Visits
Cotopaxi, Darwin, Galapagos, Galapagos Islands, Guayaquil, Otavalo, Quito, Ronda, San Cristobal, Santa Cruz
Encounter the nearly extinct giant Galapagos tortoises, as well as blue-footed boobies, pelicans and frigate birds, land and marine iguanas, sea lions, fur seals and maybe even dolphins and whales!
Go snorkelling on multiple days throughout different islands, looking out for sea turtles and the harmless Galapagos shark.
Get your blood pumping as you scale the Sierra Negra Volcano – one of the Galapagos’ most active volcanoes and the world's second-largest crater!
Learn how to make the famed encebollado – a local fish soup considered one of the best in the world! Your expert chef will take you through a fun cooking class, then you’ll tuck into the hearty dish for lunch.
Enjoy a land-based Galapagos trip, using locally owned hotels on the islands instead of staying on a boat, which means you’ll have more opportunities to interact with the locals.
Themes
Nature & Wildlife, Cycling & Biking, Hiking & Walking, National Parks, Rafting, Kayaking, Canoeing, Trekking & Expeditions
What travelers are saying
"My wife & I are Australians and have been to Asia many times but not to Japan. We had heard good things, so we jumped on to an Intrepid trip in April, 2025.
Our Guide was Shizuka Yoshimura who, while being born in Japan, was a well-travelled, knowledgeable and enthusiastic woman who was fun to be with and proved very capable in leading 9 of us, aged between about 30 years of age to mid-70's, from 4 nations around her own country. Shizuka was very fluent in English which was brilliant.
Experience counts, both in the present, coping with transport & other issues which always arise, and in the planning and communicating the next stage of the tour with the group.
Shizuka adapted to both the more able-bodied and the less physically able with care and good grace, always making sure that all members of the party were happy and comfortable with decisions regarding , e.g. whether or not to climb a few hundred steps to see a castle, shrine, etc. Everyone was always looked after and meeting points along the way were well spelled out, so no one felt abandoned in any way.
Our accommodation was as advertised, so in the case of staying at Hacone in a traditional style (with really low beds and no seating above floor level), Shizuka arranged for standard kitchen chairs to be placed in our room which was great - it's always the little things that matter.
Our trip was based on traveling most of the way by Shinkansen (bullet trains) and sometimes the ticketing was not straight-forward, but it was well explained all of the time and Shizuka's planning smoothed out the bumps every time.
Shizuka's "local knowledge", being Japanese, assisted our group many times along the way when things may not have been going according to plan and we always felt looked after and confident that "The Boss" would quickly resolve any hiccups.
Equally, Shizuka often gave us our own space and when a group dinner was not a part of the agenda we sometimes shared meals with her apart from the group or vice-versa - there was a good, relaxed feeling in the group that we were our own mature travellers as well as being a part of the group.
Look, I know that things can go wrong whether you are hiking out in the bush or traveling at 300 kp/h, but in our experience our Guide Shizuka was very well equipped personally to adapt and overcome, and we had a beaut trip.
Highly recommended."