Citrusholidays Reviews 

We booked an Indonesian holiday with Citrus and paid for it in November of 2019, then the COVID crisis happened. We are now in the third quarter of 2024 and are still awaiting our $3k plus refund. They were of course diligently ‘chasing accounts’ up until last year but we haven’t been able to get any kind of communication from them in months. We found out after 2 years that ‘accounts’ is with the parent company ‘Benz’ travel in the UK, which has never communicated with us nor responded to our messages. Shameful crooks!

CITRUS HOLIDAYS DODGING REFUND! Very disappointed... Citrus Holidays UK had promised us a refund at the beginning of the pandemic and is still "chasing accounts" for us. We live in Canada and purchased the holiday through a deal on Travelzoo. We email Citrus Holidays and cc Travelzoo every month for the past 2+years and were assured that we would eventually get our refund. The refund agreement was 1/2 Air Canada flight vouchers and 1/2 cash. We tried to use the flight vouchers a couple of weeks ago and Air Canada reported they already refunded those voucher to Citrus Holidays back in July 2021 (0ver a year ago). We alerted CH about this new development demanded a full cash refund for the entire holiday + interest and their response was, "Would you consider rebooking a holiday?" We will seek legal action now and more media attention....

Booked a holiday with Citrus Holidays to Peru with 3 day Amazon extended stay in Dec 2019.
Payment was half up front second half payment due and completed in August 2020 for departure in October 2020. Due to covid holiday did not go ahead.
I was promised a full refund on 31Jan 2021. Waited 3 months patiently as advised by Citrus.
Phoned and emailed Citrus weekly about my refund as it did not arrive as promised on 31 January 2021.
I was told I’m in the second lot of refunds due in 2weeks, this was beginning of February 2021, it’s now 2 weeks into March 2021 and still no word or sign of my refund from Citrus despite giving the all details they asked for. Holiday cost was a few pounds shy of 4 thousand pounds for one person.
Very disappointed with Citrus Holiday company will not book with them again. It’s now in the hands of my credit card company.
Booking Number 4043

Update: refund received on 20/1/21!
Very disappointed - still no refund
Disheartened with reactive not proactive communication from citrus holidays. 12 weeks since cancellation still no refund! Serious considering contacting the media, The One show, Watchdog, Martin Lewis money matters etc

In March of this year we booked a complicated 3 location holiday using Citrus Travel for the first time and received great service from Jim who took good care to amend the many default options to those of our choice. We were then very disappointed when Covid struck and the holiday was cancelled. We really did not think we would ever see our monies back but I'm very happy to say that this has now happened - especial thanks go to Rose who went out of her way to keep us informed and who responded very promptly and politely to all my emails. We would not hesitate to book again and encourage all those who are feeling a little disillusioned with Citrus to bear with them. They really do care about you!

Evening.

I just wanted to applaud Rose at Citrus Holidays. I have experienced kindness without measure and thoughtfulness as if she was in the same boat, having to deal with the difficulties in managing pre-booked holidays, before COVID-19 struck.

I want to thank you Rose from the bottom of my heart for her understanding of our individual situation and treating us with the respect as if her family was in our situation, despite the fact that it is so difficult be working in the travel industry at this time.

Thank you Rose for unexpectedly negotiating a voucher for us to use at another time, which we we are very grateful for. Without hesitation, I would recommend you and your company.

Regards, Theresa Young

I’ve returned from the Southern India trip with Citrus Holidays last March and it did not disappoint at the wrong time, I was initially reluctant to book this tour, but am so pleased with my decision! The itinerary was very well planned, with every day offering a different landscape of beautiful India! Be prepared for lots of Sightseeing, Palaces, temples and equally lots of different cultures and communities along the way. This is an excellent trip that gives you a good taste of the southern culture and historical sights along with the wonderful food with great hotels & Resorts, including rich Heritage/Culture, Tea plantations, Wildlife, Ooty Mountain train journey, backwaters journey in Houseboat and wonderful beaches in Kerala,

