Happy clients of Alpine Exploratory

Reading comments from happy customers is a big part of the satisfaction for us in putting together walking holidays. We have a high response to our questionnaires and we hope this is because people are enthused about their holiday and have been given a personal service.

We want our clients to feel involved in the whole booking process, making feedback just the natural next step. Often while we're organising a trip, clients will suggest refinements that they've thought of, we incorporate them and then they tell us how their idea worked.

We're lucky to have had some brilliant comments and we've recorded some of them on this page.

	A postcard from TMB clients, 2008

Our accommodation

"Impossible to better! One of the most genuinely walker friendly places I have ever stayed. Lovely people, very relaxed and laid back."
(Keswick, Lake District)

"All the accommodation was good & we enjoyed the variety."
(Tour du Mont Blanc)

"Hotel staff very helpful and pleasant - great view of Mont Blanc from the bath (!)"
"Very well located for town & the bus to Les Houches."
"Nice room, nice breakfast, and good location and very nice staff."
"The owners were very friendly and helpful. We had a very nice and spacious room. Hotel well located."
(Chamonix, French Alps)

"Friendly and able to supply local knowledge and advice."
(St Bees, Cumbria)

"Very friendly staff. Great food."
"Good atmosphere, lovely people, good food."
"Excellent welcome by manageress/owner. Great camaraderie."
(les Chapieux, Beaufortain Alps)

"Lovely spacious room. Good food in hotel."
(Zinal, Haute Route)

"Clean shared facilities. Great location and view. Good inclusive meal."
(Gruben, Haute Route)

"Luxury - just at the right time when we were tired."
"Perfect."
(Courmayeur, Italian Alps)

"Excellent facilities, friendly welcome!"
(Fort William, West Highland Way)

"Very helpful - especially in finding us a taxi when the roads were flooded on our last day."
(Bohinj, Julian Alps)

"Friendly, family run hotel."
(Hawes, Yorkshire Dales)

"Couldn't do enough for us, and extremely friendly."
(Ribcev Laz, Julian Alps)

"Quaint - great fun and atmosphere at dinner. Welcoming."
(Trient, Switzerland)

"Loved everything, food people, rooms... helpful... good service."
(Courmayeur, Tour du Mont Blanc)

	Clients' postcard from Courmayeur

"Considering location you couldn't do better. Food good, nice staff and no snorers."
(A refuge on the Tour du Mont Blanc)

"Very warm welcome, the young receptionist even carried our bags to our rooms which was most appreciated. Great walkers bar, lovely food, very comfortable beds, great breakfast, lovely view from the breakfast room."
(On Loch Lomond, West Highland Way)

"The best - the people were fabulous & really friendly & helpful."
"Great hotel and a much needed rest day after the bad weather."
"Excellent location for a rest day. Great views, brilliant food and fantastic accommodation."
"Excellent in every respect."
"Excellent hotel - the owners couldn't have been more helpful."
(Courmayeur, Tour du Mont Blanc)

"Great welcome. Lovely people at Keld."
(Keld, Yorkshire Dales)

"Lovely people - we were drenched when we got there but they helped dry us out."
(Drymen, West Highland Way)

"Brilliant."
"Celebrated Bastille day from our hotel window with fireworks and American jazz."
(Argentiere, Tour du Mont Blanc)

"Everything was lovely and the hosts charming."
"Excellent facilities. Very courteous and friendly staff. Very good restaurant."
(Les Contamines, French Alps)

"Lovely scenery, nice rooms and were treated very well by the kitchen staff, went to bed with very full bellies."
(A hut in the Julian Alps)

"Thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Bath for tired legs! Excellent meal."
(Champex, Swiss Alps)

"Useful to be able to leave a bag with clean clothing etc for our return."
"Just what we needed after 4 nights in the huts."
(Bohinj, Julian Alps)

Pennine Way Central (Self-Guided) Full details "Good service. Everything went very smoothly. Clear instructions and good advice about the trip and the stages." (G Boulden, UK)

"Although basic, loved the atmosphere and food and had the best nights sleep of the whole trip. Buzzing place."
(One of our auberges on the TMB)

"Fantastic hotel - beautiful building, good location, excellent room and amazing breakfasts! Would stay here again."
(Courmayeur)

"Fab room & location. Good meal at hotel."
(La Sage, Haute Route)

Two mystery nights on the TMB...

"Excellent room, very friendly, the best evening meal by a long way - mainly because of the excellent atmosphere along with quality of food. Everyone joining in with fondue and chicken. Meal lasted nearly 2 and a half hours!!! Difficult to find the showers though but the secret one I managed to find was excellent and piping hot!! Possibly not one I was meant to use!!"
(D Tuer, Tour du Mont Blanc, August 2008)

"Lovely. Enjoyed everything about this little auberge. Dinner was nice."
(C Glover, Tour du Mont Blanc, August 2008)

	Coast to Coasters write in

Which was your favourite stage?

