Dunks
Costa Rica
Couple
Amazing
The best parts:
Dear Sonia,
We are now home safely, after a strange journey through empty airports ! The ground crew at Juan Santamaria stood on the runway and waved us off with the Costa Rican flag as we taxied off as one of the last flights to leave. Sue and I both work in hospital so life is very different for us now, but everything is under control at present and we are well refreshed after our amazing holiday !
Thank you so much for arranging a wonderful itinerary and being so supportive, reassuring and helpful when things were changing on a daily basis and our natural instinct was to try and get home. Everyone we came across were so very helpful and friendly, the drivers were all excellent at a time when everyone was feeling a bit anxious. I would especially mention our local guide who ran Rana Roja in Tortuguero who looked after us so well. It was an amazing experience in Tortuguero, being the only tourists in the rain forest ! Aguila de Osa in Drakes Bay was also a highlight as were all the National parks we visited in Manuel Antonio and Osa peninsula before they shut down because of the virus.
I hope you and your family and staff are all well and that things can return to normal soon. We had an amazing unique experience and will be in contact about arranging another trip next year to see some more of your beautiful country.
Muchos gracias and Pura Vida !
Alan and Sue
The worst parts:
Nothing
KR
Japan
Friends
We had a fantastic time in Japan. The itinerary and excursions organised were perfect, and we got to experience so much of Japan in two weeks - covering all the key cities and sights that we wanted to see . The destinations were all very good. There were so many highlights it's hard to list them all but seeing Mount Fuji was incredible, experiencing the history of Kyoto and the beautiful Island of Miyajima with the local deers. Japan has so many terrific places. There's so much to see and explore. The local agency was incredibly helpful from designing the itinerary to providing support whilst we were travelling - from directions, resolving last minute issues and anything else in between! Without the local travel agency and their knowledge of Japan, we wouldn’t have been able to see and experience Japanese history and culture within 2 weeks. Would highly recommend the travel agency.
Vanessa
India
Family
I arrived in India on March 8 as the COVID-19 was ramping up worldwide. Everywhere along the way, we received excellent service from the greeters at the airports and train stations, to the tour guides and drivers. Our tour guide in Kolkata weaved in my family history sites with a walking tour covering the daily life of Kolkata. Schools were shuttered due to COVID, though he ensured our access and a tour of a school important to my family history. The driver skillfully navigated Kolkata traffic and was always at the ready. The same experience repeated in Mussoorie with our guide. It was imperative to visit my father’s school. He not only gained access, but conducted a customized tour (he graduated from this school). Our driver arrived two hours early to prepare for the day and then extended his day to drive us to the local airport due to unexpected travel changes. Sadly, my trip was suspended early due to COVID and India closing access to tourist attractions and suspending international flights. Upon request, our tour guide immediately secured alternative travel and lodging arrangements for my party to return to Delhi. Our local agent met us at a very crowded Delhi airport at 1 a.m. and escorted us to the airline check-in line and kindly waited with us until we received our boarding pass—this was extremely reassuring.
The best parts:
I whole-heartedly and without reservation recommend local agencies in parternship with Evaneos in India. I searched for months and read many reviews about the best tour companies servicing India. I required a customized tour based upon family history, taking me to areas of India not typically traveled by international tourists. I contacted many agencies such that advertised customized tours. While initially responsive, they ceased responding once I shared my special itinerary. Evaneos local agencies in India will customize itineraries based upon budget and location, including hotels and domestic transportation. Budget airlines mostly fly the domestic routes, so be clear if you want upgrades such as luggage allowances and seating. Our India travel advisor patiently worked with me for months to finalize my itinerary—I had many potential places to visit covering much of India, and he worked with me on the potential logistics to tailor the trip to fit within the designated number of days. He was also extremely timely in responding to my many emails.
Viajero21
The Philippines
Couple
It was an overall enjoyable trip. The weather was awesome, the private water tours memorable and the Filipino food delicious.
The best parts:
Best parts:
1. The excelent level of communications with Philippines EVANEOS vendor Junji.
2. Working with Junji to have the best 22 day itinerary.
3. Excelent transportation and coordination within Country.
4. Good itinerary pace, with free time to explore areas on our own. Great selection of private tours.
5. Most of the hotels were great.
It was a great trip!
The worst parts:
Not worst part, but it was annoying:
NOTE: Most of the hotels were great! Hovever, there were two hotels that did not meet expectations. To be fare, I am not sure if it was due to room availability or available hotel choices (****** (2nights -uneven floors and******(4 nights - shower overlapping with toilet area).
