Please find below our standard terms and conditions. These are relevant to our general trading and all expeditions we operate.

We sometimes issue expedition-specific terms and conditions, which, if applicable, are made available to you with your deposit invoice.

Silk Road Adventures Ltd Terms and Conditions

1. Provisional bookings. We [Silk Road Adventures Ltd] will accept provisional bookings made through our website, by phone or email. The provisional booking means that, subject to availability, we will hold your tour place for 7 working days before your deposit payment is required to secure the place.
2. Registration and Deposit. You’ll confirm your place on the adventure and enter into a contract with Silk Road Adventures Ltd by paying a non-refundable 20% deposit. All payments are payable by Paypal or BACS as per the invoices provided to you by us [Silk Road Adventures Ltd].
3. Balance Payment. The final balance is payable a minimum of 120 days before the start of the trip. If you’d like to pay the remaining amount in two installments please let us know. Silk Road Adventures Ltd reserves the right to cancel any booking for which the full balance has not been paid 120 days prior to the departure date.
4. Card Payment Charges. Silk Road Adventures does not levy charges for debit or credit card payments from within the EU, but payments made by credit or debit card from outside the EU will have the applicable charges specified and applied to your invoice(s). Please note that the only cards considered as true credit cards under EU and UK law are Visa and Mastercard. American Express, Diners Club and other ‘three-party’ charge cards are exempt and a charge will be levied for their use and added automatically to all invoices to be paid this way.
5. Cancellation and refunds. If for any reason you or any member of your party on whose behalf you have agreed a booking, have to withdraw from the trip you must let us know in writing. The following charges will be levied:

• 120+ days prior to departure :  non-refundable deposit of 20% total booked price
• 60-119 days prior to departure :  non-refundable 20% deposit + 30% booked price
• 30-59 days prior to departure  :  non-refundable 20% deposit + 50% booked price
• 0-29 days prior to departure : 100% booked price including deposit

Card payment fees (where applicable) will be deducted from refunds.
All cancellations will incur a £50 administration charge

5. Tailor Made Group Bookings. If you book a tailor-made tour on behalf of a group, our price to you will be based on the size of the group at the time of the booking. If the group size reduces for any reason, it is your responsibility to find group members to fill any spaces created. If you are unable to recruit group members to fill the spaces created by any withdrawals, you are liable to pay the original total amount for the group based on the size of the group at the time of bookings. You are entering into a contract with Silk Road Adventures Ltd to undertake to provide a group of the size agreed at the time of booking and the overall cost of the group (£/pp multiplied total guest numbers) will not change due to a reduction in group size. In this respect guests who book as part of a tailor-made group are jointly and severally liable for the total cost of the tour agreed at final quotation stage.
6. Financial Protection. Silk Road Adventures Ltd is a company committed to customer satisfaction and consumer financial protection. We are therefore pleased to announce that, at no extra cost to you, and in accordance with ”The Package Travel, Package Tours Regulations” all passengers booking with Silk Road Adventures Ltd are fully insured for the initial deposit, and subsequently the balance of monies paid as detailed in your booking confirmation form.
   The policy will also include repatriation if required, arising from the cancellation or curtailment of your travel arrangements due to the insolvency of Silk Road Adventures Ltd. This insurance has been arranged by The Travel Vault in conjunction with Towergate Travel through Zurich Insurance PLC.

6.1 Claims. In the unlikely event of Insolvency, you must Inform Towergate Travel immediately on +44 (0) 1932 334140 or by email at [email protected] . Please ensure you retain the booking confirmation form as evidence of cover and value.

6.2 Policy exclusions. This policy will not cover any monies paid for Travel Insurance

7. ATOL Protection (for ATOL-protected flights and flight-inclusive packages only)

7.1 Your Financial Protection. When you buy an ATOL protected flight or flight inclusive package from us you will receive an ATOL Certificate. This lists what is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong

7.2 We, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL Certificate, will provide you with the services listed on the ATOL Certificate (or a suitable alternative). In some cases, where neither we nor the supplier are able to do so for reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL holder may provide you with the services you have bought or a suitable alternative (at no extra cost to you). You agree to accept that in those circumstances the alternative ATOL holder will perform those obligations and you agree to pay any money outstanding to be paid by you under your contract to that alternative ATOL holder. However, you also agree that in some cases it will not be possible to appoint an alternative ATOL holder, in which case you will be entitled to make a claim under the ATOL scheme (or your credit card issuer where applicable).

7.3 If we, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL certificate, are unable to provide the services listed (or a suitable alternative, through an alternative ATOL holder or otherwise) for reasons of insolvency, the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust may make a payment to (or confer a benefit on) you under the ATOL scheme. You agree that in return for such a payment or benefit you assign absolutely to those Trustees any claims which you have or may have arising out of or relating to the non-provision of the services, including any claim against us, the travel agent (or your credit card issuer where applicable). You also agree that any such claims may be re-assigned to another body, if that other body has paid sums you have claimed under the ATOL scheme

