Sherpa Expeditions

This was our first ever experience of booking a self-guided walking holiday with Sherpa Expeditions. We paid £50 extra for them to book our flights with Easyjet. The walking notes for the "Apuane Alps" holiday arrived in good time prior to our departure, and were extremely detailed. The booking process seemed absolutely fine. Unfortunately the holiday went wrong on our first night when an unusually fierce storm and torrential rain left many local roads impassable through landslips. At breakfast we were told by their local rep NOT to attempt to start the walk, as it was too dangerous and our luggage could not be transported. Later, Sherpa Expeditions phoned us to say they could not let us continue. We just wanted to abandon the holiday, and for them to re-arrange our flights home and reimburse a fair chunk of what we'd paid, or re-arrange the holiday another time. They were NOT prepared to do either, only to re-arrange and pay for B&B accommodation elsewhere for the remaining nights (after being forced to stay a 2nd night at the first hotel). We reluctantly agreed, as we had no alternative. Sherpa said that the disaster was beyond their control and they were under no obligation to reimburse us. The only reimbursement they eventually offered was a measly £60 each (yet to be received) for 4 nights evening meals (the original holiday was half board). FYI, our holiday insurers said that weather-related events are uninsurable, so we cannot claim anything back. On our return, Sherpa Expeditions claimed that they "misunderstood" our desire to be flown home early when this disaster struck.

The only good thing to come out of this is that we have their walking information pack and now know their local rep (who also does the luggage transfers). Therefore we could do the holiday ourselves another time without having to book it through Sherpa.