Sue
Iceland
Solo
Using downtown Reykjavik as my base, I took several tours, which were amazing. The 'gourmand walking tour' was excellent; make sure you are really hungry! A morning spent at Perlan was awesome, and great value - though I did not see the Northern Lights 'in the wild' the planetarium show made up for it; the ice cave was brilliant. And - adored the Blue Lagoon.
The best parts:
This was my first visit to Iceland, and I will be back. In terms of day to day logistics, it was very easy to get to pickup stops; my hotel was centrally located with an abundance of restaurants and bars mere paces away.
It is easy to run out of superlatives.
The worst parts:
I was expecting high prices, and planned for it - so was not surprised at the cost of a beer, say, or a restaurant meal. This does not mean I liked it! but - having the expectation and planning ahead helped mitigate the shock.
Evaneos
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rgnup
Colombia
Couple
We enjoyed our trip to Colombia immensely. All our guides were very knowledgeable and friendly. A lot of history you can feel walking the streets. Visited Bogotá, Medellin and Cartagena. So very different and beautiful on their own. The food was great, the museums of Botero and the Museo del Oro top notch, and the opportunity to see how very violent neighborhoods have been able to be reborn in art and enterprise is fantastic. A unique experience. Definitely visit Colombia.
The best parts:
Excellent knowledge of our tour guides, specially Alejandra *********** in Bogota. Lovely country, lovely people. The murals and art in the streets is like I have never seen before. Wow. Much to see in each city we visited.
The worst parts:
Really no bad parts.
Evaneos
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LoveCuba1954
Cuba
Friends
Havana and it’s people were wonderful. We enjoyed our walking tour. We liked visiting the Rum museum, Tropicana and especially dinner with ********** We loved during in the old cars and our two drivers were wonderful.
The best parts:
We loved all parts of the tours arranged by our travel agent as well as our Hotel *************. We wish we could have stayed one or two more days as there were lots to see. Tour guides we were knowledgeable and friendly. We enjoyed spending time with them. The services at the hotel were superior and rooms were very comfortable.
The worst parts:
We were not happy with the airport. We could. It exchange the CUC to USD. We were not aware of this. The food services were slow and waited in line for 30 minutes to get a cheese sandwich. Staff did not care. It was very disappointing after the wonderful experience of Cuba during our visit.
Evaneos
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4 go to India
India
Friends
We booked this big tour of India with*************. Throughout the booking process and the tour itself they have been fantastic. This made the trip a great success.
I would thoroughly recommend bespoke for anyone looking for a unique tailored trip to India.
The best parts:
The overall organisation of the trip, all the connections and transfers were perfect.
The drivers were all excellent, very safe and considerate.
The worst parts:
The only thing that wasn't perfect was the hotel in ooty. I have given feedback to *********** on the reasons. I believe they will not be using this hotel in the future.
Evaneos
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Bliz
South Africa
Friends
We spent 5 days in Cape Town and 4 days in the Bush. All of them were delightful. There is so much to do and everything was interesting, exciting.
The best parts:
The whole trip was amazing, thank you. The country is absolutely beautiful and we think we had great conditions to enjoy it.
We had a very good balance between scheduled tours and time on our own and we were kept safe.
The worst parts:
The only downside is that we were rushed for breakfast on the days of scheduled tours. We had to negotiate 15' to swallow a cup of coffee and a toast.
Evaneos
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BobF
Bhutan
Couple
The whole trip designed by the travel agent was really perfect. We could enjoy different sides of Bhutan, from the fast changing cities of Paro and Thimphu to the traditional places in Bumthang.
Punakha and the sunny weather were really great. Enjoying some traditional archery competition there was interesting.
The whole trip would not have been so nice without the great knowledge of our guide Tenzin on the Bhutanese history and tradition.
As mentioned above, our driver has also done a wonderful job by driving safely (even with sometimes difficult weather conditions), giving us sufficient time to take picture along the road!
A really wonderful experience!
The best parts:
- Our guide organized a wedding ceremony in one of the oldest temple of Bhutan for our 25 years wedding anniversary. A really unforgettable moment!
- Enjoying the warm temperature in Punakha and the next day driving in 30 cm of fresh snow on the way to Bumthang.
- For sure, the hike to the Tiger Nest was a wonderful experience
The worst parts:
There was no worst parts, just some little issues with the snow on the road, 2 days without electricity (and heating in the room). But with our wonderful driver and some good blankets in the room, it was not a problem ;-)
Evaneos
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Elmer Sands
Mexico
Family
The trip was very well organised and everything went to plan
The best parts:
We enjoyed the sites,
The first hotel was very basic but very friendly and helpful
The********** hotel had very friendly staff and lovely rooms,
Raul was a great guide, genuinely loved his country and interested in its history.
