Distant Journeys Avis 

This is the second time we have booked with Distant Journeys, the process was easy and they had lots of the information required.
Hopefully the holiday will go as well as the last one. Very informative and easy to work with.

I chose this holiday after extensive research and it represented excellent value.
The hotels were of a high standard but the group had almost 40 people in it which can feel a little impersonal.
Tours ranged from excellent to dreadful, partly because they often sourced other suppliers. The tours were expensive and there is a lot of pressure to book them in the UK but they were all bookable once in Australia. The guide who accompanied us throughout was good.
The reason for 4 stars is communication is terrible. Emails are unanswered and it fell apart completely during the Middle East conflict.n

Superbly organised trip from start to finish. Good choice of hotels and locations along the route. Guides were knowledgeable and helpful and worked hard to provide a good service.
Good choice of extra excursions.
Large tour group (40) but well managed.
Superb handling of the return flights affected by the middle east war, went above and beyond to look after passengers. Huge gratitude to a hard working team who must have worked round the clock to pull off this master class in logistics.

Can't recommend highly enough and would definitely look to book with DJ in the future.

My trip to Japan to Japan in April 26 was not possible due to the Middle East situation.
Distant Journeys proactively contacted me to offer alternatives or a refund. After exchanging a few emails, my trip is now rescheduled for May 26 with flights avoiding the Middle East.
Excellent customer service - thanks.

I've always found them highly professional, helpful and friendly whenever I've spoken to them. Having taken 2 holidays with DJ so far I can't recommend them enough. My latest tour (booked for March 2026) had to be cancelled due to the conflict in the Middle East and their handling of that was impeccable. I have now re-booked the same tour for with them next year.

Distant journeys kept me informed from when all the trouble started to when my holiday was cancelled and then changing my holiday to a different date

We have just returned from a tour of Australia and New Zealand with DISTANT JOURNEYS The trip was amazing, everything was as advertised, the hotels were a very high standard, spotlessly clean, great breakfasts, fridge tea making, iron ironing board, and one room had a full kitchen and washing machine, plenty of laundry facilities too.
My one negative was that at times we felt we needed another nights stay in New Zealand, because of the amount of time spent on the coach travelling. But overall we were very HAPPY. I’m not surprised they have so many awards, thank you Distant Journeys for making our dream holiday so Special it’s a 10 out of 10 from us
We were fully supported by them during the Middle East Crisis, our flights were changed and we were given extra days accommodation, until our flight was available, for which we are very grateful. We will definitely be using them again.

When I see a holiday tour advertised I always check out the hotels that are included and the initial hotels shown in the itinerary looked great for this trip. However, soon after the final payment was made, I received an email with notification of a change of hotels and internal flights to a train. I can understand that sometime changes need to be made but if they do, the change of a hotel should match the hotel that was initially advertised, and sadly that this did not happen, it was a total downgrade to the The Ranthambore Kothi. It was the worst hotel of the bunch, it was very basic and it marred the trip for me. I panicked as soon as I saw that an exterior door from the room to the outside shower room had gaps all round it. The thought of sleeping in a room with bugs/spiders (phobia) crawling through the gaps was too much to cope with. My request to the management to do something about the gaps resulted in someone coming to the room with a newspaper which he pulled apart, rolled up and stuffed in the gaps. The food was poor and reminded me of school dinners, the plug on a bedside lamp had exposed wiring and a fellow traveller had ants crawling all over her bathroom wall.
The Raddison Blue Hotel was another hotel change. This hotel has seen better days and was looking really tired.
The best hotels were the Hilton, Jaipur and the Taj Agra.
The train journey from Delhi to Amritsar was an experience and in my opinion a waste of time. The seating was comfortable, the refreshments were grim and the service was chaotic, and worst of all, it had the smelliest, dirtiest toilets, which is not what you need on a nearly six hour journey.

I cannot rate Distant Journeys tour company enough. Our first experience of (small) group travel has been amazing from start to finish. Wonderful app with explicit details regarding all aspects of the holiday, tickets, itinerary, hotels etc and responsive to all enquiries promptly. Knowledgeable guides on the ground, some of whom became good friends even. Like many other travellers in india we were severely affected by the current war situation and Distant Journeys worked tirelessly, 24 hours a day, securing a safe route home for all their clients. They went well above their legal requirements to pay for bed and breakfast for the duration of our extended 16 day stay in excellent hotels and were always on hand to answer any concerns we had. We were so thankful that we had that umbrella of support and knew that they were doing their utmost to secure safe passages home for everyone. We would have been totally lost without them. They even sent staff out to accompany 400+ of us home on a specially chartered plane for Distant Journeys clients. Their attention to detail in every single aspect of our holiday was 100% and we can’t thank them enough for the amazing job they did under extremely stressful conditions at times, not only for us but themselves also. We will absolutely use them again and look forward to our next adventure knowing we will be in the very best of hands. THANK YOU Distant Journeys, every single one of you.

