How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Barry was an excellent Mountain Leader. His extensive knowledge of the local area, coupled with vast experience of climbing over many years made the trip both educational and enjoyable. The itinerary was modificed to give a rest day on the forecasted bad weather day. This proved to be a stroke of genius as we ascended Tre Cime on Day 4, instead of resting and it was glorious sunshine. On day 5 (our rest day), it rained all day and we were free to visit the Ice Man of Bolzano - well worth a trip.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

"Be sure of your ability - this is not a gentle amble through Alpine villages that you could walk in trainers and in 2 hours. You need to have a very good core level of fitness and proper, well-fitting walking boots. If you have, the rewards are huge. The scenery is so varied as you traverse from one valley to another, I found it truly jaw-dropping on occassions. Explore have graded this walk correctly, but you need to read their explanation of the grading carefully.

The packed lunches are excellent and there is plenty of food to keep you nourished for the day."

Do you have anything else to add?

"The Hotel clearly have an issue with the rates that Explore have negotiated with them for the rooms. This is very noticable with the standard of meals on offer, with a 'two tier' menu system operating in the dining room. Full-paying guests were treated to a higher-standard of meal than the 'special menu' offered to Explore guests (it is easy to turn and look at the next table for yourself to see the difference).

Either the Hotel should accept the rates they are paid and serve the same menu to all guests, or voice their displeasure to Explore. There are other Hotels in Dobbiaco after all. It is not fair for the guests to be penalised for this.

It seems that our group is not alone in noticing this."

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Very good  Friendly, efficient, good organisational skills and looked after us well. and

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

Prepare for the long days of climbing up and down

Do you have anything else to add?

 Have had four good Explore trips recently and would like to be able to continue trips with you. There are plenty more I would like to do but i have reached the arbitary cut off age. Age is just a number and is no indication of ability to participate.

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Super leader very friendly and approachable.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

Walks seemed to take longer than in trip notes - be prepared for long days. Maybe we had a slow group?!

Do you have anything else to add?

Hotel dinners poor and Explore need to address this.

Thanks for your valued feedback, we are glad that you found the holiday enjoyable. Following an end-of-season review of our Dolomites walking trip, based on client and local agent feedback, we have decided to make a minor change to the itinerary. On day 2 we will now start with a rewarding warm-up walk up to Lake Braies that introduces clients to the area. The ridge walk will now be done on day 3 and we have dropped the original day 3 walk above Lake Braies that clients found more strenuous. This change should help to match clients’ expectations regarding the holiday’s moderate grading.

I agree with the previous comment that this holiday is at the very top end of moderate compared with other Explore walking holidays.  This was compounded by an unseasonal fall of snow which made the walking even more challenging. 

The resort was lovely although had a much more Austrian look and feel even to the fact that German was the first language.  The hotel was comfortable and the pool and sauna very welcome after a day outdoors.  An enjoyable holiday but not quite as described in the brochure. (DW -17th september 2011)