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We’ve selected 1065 unique cultural tours to offer you the best way to see the highlights of your destination. Cultural tours are about getting a real sense of a place through its history and traditions, whether that’s sailing slowly down the Ganges, cycling around the townships of Cape Town, following the footsteps of history along the Silk Road, or riding elephants and visiting remote hill tribes in Thailand. Immersive and historical, cultural tours help you get under the skin of destinations.
These full and frank independent cultural tours holidays reviews are from travellers who have booked directly through responsibletravel.com. They are not edited by us or any of the companies we work with. Find the real story, from real travellers below.
We had a simply terrific time and have already recommended the house to numerous friends, particularly those people who are seasoned travellers and are tired of the regular offerings
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Wow! where would we start? Muba - a great and knowledgeable guide with a tremendous sense of humour, Jackson a terrific cook and again a great sense of humour. Stumbling upon elephants whilst walking to the viewpoint at the Serengeti park gates. (more)The whole trip was unforgettable - especially loved the rural parts we visited and stayed in and the various transport and accommodation - much fun and very unique! Every day waking up was like Christmas morning, so exciting. (more)
The guides in each city were excellent, and the group guide Lucy was just tremendous - excellent ambassador for both the tour operator and China! The kids really enjoyed it and got to see some things that exposed them how other people live just to survive.
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Most memorable werer the Jungle walks, sleeping in a temple on a sacred mountain and travelling by boat past floating villages... (more)
The opportunities that presented themselves for us to see real Theyyem in the northern villages with no other westerners for miles. Arriving in the Wayanad hills on the one day in the year that the coffee plants flower and to be enveloped by their amazing scent.
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Really brilliant - it was our honeymoon and we really had a fabulous time. It was so well organised by the operator which took a lot of the stress out of travelling which was exactly what we needed with such a complicated itinerary. The hotels we stayed in were second to none - really fabulous and we were spoilt rotten!
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The trek in the Simien Mountains was truly memorable. It felt like we had the whole Mountain range, a world heritage site, to ourselves. (more)
Excellent in all ways. Ms. Thanh Ha of the operator’s Saigon office provided
detailed information and reminders, and she met us in Saigon to make sure
everything was as we hoped. (more)
There were several highlights. The Golden Temple at Amritsar, Jairpur's Amber Fort & Palace, the backwaters of Kerala and our homestay in the Nilgiri Hills. (more)
This was a brilliant holiday for myself and my teenage sons. All of us have rekindled an interest in Egyptian history. There was lots to do and see, in fact never a dull moment. (more)
Most memorable was trekking in Chang Mai, without a doubt. The itinerary was amazing and we'll never forget the bamboo rafts being made right in front of us, the elephant trek and the hospitality of the hill tribes. (more)
As a family, the sense of teamwork was really noticeable... Occasionally we managed to stop the loud singing from our children and caught sight of kingfishers, herons, cormorants and all manner of wildlife... A fantastic family holiday – so glad we booked. (more)Spending time on the Kinabatangan River and seeing wild Orangutans was the most memorable part of the holiday (more)
The most memorable part was to meet the friendly Burmese people in the street and talk with them. Shwedagon pagoda and Inle lake were highlights as well.
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We were really impressed with the genuine warmth of greeting from this Bedouin based community project, the welcome tea drink, the sunset walk with more tea around a camp fire! The candle light, with candle made by local Bedouin women was enchanting. (more)
The desert camp and seeing the turtles were amazing...A fantastic family adventure with great contrasts. (more)
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
Few of us enjoy the feeling of sticking out like a sore thumb when we are on holiday. We giggle about the strange habits of overseas tourists here in the UK, but maybe it’s them laughing at us when we are away on holiday? However sometimes cultural faux pas are no laughing matter. Although our intentions might be good some of our behaviour can inadvertently cause great offence in destinations. For example, that little pink mini skirt which looks great in Brighton or Miami can, when worn away from the beach in Muslim countries, cause offence. The same types of culture clashes happen in conservative Christian communities in Polynesia, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Beyond causing offence to individual people tourism can impact on the culture in entire destinations. The tourism industry packages up and sanitises religious rituals, dress, ethnic rites and festivals to conform to tourist expectations. Once a destination begins to see itself through the eyes of tourists it begins to lose its sense of itself and its identity (and pretty quickly the reason why tourists came in the first place). Read more about cultural holidays in this cultural holidays article.
