Customer reviews: independent walking holidays

Everyone who goes on a Headwater holiday will be emailed a link to our post-holiday questionnaire where they can give us an honest assessment of all aspects of their holiday - everything from how quickly we answer the phone to how clean the hotels were - plus an overall rating and comments about their holiday.

Any feedback collected is posted to our website, so that people can make an informed decision based on past experiences before heading off on holiday. We don’t edit the reviews, the only thing we do is proofread them and alter any typos, where necessary, to ensure they are easy to read for everyone. All reviews will be published (except in certain extreme circumstances), and a member of the Headwater team will respond to any constructive criticisms/comments under the reviews, at their discretion. So, for the real tales, twists and turns of our holidays, look no further than the reviews from our previous travellers.

Very supportive sales staff and everything is organised in a timely manner.

All the hotels and travel arrangements and transfers are clearly explained and are easy to understand.

Nicholas Thomas
Walking Canada’s Sunshine Coast
02/06/2024

The Headwater team are just great. From the local teams to the UK booking teams, the end result is an amazing holiday. We have used Headwater before, and ONLY go back to them. They can be trusted to give you a most valuable life experience and memories, each and every time, almost anywhere in the world.

Gary Ratcliffe
Walking in the Altmuhltal Nature Park
11/09/2023

Christine Page
Walking in the Lower Engadine
01/09/2023

Found service good even when I had trouble doing API as fault with Swiss air!

Had a great holiday despite endless rain and worst storm in45 years including large hailstones causing damage to cars! Map app was easy to use and very helpful. Lots of detail in the guide book but I didn’t always find it easy to get my head around! Bavarian people were friendly and helpful. Really enjoyed our holiday 😊

Kevan Thorley
Walking Canada’s Sunshine Coast
11/07/2023

We had a wonderful time Vancouver, a lovely city and in the ebautiful Sunshine Coast of Canada. The walks were splendid and apart from some difficulties, the instructions were good. The Rocky Mountaineer was a very good experience.

Overall the holiday was very enjoyable and the accommodation excellent (helped by a complimentary upgrade at Madeira Park!) The breakfast situation needs a bit more thought. At Shades of Jade, the breakfasts were excellent, but not so in he two other resorts. At Madeira Park we had no cereals, but did have a litre of milk, which went mainly unused. At Desolation Sound, we had neither bread nor cereals (we had to go and buy bread ourselves). Fruit and juices were plentiful at all three locations.

The wide variety of walks allowed us to choose according to conditions. The free access to bus train and chairlift made it all very simple. The Belvedere was exceptional with very interesting meals. There was direct access to a very large swimming area with a variety of temperatures, water jets and saunas.

An incredible experience in Bavaria. Amazing combination of lakes, mountains and forest scenery. Lots of forest paths at first, but sensational views in later days. There are some tough stretches where you climb or descend steeply over long periods of time, on proper paths but nevertheless it requires stamina and walking poles are handy. The app for guidance was useful but needs a few tweaks and we'd have preferred an old-fashioned map as well. All hotels met or exceeded expectations, friendly welcome and great breakfasts, although it helps if you speak some German. Public transport is part of the itinerary, it's easy and the hotels provide travel cards for free bus travel across the area. The local partner was very efficient with luggage behind the scenes. The booking process was frustrating - sloppy admin, complicated by IT system requiring separate bookings and paperwork for our two rooms. Plus we missed out on cheap flights because it took 3 weeks to confirm our reservation.

This was a fabulous hiking holiday with great walks, lovely hotels and fantastic buffet breakfasts. This was our first self guided holiday and and I would definitely do one again as it provides an extra degree of freedom and independence. I’m not sure if the written walking guides were written by someone who speaks English as a first language as some of the instructions were ambivalent to say the least - especially at the start and ends of walks. We met two other people on the same holiday via Eurohike who also experienced some difficulty. For example the first days walk was stipulated as 18 km whereas by the time we finished it was 26 km!! Also landmarks had changed and that makes me wonder whether they generally need updating. We were also issues with a wrong return train ticket which if I had not checked could have caused us a problem returning to Munich. Notwithstanding this, we had an amazing time and Headwater we’re quick to respond to my questions prior and during the holiday.