We loved Wayanad Wild jungle lodge, a place in the midst of the rainforest Eco-sensitive establishment. Very comfortable room with balcony view of mating woodpeckers, giant squirrels, monkeys and lots more. Walks, talks and cookery demonstrations are all interesting and enjoyable. Best of all, especially for Hospitality and Food. They will spoil you with options. The staff and chefs are so courteous that they will go the extra mile to accommodate your needs, A true paradise away from all the hustle and bustle of India. 4x4 for an half hour drive up into the mountains and forest was an experience to be truly enjoyable.I always spent less than what I thought I would because a lot was included! But most of all, our tour Guide & Driver Abhilash was Outstanding! You’ll be so lucky if you also have Abhilash as your guide. A very inspiring man. very well organised trip. Incredible tour Guide & Can’t wait to travel with Citrus Holidays and would insist Abhilash as our Driver& Guide for our next adventure in South India.

Slightly anxious following my decision to book my first long-haul solo holiday online, I need not have worried! Citrus Holidays Kerala tour made me feel I was travelling privately (with only one other solo - who became a good friend along the way - and the driver). Seamlessly organised, great hotels with lots of included meals/activities and plenty of optional extras offered by the experienced local team made it possible to personalise this fabulous experience even further. Cooking with the lady was a highlight, the Tea Harvester Hotel in the middle of a plantation in Munnar was superb, as was the houseboat which served the best food! I’m running out of superlatives but value for money surely this programme cannot be beaten. A couple of tips: ask the driver where to buy beer, especially inland – don’t assume all hotels will be licenced. Also, do any shopping in Kochi in the first day or two, where there is much more on offer than later on. Thanks to all involved at Citrus, I will be using this company all the time now.

Kerala Solo traveller

I have just returned from the 10 nights/11days citrus Kerala solo traveller tour in March it was outstanding. Our driver, Nishanth Kitten, knew the routes well, stopped along the way for photos and knew all the decent toilet stops! The scenery was gorgeous and the hotels, tours and food were excellent. We were not rushed and had time to explore on our own if we wished. As a group we had great fun. This was my first solo trip, it certainly won’t be my last. I will definitely be recommending Citrus Holidays.

Wonderful South India & Kerala Holiday

We had a wonderful and well organised holiday. A great itinerary which will remember it all forever. Lovely hotels and delicious food. Very comfortable car and charming driver,We had nearly 17 days in South India & Kerala,visited Bangalore, Mysore,Ooty, Wayanad,Kochi,Boathouse in Alleppey, Poovar beaches and Bird sanctuary The hotels were wonderful and met our expectations with the guides, hotels, boat trips and Beaches, We started our tour from Bangalore International Airport, stayed in Radisson Blu, Grand Mercure,Fortune Sullivan court hotels, experienced the Great History, Culture & Rich Heritage of Bangalore,Mysore and Ooty.we travelled by train from Coonoor to Ooty, The toy train is an experience itself,Its a narrow gauge railways track built in 1908 during the British rule and forms an important part of UNESCO world Heritage Site,The train was clean and so quaint!, I shared my coach with one other British travellers, The train was due to reach Ooty by 18:00 hours,Wonderful trip on this unusual train,The view from Coonoor to Ooty is breaktaking and journeys was quite comfortable with Stunning views of mountains,Tea plantations, comfort stops along the way,monkeys at stations and evidence that elephants had been nearby, Would love to do this trip again

The highlight of the tour was Wayanad Wild Jungle lodge, Stunning, breathtaking, and beautiful. We had the most amazing experience at this fantastic resort... hidden away nestled amongst the mountains of the Western Ghats, clean, pristine, and hypnotising!! Nightly tracks around the resort grounds to seek out the wildlife was fantastic! I loved it! Afternoon relaxation at the infinity pool while monkeys are swinging in the trees above your head is unreal. We had a late evening stroll with a lovely guide who showed us the night life from the wild side.. with an array of frogs, snakes, and roosting migrating birds sleeping in the trees, we were then up and awake early for another early morning hike to encounter some more wild life the next morning before coming back to our lovely breakfast. We then traveled to Kochi, although the hotel was pleasant and the facilities of the pool etc

