Rough Guides Reviews 365

We just returned from an incredible Cambodia and Vietnam trip arranged through Rough Guide (Odynovo), and the entire experience from planning to travel was smooth and well organized.

This trip was especially meaningful because it was planned around my 43rd birthday, and it was shared with close friends. There were four couples traveling together, and coordinating a group like that could have been complicated, but Odynovo made it feel effortless.

From the start, Odynovo was very easy to work with. I explained what was important to me, what I wanted to see, and the overall pace we were hoping for. They provided a thoughtful itinerary and were completely flexible as we refined it. I added and removed activities, cut one country entirely, shortened the trip by a full week, and even reversed the direction of travel. The original plan had us starting in Hanoi and ending in Siem Reap, but we flipped it to begin in Cambodia and finish in Vietnam because flights were more affordable. Odynovo handled every change without issue.

Throughout the trip, logistics were seamless. Airport pickups and drop-offs were arranged in every city, which made traveling as a group stress free. The private guides and drivers were consistently professional, knowledgeable, and friendly, and they added real depth to each destination.

In Cambodia, Phnom Penh provided important historical context, and the river journey to Siem Reap along the Mekong and Tonle Sap was a highlight. It was a relaxing way to travel and offered a glimpse into daily life along the river. Siem Reap and the Angkor temples exceeded expectations. Visiting Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, Ta Prohm, and nearby villages made Cambodia’s history feel tangible and unforgettable.

Vietnam offered a great balance of history, culture, and everyday life. Ho Chi Minh City tours of the Cu Chi Tunnels, War Remnants Museum, and Independence Palace were informative and well guided. The Mekong Delta day trip stood out, with village walks, coconut workshops, and a homemade lunch that felt personal and authentic. Hoi An was charming and slower paced, with highlights including the cooking class, basket boat ride in the coconut forest, and evenings wandering the lantern lit streets. Hanoi was lively and engaging, and the overnight Ha Long Bay cruise was truly spectacular and a perfect way to end the trip.

The pacing throughout felt right, accommodations were comfortable and well located, and having everything arranged in advance allowed us to relax and enjoy the experience. Most importantly, everyone in our group had a great time celebrating together.

If you are looking for a customizable, well run trip with strong local support, I highly recommend Rough Guide (Odynovo). They made a complex, multi country itinerary feel easy and delivered a trip we will remember for a long time.

Unbelievably amazing Galápagos Islands, Ecuador experience! Majo Jaramillo through Rough Guides tailored a remarkable & thoughtful 12 day itinerary for our family, such that there were only adventures & memories to enjoy! From the early planning to the flight back home, Majo was graciously available; whether it be for me to send a thank you for a great adventure set up or to check on a driver pick up. The international flights were not included & Majo worked with the frequent flight updates! Domestic flights were included & looking forward to having Rough Guides include the international fights as well. Very thoughtful gifts around! Majo listened, is experienced, kind, thought & idea generating, clear, communicative, well English versed & created a streamlined once in a lifetime experience for our family! Sea lions, penguins, blue footed boobies, iguanas, sea turtles, rays, dolphins, hawks, land tortoises, sharks, & an inspiring ECO LIFE!!! Majo, Thank you again :D

The experience was great, with perfect communication and planning throughout. Well received from the moment we touched down in Morocco until the moment we left. Abdel was great and very attentive to our needs and likes. Overall great experience.

We had a fantastic experience from planning through the end of the tour. Mohamed is an expert and he worked with us to learn about our preferences and expectations, then he prepared the itinerary. He checked in with us during the journey and we felt that he was truly looking after us. Our driver, Abdel, was kind and friendly. He was flexible and able to make adjustments based on our (ever changing) interests. Abdel was a great guide and support. The local guides in Fez and Marrakech were very knowledgeable and great communicators. We felt very well taken care of. This was a family holiday (including two college age boys), and we all were very happy. This holiday exceeded expectations and it would not have been possible without Tilila Travel.

I am thrilled that I decided to book a tour with Rough Guides. I found the option for private, customized tours through a simple Google search. I was connected with Mia who was responsive, helpful and patient. She worked and reworked the tour according to my preferences for myself and my two college aged sons. I asked for a blend of cultural, active and historical at a reasonable price. She called it Enticing Thailand.

The tour more than exceeded our expectations. The guides were fantastic. Everything worked out exactly how it was expected and I had several communications with Rough Guides representatives to ensure all was going smoothly. I highly recommend booking a tour through Rough Guides.

We spent 12 days in Morocco. Mohamed coordinated our trip and Moustafa was our driver. The entire experience was outstanding due to exceptional hospitality, great planning and consummate planning. Well done and thank you!!

We had a really great time in Kerala over Christmas and New Year. We can't praise Julie from Indian Stories highly enough for all her help in making the trip such a success. Our driver was endlessly helpful, courteous and efficient; his vehicle was super comfortable. All the accommodation and outings organised were varied and delightful. The tour guides were always punctual and informative. Thank you very much indeed for arranging such a wonderful itinerary for our family.

