Bamboo Travel Traveller Reviews

Bamboo Travel put together an ideal tailor-made tour for us, taking account of all our preferences. Unfortunately we had to return home early due to the pandemic, but their advice and help in arranging this were very important. They also gave us valuable help in making a successful claim from our travel insurers.

Extremely helpful throughout. We had travelled with Bamboo before and hope to do so again.

We have had a splendid 3 week holiday in Sri Lanka superbly organised by Bamboo Travel. From the moment we first made contact with them to our return to Birmingham, all arrangements ran like clockwork. The planning stage was fun with various ideas and suggestions being floated so that we could have the best possible and most varied experience of the beautiful island and its people. We had some days of culture learning about the history of Sri Lanka, some days of safari seeing wildlife and colourful birds, and some days of relaxation by the beach. We could not have expected or wanted more.

We send grateful thanks to Bamboo Travel who were very friendly and knowledgeable and thoroughly professional in getting to know what we really wanted to achieve. We would most certainly recommend their service to anyone and will definitely be using them again.

I have recently returned from a month's holiday arranged by Bamboo Travel in London to South Korea & Japan. This was one of the most delightful trips I have experienced. Although a frequent traveller to the Far East all of which I have enjoyed enormously. This was special for me in the way it was that bit different from my other travel destinations. What is apparent immediately is that both countries from the outset are both extremely clean and well organised, right from “no smoking” on the streets through to where one has to stand on the platforms to access the correct carriage and door for your train journey!. My trip was on the top end of the scale involving 5 star hotels and a personal driver and guide at each destination to show me the sites and historical places that I was eager to see. Firstly, South Korea was interesting because of the constant threat from the North and the people will quite openly discuss their feelings with you, but this is a country that is going places and has risen basically from the ashes like no other country has. A visit to the DMZ (demilitarised zone) was very interesting with a trip down one of the discovered North’s tunnels they dug for an invasion is also a must taking care that any claustrophobia issues are addressed, it’s small, cold, wet, and 70 metres underground!, but again, lots to seein the area with views over to the North on a clear day from the observation post. I began in the city of Seoul, then moved to the central historical area in Gyeong-ju, the sites of old palaces and castles, every school child is brought here at some point to gain further knowledge of the country’s history. After this, my last destination in SK was Busan, the furthest South you can go, here I spent a few days just relaxing by the sea and enjoying some rather lovely sunshine. My hotel was situated right by the sea which was extremely handy for walks on the beautiful sandy beach, but this is by no means your quiet idyllic resort. It is lined with hotels and huge skyscraper apartments either finished or in the process of, and unless you are keen on wall to wall sunbeds, do not visit during July and August when it feels as if the whole population of the country has decamped there!, it is also scorching hot. My visit in September was just ideal, still warm, sunny and very quiet on the beach, some of the amenities were closed for the season, but that suited me perfectly, all the lovely restaurants and shops were still in full swing. Some lovely walks too!. I then flew from Busan to Osaka in Japan, a short flight of just over the hour, where I was then collected by a driver and driven to my hotel in Kyoto about 90 minutes from the airport, where I was to stay for the next few days. Kyoto is lovely, and a place one can spend many hours walking around the little streets of old tea houses and shops. Specially arranged for me by Bamboo Travel, was a visit to a genuine Geisha House to experience a Maiko performing the art of the tea ceremony, dancing to traditional music, ending with a chat and photographic session with her. This was a great insight into the tradition of becoming a Geisha, something that takes seven years to become fully fledged!. The city has many sites to visit depending on what is of personal interest. A Bullet train to Hiroshima was my next destination, and these have to be experienced, an amazing smooth ride at over 200 miles per hour in extreme comfort and again, so clean and well organised. Hiroshima again was a lovely city to experience but also touched with some sadness and reflection whilst wandering the Peace Park together with the memorial and the museum dedicated to the events surrounding the dropping of the first atomic bomb there. One can only reflect on your own personal feeling about this, but with any global conflicts old and new, it is the ordinary people who suffer the most. Onward to Osaka next, an extremely busy place and very much like Oxford Street ten times over!. My hotel there is in fact the tallest building in Japan!, and with a room on the 57th floor (out of 60!) with floor to ceiling picture windows, it was not for the faint hearted on first viewing, but one got used to it over time, the electric blinds helped!. Another Bullet train ride brought me to Hakone, situated in the Mt Fuji National Park, a stay at the Hyatt Regency Resort & Spa was ideal for this not only because of the quiet and peaceful surroundings but the change from cities to the mountainous countryside was a very welcome change. Here you can travel tramways, cable cars, volcanic sulphur areas, eat black eggs cooked in the heat, sail across Lake Ashi on rather “Disney” type ships and if lucky getting a view of the famous Mt Fuji. Sadly although I made the cable car trip twice to experience this, it was not to be as the cloud surrounds it for much of the time, in fact the chance of seeing it is only 30% I’m told, so one has to be very lucky. Nonetheless, knowing it was there had to satisfy me!. The experience of my first “naked” Onsen (sulphur spa spring) at the hotel had to make do for me missing the mountain!, and in 41 degrees temperature, that took some getting used to, but hopefully my skin felt the benefit. Finally Tokyo, a very busy city like any other, but had a charm to it. Easy and safe to get around, amazing transport system underground. Again, very modern with pockets of the old style Japan still remaining. A trip to the top of the “Skytree” Tower is a must (the tallest in the world until the recent Dubai one), the lift is fast and the views amazing, especially if one goes late afternoon to see both daylight and the sunset, truly stunning. To round up, both countries are easy to get around on the many transport systems available, they are safe for the lone traveller like me, the food is out of this world and the Sake interesting!. I cannot wait to return.