He was very courteous, considerate and informative throughout our travels. He appeared very well read and informed on current affairs generally with a good command of English.
The worst parts:
the travel was not that interesting due to mainly travelling on main roads with no view but understandably needed to cover all of the sites.
Raul had to leave us to another guide on the Sunday/Monday who acted as a taxi driver rather than guide, had little command of English, Gave us next to no information at any of the sites we had to read the information at the sites ourselves. She was using her phone to text people at traffic lights and when the lights were green on many occasions we stat at the lights until the text had been sent and drivers behind were annoyed. Unless we tried to make conversation she was silent.
I cannot recommend her as a replacement to Raul and it ruined our last two days travels.
The Hotel on Holbox was not very friendly, restaurant staff were more interested in the TV than waiting on our table even though the restaurant was not well used in the evening often only a couple of tables use. room was nice but the shower only trickled water and was easier to wash in the sink.
Evaneos
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Barpan
Panama
Couple
Other than the Hotel experience we were happy. Panama is an interesting city very diversified and clean.
If you take the Canal Tour be prepared to encounter waiting around and delays beyond the companies control
The best parts:
The trip was great, from start to finish. The driver Felix was courteous on time and provided great service.
The Canak Tiur was good but longer than expected due to traffic on the canal. Normally there are 399 peopke on this boat ; our trip was only 90 which was much better otherwise it would have been tough to get around.’
Dario our private guide for the city tour was Great a very knowledgeable young man, well educated and did a fine job.
The worst parts:
Our hotel was lovely ********** but don’t send any guests there it has 3?fkoors and the top floor is a disco Lazatea which goes from 10-3:09an every night. Terrible we went up there for a drink at 6:00 pm and had to leave due to the music, we asked them to turn it down but they wouldnt. We moved our room from 2 bd floor to the 1st no balcony but it smelled mouldy with no window. For the money spent not a good place to stay. Everyone was complaining to the staff. Great restaurant next door *********** but that doesn’t help when you have had no sleep.
Evaneos
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Geo
Mexico
Couple
Our trip to Mexico was amazing! This was our third trip using Evaneos and by far it has been the best one. All thanks to the local agent in partnership with Evaneos in Mexico, excellent recommendations and costumer service. She was quite accommodating, both before the trip, where she tailored the itinerary to meet our needs and our budget (she even calculated for us a budget per day which turned out to be pretty close to what we ended up spending) and during the trip as well by being in contact with us to check if we were satisfied with our itinerary or if we needed anything. We definitely recommend local agencies in parternship with Evaneos and we will surely go back to Mexico!
The best parts:
We liked pretty much everything about our trip itinerary, the cenotes, archeological sites, hotels, everything!
The worst parts:
The only thing we didn't like was the fact that one of us had Moctezuma revenge for a couple of days.
California tourist
Portugal
Couple
After making contact through the online website, Tiago proposed an itinerary which met our needs. Prior to the trip with him, we had spent a week in Portugal, in Lisbon and Porto, touring with our son and his family. After they left, with Tiago we went to the Douro Valley, Coimbra, Nazaré, Óbidos, and other places. The hotels were excellent and Tiago took us to good restaurants. He is very knowledgeable about architecture and history.
The best parts:
We liked everything about it, the itinerary was varied and interesting and well paced for us. Our guide, Tiago, was amazing, well informed, very knowledgeable, entertaining, and pleasant to spend time with. He was extremely competent in all ways and able to adapt smoothly to changing conditions.
The worst parts:
The only bad part was my husband’s illness. Tiago helped us get prompt excellent medical care which allowed us to continue with and enjoy our trip.
Evaneos
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Brie
Australia
Couple
. We had always wanted to go to Australia and New Zealand. Who wouldn't want to visit there. The scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef was a bucket list experience. Sailing by the Sydney Opera House. Hiking through the rainforest. Seeing the glowworms. Visiting the wineries and enjoying some New Zealand wines. Sitting on the verandas at the B&B's. Relaxing in the hot pools. The overnight trip on Doubtful Sound. So much to enjoy, difficult to name all of the venues. The people were the best. Everyone was so accommodating and hospitble.
The best parts:
The trip was very well organized. Instructions on where to be at what time and directions to our hotels were a big help. Our hotels and B & B's were top quality and each had something different to offer. The tour guides were all phenomenal and taught us a lot about the region.
The worst parts:
Long drives on mountainous roads (but they were beautiful). Some of the tours were not explained fully and might have opted out of them. Cancellations of tours due to weather (no one's fault)
Evaneos
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