Self-Guided Tours in France

Not to bash Exodus, but I thought the trip would be better.

Guide (Tim) was ok. He mostly was quiet and I would have liked more history, stories of region, facts, etc. while hiking. Also he left us on the free day and couldn’t even stay for dinner the last night- he seemed to be in a rush to get out of there.

We are not sure why, but he also didn’t follow the printed itinerary. Which meant we hiked way longer and higher each day. The printed material said 7 miles most days with 750-1585’ elevation gain yet we ended up hiking 10-12 miles per day with 2000-2500’ gain.

We were exhausted and one in our group didn’t even participate 3 out of 5 hiking days.

Lastly, we all thought the food on the trip would be better. Our chalet hosts (Claire and Liz) were nice but they are not chefs- they are Exodus employees. Since we were staying in Chamonix France we all desired French cuisine but instead had Greek chicken, pasta pesto, and burgers… which seemed odd.

Compared to other tour companies I thought Exodus was okay but underwhelming. The people on the tour were nice but we all felt similarly about the guide and food when chatting.

Advice: Remember Exodus is a budget priced company so you should expect a basic level of services— there really is no wow factor.
I’m undecided if I will give them another chance.

j bee Walking Tour du Mont Blanc

The trip was well planned out and so very relaxing and enjoyable. The hotels and especially the food were awesome. Would absolutely take another trip like this.

Annette Dawson Canoeing on the Dordogne

We booked this trip to have some cycling time with our son who is a novice cyclist but fit. My husband and I are strong cyclists and have done trips with Exodus that are rated as a ‘4’ and ‘3’; no difficulties with cycling experienced on those trips. However, this Dordogne trip starts off the first cycling day with grades of 5% to 10% and as high as 16%. The second day of cycling has two optional rides with the same thing and even as high as 20% showing on our Garmin. Our son was not here to train for the Tour de France … the goal was to have some relaxing cycling … this is NOT relaxing cycling. I confirmed with an Exodus agent that a trip rated as a ‘2’ should be relatively flat terrain. When you are continuously experiencing elevation grades greater than 6%, it’s a seriously challenging ride. We ride in the Canadian Rockies … some great but tough rides there … this Dordogne trip is as tough as our mountain rides in Canada but not as many kilometres. The difficulty rating of this ride has been totally misrepresented by Exodus. Had we known, we would have booked an ebike. We were unable to get an ebike because we didn’t realize it was necessary until we had done a couple of days of cycling … now they are unable to get us one … so we’re stuck sitting around doing nothing. BEWARE!!!!

Tilly Jensen Dordogne Valleys and Villages Cycling