This was now my fifth annual trip organised and arranged by Bamboo Travel, and I cannot speak highly enough for the thought and detailed arrangements they go into for each and every trip. A sales director is assigned to you who has extensive knowledge of the countries you want to visit, often having lived or worked there, and sees the whole process through to the end, working with you to finally come up with the ideal trip that you are after. The constant updates by email and phone keep you informed of developments right up to very professional itineraries and documents prepared for you prior to your departure. For me personally, my backpacking days are over (if I ever I had them!), so my request for luxury hotels and the level of service that goes with them, plus a guide and driver to myself for all visits and tours is taken on board and passed on to the local agents that Bamboo team up within the countries they deal with. At no time in all my travels have I had cause for complaints back to Bamboo Travel on any arrangements, guides or drivers that have been organised, and this is down to them only teaming up with local tour companies of a very high standard. I have no doubts in recommending Bamboo Travel to assist in arranging the most amazing trips to the Far East and beyond.

This was our first visit to Myanmar. Bamboo travel tailored our itinerary to include our interests of culture, history, birdwatching and the beach for R and R. Our guides were great, helpful, friendly and went out of their way to arrange things we wanted to do. A wonderful trip

Helpful, efficient, good communication

An excellent trip, well organised, enabling us to see a lot of the country at a comfortable pace. The driver/guide was very good and informative, the scenery was spectacular, the hotels good and the food delicious, No complaints. We were looked after very well

Informative, kept in touch with us, happy to discuss any queries we had, good written information. enjoyed having an app specifically for our holiday and impressed to be given a mobile phone in Sri Lanka in case we needed to make contact. Were phone a couple of times on the trip to ask if we had any problems. Good follow up when we returned. Would definitely recommend them and would use them again.