Overnight stay in the houseboat Alleppey was another highlight of the trip
Finally our last four hour journey further south to our last stop before home, staying at the beautiful resort of Isola di Cocco! Stunning!! Our heritage room was fabulous, having our own porch to sit out and admire the beautiful surroundings, the stunning flowers, and the birds it was such an amazing experience... we had an outside bathroom and toilet which was very unusual, but it was fine and quite pleasant,thank you Citrus Holidays for our fabulous holiday and thank you Abhilash our private chauffeur & Guide for driving us around your beautiful Country

Citrus Holidays organised my trip in Kerala to perfection

Citrus Holidays organised my trip in Kerala to perfection. Everything ran like clockwork. Guides knowledge of all the places we visited was excellent, driver we had was very good and a very jolly person. The representatives of the company in India were faultless and made sure I was in the right place at the right time with quiet efficiency. Great hotels good quality and high level of service. Nothing was too much trouble as far as Citrus was concerned.

All fantastic experiences made all the more possible by our lovely guide Abhilash his knowledge and personality made our tour the best experience and we thank him for that, Would certainly use Citrus Holidays again for future holidays.

We travelled to Kerala on the Kerala odyssey tour in January 2020 and had the most amazing time thanks to Citrus, Travelbug India and to Lali our driver.
Everything went to plan with no hitches and Lali proved to be a very competent driver in those challenging roads, keeping us safe . He was professional but friendly, kept the car impeccably clean and nothing was too much trouble.
The itinerary was well balanced, rather a lot of travelling time but who can complain with the amazing scenery of southern India.
We wish everyone well in these strange times and hope tourism kicks off again soon.

A fantastic holiday from start to finish. Exceptionally well organised; our whole 3 weeks ran like clockwork and was exactly as described and promised. Our guides and drivers were outstanding and couldn't do enough to ensure we enjoyed every moment. All of this was combined with incredible value for money. We would definitely recommend this holiday company, and will definitely booking with them again

Holiday unable to go ahead due to Coronavirus but they will not accept that. Refuse to give a refund unless I say I want to cancel and then I’d have to pay a £150 admin fee!! Want to charge £300 more to rebook the same holiday.
That is of course if you can contact them. The customer service is beyond laughable. You really should read the latest reviews because if it goes wrong there’s your proof of what happens. You’ve all been warned.

I have just returned from an amazing holiday with citrus . We were 8 solo travellers to kerala.
Our driver was excellent at dodgems.....the other drivers on the road were lethal. He kept us safe. He was charming and helpful.
The hotels were clean and staff lovely. Food was excellent. No one got sick.
The tour was busy and interesting we traveled from Kochi to Trivandrum.
Amongst our travels my highlights were a cruise through a wildlife park.
A night on a house boat cruising up the back waters .
I would have liked some more shopping time at the market on our trip to see the Chinese fishing nets.
Kerala is stunningly beautiful.
The tour brilliantly organised and the other solo travellers great fun. I just wanted more time there!

We have recently returned from our Southern India tour with Citrus Holidays.This is the first time that we have traveled with them & overall we were very impressed by them.
The itinerary was excellent & well thought out by Citrus, albeit with a couple of longish days driving between destinations. However the pace was about right over the whole holiday. You were at most hotels for 2 nights which also helped.
Our driver, Vishnu, was excellent & took great care of us throughout the holiday.
We would certainly consider another holiday with Citrus in the future.

My sister and I spent 16 days on this tour. The whole trip was so well organised,I would score it 5 stars.

We saw many famous sites in the North and then toured the beautiful Kerala region. We enjoyed many varied experiences from staying on tea and cardamom plantations to wildlife tours, a river boat stay and visiting an elephant sanctuary.

Both drivers were very skilled manoeuvring on these rather haphazard roads but a special mention has to go to Rahul who not only was a great driver but was great fun to tour with. By the end of the trip we were both sorry to say goodbye to our new friend who had helped us enjoy this fascinating tour to the maximum.

I have already recommended the tour to several friends and suggested they ask for Rahul to be their driver to enjoy India at its best as he was very knowledgeable, trustworthy and patient.

