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.
The Headwater rep in Malta, Stephanie Tickle, was excellent. She was very helpful and gave us lots of recommendations for our stay there.
Temperatures were much hotter than typical for mid-October. This made everything hot and dusty and the walking more difficult. As a result we took the shorter options where provided and improvised shorter options where not. The buses on Malta were very busy and often they would be too full to pick anyone up. Once we realised this we got out earlier to beat the crowds. Gozo was much quieter and much more our cup of tea. The people on Gozo were very friendly. We had no problems with buses on Gozo, always on time, always plenty of space. The food was excellent throughout the holiday.
Fine
The Headwater experience included a lot of good points - the holiday booking experience and the travel and accommodation were all good, with everything going smoothly and very easily for us. However, we found some of the walking in Malta much harder than expected, partly no doubt due to the unusually hot conditions (30 deg in October) and we experienced some challenges getting used to the app and following the routes. Our expectation of the activity grading level for parts of this holiday was significantly off!
We were originally booked to do another walking holiday in Greece which cancelled 10 days before departure to storms and flooding. Headwater team went all out to find us an alternative and we settled on enjoyable twin-centre holiday with just the right amount of time at each. Flights, transfers & ferry journeys all worked out perfectly. Hotels were of good quality and we felt welcomed at both. Local transport came in the form of local buses (passes provided) and were amazingly reliable. We used them every day to get around for both walks and tourist visits. Local agent, Stephania, was amazing and reachable for all queries. She recommended several restaurants, two of which we thought were outstanding.
Only disappointing factor was a room downgrade at the first hotel. It was very hot even at the end of September and there is very little shade on the walks but we started off relatively early to try and finish by lunchtime and then find a swimming option in the afternoon. Looking forward to the next one!
As novices to walking holidays, we had an enjoyable trip to Malta and Gozo, however due to the exceptional heat it was quite challenging! Some of the walks have a 30-60 minute bus ride before the start, so cannot be started really early (we weren't prepared to forgo a reasonable lie-in and enjoy the hotel breakfasts!), but over the course of the week we did learn how to make the most out of the buses to shorten or amend our route plans and still see much of both islands! We enjoyed the many swimming opportunities and the peaceful walks that were a nice balance to the bustle of Valetta and Victoria and the main towns.
Malta (and Gozo) are great destinations for independent travel. The bus service is superb - an extremely reliable way of getting to and from places to start and finish walks. There are plenty of excellent walks to choose from taking in a range of spectacular coastal scenery, historic sites and attractive towns and villages. Gozo is the prettier, and quieter, island of the two so suited us more but we wouldn't have wanted to miss the historic attractions on the main island. We could easily have spent 3 days exploring Valletta and the 3 cities! A final word about Headwater's local guide, Stephania. She was one of the best guides we have had for this type of holiday. She was very attentive, full of great ideas on how to improve on the walks provided by Headwater and offered a number of great alternatives to the Headwater suggested itinerary. She kept in touch throughout our stay in an unobtrusive but reassuring way. A credit to Headwater and to Malta!