We had one week to see and do as much as we could and also have a bit of relaxation and keep within our budget. Our travel advisor Hashini and our driver/guide Rajitha delivered this and more. Our flight was delayed so our itinerary had to be altered a little but we still got to do all that was on the list. Rajitha also gave us different options that suited as alternatives. We especially enjoyed the National park jeep safari to see the elephants and the village experiences with cookery class. The local authentic food that Rajintha brought us to enjoy was fabulous. Ending our week with a relaxing stay at Buckingham Place in Tangelle was perfect. The staff there were just so helful and friendly and the accommodation was great. Actually all our accommodation on this teip was very good. Even after the country suffered from severe floods and lindslides following the storm in late November, the Sri Lankan welcome and courtesy was in abundance everywhere we went. We saw some of the devastation and take our hats off to the tourist industry who still managed to maintain their high standards. I would use Rough Guides and definitely recommend them for a tailored experience.

Vietnam was everything we imagined exotic, vibrant, fascinatingly beautiful. Also a bit overwhelming and having full support of a truly local guide allowed us enjoy it so much more. The guides helped us avoid tourist traps, find some wonderful restaurants and see things we would never have seen without them. Friendly and relaxed but super efficient and genuinely just wanted us to have the best time. Whether selecting a tiny place for a particular dish in Hanoi, or hiking in the hills around Sapa or getting us on the night train we felt very comfortable knowing someone was gently watching over us and making sure we had the best time. Wonderful experience cannot recommend Rough Guides enough

The 3 weeks' Indian tour was exciting, interesting, memorable with challenging moments along the journey. The logistic side of arrangements was very smooth. Our main driver Mr. Lucky was very polite, smartly presented and a very safe driver. Most of the guides were knowledgeable. Mr. Amit from Yolo was prompt to answer our questions and try his best to address our concerns about trains and hotels. Before the trip started, Yolo provided a list of hotels and if I was to do this trip again, I would check the general ratings of the hotels and request to change hotels if the ratings were low. Along the journey, a few hotels supposedly 3 stars were very basic. When we had a very poor experience in one hotel, we checked the hotels for the remaining trip and raised concerns about one hotel. Mr. Amit kindly upgraded our hotel so that we had a wonderful memory at the end of our trip. Of course one has to be conscious about challenges in India such as chaotic traffic, pollution and rubbish problem and be prepared for it. Overall it was a great experience.

I bought an digital guide under the impression that the content would the same as the physical version, unfortunately this is not the case, without proper formatting the text is very difficult to read and impossible to enjoy

Response and support were quick and consistent through planning, paying, travel prep, during the trip and even after we were home. Connection to a local expert was fast and then they handled all of my questions in prompt message replies and even a real-time call. Love how they took care of bookings, tickets, transfers/transportation and even acknowledged our son's birthday. All tour guides, drivers and local contacts were friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. It all went so smoothly - a great vacation!

I used to live in Morocco many years ago and wanted to revisit memorable places and old friends. I was excited to see that Rough Guides partners with local companies to provide customized trips. Mohamed from Tilila Travel was happy to discuss our needs and preferences. We settled on a package only about 5 weeks before our departure, which meant that he could not secure all of the hotels that we preferred, but most of the ones he booked were “good” to “excellent”. We spent 16 nights touring the country with our wonderful driver, Ibrahim, who was especially careful, prompt and helpful. We couldn’t have asked for a better chaperone, who was happy to share his knowledge of Moroccan culture, great restaurants and side trips. The trip was well organized; we especially enjoyed the knowledgeable guides in the cities as well as the Merzouga desert experience (when my husband did not enjoy the camel ride, we were offered a 4X4 for the return trip, which was really fun). Mohamed checked in regularly by phone to make sure all was going well. Morocco is a gorgeous country with a very solid tourist infrastructure, and the hospitality that I experienced many years ago is still alive and well.

Tamer did an excellent job organizing my last-minute trip to Peru. My mum was originally meant to join me but had to cancel due to a sudden injury. Although the tour was non-refundable, Taner was very understanding and helped with adjustments to the LATAM flights, which I really appreciated.

The overall itinerary was well planned, and everything ran smoothly. Tamer stayed in touch throughout the trip and was always available when needed. The Sacred Valley hotel and local guides were wonderful, and the whole experience was memorable.

The only downside was the hotel in Cusco, which I wouldn’t recommend due to poor service and noise, but that was the only weak point in an otherwise great trip.

Tamer is patient, professional, and genuinely cares about his clients’ experience. I’d definitely recommend him and would be happy to book through him again in the future.

My friend and I used Rough Guides (RG) to plan a multi-country trip through Chile, Bolivia, and Peru this past September. While our trip overall was memorable, our experience with Rough Guides and its affiliates highlighted several issues travelers should be aware of when arranging a complex itinerary through a “travel marketplace” service such as RG.

