Testimonials

“Smile Panda Tours is led by responsible, caring and experienced people who know both their clients and the region by heart. The sense of personal touch sets them apart from any other travel business I know. Not just dry guiding through the trails, they emphasize on offering the local color of the region they take their travelers through. I had the pleasant fortune to travel with them, and the compassionate guidance they provided will be a cherished memory for me. I frequently suggest my friends and colleagues to make their trips with Smile Panda and I would most definitely recommend anyone reading this testimonial to place their faith on this wonderful agency.“

“Thank you so much SMILE PANDA tours for putting on SMILE throughput the journey and making it such a memorable one. To be precise, it was an awesome experience touring with you. Every bit of detail was covered as were quoted before booking was finalised and even there was lot of add on surprises in store for us. As a couple we didn’t expect so much comfort in such affordable price. Food, cars, hotels were just perfect. We hope to plan next trip with you pretty soon. We will definitely suggest my friends and colleagues to go with you. Keep SMILING …..”

“It has been a memorable experience to travel with Smile Panda Tours, specially with the tour co-ordinator Chayan. For our honeymoon we decided to skip the chaos and crowd and opt for some offbeat destination. Chayan suggested the locations name Barfung, Pelling and Kaluk in Sikkim. Thanks to his well organized itinerary we had a perfect balance of relaxation and exploration. The special welcome with smiling faces, warm hospitality and a Khada (traditional Nepali scarf) at Kaluk, everything was superb. A walk to the Rabdentse Ruins was very exciting. Also waking in the morning with having glass wall in one side facing the snow covered Kangchenjunga at Barfung was so captivating. These were some of the highlights of our wonderful trip to picturesque Sikkim.

P.S. You have now become our official trip adviser as we can’t think of another person whom we can trust to make such well arrangements. We look forward to our next trip with Smile Panda Tours. Thanks again from both of us for arranging this extraordinary trip.”

“I have mostly been a casual trekker, but over the years of my encounter with the hills I have come to appreciate a basic yet very important fact that I feel every trekker, explorer should pay heed to. Solo expeditions aside, your tour guide is perhaps THE MOST IMPORTANT component of your journey. Both in terms of professional knowledge of the art of trekking, the regions explored, the physiological requirements of the explorers and the dedication that they bring to the job, your guide can bring a completely new dimension to your experience.
Keeping in mind the above observation, here’s what I think of the organizers and guides of “Smile Panda”. I have had the opportunity of traveling under the professional guidance of the founder of the company himself. I did, as every trekker should, a thorough enquiry of the person’s professional qualifications and experiences of the job. These people, having grown up themselves in the close vicinity of the Himalayan region and having explored the possible destinations for years, know the terrains as well as the people and their cultures like the palm of their hand. This knowledge immediately sets them apart from any perfunctory, mechanical and disinterested guidance that the average travel business (even the most popular of them, I kid not) would bring you.
These people, I noticed during our time together, have an amazing capacity to endear and completely fraternize any and every local set up where they thought it would be best for us to have our lunch at or stay the night in. Naturally the services provided to us at these places were better than what other travelers received. I had accidentally left behind part of my luggage during the Sandakphu trek last year. The owner of the place had so great an acquaintance with our guide, Mr. Dutta, that he had it sent over to our next stop (Kalipokhri, a far off place where no network coverage and hardly any other mode of communication was possible) on a car that was carrying weekly supply.
Mr. Dutta, I came to know during our pre-trek interactions, has not only explored offbeat but potential tourist locations at the hills, but has worked in close tie ups with a tourism society in Sikkim which enables him to bring unique local color to the experience of those who travel under his guidance. Apart from his own business interests, he has covered the state’s rural cultural festivals as a photographer out of pure interest in the diverse cultures that abound in the corners of the beautiful state. This tremendously accounts for the local color that he brings to his guided expeditions. That local flower with the local name, that local plant which might ease your breathing troubles should it be the case, that local name for the distant, minor mountain which normally escapes attention, that local myth surrounding a particularly shaped leaf of a plant – that intimate attention to each and every detail; touring under the capable guidance of these people has been THE BEST experience for me so far.
Being trained in professional mountaineering courses, these people are also acutely aware of the physiological requirements of the trekkers during the often trying circumstances that trekking entails. They know the exact reaction of the body at exact days, altitudes and circumstances, as well as the exact methods (I could go into the details, but I prefer to let that knowledge stay in the exclusive package for others to find out themselves) to be followed as such. What I think is of utmost importance in this regard is the natural ways in which they always urge you to treat your body during any discomfiture. Those who have had the experience of guided hill expeditions would know that many (the number is frighteningly significant) travel programs advise certain medicines to be taken prior to and during treks to ease the body of altitude-induced sickness. I, for one, am completely against this method. My findings suggest that if you don’t give your body the chance to adapt and ease itself as you gain height and resort to medicines instead, there is a good chance that the process might backfire, causing problems that might even turn fatal owing to the lack of standard health services at such altitudes. Thanks to Mr. Dutta and his detailed knowledge of natural treatment processes, after just one expedition with him I am equipped for life with the same. He carried necessary medications should there arose need for it, but we never needed them.
In my opinion, “Smile Panda” is a relatively new venture, but the experience, knowledge and dedication that its founders have brought to it, and I myself stand witness to it, makes it simply unparalleled, even by the best standards available right now. I wish them all the very best with continued, eco-friendly and dedicated good work. Their approach to the idea of tourism may very well become the face of the trade tomorrow. I wish them good luck.”