Mixture of culture, adventure and relaxation. Enjoyed whale watching, safaris, cookery class, , temples etc

Have been on five holidays withbBamboo travel China. Burma. Indoctrination - Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. Nepal and Bhutan and SriLanka All perfectly placed Nned

Our third visit to S.E Asia, this time taking in northern Thailand, Laos and, briefly, Cambodia, proved just as fascinating and memorable as our two previous visits. It's not just the incredible sights, the varied scenery, and the exotic experience of it all, it's really the people. We quite simply find the people of S.E Asia the most welcoming and friendly we've ever met; just delightful people. Bamboo Travel's organisation was again perfect, the guides this holiday in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia looked after us with great care. Our 10 day Pandaw cruise this year, on the boat Laos Pandaw, was from Chiang Saen to Vientiane and was again perhaps the highlight of the holiday. Having said that we actually loved every minute of our time away.

This was the second year that we used Bamboo Travel to organise our holiday; last year to Myanmar, this year to northern Thailand, Laos and, briefly, Cambodia. We like the fact that we deal with one person when we discuss and plan our itinerary. They are knowledgeable, flexible and helpful in helping us to get it right for us. The ongoing contact is also excellent, right up to the moment we leave; checking all is OK. Their choice of guides has also always proved successful; welcoming, flexible, knowledgeable and with good English. The transfers have always gone like clockwork. It is so important to have confidence that plans will work, that you will be met, the car will be ready, the guide will speak English, the tickets have been booked and so on. We would recommend Bamboo Travel to anyone.

We travelled by train around Japan, visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima, as well as visiting rural locations such as Hakone and Miyajima. The arrangements went very smoothly in Japan. We were greeted off our flight and taken straight to a waiting vehicle. Our guides spoke excellent English and really helped to personalise our trip on the 2 days they accompanied us. They also helped us become familiar with the local transport systems and showed us how to reserve train tickets and top up our travel cards. The hotels were great. They were located in great areas with good access to the sights, amenities and restaurants. The ryokans were also very good and we experienced sleeping on the floor in the traditional Japanese way. We were able to try out local food, although weren't so keen on the Japanese breakfasts! The choice of Yamaichi Bekkan in Miyajime was excellent with the friendliest hosts I've ever known plus excellent food.

Bamboo Travel were very responsive. We only asked for a quote about a month before travel and were asked to clarify our requirements so that it could be tailored to our needs. The quote proved to be thorough and thereafter the booking process and pre-holiday information pack was really good. We received a detailed itinerary, plus individual location booklets giving information on hotels, local attractions, and restaurants etc. We also had electronic access to loads of our holiday information on the Vamoose app. This also included a link to weather conditions at our hotel destinations so helped with our packing! The details provided in finding our accommodation, finding our way around the rail, subway and bus networks, and the suggestions for day trips/excursions were very good. We didn't get lost once!! I would highly recommend Bamboo Travel

With the help of Ewen at Bamboo we had just over two weeks in Myanmar visiting a wide diversity of climates/cultures/scenic sights and people If was a brilliant experience The people are lovely and the scenery amazing The dawn balloon flight being a personnal high point. Loved the food and strangely the internal flights.We had expected an ad hoc arrangement but the local airline ABZ were very efficient,on time and all very quick boarding/ deplaning etc. A large number of UK airines could learn alot from them Overall would completely recommend the country and its smilimg people.Recommend using local guides who always know the hidden gems Would love to revisit but so many other places in the world to see!!

Very good,Ewen knew what we wanted and built an itinerary for our specific needs. I am sure that wewill use Bamboo travel again.

It went from one splendid sight to another.... is still unspoilt which is part of it's charm. The hot air balloon flight over Bagan is an optional must as is the River Cruise from Mandalay to Bagan - a welcome moment of calm. Time spent in Inle Lake is also a highlight - seeing river life and fishermen who row with one leg is amazing. You cruise along in a wooden canoe with an outboard motor which feels like a speed boat! These are virtual taxis, another take on Venice for sure! To end the holiday, I highly recommend a trip to Ngapali Beach, golden sand and swimming in the Bay of Bengal - warm, calm and clear.

Luke Stapylton-Smith from Bamboo Travel did us proud. After several discussions he offered a detailed itinerary and nothing was too much trouble. He arranged great guides and excellent transportation. We were met at every airport and taken to our hotels.