Spent an enjoyable two weeks in Indonesia with Regent Holidays. The trip was a contrast of amazing activities, great local guides, and lackluster guides from the company. First the positive:1) Two Day Trek in Sumatra hiking with the Orangutans, camping overnight in the jungle. Great food, amazing hike, 2) Two day climb of 3000+ Meter Volcano in Java, camping at 2700 Meters and getting up at 3:00 AM to reach the summit by sunrise. Great mountain guide, good team to transport the gear (if only they didn't smoke) and great views,. 3) Very nice visits to Yogyakarta including the two famous temples Borobudur and PrambananSo why only 2 stars vs. 5 given the quality of the activities:1) Guides from company provided limited to no value and seemed more there as chaperones than of help. Their physical fitness would not have allowed them to participate in the activities so they simply represented added cost. A driver would have been sufficient and preferable 2) Padded Drive Times: Throughout the trip we kept checking google maps for drive times and it was always 1/2 of what they indicated. This was annoying at times but for early morning activities very annoying, Arriving for a sunrise at Borobudur about 40 minutes before they even opened the gates, especially after arriving late the night before into Yogyakarta. We should have left much later or ideally gotten a hotel there for the night before especially as we arrived late from the airport for the long drive to Yogyakarta only to drive back out. Similar situations played out throughout the trip until on our final ride to the airport we left 2 hours after the guide recommended and were still early for our flight. Similar story on early morning train where we. negotiated a later departure and still were way to early at the trains station 5 minutes from our hotel. 3) Unusable Bikes, No Kids Helmets: We arranged a half day biking tour which we had to abandon. The bikes were barely ridable and the helmets wouldn't fit our kids. We were in decathlon later that afternoon with tons of kids bike helmets so clearly not a supply issue...4) The inflated drive times made us question going to Mt Bromo but decided to proceed. On route there we got clarity on the planned activities and luckily intervened to hire a mountain guide (at my own expense) for the day to hike away from the crowds and get a more enjoyable and challenging experience. There were a few other similar issues throughout which leaves me with the impression that it was a great trip if only we didn't have the company guides and just booked the activities directly.
Claim your business profile now and gain access to all features and respond to customer reviews.
Specialists in the alternative, Regent has been pioneering travel experiences since 1970. With Regent, out-of-the-ordinary comes as standard and you will learn first-hand about people and places that others have only heard of.
