With 28 years at the cutting edge of worldwide adventure travel, KE is one of the longest established and most well-respected of tour operators, with a bigger and more varied collection of pioneering trekking holidays than anyone else. This website presents our inspirational programme of some 220 treks, climbs and other adventures, amongst which there are 60 new trips, including a number of softer walking, touring and discovery holidays. Also in our collection we have dedicated family holidays and biking holidays. Whether you are looking to climb amongst the world's biggest peaks, trek into untamed wilderness areas, or witness at first hand the wildlife and culture of far-off lands, we're sure we have the perfect trip for you!
Why Travel with KE
Proudly independent, KE has a deserved reputation for innovation, quality of service, value for money and for providing once-in-a-lifetime holidays. By taking advantage of our expertise, you will make the most of your precious holiday time and experience the very best of your chosen destination.
Service
When travelling with KE, you are assured of the highest standards. An office team of experienced travellers who know our holidays inside out, together with first-class local agents and skilled and knowledgeable leaders, combine to ensure that our trips run smoothly. Each year, the simple fact that most of the people who travel with KE are repeat bookings is the best possible testament we could have. There are cheaper operators - but we won't cut corners to compete with them.
Safety
Your safety is our highest priority and you can rest assured that KE has at its disposal the best available back-up and rescue facilities in each area we visit. The premium we place on professional standards of leadership also helps to ensure safety and security throughout your trip.
Adventurous yet Responsible
We recognise the need to protect the world’s most beautiful places and the philosophy of ‘leaving nothing but footprints’ has been integral to KE’s approach right from the start. Additionally, we aim to make a positive contribution wherever we travel and have a range of ongoing aid projects. These include building and refurbishing schools in several parts of the world, provision of solar-powered lamps for mountain villages in Peru and supporting the Tibet Vision Project. This work continues via our connection to the Juniper Trust . Our work in the field of Responsible Tourism led to our being awarded the top 5-star rating by AITO. We were also the recipients of AITO’s 2007 Achievement in Responsible Tourism Award and runners-up in 2010.
Small Group Travel
Limiting the size of our groups to 16 enables us to be more creative in the setting up of our adventure itineraries, as groups of this size can take advantage of travel and transport opportunities which would be impractical for large groups. Small groups also allow for easier interaction with people we meet on the trail and leave fewer footprints in a world where it is increasingly important for us all to be environmentally aware. Around half of our clients are solo travellers, whilst others are either couples or groups of friends. There is usually a mix of male and female travellers, with a range of different ages.
KE Leaders
A professional leader or a local guide who has been selected on the basis of his or her experience and leadership skills accompanies each KE trip. Your leader might be a seasoned traveller and mountaineer on a classic Nepalese trek, an IFMGA Guide on a climbing trip in Europe, a wilderness specialist in North America or an English-speaking local expert in Patagonia or Peru. No matter who your leader is, you can be sure that they will meet the high standards expected by us and by our clients. Your KE leader is there to ensure your holiday runs smoothly.
Accommodation
The accommodation we use is as varied as our range of trips and destinations. Within one trip you might overnight in a comfortable hotel, a mountain lodge and a riverside camp. You’ll find information on the accommodation to be used in each holiday description and our dossiers give further details. On trips involving camping you’ll camp in comfort, usually with a dedicated support team to transfer baggage and equipment, help set up camp and prepare your meals.
Food and Health
It is our primary concern that you should remain in good health throughout your holiday. When camping we make sure that food is expertly and hygienically prepared and we serve a mixture of local and European-style dishes. We aim to provide substantial meals with as much variety as possible and routinely cater for vegetarians.
Trip Pricing
Many of you choose to book flights through KE, whist some book flights independently. For this reason, we show both Flight Inclusive and Land Only prices on this website. For destinations where it makes sense for you to book your flights directly with low-cost carriers (such as Geneva and Marrakech) we ONLY show the Land Only price. Read more about KE Pricing.
Travel Insurance
It is a condition of booking a KE Adventure holiday that you have appropriate mountain sports travel insurance. Specialist insurers, like Snowcard, BMC and Travelex, issue suitable policies. Read more about Travel Insurance.
KE Private Groups
If you would like to travel independently, perhaps with a group of friends or colleagues, KE can help to bring your holiday plans to fruition. This could be an entirely separate holiday arrangement or an extension to a regular KE trip. Whatever your preference, we can help you to devise the ideal itinerary and provide a value-for-money quote. Read more about Private Groups.
Choosing your Adventure
We presents here an amazing variety of trips: from 1-week European holidays to month-long Himalayan treks and from easy touring holidays to ascents of 6000 and 7000 metre peaks. Whatever your interests or aspirations, we’re sure to have a trip to suit - the hardest part will be choosing one! To help you, we use a comprehensive grading system, which identifies an individual trip’s level of difficulty and enables you to easily compare the difficulty of two or more trips.
Explore More
A number of trips in this brochure feature the Explore More logo. Amongst the finest adventures on the planet, these are also specialist trips and not likely to appeal to everyone. Running these in conjunction with our friends at Allibert and Hauser (France and Germany’s leading adventure travel operators) allows us to gather viable groups for these radical trips. All have English-speaking leaders and operate in the style of international expeditions, which is part of the Explore More experience!
Download Dossiers
Detailed day-by-day dossiers for all of our trips can be downloaded from the individual trip pages and they are also available through the KE office. Our dossiers include a comprehensive itinerary, trip photographs and lots of useful information, such as the nature and difficulty of the terrain, climatic conditions, equipment requirements, as well as a reading list and details of available maps.
Visit the KE Office
If you visit our Keswick office, we'll be happy to entertain you with an in-depth, individual presentation about any of our holidays. Please contact us in advance to arrange a time and we'll put the kettle on and be ready to talk you through your chosen trip.
When to Book
To be sure of a place on your chosen trip, you should make your booking as soon as possible. Booking early helps you to secure the lowest fares for scheduled flights and enables us to obtain any special permits that may be required. Please note: there are no discounts for late booking. For further details go to How to Book.
Late Availability
If you do find yourself looking for a holiday at short notice, check out the Late Availability.
Financial Protection
KE Adventure Travel is a fully licensed and bonded tour operator. We hold an Air Travel Organiser's Licence (ATOL 2808) issued by the Civil Aviation Authority and we are also a member of the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA W4341). Membership of these organisations means that you can book in complete confidence that any money paid to KE is fully protected.
IMPORTANT WARNING
This is ADVENTURE travel, and many of KE's holiday destinations are in remote areas, within under-developed countries, where events are less predictable than is usually the case in, for example, Western Europe or North America. The unexpected is the norm in these areas and, despite painstaking planning and organisation, our adventure holidays can never be taken for granted like regular holidays. Many of the places that we visit do not have the same quality of emergency health and safety services that we are used to in the developed world. Internal flights can be cancelled, road transport is generally uncomfortable and unreliable, and hotels often do not approach the standards of the West.
IF YOU ARE NOT PREPARED FOR THIS, YOU SHOULD NOT TRAVEL WITH US.
This unpredictability also means that the itineraries that we put forward for each of our holidays should be seen as statements of intent, rather than as contractual obligations. A variety of factors, including weather, transport difficulties and political instability, might dictate that we change any itinerary. The trip leader will make any changes that are necessary, after consultation with the group. Only rarely will such changes be significant, and we will always do everything within our powers to minimise the effects of the enforced changes. We cannot be held responsible for the results of changes or delays, irrespective of how they are caused.
