Sundowner Holidays Reviews 

Lucy was extremely helpful when I was booking a holiday to Sri Lanka. She has always responded quickly to emails and phone calls. We had trouble with my husband's passport so had to wait before we could book. Lucy held the flights and the hotels. She also suggested alternative hotels when I asked for some slightly cheaper ones and tweaked the original itinerary. Can't wait to actually go!

We have just returned from a trip to South Africa. Jo was extremely knowledgeable and used this, and her vast experience, to expertly plan a super trip for us. She listened to what we wanted to do but also included lots of very valuable suggestions which we were grateful for. Communication with her was excellent. Ellie was also very helpful too and was keen to see that our holiday went well.
The holiday itself was excellent. We stayed in wonderful guest houses and the stay at Amakhala was perfect too. The transfers were generally very well organised and the transfer drivers were exceedingly courteous , helpful and friendly. There were a couple of glitches though. South African airlines went on strike which was stressful as we were concerned we wouldn’t make our flight home. However, James very ably , and professionally, dealt with this, booking us onto other internal flights. There was also a misunderstanding over one transfer but this again was dealt with very professionally by the agent at Tour D’Afrique.
This is the second trip we have done with Sundowner and again, we would recommend them.

Vert helpful service, tailored our requirements round our dates to suit what we wanted. Always called back/emailed as and when promised, if not before.

We can’t believe we’ve been back a week already! Apologies it has taken this long to write to say a massive thank you.

We had the most amazing honeymoon in South Africa, and that was in no small part down to the itinerary and properties you booked us into. We felt that they all matched our style and ‘brief’ perfectly, and the time spent in each was just right. Although to be honest, we probably could have spent longer in Garonga it was that special! I don’t think our waistlines would agree though…

- Unembezza - what a lovely surprise! I think we were just expecting a ’night stop’ kind of place, however that couldn’t have been further from the truth. The team was so lovely and welcoming, the food amazing, and the room and setting perfect. A great way to start.
- Garonga - I don’t think we have to say much here as it is clear why it is one of your favourites. It was simply perfect in every way from setting, room, food, game viewing and most of all people. A little bit of heaven!
- Derwent House - again, just lovely. Beautiful decor, situation, food, and the team were incrediblly helpful and went the extra mile with everything.
- Ocean Eleven - great setting and although we didn’t really spend much time here, we did enjoy chilling on our balcony looking at the ocean. Very special.
- Makeka House - a lovely stay. We were probably a bit fooded and wined out by now, but still great way to finish our trip.

Anyway, everything else (hire car/ flights etc) also worked seamlessly.

Thank you again. We’ve never had a trip organised for us before, however we’re very glad that we found Sundowner as without a doubt it made for a very relaxing, special and memorable honeymoon.

We enjoyed a great holiday in Madagascar, and the Sundowner team were happy to assist in moving the flights and dates around our wedding anniversary. We had one of our best vacations, and had no issues with arrangements prior to departure or during our stay, so a very smooth and trouble free trip. Highly recommend their services.

We're just back from a fantastic couple of weeks in Madagascar, booked with Sundowner Hols. All went perfectly to plan, we were met at the appropriate points/times, and we saw everything we wanted to see, from lemurs and chameleons around Amber Mountain NP and Ankarana, to snorkeling with whale sharks and a manta ray from our final base, Tsara Komba. All 5 of our lodges were lovely in different ways, in great settings, and food was surprisingly good. Long journeys on terrible roads but worth the effort and our guide and driver for the first week were really excellent, spotting chameleons in trees whilst driving:-) Wishing we were still out there in the sunshine....

We first found this company by online searching...James helped us to create a self drive holiday to South Africa. 2 weeks before we were due to fly, my husband was diagnosed with cancer and we had to cancel while he underwent tests . James went out of his way to assist with the cancellation and got most of our money back before the insurance was involved. The service was efficient, compassionate and so easy...…..We couldn't have done it ourselves with so much going on in our lives. We returned to James this year for another chance to rebook the holiday, but with some major changes. Our holiday has been amazing. Again , James and the Sundowner team worked with us and for us to produce aperfect combination of self drive, Safari Lodge and beach holiday to SA and Mauritius. The company are amazing. They are very approachable and responsive. Their customer support is like no other holiday company I have ever used before. They are first class. we will use them again and recommend them to anyone ………….have no reservations at all ……..they are special group of people who know their customers and care.....they take pride in the job they do and it shows. THANKYOU JAMES AND THE TEAM

The team were fantastic putting together an itinerary for our special holiday, initially to Sri Lanka, & then changing to Kuala Lumpur and Borneo. They were very helpful & full of information. Drivers/guides were friendly & informative, hotels were amazing, transitions were smooth & trouble free. Ellie was particularly helpful in the lead up to departure, dealing with my many questions. It was a wonderful holiday, a great experience seeing a mixture of city & jungle life. Lots of amazing wildlife. Highly recommend.

Lucy Poole-McKenzie at Sundowners was hugely helpful in guiding us to put together a holiday that perfectly suited our requirements. She was very flexible and always listening to help us work out for ourselves what we were wanting without ever imposing ideas on us (& endlessly patient with our many “last” questions!).

