Penguin TravelArvostelua 

Subject: Recent 5 Stans trip with Kristina.

As someone who’s been travelling around the world for over 60 years, largely independently, I approached your organised tour with considerable degree of trepidation.
I needn’t have worried, my travelling companions were from varied age ranges
& fascinating backgrounds . But the highlight was your representative Kristina.
She managed to guide the group with humour, efficiency and a lightness of touch that frankly left me in awe of her skills.
You are extremely lucky to have her working for you.
In addition I must congratulate you on the construction of the tour which followed an interesting arc across the region.
A visit to the Türkmenistan Circus directly opposite your chosen hotel in Ashgabat I would recommend as a useful addition to the tour if you are able to fit it in as the horse display is remarkable.
Please pass on my sincere thanks to Kristina and accept my thanks for a wonderful trip.

Best wishes,

Jack King.
Sent from my iPhone

Just finished a 21 day journey thru the 5 Stan’s with Stoyan as our tour leader. It was a wonderful adventure with like minded travellers. Stoyan was the glue that kept the group on track to cover such a wide territory and not miss anything. His communications were clear and informative to help us ready ourselves for the day ahead and border crossings, money exchanges, etc
Would be happy to travel with Penguin again !
Thank you Stoyan.

Unforgettable journey through the heart of Congo"

I just got back from a 2-week trip through Congo and I’m still processing it all. The raw beauty here hits different. One day you’re cruising the Congo River with fishing boats gliding past, the next you’re standing in Virunga National Park watching mountain gorillas up close.

The people made the trip. Everywhere we went, locals welcomed us with insane hospitality, stories, and food that I’m still dreaming about. Yes, infrastructure can be a challenge and you need patience + a good guide, but that’s part of what makes it real. This isn’t a polished tourist trail. It’s adventure in its purest form.

If you want safe, predictable travel, pick somewhere else. But if you want to feel alive, see landscapes that barely exist on Instagram, and come home with stories nobody else has, Congo delivers. Go with an open mind and respect for the country, and you’ll leave changed.

I travelled on Penguin Travel's Zulu Trail through South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini and Mozambique in May 2026.

Having travelled to more than 120 countries and taken many group tours, this was one of the poorest organised tours I have experienced.

The destinations themselves were fantastic. The problem was Penguin Travel.

The itinerary advertised two nights at Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary in Eswatini. We received one. The second night was moved to accommodation in Manzini, fundamentally changing the experience. When I raised this, Penguin later claimed the tour had been delivered in full accordance with the itinerary despite their own itinerary clearly stating two sanctuary overnights.

Accommodation substitutions occurred elsewhere, often appearing to be lower-standard replacements than those advertised.

Driving times were consistently unrealistic. Journeys advertised as 3-4 hours regularly became 7-8 hour days. This happened repeatedly, particularly in Mozambique. Had the actual driving times been disclosed honestly, I would not have booked the tour.

The guiding was extremely weak. Most days felt like transport rather than a guided tour. There was very little commentary, local knowledge, cultural insight, or information about what we were seeing. Basic questions often could not be answered.

The vehicles raised genuine safety concerns. One vehicle had a broken sliding door that could only be opened using a coat hanger. Seatbelts were not functioning properly. The vehicle later overheated repeatedly, filled with smoke, and broke down multiple times. At that point I was genuinely concerned about passenger safety.

What disappointed me most was Penguin's response afterward. Rather than acknowledging obvious discrepancies, they relied on generic explanations and maintained that the tour had been delivered exactly as advertised.

I can accept problems on an adventure tour. I cannot accept a company refusing to acknowledge them.

Southern Africa was wonderful. Penguin Travel was not.

I would not travel with them again.

Summary
Great trip
Country guides pretty good
Main guide exceptional
All hotels good some better than others but all ok
Trip to crater a waste of time, 6 hrs of the worst road you can imagine, people were sick, one person had blood in urine

This was a great tour set up by Penguin travel and Tourradar. Visiting 8 countries in 14 days was an excellent way to get a taste of the region. Later we can choose our favorite location and revisit. Our tour guide Galia was excellent in explaining the information and keeping the group together. Our driver Bobby kept us safe during over 2000 km drive. Overall we enjoyed the tour and recommend it as a start for getting to know the Balkan region.

Galina was a wonderful tour manager and our group was so very cohesive - everyone showed up on time and were respectful , fun and had a wonderful time together . The 8 countries and the cities and sites we visited were fantastic and left me wanting to return . Bobbi our driver was exceptional in navigating terrible traffic in busy city centres and the mountain areas with wet roads and aggressive drivers passing on winding roads.( and we learned he did all the driving without the use of GPS- which is phenomenal) The guides we had in the cities were very knowledgeable - Halid in Sarejevo was wonderful, knowledgeable and a few of us also did his tunnel of hope tour with him which was a heavy topic but we were so thankful for the learning opportunity .
The free time allowed everyone the chance to do what they liked - some were more foodies, others liked to walk and explore etc so I think it gave everyone a great balance for our experiences.

Central America trip was a very rushed tour, what I would call a "whistle stop" tour. There were only two locations where we stayed more than one night. Itinerary said distances but didn't say time in van, which would have been very useful to know before booking. There were very long driving days (e.g. 12 hours). We often had to complain to the guide to have the group stop for toilet breaks as it was expected we could three hours between stops. Accommodations were fine, except in one spot where the lights were out on the porch and one of our group fell down two stairs and broke her ankle. Guide was very alert to us not drinking local water. Oddly, we had to keep small bills of the local currencies handy for crossing the country boarders. It would have been easier to have these fees included in the overall tour fee and the guide given money to pay them. The trip notes said to pack one bag which weighed less than 15kg. I did this but shouldn't have bothered as no other guests did. All the local guides (e.g. Mayan ruins) were great. The hotel in Guatemala City was on a busy road with lots of trucks. A quieter location would have been better and if we'd know, we would have booked our own.

