Butterflying holidays

[Susie]

I'm thinking of going on a butterflying holiday this summer. I'd like to go on an organised trip and wondered if members here could recommend any organisations please?

[bugboy]

How about the sites new sponser

[selbypaul]

Hi Susie
I've been on five organised butterflying holidays so far, all five with Naturetrek, all of which were brilliant. I did the Dolomites in 2016, Croatia and the Spanish Pyrenees in 2017, and Greece and Switzerland in 2018.

This year, I'm trying Greenwings, booked on both their North Greece and Monte Universales (Central Spain) holidays.

Greenwings don't include the flight costs in their price, so look substantially cheaper. However even when flight prices are included, Greenwings work out marginally cheaper.

I can't yet review Greenwings, having not yet been with them, but my reviews of all the Naturetrek holidays are 10 out of 10. Literally, you turn up at the airport in the UK, and 8 days later you arrive back in the UK. In between, you literally don't have to think about a thing. All the organisation, planning, driving, site picking, hotels, food etc etc are done for you.

From what I've been told Greenwings is the same.

Hope this helps. If you have any further questions, just ask
Best Wishes
Paul

[bailey1409]

Hi Susie

I have been on four organised butterfly holidays with www.wildechotours.com in Bulgaria. All were fantastic and I have booked another this year.

They have butterfly tours throughout the year. I have been on their Butterfly and Macro Photographic tour and their Scarce Butterflies tour. We are booked on their Mountain Butterfly and Macro Photographic tour in July.

They are a very professional company and know the best butterfly sites to visit.

Meadows visited are full of wild flowers which attract many butterflies and other insects.

They have a very comprehensive web site with lots of information.

If you want any further info. please get in touch

Cheers

Maurice

[selbypaul]

You might also want to visit the weblink below. It lists all the companies and all the butterflying holidays they do:
http://european-butterflies.org.uk/holidays.html

[Roger Gibbons]

As I don’t have any commercial involvement in tours any more, I would strongly suggest the Greenwings tour of the French Alps. I was the architect of this tour and the tour leader from 2014 to 2016, as it is an area I know very well and have been visiting for over twenty years. The reason I decided to work with Greenwings, having had proposals from other tour companies such as Naturetrek, is that the two guys who run Greenwings are actively involved in BC (Julian is the Secretary of the Suffolk branch) and they are principally butterfly specialists.

On each of the first three years of the tour we saw 120 different species each year, not always the same ones, and a total of 138 species over the three years. In the location for the first four days, I have recorded 111 species within 1km of the hotel. The southern French Alps are remarkably unspoilt and the scenery is breathtaking. The 2016 tour report is here:
http://greenwings.co/wp-content/uploads ... t-2016.pdf

David M, who was one of the guests on the 2014 tour, and has been co-leader and leader ever since, has become expert on the locations and identification, is a superb organiser and speaks fluent French. The ambience has been very convivial and several guests have been on the tour more than once, and I believe that one guest has been on the tour every year.

Roger

[Susie]

Thank you all for your replies, which are really interesting and I'm grateful you took the time to add your thoughts. Looks like I have some tough decisions to make as they all look good.

[bailey1409]

Hi Susie

Just one thing that you might consider is the air fare. Some tour companies include this in their price whilst others don't.

We booked our air fare back in October 2018 and it has risen in price by over £50 and will no doubt rise even higher the longer you leave it.

Cheers

Maurice