8. Assembly arrangements. It is your responsibility to arrange your transport to the start location at the specified time and date, airport transfer provisions notwithstanding. If you fail to meet the party at the appointed time and at the designated place, any additional expenses incurred to allow you to reconvene with the group will be your responsibility.
9. Travel Insurance. It is an essential condition of your booking that you to take out a comprehensive travel insurance policy as soon as you have signed up for this tour. Individual tour insurance requirements are set out in the “Legal Stuff” section of each tour description on our website. These sections detail specific insurance requirements for certain countries or activities. If you have to pull out of the trip and the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim the cost of your payment and flight bookings. We strongly advise that any comprehensive travel insurance policy include irrecoverable cancellation costs. This is your responsibility, however, and we accept no liability for any acts or omissions of your chosen insurance company. We will request a copy of your policy document before the trip starts and are happy to advise you on the best insurers.
10. Tour Cost. We will not increase the price of your booked tour within 30 days of your departure date. Our published prices allow us to absorb 3% currency exchange fluctuations without amending the published or agreed booking costs. However, if international currency exchange rates, governmental activities or other macro-economic events outside of Silk Road Adventures Ltd.’s control cause prices to fluctuate beyond a 3% increase, you will be charged accordingly, up to 5% increase above the booked cost. For any cost increase above 8% of the booked price, you will have the option to cancel your booking in full, according to our cancellation terms and conditions provided herein.
11. Passports and Visas. You are responsible for ensuring that your passport has at least 6 months validity beyond the proposed end date for your chosen tour. You are also responsible for obtaining any required visas or vaccination certificates set out in the Welcome Pack or Traveller Briefing Pack issued for each individual tour, or in any subsequent information provided by Silk Road Adventures Ltd unless expressly noted as included in the tour package inclusions.
12. Health. You are responsible for ensuring that you are in good health for the tour you are booking. We will highlight any causes for concern in the individual tour information provided on our website, and in any subsequent information pack provided to you. Please note that Silk Road Adventures Ltd accepts no liability for your health, and in booking your place on the tour, you are agreeing that you are in good health for the activities listed.
13. Behaviour. We reserve the right to refuse to accept or retain any client who behaves in a manner which results in the diminution of our ability to run the tour satisfactorily, safely and to the enjoyment of other participants. This includes any conduct that causes serious offence to the citizens of areas we visit, to other tour participants, to our local teams or that which otherwise brings Silk Road Adventures Ltd into disrepute. We will not tolerate racist, homophobic, sexist or misogynistic, hateful, aggressive or insulting behaviour by any guest We will not be held liable for any costs incurred by any client in the event of their place on any given tour is terminated for any of these reasons.
14. Carbon Dioxide Emissions Scheme Payments. Silk Road Adventures Ltd is a member of the Mossy Earth charity. See our Responsible Travel page for further details. We employ an opt-out approach to sequestering and reducing carbon emissions and accordingly an annual membership to the Mossy Earth charity will be added to every sales invoice at a cost of £120 per booking. This will ensure that a minimum of 24 native species trees are planted in European rewilding schemes over the year your booking is made. It is your responsibility to let us know in writing if you prefer to opt-out of this scheme.
15. Alterations and Cancellation by Silk Road Adventures Ltd. We reserve the right to make minor changes to the trip details both before and after you’ve signed up. If we have to make any major changes we will tell you as soon as possible and will offer you the chance to either accept the altered itinerary or cancel, in line with our published cancellation terms. Compensation will not be payable and no liability will be accepted by us where we are forced to make an alteration or cancellation as a result of unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which we could not have avoided even with all due care.
16. Alterations during Tour by You. We take great care to ensure our itinerary is well-suited to your needs. If during the trip you make further arrangements with our local teams that include any additional costs, you undertake to pay all such extra costs, including those incurred with implementing and managing any adaptations. You will be invoiced for any such ad-hoc changes made to your itinerary.
17. Agreement of Itinerary. The payment of your deposit to book a tailor-made or group tour denotes your acceptance of the itinerary as provided for that tour. It is your responsibility to read the itinerary prior to agreeing to book a place on the trip to which it is related. Any claim made against Us for an itinerary not being delivered as agreed will be verified against our digital records for how that itinerary is sent, received and read by you. In this respect we reserve the right to employ software that permits us to see how our itineraries have been viewed.
18. Force Majeure. We will not be liable to you if the tour is prevented or affected as a result of ‘force majeure,’ which means any event which we could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events include war, threat of war, riot, civil strike, actual, threatened or suspected terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, disease by viral epidemic or otherwise, adverse weather conditions, fire, earthquake, landslides, flooding and any similar events outside our control.
19. Limitations of Liability. We will ensure the arrangements we have agreed to make or provide as part of our contract with you are made or provided with reasonable skill and care. This means that, subject to these conditions, we will accept responsibility if, for example, the arrangements are deficient as a result of such failure by ourselves or our suppliers. It will be your responsibility to show that reasonable skill and care has not been used if you make a claim against us.

19.1 For all claims which do not involve death or personal injury, if we are found liable to you on any basis, the maximum amount we will have to pay you is the amount paid by you to us in respect of the tour.

19.2 We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss (eg loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost or other sum or claim of any description whatsoever which results from any act and/or omission of the person affected or the act and/or omission of a third party which were unforeseeable or unavoidable or “force majeure” as defined above.

19.3 No liability can be accepted for negligent acts or omissions of air, road, rail and sea carriers or providers of hotel accommodation whose responsibilities are governed by international law and conventions such as the 1929 Warsaw Convention (amended by the 1975 Hague Protocol), 1961 Berne Convention, 1962 Paris Convention, 1973 Geneva Convention and 1974 Athens Convention)

19.4 We cannot be held liable for damage, expense or loss where this has been caused by your own lack of reasonable care, or where this is due to the actions of any party unconnected with your tour arrangements.

19.5 We do not accept responsibility for any services which do not form part of our contract with you, such as additional service or facility which any supplier agrees to provide for you if the service or facilities are not advertised in our publicity materials and we have not specifically agreed to arrange them.

This agreement is governed by English law and subject to the sole jurisdiction of the English courts.

Silk Road Adventures Ltd
Registered Office: 5 Great George Street, Bristol BS1 5RR
Company No. 09789359
ATOL Number 11553
Travel Vault Number SRA/ZUR/22091