Lovely guide and driver.
I did the northbound leg and enjoyed it.
However, I would like to mention an incident that I wasn’t too happy about.
At Dubrovnik, we met with a lovely guide. Unfortunately she was unable to commence the walking tour as there were 21 of us and she was only allowed 20 at one time.
Galia takes it upon herself to announce to the group this reason for the delay and further adds that it was because of me joining the Northbound tour only and being the odd one at 21.
I was furious with her and spoke to her aside that I did not appreciate her making a statement of such to the group. That I was offered the option by Penguin, having completed the Southbound tour last October 2025.
In the end the ‘Dubrovnik tour guide’ informed us that the mistake was at her end in the office and that the walking tour was fine to proceed.
Galia was very thorough with imparting information re the tour etc but she really needs to not get so familiar with guests and maintain a certain amount of professionalism that is expected of a tour host/leader.
Valentina was exceptional last year and an absolute credit to the company.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Penguin on another amazing tour and look forward to many more.
PS BORIS/BOBBY who drove on both tours was amazing with his driving skills and an all round lovely man.

Hotel Location 4/5
Bus 3/5
Driver 4/5
Tour Guide 4/5
Tours 4/5
Bus upgrade is long overdue😅

It was an excellent value for money and nicely organised to cover many places in a short span of time. Galina was amazing and our group
had a great time. I booked this tour as this was the company that offered the most number of Balkan countries. Mira

The Balkan tour was a very well structured trip in which one got to see rare sights which are not available with any other tour !
The seven countries seen may seem a hurried affair but it wasn’t so !
Enough time was available to enjoy on your own apart from the highlights which were well curated by the travel company
The highlight,ofcourse,was our charming tour guide ,Galia,who looked after all individually as well as kept a control on the group so that things may not go out of hand !Her suggestions were very well researched and one would always remember her as the soul of the whole 2 weeks trip !
I have strongly recommended this particular tour to a lot of my friends and relatives!
It’s a trip which not only shows you a different Europe but also turned out to be very value for money trip for all

Our tour manager Galina was very helpful, cooperative & very friendly .

Gyorgi, our guide was amazing, made the trip extremely enjoyable.

We went on the Lure of Central America, starting 26th March. Angelina and the local guide Eli went out of their way to make sure that everything went smoothly and the tour was interesting and enjoyable. We also enjoyed the company of our diverse group.

I was really pleased to travel through these three relatively unknown countries. 8 of us on the tour plus Penguin guide and local guides and drivers.
I have to say it started off in Guyana in a disappointing way in that we were unable to get to Kaieteur Falls - mechanical problem and bad weather. We had been warned this could happen but we were all obviously hoping it wouldn’t. I’m sure if we’d got to the falls, I would have given 5 stars.
The rest of the trip was great. Suriname and Paramaribo are super places to visit, including a turtle watching trip - optional extra.
French Guiana was great too. Space Centre tour at Kourou and day trip by catamaran to the ‘Papillon’ islands.
Pre tour organisation was excellent as were our Penguin guide Andre and local guides.
There were some very early starts but luckily nobody in the group kept others waiting.
Accommodation was of a good standard - I particularly liked the hotel Palacio in Paramaribo, and our minibuses weren’t cramped or uncomfortable. I also liked the river crossings between the various countries, a much more local experience overall.
Included on itineraries now must be ‘I love ………..’ signs!

Our tour to Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana have mixed review . If I can divide each country I will rate Guyana 3 stars . Its not because we didn't see the kaieteur falls ( weather and mechanical problem)but theres no option B if the flight is cancelled. We wasted quite a lot of time waiting for the flight that never happen. We ended up doing a rushed city tour because coordinating transport was another problem . Im glad we did the optional bird watching tour which made the trip in that country better. Guyana Local guide was very unorganized. Suriname and French Guinea are both 5 stars . It was pack full of interesting activities and I love every minute of it . Robin on Suriname is such a great local guide. Very organize , very caring and very flexible . Andre who is our tour leader with 3 countries was excellent he is like the glue in between countries that made everything easier . Victoria even if she was not there physically made all the arrangement pre, during and post tour at ease . Shes always there answering our questions. This 3 countries are great places to see and Penguin did a good job making it very interesting. We have seen turtles while laying eggs without disturbing her, seen many birds during our boat tour , saw some pink dolphins, tour the space center in French Guiana which is super interesting and they have English speaking guide now .

Our Penguin trip to the Maldives exceeded our expectations. It was truly a great value. The staff were friendly and helpful, the food was healthy and plentiful, and the daily excursions were great fun. We highly recommend the Garaafu experience.

Trip’s organization was extremely disappointing - long distance journeys were on inadequate local buses which broke down twice - tour leader was often in bitter disagreement with local guides and participants. Arriving in Gondar for Timket celebration we were found with no hotel booking. For most of the trip we were on our own to figure out our agenda and deal with inadequate communication.

Vi är bara glada att vi har varit i Bangladesh nu. Tashmed, vår guide, var jättebra.,I början var det lite svårt och ovant, men sedan släppte det mer och mer och vi kom verkligen in i resan.

Tashmed blev som en extra son och tog verkligen hand om oss vi rekomenderar han resebolag.
Man kände sig trygg och välkommen överallt,folk vi mötte var nyfikna.
Nackdelen var väl att vi var där under Ramadan. Det gjorde att tempot blev lite annorlunda och många saker var stängda under dagen. Vi fick också i princip följa Ramadan-rytmen, fast på helt andra tider än de själva gjorde.
Vi gillar att upptäcka udda länder och fortsätter att resa
Vi gillar att åka med @Penguin