reviews
Read holiday reviews by Mountain Kingdoms travellers.
What a super time we had with our two fellow walkers and the fabulous Federica. The islands are beautiful and the volcanic experience was magic. The walking was just challenging enough to give me a sense of achievement, and never so challenging I felt it was too much, Federica (our guide) was informative and fun. She looked after us brilliantly, but the whole trip still felt like an adventure. A great adventure - this was a week I will always remember!
Excellent experience for the experienced walker. The climb is on scree and boulders throughout, with beautiful exceptions in the villages, the lake and running streams. The standard of food on trek was fantastic and beyond that experienced on other treks undertaken. Hussain, our guide was adaptable and knowledgeable and we could not have wished for better.
The two locations are very different, but have in common that they both have a haunting atmosphere and neither is very crowded. Where Mountain Kingdoms really score is by offering longer than the standard 3 day trip to Easter Island and, although it is a small island, there are plenty of good walks and fascinating archaeological sites to explore. The walking was not strenuous and there was a lot of spare time, so it was good that the rooms in both the main hotels had a lovely environment and opened onto small, almost private terraces for reading or drinking. There is inevitably a lot of flying involved but it is worth it to see places most people in Britain never get to.
There are no other places in Europe where you can experience the real power and majesty of live volcanoes like Stromboli and Etna. Hiking both of them is a tremendous feeling. When you add in great scenery, great food and a great guide, you have an unbeatable mix. There are not so many holidays where you come away feeling privileged ( as well as happy) to have had the experience but this is one of those.
Visiting the north of the island while it still has few tourists was a privilege and greatly interesting and enjoyable. It was an authentic experience and to be encouraged for anyone who is not afraid to go off the beaten track a bit.
Taking a small group holiday which was well planned and excellently organised must be the best way to experience this part of the Silk Road. From train journeys to small vehicle travel and a local internal plane made the sightseeing varied and gave the opportunity to meet so many friendly local people. Architecture and history came to life with a very excellent local guide. It was fun too and even a 'cooking lesson' in a local home was provided at our request! The whole visit expanded our knowledge of the Uzbeki country, its local communities, its religion and heritage. I highly recommend it!
Everything went like clockwork from first to last. Our local guides looked after us amazingly well and were mines of information about everywhere we visited. We saw fantastic sights - from remote mountain villages on the Lares Trek, to tourist hot-spots around the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu, to city sophistication in the Miraflores district of Lima. We met interesting people, encountered amazing wildlife, ate (too much!) wonderful food and all in all had the most memorable experience on a continent we had never visited before.
Had 5 days private guiding learning Alpine mountaineering skills as first trip to the Alps. Great location. Hotel very friendly and accommodating, with good food. Guides extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Gained enough confidence and knowledge to plan our own trips in the future.
As mountain 'addicts' Concordia was a must visit destination realised at last by this trip. We were not disappointed. The awe inspiring approach to Condordia and arrival (with triple ankle fracture) will live long in our collective memories! For our depleted group (i.e our sons), the crossing of the Gondogoro La surpassed even the splendours of Concordia. We were blessed by excellent weather and unrestricted views of all the mountain icons. Our support team, the UK leader, Chris Darby, the local company and Mountain Kingdoms back in the UK were universally excellent and made the medical evacuation as stress free as possible. Despite the dramatic deviation from the schedule for two members of our family, we all consider the trip to be a truly remarkable experience. Thank you.
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