We arrived in Delhi to be greeted by our driver Dinesh who stayed with us for the whole trip around the Golden Triangle. His driving was excellent bearing in mind that there are no rules in India-no one gives way or stops to let other traffic through. It’s a drivers nightmare! Our first stop was Khas Baag, as we had upgraded our hotel. It was an absolute treasure. I only wish we’d had more time to spend there. It was really picturesque, our room was lovely and the food very good. We met the owner, a polo player, and his wife and they were happy to chat to us. They even came to see us off the next morning. We spent the next 3 days touring Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. All our guides were brilliant. Very knowledgable and helpful. Sonny took us to the Taj Mahal. He was really good and explained everything so well. He managed to clear the Diana bench for us so we could get some photos there. The Taj just took my breath away. It was stunning. I’m so pleased that I got to see it. Shiv took us around Jaipur and we got some fabulous photos. He knew the exact place to get the best picture. We then travelled down to the south where we were met by our next driver Rahul. I will never forget Rahul. We are friends for life. He would stop wherever e asked, find us pizza for lunch when we didn’t want curry, show us the best places to shop and he was always there waiting for us when we went places. He took us to a Katakhali and martial arts show which were fabulous. The houseboat at Aleppy was wonderful. We woke up to the sound of temple music, watching the sunrise over the trees and a fisherman in his little boat dragging in his nets. I will always remember that morning! We loved southern India. The climate was lovely, the people friendly and we visited some amazing places. Cochin was very interesting and we loved the tea plantation. Our hotel there was excellent. Great service and food. I would love to go back to India some day and if I do I will definitely book through Citrus. Top marks to everyone both in the UK and in India.

Overall the holiday was great, even better than what we expected.
We were pleased and satisfied with Vishwa (our guide/driver).

From being met at the airport Bengaluru to our final stay in Poovar our faithful, courteous driver Biju Looked after us so well and helped make the holiday special. The hotels were mostly good but Cochin one was chaotic. We arranged a different itinerary with our driver in Cochin as we had been before. Biju did us proud and even sensibly ended our trip on a car ferry over to Fort Cochin by the fishing nets.
Although the Kathakali show is famous throughout Kerala it was very slow and sleep inducing to watch for nearly 2 hours if you include seeing the make up being applied. I heard a fellow guest say he would never get those 2 hours of his life back!
Wayanad Wild was a different experience and all credit to them for trying to be so Eco . The cabin was lovely. We joined in the wildlife walks by day and saw tiny frogs and a snake on the night walk. The cooking demo was not at lunch time as we had been led to believe and was much the same both days.
We enjoyed the hotel in Ooty as very Colonial. The staff were very attentive. It was cold at night , enough to justify puffa jackets on a walk at tea time and heaters on in the bedrooms. The train ride was cute. Citrus could afford to lash out an extra £1 to buy first class tickets though as the leg room in Second class was only suitable for children.
Some of the drives between hotels were rather long - up to 7 hours- and the roads are hazardous with much honking and dodging tuktuks and pedestrians.Biju remained calm and controlled driving but these journeys are not relaxing to passengers.
The final hotel in Poovar was only 3* and although the pool was the best the food was poor and tasteless. Service in the dining room really slow and tables never got cleared. It is an isolated resort so you feel trapped. Kovalam would have been a better choice with a beach and shops and cafes .
We were impressed with the overall arrangements made by Citrus but would hope they listen to some of the concerns mentioned.
The houseboat in Allepi was eventually a pleasant one night experience despite the appalling check in conditions and lack of a boat being ready for us. Ours was very tatty and far from luxurious. The captain went home at night and the cook slept on the sofa. We couldn’t use the poor shower facilities as the whole toilet area with broken seat would have been swamped . No hot water either. Lucky the food was enjoyable and we enjoyed the birds! I’ll be contacting Citrus about this part of the trip.
Many thanks to Biju. These drivers sleep in the cars in the hotel car parks. We felt for them especially in Ooty where it was so cold. It seems a hard way to earn a living but they never complained once!