The Garden Route tour - 8 days

We had a Great 9 day trip to Egypt ! Everyone we “encountered” were excellent! We absolutely loved our guide. We are Looking 👀 to book another trip with Encounters Travel!

From the time we landed in Cairo we were treated as VIP’s. Nadine our Tour leader kept on checking on us throughout the journey. We were fortunate to have Fayed and Hossam as the tour guides, they took their time to explain the sites throughout each excursion. Everyone made us feel safe and well looked after.

I did the Discover Egypt and I definetely recommend it. They take care of every detail (they manage to do our PCR with the stamp that we needed). They book quite comfortable hotels and the guide and the local guides are extremely good and passionate about their work. I would repeat it!! :)

Wish I could rate Encounters higher! From the onset, Anthony (Ant) was professional and extremely knowledgeable, and far more helpful than I had hoped. He always had time to respond to my inquiries and never showed any sign of frustration...no matter how many times I asked the same question. Meeting Saul at the Cairo airport shows just how valuable the RIGHT travel rep is: he had us go from the gate to getting our visas to picking up our luggage and out to the waiting van in 15 minutes! UNBELIEVABLE! Saul also checked in with us almost daily to make sure everything was to our satisfaction. Our guides Big Mu and Mahmoud were fantastic in their knowledge of the sites, the history of the area and where to get the best bargains. Encounters Travel made this trip of a lifetime 100x better than anything I had hoped for. I cannot recommend Encounters strongly enough...if you have Egypt on your bucket list, like we did, book safely and securely with Encounters!

I so appreciated the care taken by all the staff ensuring that we were well taken care of and had no problems. They were very responsive to all of our questions. The tour itself was incredible!

Just finished a dreamy 9 day Discover Egypt Tour with our guide, Mohamed El-Maghrabi. I can’t say enough about this tour and Mohamed. Everything exceeded my expectations. Somehow each new day was better than the last. The tour was perfectly laid out and organized, and everything went super smoothly. Mohamed was attentive and thoughtful to each of our individual needs. From early check-ins, delicious pre-arranged restaurant excursions, and assisting with trip add-ons, Mohamed was a superstar. Not to mention his knowledge and passion for egyptology. The additional encounters support staff at each location was an added bonus that enhanced an already smooth operation. The trip went way too fast! I didn’t want it to end. I recommend this trip to anyone who wants to see as much of egypt as possible in a short amount of time! I’ll never forget this whirlwind adventure!

I was unsure what to expect but it was far better than I thought. Collected from the airport and thoroughly looked after until I was returned to the airport 10 days later. The times, travelling and food was as advertised. The guide and sights were beyond my expectations. Fantastic tour.

Northern India solo trip. Some of the hotels were past their prime as 4 star establishments. Paid a substantial amount for side trip to varanasi which was supposed to be 3 days, 2 nights. It turned out to be really 1 day, 2 nights. Plane left after 8pm and we didn't arrive at hotel until after 11pm. Had to leave at 5.30am the following day and we didn't get back to hotel until after 10pm. The following day we had to leave hotel at 8am for flight back to dehli. We could have left for varanasi in the afternoon as originally implied and left on a later flight back to dehli. Everyone not staying extra days then had to spend 6 to 10 hours waiting for their flight home.The one day in varanasi was great but I wouldn't have gone if I knew the time frame. Not worth money either. Also bus used on trip was old, bad suspension and rattled Window style was old so not very good for taking photos. My view was shared by most of the other travellers. I think the standard of travel via Encounter has dropped over the past years based on comments from some of the others.

BUYER BEWARE Before you book anything with Encounters Travel, be SURE to read all of the fine print. This is especially important regarding their cancellation policy and the deposit you will forfeit. I didn't find that we'd completely lost our deposit until I contact the company to process a cancellation. I thought I could cancel for a full refund up until a certain point, but apparently I was mistaken. I booked a 3-night late-September boat trip at the end of May, and mid-June we realized we couldn't take it. It's been less than 3 weeks since I booked the trip and it's over 3 MONTHS until the trip will take place, so you know they will have no issue filling our two spots. Even so, we are out $250 each for our trip. They are within their rights to not refund the deposit - I should have waded through the fine print to find this buried detail. But they also have the choice to refund the deposit given the circumstances. Don't make the same mistake I did. READ EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU BOOK. Better yet, consider not booking with Encounters Travel.