We travelled for the first time with Distant Journeys to India on a 25 day Grand Tour. It was THE most amazing adventure We cannot fault the service we received. Communication before the holiday started was informative and timely.
Travel to India was seamless and from the moment we were met at Delhi airport by our wonderful Distant Journeys guide Vishu, we knew we were in safe hands. Everything was organised and our stresses about travelling and experiencing India melted away into pure enjoyment of this wonderful country.

It became clear mid way through the holiday that the Middle East conflict would be an issue for our passage home BUT Distant Journeys stepped in and assured us all that they had the matter in hand and we could continue to enjoy our holiday while they worked on the solution to return us home safely , which allowed our holiday to continue unspoiled

We finished the tour as planned, and the Distant Journeys team kept us updated with the step by step plan in place to move us all to Sri Lanka from where a charted flight will get us home. We were accommodated in 5 star hotels for the additional 3 days needed to get us home ( with breakfast and dinner included) moved from each location by air conditioned private coaches and met in Sri Lanka by a welcoming team from Distant Journeys who made us all feel that everything was in hand. Their organisation of what had been a mammoth task was faultless

We would not hesitate to book any future trips with Distant Journeys and would highly recommend them to anyone considering an adventure of a lifetime

Well done to all the team 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

We have travelled 4 times with Distant Journeys
New Zealand in'23, Japan in'24, Australia in '25 and now in Sri Lanka.They have always provided a first class on our previous tours. However,I can't believe they have managed to outdo themselves. Due to the ongoing middle east conflict. They have kept us up to date with our travel an hotel accomodation at all times. They have gone beyond what was required by paying for 6 nights accomodation, have chartered a plane to fly everyone back to Stansted and even laid on complimentary coaches back to our original departure airport. And if this wasn't enough they have sent 5 members of staff to our hotel here in Colombo to provide on the ground assistance to help with the transfer.
Unbelieveable company. Much better than some of the better known tour operators like Hayes and Jarvis who provided no assistance at all when she was left high and dry when she was on her honeymoon in Africa during the Icelandic volcano cloud episode. Well done Distant Journeys on your performance under the most unprecedented and trying conditions. Also don't believe everything you read in the news about being put in a basic hotel without being kept informed, this couldn't be farther from the truth.

Distant Journeys a Fantastic Travel Organiser and Company

We travelled to New Zealand with Distant Journeys (DJ) and found them to be a wonderful tour operator who we cannot recommend highly enough and will certainly be using in the future.  The care, commitment and skill of their staff really came to the fore when we were grounded in Dubai when our scheduled return flight to the UK was cancelled due to Israel and USA unexpectedly attacking Iran.  The entire DJ team including their out of hours emergency operators were fully available, concerned and informed and importantly very informative with all affected guests. The DJ team were continuously monitoring the constantly changing situation and booked us on flights then rebooked them when the original flights were cancelled (due to circumstances beyond anyone's control) until we finally managed to get a flight with Emirates direct back to the UK. I am sure the constantly evolving situation was a stressful for the staff at DJ as the impacted travellers but the staff remained calm and assuring throughout.  Reflecting now from the safety of the UK it is hard to convey how important the calm and skilled assurance demonstrated by the DJ folk, back in the UK, was to us and, I believe, to of all their impacted travellers. 

More of that later in this review....start with the New Zealand (NZ) holiday....

We travelled the south island and north island by road and rail.  All booked through DJ.  We had a wonderful guide called Melanie who was very informative, cheerful, organised and patient.  All that you could hope for in a guide and ever smiling to boot. She could not have been better and the hotels and travel that DJ had booked were all exemplary.  To demonstrate my view of DJ's commitment to their guests travel experience in NZ one example particularly shines.  The ferry crossing across the Cook Strait from South to the North Island was cancelled due to inclement weather. The tour party of some 36 folk were amazed to learn that DJ had somehow managed to charter an aeroplane to ferry us between islands.  Wonderful commitment from DJ and gave us our initial glimpse into their skill and commitment to their customers that they could organize that charter at such short notice and no additional cost.  Wonderful. 

Beyond the level of commitment one could expect from a travel operator helping folk in a "war zone", that was our feeling regarding the UK staff of DJ who seemed to be working tirelessly (I'm sure they were tired with the time differences of impacted travellers) and also within the duress of ever-changing airspace closures and attendant flight schedules. We were kept informed extremely well by DJ of changes and always had the feeling that we were better of within the care umbrella of DJ's skilled and knowledgeable staff.

We really cannot recommend Distant Journey's and their staff highly enough and will assuredly be looking forward to using their service and expertise in the future.

I’m just back from Solos Temples and Tigers( with a Goa extension). I cannot praise this company enough. A first for me but I’ll certainly do another trip. My first huge thanks is to the tour manager
we had for our whole holiday RAVI ( there are two Ravis with same surname)to be sure this is RAVI 22/2/26-6/3/26.He was fantastic and went above and beyond for us. There was no need to worry about a thing. He did it all and we just enjoyed. He is an absolute star and we all loved him especially celebrating his ‘ Happy Holi’ with him at Ranthambore. The powder paint did wash out but tinged my hair for some time😂
My other 18 fellow like-minded travellers were all fantastic and we all bonded very quickly- we had great company all day and personal space in our own rooms. The hotels were of a great standard. The guides and all staff along the way were brilliant.’ Indian people are so lovely and welcoming and to see so much in that amount of time was great. I could do it all over again. It was first class and one of my best holidays ever!

