reviews
Read holiday reviews by Mountain Kingdoms travellers.
An excellent way to get an overview of landscape, culture, and daily life in Bhutan. The homestays and festival were particularly interesting. A few long drives on quite challenging roads but we were in safe hands with our wonderful driver, and our guide was proud to share his wealth of knowledge about the country. This holiday packs a lot in but provides a lifetime of memories.
Bhutan is an incredible country and the mountain scenery was spectacular. This and the amazing views of the Himalayas from the flight was probably one of the highlights of my trip. All of the local people we met were delightful and the culture is fascinating. Mountain Kingdoms were fantastic all the way through. Overall, this was a fantastic trip.
This trip was a fantastic introduction to Bhutan and the people of Bhutan for a first time visitor and has whetted our appetites to see and do more in this wonderful country! There were plenty of highlights - beautiful Phobjikha and the Black Necked Crane Festival, the wonderful hike to the Tiger's Nest monastery, visiting the pretty hilltop village of Talo - just to name a few. The tour was very well organised and well paced and our guide Karma and driver Gyen could not have looked after us better. The hotels were very comfortable and staff all incredibly helpful and friendly.
At my age and stage in life, this was a once in a lifetime experience and I was not disappointed. Everything about the trip was first rate from the leadership of our guide to the amazing porters, fantastic accommodation and stunning views. The guide made sure that everyone was safe and gave us confidence to climb (and descend) those steep hills.
This was an amazing and simply stunning trip which exceeded all our expectations. Some highlights for us were the major temples, Dzongs and Big Buddha; the Black Crane festival; crossing the passes at such heights with superb mountain views and the iconic Tiger Nest Monastery. The hotels were generally of a very good standard and the bus was both comfortable and adequate for the long drives - the latter being very important for the enjoyment of the trip. We found the walking tough going at first until we acclimatised but it was all manageable. Our guide was simply the best! We were very lucky to have him and he went above and beyond to look after us. My husband and I did the Bumdra trek extension which was the biggest highlight of the whole tour. Camping under the stars at 12,500 feet - amazing! Cannot fault Mountain Kingdoms organisation and planning.
Excellent trek to Everest Base Camp. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and competent. The flexibility to change route arrangements when required was a highlight.
The holiday gave us a really good insight into the culture and landscapes of Bhutan. It was very varied and we saw some beautiful places and buildings. It was totally different from other places we had been.
Bhutan had been top of my desired adventure trips for a while. It exceeded even my high expectations with the stunning scenery, fascinating history and culture plus incredibly friendly people. Karma our guide took really good care of us and shared his passion for Bhutan. We had a really lovely group of 9 people which was ideal. We really enjoyed our lunch with Michael Rutland who shared his many Bhutan stories which was the cherry on top of our experience. Loved the luxury hotel at the start and end of the holiday as needed a good relax after the long journey. Bhutan will stay with me for a long time.
From the moment we landed, we were greeted with the most beautiful vista, not only the mountain scenery but the stunning, intricately painted buildings, this was the theme of the tour, a feast for the eyes. If this wasn’t enough the care and attention from our guide was impeccable, his knowledge and clear love of his country was immense, no question unanswered without passion, pride and often humour. A lot is packed into the trip, the mixture of sightseeing monasteries/ Dzongs/temples but also the lovely nature walks were perfect for me, some of the walking was quite strenuous, but the uphill made the downhill more enjoyable. You’re really looked after, always felt safe, our driver was careful, skilful and fun too. The hotels were great with very attentive staff and again felt very safe and looked after.
Seeing places I had heard about and studied. Meeting friendly people and experiencing their lives, learning some of their skills and eating the food. Really well planned trip.