Mountain Kingdoms Traveller Reviews

We had a superb time on the Manaslu circuit. We were well looked after and the arrangements worked brilliantly.

Mountain kingdoms organisation is first rate. The companies they use in Nepal were all responsible and attentive to our needs.

This was my first trek at High Altitude - and it was exactly as they described , as strenuous. But thoroughly enjoyable. The two guides were superb and made sure we were able to get the most out of the three weeks. Their experience, knowledge, skill and care for us all in the party was exceptional,aided by by their lovely sense of humour. It was obvious from the looks on other trekkers' faces in the Tea Houses that they were envious of the way were were looked after. The Shangri-La hotel in Kathmandu was excellent, both staff and facilities.

First rate! All arrangements went exactly as described in their brochure (to some extent this is in the 'lap of the gods' as weather can play a large part in this, but the guides would have dealt with any difficulties) from being met at the airport at Kathmandu on arrival to (reluctantly!) leaving to come home. Staff excellent. The brochure giving advice on what to take, how to prepare etc was very detailed and helpful. All contact with staff at the office prior to departure was efficient and friendly.

Expensive holiday but worth every penny. 2 bucket list destinations that met all expectations. Very full itineraries with little individual exploration time, but in locations like this you need to see everything in one hit. Great detailed itinerary pack supplied by MK so we knew each day what was happening. If the tour guide missed something one day we saw it the next day. Extremely knowledgeable tour guide in Bhutan who was a storyteller as well as a historian. Beautiful country with amazing temples and the top being The Tiger Nest. I lost 3 pounds in weight due to eating healthy vegetables and rice and walking miles. Tibet was more road travelling and built up areas. The tour was less free as we had to have a security guard who monitored the tour guide. Lots of security checks on the road. The Potala Palace was rushed due to the tour guide only having 1 hour per group to show us around which was disappointing. We did stay in a Tibetan hotel which was fabulous. I would without a doubt use Mountain Kingdoms again and highly recommend them.. Several other members of the tour had been on a few more holidays with them and constantly praised them..

Organised, informative and approachable

This 'Hill Tribe Trails of Northern Vietnam' trip was a holiday of adventures and extremes – from the first adventure of the overnight train to the hills; the comparisons of the varied ethnic minorities’ lifestyles; the contrast between the luxury (and peace and quiet) at Topas Ecolodge and on the Halong Bay cruise (a tourist trap, if ever there was one!) - and the privilege of being part of the remote homestay family’s basic way of life; the delights of glimpsing Hanoi’s French colonial architecture; and the enjoyment of delicious Vietnamese cuisine. Congratulations: another great Mountain Kingdoms trip

Mountain Kingdoms offers walking and trekking, as well as luxury holidays, and in my view always offers the chance to interact with local people, with visits to villages, homes, to see 'how people live'. As a small independent company, they are a delight to deal with.

Despite torrential rain for 36 hours at the outset of our trek we had a wonderful time. Our guide was able to adjust our itinerary so that, although we missed one day's trekking, we still were able to enjoy the fantastic scenery. The climax was seeing the sunrise over Kanchenjunga and Everest.

A well organised trip. We were met, as arranged, and all our transfers happened seamlessly. The tour leader was very experienced. We had a wonderful cook and a happy band of porters (one of whom was an Everest summiteer).

A trip of a lifetime! A wonderful mixture of terrain, scenery and cultural experiences, guided by people who are happy, well looked after, and care that their clients are safe and having a great time

This is the second Mountain Kingdoms trek that I have been on, and I can honestly say that the service they provide is faultless. Their staff in the UK are extremely friendly, helpful and efficient, and being well-travelled themselves, they can offer first class advice. At your destination, everything seems to 'work' and run smoothly, with transport, accommodation, food etc usually exceeding expectations. Best of all though, Mountain Kingdoms always seem to employ the very best local guides and support staff, who are knowledgeable, entertaining and most importantly, also make you feel safe and looked after at all times. A first class service all round

I did a 14 day trek to Everest Base Camp. The holiday was well organised and was a wonderful experience - challenging at times, but that was the intention! All in all it was a very rewarding travel experience.

Mountain Kingdoms were responsive, helpful and efficient and provided a well-run trip.

