our expectations. Tours and pickups occurred exactly when they were supposed to and there was always the feeling that if something went wrong there was a team behind us ready to sort things out in the best way.

We had an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable holiday experience in Sri Lanka which provided an interesting and varied travel experience

Experience Travel Group provided an excellent high quality service throughout