First, it’s important to note that Rough Guides was not the actual tour operator. Our planning was handed off to Responsible Travel (RT) in Ecuador, which then subcontracted additional local operators in each country. This multilayered setup created confusion, made it harder to make changes, and likely increased the total cost.

One major issue was that RT booked all of our domestic flights without consulting us, which resulted in long layovers, unnecessarily early departures, and indirect routes when better options were available. Changing these flights later would have required additional fees so we were stuck with them. We also received incorrect information about Bolivian visa requirements and had to sort out the visa at the border ourselves.

Another was RT's slowness when handling some of the changes we requested. When we told them that we wanted to stay two days in Cusco and two in Ollantaytambo, (instead of 4 in Cusco) they took forever to address it and in the end we made the changes ourselves.

My friend added a few other grievances. 1) For example, there was some antagonism and denial from RT when asked to explain their logistics in making some of decisions, claiming that we had approved them when in fact we hadn't. 2) RT’s sustained refusal to provide the requested and necessary information to process reimbursement to a third party, giving the impression that they were being secretive about their transactions, and having to rely on RG to assist. 3) Consistently providing travel and transfer information late, even after requesting them repeatedly. 4) The strain with RT reached the point where I no longer wanted to interact with them, using instead RG as an intermediary. 5) Would strongly suggest RG be more involved with the 2nd and 3rd parties they subcontract to organize these types of travel. As in this case, the chosen agency, RT, was not in a position to fulfill the mission satisfactorily. It is our assertion that it even cost us additional money. RG’s position they are just the a ‘marketplace,’ therefore ‘blameless’, does not fly.

To summarize, we had a wonderful time in South America thanks largely to the professionalism of the smaller local operators. However, based on our experience, I would not use Rough Guides or similar marketplace-style services for a complex, multi-country trip. For future trips, I’d handle flights and hotel bookings myself and only outsource transfers and selected excursions.

I hope this review helps others avoid some of the pitfalls we encountered and make more informed travel planning decisions.

The tour advisor was extremely helpful and helped us to build a bespoke tour. However, what actually happened was not exactly what we thought we had booked. We had booked a 5 day 4 night trip to the Peruvian Amazon Jungle and were expecting to have all 4 nights in one place, we had to transfer to a second lodge in the final night in order to do one of the excursions that we had booked, we only found out about this when we arrived in the first lodge. We had also booked a trip to a chocolate plantation to see the whole process from growing the cacao beans to producing a chocolate bar. Our lodge did not seem to know that we had done this and had us booked for a fishing expedition. We did neither in the end, but the (trainee) tour guide arranged for us to have a chocolate preparation/cooking session in stead at the lodge. Not what we had booked. The level of English for the tour guide was also very poor, which did not help our overall experience. Having said that, we did have a good time in the trip.

We began planning our trip to Croatia 8 months in advance. We were fortunate to have Mario assigned as our in country agent. In those 8 months Mario gave us feedback on all of our ideas on where in the country to travel and what would be the best use of our 12 days.
He recommended hotels, restaurants & tours. Then we were able to look over the recommendations and get back to him with detailed questions.
He was diligent in his replies.
Then to arrive in country and have the most wonderful driver, Tino, who spent days with us filled with knowledge and wonderful hospitality.
Next came the exceptional tour guides full of historic knowledge and enthusiasm for their profession.
We returned home knowing we want to return to Croatia one day! The 4 couples traveling together all expressed that this was a 5star experience thanks to Mario and his team.

Overall the trip was a very enjoyable one
We had a very good driver in Tawfik who was very well informed and helpful. As a driver he was very calm and easy going
In Fes and in Rabat and on the walk in the Oriya valley our guides were excellent. We particularly enjoyed the food tour with Amal (the “Queen of Fes “) which enabled us to meet many local traders .
There was a miscommunication about the accommodation where the original programme specified Riads which were then changed with letting me know. This was particularly a problem for our days in Rabat
The guide to Marrakesh was also a bit disappointing as they didn’t do the full tour as per the planned itinerary

Eric was amazing at coordinating our trip to Brazil. Our itinerary was quite complex and customized, with several internal flights and transfers and everything worked perfectly. Hotels were great and guides were always professional. I would have never been able to realistically put this together alone and I highly recommend his services.

To be honest, I was very nervous about this trip to Costa Rica. I knew very little about the country before I booked my flight. As I began researching my trip to this amazing country I realized how little I really knew. I became concerned about how I would get from one place to another. Where would I have my meals. What attractions would I see and visit and how would I get there. Along came Rough Guide to the rescue. They took care of everything. Roberto, our travel agent took care of everything. He arranged all of private transportation from the airport to each of our 3 hotels. He also arranged our excursions from hiking trips through the rainforest to paddling down the river viewing all sorts of wildlife. These tours included very experienced naturalist who guided through the jungle where we were able to see some amazing wildlife. They also made meal and dining recommendations to the local restaurants. Rough Guide takes the worry out of international travel. I wouldn't hesitate recommending them to friends nor would hesitate using them again.