We have had a wonderful holiday and wholeheartedly recommend Sundowner Holidays for anyone planning a trip to Costa Rica!

Nicky, Paul, Sam, Sophie and Ben

Sundowner organised a two week trip to Vietnam for my family and the whole trip was fabulous. It was really well designed, and flawlessly executed. The hotels, pick-ups and guides were amazing, and we felt we got a real insight into Vietnam. My whole family had an absolutely brilliant time; and more than that the team at Sundowner were fun to work with. Couldn't recommend them highly enough.

I contacted Sundowner to get information about a holiday in south Vietnam, which my husband and I were planning to go on in February. We had the good fortune to contact Chelsea who, from the very first contact, explained very clearly all the various possibilities and alternatives for trips around the Mekong River.
Chelsea looked into what we wanted (a private mini cruise) and she found an even better one than I had originally asked for. The itinerary Chelsea designed was great ... covering everything we wanted and including experience of local culture and villages. Every time I contacted her for extra information, Chelsea always replied promptly! I couldn’t praise her more!

We used Sundowner to arrange a 3-week holiday to Cape Town and the garden route in February/March 2019. Many thanks to Jo for all the care that went into the immaculate plans and Ellie for her support with the final arrangements. Jo worked so hard to understand our wishes but also guided us with travel opportunities we had not considered. We had a superb holiday and placed a high value on the knowledge and contacts Sundowner provided. We could not have done this on our own. The company is a delight to deal with and very transparent. We look forward to asking them to plan our next trip to India.

What a fantastic holiday from start to finish. All hotels were of a very good standard. The transfers were all on time, the itinerary details were exactly as written and everything went to plan.
Costa Rica was a beautiful place, we experienced so much having traveled to 5 different destinations.
I can highly recommend Sundowners, Jo was fantastic and very knowledgeable.

We used Sundowner to arrange our first trip to South Africa and we are so pleased that we did. Lucy organised an excellent itinerary for us which all went like clockwork. She was quick to respond to emails and very helpful. When our flight was delayed by 24 hours, all we had to do was to email Lucy and she sorted carhire and our first hotel booking.
As well as organising the route and booking the accommodation, Sundowner also gave us complete details of the route and timings as well as really useful suggestions on activities for each day. We would thoroughly recommend Sundowner to anyone who is considering a holiday in South Africa.

We recently returned from two weeks holiday in Sri Lanka. The whole experience was brilliant, mainly down to the ability of Lucy McKenzie and the team at Sundowner to tailor the holiday to our interests - something which a major local travel company was either unable or unwilling to do! From meeting our personal driver on arrival to making the most of our final day, everything was well organised and ran smoothly and written information was clear and well presented. All hotels were excellent and the food phenomenal. Sundowner liaised with us before, during and after our trip so we felt our custom and holiday experience was important to them. Thank you very much, Sundowner - and let’s hope recent troubles in Sri Lanka do not put people off visiting a beautiful and fascinating island.

Knowledgeable, efficient and extremely friendly! A wonderful team (especially Chelsie, who was my "go to" for the holiday planning) who ensured I had a fantastic, trouble-free vacation and an amazing collection of memories. Highly recommended - I would definitely use Sundowner again!

We booked a trip that involved 10 flights and 3 5hr drives to reach the places we wanted to go. At every step we were met on time by excellent guides/drivers who were friendly and informative. The whole trip was planned perfectly and executed just as perfectly.
We had obtained quotes from a couple of other well known companies - the trips they came up with were very similar using the same fantastic hotels, but were more expensive.
So I'd highly recommend Sundowner, not only for their excellent customer service and execution of holiday "on the ground", but also for their value for money.

A big thanks to everyone at Sundowner Holidays! The Sundowner team have been amazing throughout the whole experience, fully understanding what we were looking for in our Sri Lankan holiday and highlighting some fantastic hidden gems! The attention to detail is exceptional and really feel as though they care about creating the 'dream' holiday as much as yourself! Special mention to Jo and James who have been extremely helpful throughout always willing to go the extra mile and have made the experience a thoroughly enjoyable one, not to mentioned the countess hours saved! Would most definitely recommend to anyone looking for a holiday to look back on in years to come! Many thanks for all the help!

Our holiday in Costa Rica was even better than expected :) In the past we've booked everything ourselves, most recently driving in the Yucatan, Mexico. It would have been difficult to do the same for CR due to the complex terrain (we wanted to spend time on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts as well as in the mountains) and our complete lack of knowledge of the country, so it was great to have everything organised by Lucy. The arranged car hire involving delivery to our hotel on the first morning went smoothly. All the accommodation was excellent, and exactly as described. We found the suggested activities included in the itinerary invaluable, and thought the holiday very good value for money. We have no hesitation recommending Sundowner to other independent-minded travellers who aren't keen on conventional package holidays, but don't have the time/knowledge to arrange everything individually themselves.

This company went the extra mile to listen to what we like and then customize a holiday to meet our requirements exceedingly well. This took several emails and telephone calls until Lucy, their representative and ourselves were happy. A very comprehensive process. Not just a standard package.
The boutique hotels used were in the most stunning locations and the facilities, service and views provided were absolutely outstanding. Their knowledge and experience in planning holidays in South Africa was plain to see.
I thoroughly recommend them to you.