"Got to choose 2 for different reasons - to Champex for hamlets and pastoral scenes and to Les Houches because of the brilliant balcony views..."
"Okay - we really enjoyed it!"
(Dutton Family, UK, on the Tour du Mont Blanc)

"Difficult to say, Loch Lomond with the good weather we had was spectacular and going down into Glencoe was the same..."
(David, UK, on the West Highland Way)

"It was all brilliant. Last stage was shrouded in mist. Col du Bonhomme took some beating."
(A Ward, UK, on the Tour du Mont Blanc)

"Day two from Vodnikov Dom to Zasavska we thought was the best day, was a long and challenging day through an amazing limetone landscape. Enjoyed the scrambling up over the rocks with the pegs."
(Robbie Paterson, UK, on the Julian Alps)

"From Tre le Champ to La Flegere via Lac Blanc. Good climb, good variety, stunning views of Chamonix valley, and the lake."
(Douglas Nurse, UK, on the Chamonix Mountain Walking trip)

Julian Alps Hut-to-Hut (Self-Guided) Full details On the mountain huts: "The lower you go the better they got, but if you take the whole experience then it was about the same to be in lesser accom but more remote and higher up. "The last day we hired a couple of scooters and rode to Bled, had an absolute blast." (Andrew Correll)

"Loved the sections along Loch Lomond and from Tyndrum to Kinlochleven."
(Shirley and Corrie dog, UK, on the West Highland Way)

"Difficult question! The last day was enjoyable for lots of reasons - it was a combination of so many different types of terrain and view, it was almost like the whole TMB rolled into one! My other favourite was Col Sapin."
(N Bird, UK, on the Tour du Mont Blanc)

"It was all great - our days including Kanjavec and Vogel were outstanding although this was partly because of the weather. The walk form Planika to Dolicu was also a bit special. That high limestone country was like nothing I'd seen before. Wildlife was fascinating."
(John Park, Australia, on the Julian Alps)

Tour du Mont Blanc (Self-Guided) Full details "I inquired... at several of our inns and the praise was effusive and unanimous for you, your organization and your clientele." (M Odland, USA)

"Loved the latter part as the scenery was outstanding. Particularly loved the day of the lakes and Refuge du Lac Blanc. Beautifully peaceful and the reflection of Mont Blanc in the lake - unforgetable ... Loved the Ibex and the challenge of the ladders. Also loved the previous day going up to Col du Balme (a great climb) and the Glacier du Trient and walk down t'other side."
(Jilly Bolding, UK, on the TMB)

About our routecards and maps

"Very, very impressed indeed. Absolutely the most accurate routecards I've seen!"
(North Lakes Explorer)

"Excellent - and admired by others on the route."
(Tour du Mont Blanc)

"Both accurate and informative, route cards very readable before and during the days' walks."
(Julian Alps Bohinj Valley)

"Routecards were just right. We cut them up and had them easily available. Great idea!"
(Tour du Mont Blanc)

"Excellent - took the pressure off constant map reading."
(Pennine Way Central)

"The maps we were given were excellent."
(Tour du Mont Blanc)

"Just enough without being overly detailed."
(Tour du Mont Blanc)

Happy West Highland Wayfarers

"Very friendly and accommodating. Good food."
"Lovely welcome, great accommodation, bags in your room, great porridge and very helpful."
"Excellent food, friendly and helpful staff. A nice hot bath at the end of a long walk."
"Nice friendly staff. Amazing views and good food."
(Janice MacNamara on her group's accommodation, WHW)

"Loved cottage accommodation... Glencoe - great place, welcoming. Terrific food + breakfast choice."
('Knoc-yir-Panin', West Highland Way)

"Service and organisation was very good."
(David, West Highland Way)

"Couldn't fault food, accommodation or welcome!
Highlight - seeing pine martin eating off bird table at breakfast time."
(Jo, Brian & Meg (Border Terrier), West Highland Way)

"Very satisfied."
(Peter Burnie, age 77, West Highland Way)

Our info packs - like Green & Black's!

One customer compared the experience of opening our info pack to eating a bar of Green & Black's chocolate, "savouring each square in a meditative fashion rather than wolfing down the entire bar!"

	A client writes from Chamonix

A week in the Lake District

"This has been a superlatively researched and planned package.

"Sadly back from the lakes, and though I have posted the feedback form did just want to write an additional thankyou.

"I was most impressed with the whole organisation and service of this trip from you; clearly you have put a huge amount of thought into your holidays.

"Because you so thoughtfully provide the full map, it was perfectly possible for me to do self-designed add ons to your walk as I could see where I would end up if I followed tantalising paths!"

(Victoria, London)

More about the Tour du Mont Blanc

"We had a brilliant time; great itinerary & great service from you."
(Diane & Paul, Bath, on the TMB South)

"We thought the service was excellent."
(Mr & Mrs I Cook, on the TMB North)

"Arrived like drowned rats, after a serious storm. No problem thanks to the helpful receptionist and spacious drying room."
(Bob & Clare, on the TMB North in Argentiere)

"Great hospitality, beautiful hotel."
(Limor & Eitan, on the TMB, about our Courmayeur hotel)

"The contact with you was very good and efficient. The information we got prior to the trip and the info package were very good and helpful. In general we are very pleased, we had a great trip and holiday, everything went smoothly (including the weather)."
(Michael Berger, on the TMB North)

And finally...

Which hotel on the Tour du Mont Blanc prompts so many of our clients, every summer, to mention its great breakfast? You'll have to find out yourself!

Guided and Self-Guided Holidays - see them all