In January 2026 my husband and I undertook Distant Journeys Grand Tour of India. We had never used the company before and were very impressed by the standard of tour and service. The itinerary was well balanced and professionally planned. The Tour Guides were excellent and the standard of accommodation brilliant. I don't often write reviews but I just wanted to help any other people considering this tour by confirming our experience was excellent and we shall certainly use Distant Journeys again .

We have just returned from The Very Best of South Africa tour. A great experience with very good hotels, interesting excursions and an excellent tour guide, Ella, who was quite a character with excellent knowledge and a great passion for her country. The safaris were well organised and the Kruger Gate Hotel was fabulous. The hotel in the Winelands had been changed without informing us staying in Stellenbosch rather than Franschhoek. This impacted our activity on our Freedom Day but the guide arranged transport back for us. The hotel they moved us to was the Devon Valley which was excellent so no real complaint. The only negative feature was the coach which we travelled on for half of the tour. It was old, uncomfortable, noisy and broke down on one occasion. Despite several phone calls by the tour guide the coach was never changed. For anyone with a back problem this definitely impacted the tour. DJ referred to it as a luxury coach, but it was far from that. At all the tourist places our coach stood out when compared with all the other coaches in the car park. This is the fourth tour we have done with DJ and unfortunately the only time I have made a negative comment. I hope for future passengers this is seriously reviewed.

I am currently in Cambodia, unable to fly home from my DJ solo trip (together with three others from the trip) due to the conflict in the Middle East and the fact that our flight routes through Dubai. The rest of the 14 had flights from Singapore so went on their merry way at the end of the holiday.
DJ have been extremely good and are working tirelessly to get us home and whilst we are not home yet, I consider DJ have performed wonderfully in extraordinary circumstances.
Well done to all at DJ and I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending them. After all, any company can be brilliant if things are going well but it’s how they react when things go wrong that really matters.
This is especially important if you are taking a solo trip.
A huge thank you to all at DJ and despite the difficulties at the end of this trip I very much look forward to travelling with you again.

I am writing a review on customer service as unfortunately our trip was cancelled due to airspace closures and conflict in Dubai. We were informed promptly and after requesting a refund it was in our bank in the matter of a few days. I will definitely be booking with them again.

My daughter and I have just returned from visiting India (The Golden Triangle with Ranthambore with an extension to Amritsar)
Firstly it was a fabulous holiday and the itinerary although busy, gave us constantly interesting days.
We had the most interesting, clever, funny, kind and caring guide you could ever have .He picked different, very varied subjects and entertained us every day. He gave us a huge insight into what live is like in India and their beliefs. He taught us ‘Bollywood style ‘dancing and cultivated an atmosphere where we as a group all got on very quickly together. His name is YP Singh.
We’ve been to Japan with Distant journeys before and wondered if it could live up to our previous experience. It was yet again another fabulous experience with Distant journeys and we would definitely use this company again

We’re currently on the Very Best of South Africa 25 day tour with friends. So far we’ve enjoyed some wonderful experiences with a truly excellent tour guide (Ella), mainly decent hotels, highly professional coach drivers and delicious food. What has let the holiday down however has been the very poor and uncomfortable coach used for much of our journey. This resulted in a breakdown for several hours one day when the diesel feeder pipe become disconnected spilling diesel and then another near breakdown on the same day(!) when the balancing weights fell off the coach wheels.
The seats are narrow, very uncomfortable and hard so that we are now both experiencing back pain, despite (in my case) never having this problem in the past. I have also never been in such a rattly and noisy coach. As you can imagine, this gets very wearing early in your journey….
It’s such a shame DJ has made this (for them) small economy -it degrades the general high quality experience.

We’ve just returned from an incredible Golden Triangle and Ranthambore tour with Distant Journeys, and it truly exceeded all expectations.

From start to finish, everything was exceptionally well organised. The itinerary was perfectly balanced, giving us the opportunity to explore the highlights of Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, and enjoy an unforgettable safari experience in Ranthambore National Park.

A special mention must go to YP, our fantastic tour manager, who was knowledgeable, organised, and always approachable. He went above and beyond to ensure everyone was looked after and that we got the most out of every visit. Our helper and coach driver were also excellent — professional, friendly, and always making sure we were comfortable and safe.

The hotels throughout were of a very high standard, offering comfort and a warm welcome after busy sightseeing days. The food was delicious with plenty of variety, allowing us to experience authentic Indian cuisine as well as familiar options.

This was a truly memorable trip, and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Distant Journeys to anyone considering touring India. An amazing experience from beginning to end!