In early April 2016 we started a 6 day trek of The Great Wall with some trepidation. It all just seemed up! But what a wonderful, exhausting, brilliant time we had. We saw the wall in all its guises from earthen bank to full restoration. At times we walked on sections of the wall that few other visitors ever see. This was enhanced by the magnificent wild fruit blossom of the peach, cherry and apricot trees that we saw on the way. In places the trees had been cut down to enable access to the wall but in some sections (at Jiankou a virtually deserted section of the wall) we meandered through the blossoming trees, smelling their fragrant scent as we walked and clambered along the Great Wall in its largely original condition where the vegetation was allowed to flourish. A truly memorable experience that will stay with us forever. We also enjoyed a whirlwind tour of Beijing and X'ian to complement the tour.

Great at communicating, providing relevant information and taking care of us throughout the entire process. Highly recommended.

Bhutan itself was very different from India and Nepal, quite fascinating. I enjoyed the holiday and opportunity for some walking, even if I, along with others in the group, couldn't do all of it, rather than sitting in a tour bus most of the time.

Booking and communications efficient. Hotels of not so good to excellent. Not so good had bags of character but freezing bedroom. Bathroom so cold no showering. However, they did supply cosy blankets and hot water bottle. Excellent was Dwarika in Kathmandu. A real treat and helpful staff. All hotels provided kettles but limited supplies - take your own. Guide and driver were excellent and did a good job for us. Itinerary: Poor in that little or no account taken of some visits not being possible because it was student winter holidays, winter closing times and that it got dark earlier in winter. MAJOR GRIPE - 2 of walks were treks rather than walks and definitely not GENTLE. Brochure described holiday as suitable 'if you enjoy weekend walking in the British countryside' That is a complete misrepresentation. You need to be able to contend with steep, some long, hills, and get in some hill walking before you go.

Bhutan is a country of superb beauty, culture, devotional art and lovely, generous people; thankfully, the general itinerary of this trip, the sites visited and walks programmed, gave a fine introduction (but be advised that many of the walks on this trip are not "gentle" but moderately strenuous, especially when taking altitude into account). BUT... this was a winter departure (Dec 2015) which imposes complicating seasonal constraits, e.g., fewer daylight hours, early closings of some venues as well as hotel closures, and, frequently, overnight temperatures below freezing; these factors, or their consequences, were not made sufficiently clear (or not within adequate time to cancel without losing our money) - SO BEWARE! This is true also of road conditions which due to construction are, and will be for some time, awful throughout almost all the area travelled: from Dochu La Pass to Punakha, and especially from there to Trongsa; thence on to the entrance to the Bumthang valleys; and then going over to Phobjikha/Gangtey. These factors combined to cause frequent delay and discomfort, including some accommodations having very little heating; and several programmed activities to be cancelled. There is, however, very real benefit to visiting Bhutan in winter: the skies were mostly brilliantly clear during the day (nights tended to be socked in with cloud, so sadly, few stars seen); our group was small, only 8; and there were very few other tourists around so the pricipal sites - dzongs, temples and monasteries (except Taktsang) - as well as the Trongsa Tsechu (exceptional, an unforgettable experience) were blissfully uncrowded. But overall, and in significant details as recounted here, this trip with Mountain Kingdoms was unsatisfactory. It can clearly be splendid to visit Bhutan in winter IF you're aware of these limitations AND are confident that your tour operator has done the work needed to minimise problems!

Of greatest concern and consequence were Mountain Kingdoms’ inaccurate representation of, and inattention to basic details in the planning and preparation for this winter trip to Bhutan. Winter weather conditions (freezing temperatures, reduced hours of daylight), available accommodation, winter opening hours as well as general road conditions (throughout the year) – matters that Mountain Kingdoms should be very well aware of – seem not to have been taken into proper account. Consequently, some site visits and walks had to be omitted, heating at lodgings was frequently inadequate and we were often rushed in what we did do; and, there was insufficient time for other activities such as shopping. In addition, I do not believe the trip's grading, as "gentle", their lowest level of difficulty, is accurate; the trip has several quite challenging walks and when high altitude is taken into account I felt the trip was overall moderately strenuous, especially given this operators numerous levels of grading. To be completely fair, the especially strenuous walks are noted in their detailed itinerary, but the general rating is what people see when initially evaluating the suitability of the trip; it's all too easy to minimize bits of walks; and this results in some people pushing themselves too hard or having to omit walks or portions thereof. Together these issues left me, and others I believe, too often frustrated, uncomfortable, stressed and potentially at risk.