"Madrid-Barcelona"

Our guide was great! The excursions were awesome! The food was good. Transportation was great!

"Itinerary,weather"

Itinerary,weather, travelers, and outstanding tour Director

"Poor planning"

Poor planning. Poor communication during the trip. We saved for litterally years for this trip. I sent my wife and daughter and they spent more time on a bus or train than seeing anything. Flights were missed. They tried to send my 14 yr old daughter home through Chicago and my wife on a different flight through Denver. Multiple tours were canceled so they Spent alot of "free time" but didn't know where to go. Don't waste your money.

"The island 🏝️ of Puerto Rico was…"

The island 🏝️ of Puerto Rico was beautiful but sadly our tour guide did not do much explaining about the history, geography or sites from the island. We never knew before hand what was going to happen during the day and had to be constantly asking the tour guide in order to know. Also, she didn’t use a microphone on the bus or outside so we had to rely on others to be able to hear.

"Not great for people with allergies…"

As a celiac and a student, I was mildly concerned about food options on this trip— they have been an issue before. While it’s clear the company at least made an effort to provide meals, a lot of the time, the allotted time for getting meals on your own was not sufficient for someone with an allergy to find something that they were able to eat. In addition to this, some of the preplanned dinners did not necessarily have safe options, or a fulfilling meal. I had a reaction after at least one of them. If you are considering going on a tour with this group, and have a severe allergy/dietary restriction, like celiac, particularly if you are a student, having a parent with you (either one of your own or someone you know well) is important so you are able to break off from the group if necessary. If that isn’t possible, just bring lots of protein bars (I needed one every morning, since the breakfast the hotel provided offered some options, but not necessarily enough for a full/fulfilling meal). For the tour group itself, it would be very nice if there was an option to forgo dinners in cost of the trip for people with allergies, so that an individual can make a choice of where to eat that will be safer. Alternatively, more accessible vouchers would be nice. I also had some issues with the lack of a set schedule until the day of. It made it much harder to plan for what meals I could grab quickly, and also was disappointing each day to find out how little time we had in each place compared to the amount of time in a coach. I did, however, really like our tour guide (Christina)! Ultimately, for a vacation with someone without allergies, I think this group is alright, but a little rushed. But, with allergies, it makes it a challenge.

"Our group had an amazing experience…"

Our group had an amazing experience with Explorica. All the tour guides, bus drivers and restaurants were top notch and educational. The tour sites included in our package were the best and everyone enjoyed their time there. The locals were very knowledgeable and my students learned an amazing wealth of information about Ecuador and Galápagos Islands. We all agree that the tour was well organized and the pace of the trip was manageable. A shout out to our tour Director, Fernando Sanchez for an unforgettable experience. Thank you Explorica!

"The Galapagos was fantastic and we felt…"

The Galapagos was fantastic and we felt safe traveling through Ecuador and the Galapagos. Saw many amazing things. For the first time with a school trip I do feel several things should be more transparent, clear, or highlighted - the tipping was a little unclear in several areas, the sleeping arrangements between multiple schools was NOT clear. Now that I have been, I would also express louder before we left that for teenagers - the serving sizes may not be what they are used to. Maybe make sure they can find food elsewhere. All the adults felt the portions were absolutely fine. A couple of other items that were specific for our tour director. Thank you for a great Experience!

"Missed the ball on this trip"

I have to say that on this trip, I wasn’t happy with Explorica on a couple of things. First of all, the descriptions on the itinerary were a bit deceptive. Students thought they would be visiting the Eiffel Tower when in reality it was just via a river cruise, or we were to visit the Basilica in Vatican City but the lines were extremely long that we had no time to go in. Secondly, our hotels in London, Paris, and Florence were in sketchy areas where there were elicit things happening across the street from our hotels. We are taking teenagers that don’t need to see this and we need to keep them safe. Furthermore, the hotels were not only in bad areas but also far from the city center. It took almost an hour to reach the area where we would be doing our excursions, losing about 2 valuable hours that could have been used for exploring and/or free time. Some of these hotels were also lacking phones in the rooms to contact students and no peepholes for us to see who comes knocking on our doors. Also, the last two days were so packed with activities that there wasn’t enough free time for students to go exploring or shopping. Finally, one of our flights had such a tight connection that we literally got off one plane to immediately line up to board the next one. Also, having a 3 am wake up call to catch our flight back home was not popular, as some of my students didn’t sleep that night for fear of not waking up on time! In the midst of all of this, I have to add that our guide, Diego, was great! He did his best to accommodate some of our needs considering Explorica had a tight itinerary. My students did like most of the sites and walks throughout London, Paris, and Italy.

"Long-time group leader, easy to see a possible drop in quality I’ve come to expect"

As a person who has traveled with Explorica for over 20 years, this tour of France and Germany was satisfying in many ways, however marked a distinct decline in the level of quality, in several areas, that I have come to expect. From an all-but-inedible meal on our first night in Paris, to a markedly sub-par hotel in what had been voted (this shared by our guide) as the “ugliest town in Germany”, this tour stood out in a negative way compared to most I’ve taken with the company. The hotel had mold on the ceiling in multiple rooms, holes in guest room towels, WiFi did not work for any of us, our tour guide either, for both nights. Carpets and rugs were clearly old and worn, furniture that bore the clear signs of age (water rings all over them, scratches too). Balconies in several rooms were dirty, riddled with bird excrement. Even our bus driver said the place was unacceptable. Regarding the program, we had not enough time for a few sites in Paris, and FAR too much unguided free time in several German towns. We were given over 4 hours on two occasions, even with getting lunch, shopping, and exploring, you are left with too much time afterward. One tour’s obvious dip in quality though, does not mark a trend… I will be giving them another try with a tour of Italy already in the works for a future group of my students.

"We had a great time in S"

We had a great time in S. Korea! I think everyone in my group enjoyed the whole trip.