Explore Worldwide Reviews 242

Brilliant in every respect from tour to tour guide to other travellers who ranged in age from 16 to 80. This was a last minute decision as our holiday was cancelled due to still not being open due to Covid. We are not tour group people so we thought but our holiday to Iceland with Explore has gone down as one of our best ever trips. There is no way we would have seen as much if we had tried to do it on our own and the tour was totally stress free. Our tour guide was brilliant - think I mentioned that before!

Carefully planned trip, great guide, interesting itinerary, company offers trips to interesting/different destinations

We had a fantastic holiday with Explore, walking in Gran Canaria. Their guides are always very knowledgeable, professional and fun to be with. Explore have a vast knowledge of their holidays and are always welcoming to talk to you

My complete apologies I have got this company completely wrong.our mistake we know.my comments show no bearings for this company I.sure they are great

I returned from a tour of Portugal with Explore in September. There was a massive error made as part of my booking, I arrived at the hotel to discover the additional pre-tour night had not been booked and the hotel had no space. It was hours before I was eventually informed that another hotel had been booked for me, but the location was far from ideal and neither was having to move unnecessarily between hotels. It was also not close to town so I had to spend money on Ubers. This really impacted my enjoyment of the tour.

I have diligently waited for some acknowledgement and offer of compensation from them for nearly 2 months due to the stress and inconvenience caused by such an error but have received nothing so far despite completing a survey and emailing a complaint to their customer service department. The lack of customer service follow-up has made me reconsider whether to book with them again.

I travelled on this trip with a friend who has also posted a review. I have taken tours with Explore 3 times before and have had excellent trips with good guides, interesting/ varied locations and pleasant accommodation. However , this trip was far from that and I fully endorse the points made in the previous review. In addition the service provided by our guide was not up to standard. He was abrupt and rude when I was unable to walk at sufficient pace in the desert, failed to provide any assistance when I was unwell and did not respond to concerns about accommodation.
I would recommend that Explore carry out urgent quality checks on accommodation, transport, timing of visits / comfort breaks provided and customer care.

Recently returned from Best of Morocco. Some great sights and experiences such as the Mosque in Casablanca, Fes Madina, Volubilis Roman ruins, a camel ride in the Sahara, walking in Todra Gorge, driving through the mountain passes, tea with a Berber family, visits to coastal Essaouira and Ait Ben Haddou a fortified Berber stronghold is stunning. The local guides in locations were informative, interesting and very personable.
The downside was very poor accommodation, more backpacker hostel than hotel. Food was highly repetitive and our guides choice of resteraunts was questionable. Breakfast at 7.30 and lunch after 2pm with no coffee/ snack break in-between. We were taken supermarket shopping on 5 different days to buy picnic lunches. I'm on holiday.... don't shop that often at home!!! It's boring, we all wanted to eat out.
The attributes of a guide makes all the difference to these kinds of holidays. Ours was bored, disinterested, at times rude. Slow to respond to request eg. we need a bank. He had poor time management skills which impacted very, very negatively on some days, spoiling our experiences. The mini bus driver was great, but bus was old and uncomfortable. Seat belts didn't all work nor did the aircon resulting in sweltering conditions on loads of very long drives sometimes 6 to 10 hours.
Come on Explore, this trip really needs some overhauling. The only trip I've been on that I definitely would not recommend. The negatives sadly way outweigh the positives.

So this is feedback based upon the support from before I travel .
Firstly the estimated prices was significantly below what i ended up paying after my flights were confirmed.

Secondly the documentation sent through to me had much conflicting information e.g. the date of arrival for the flights that Explore booked for me, was after the date of the start of the tour (same day, just 13 hours after the instructions said that i needed to be there). Additionally, the documentation showed me not being booked into my hotel until 2 days after the arrival of my flight.

And thirdly, I of course tried to call Explore to resolve these issues, and have now been on hold for over 30 mins. What a difference it was when I was trying to book the holiday and make payment.

Losing faith very fast in Explore now. Exodus never had these issues.

Having been on this trip, I wrote a review on their "preferred" review site feefo. The review posted neatly took out all of the negative feedback on this tour, which frankly was a mess. They also failed to respond to feedback sent directly to them. Given it was supposed to be largely by train, whoever put the itinerary together seemed to have had little idea. Hotel choices in some instances were questionable as were destinations. Unsatisfactory tour and poor customer relationship too.

A full on trip to see so many highlights of Sicily led by our excellent knowledgeable guide who always kept us well informed and introduced us to local guides when necessary. Transport was by a large coach with a very good driver.

Had a brilliant time trekking through Crete. A beautiful and rugged Island with Geography that keeps you in awe.
A really good bunch of people and a special mention for Peter, our tour leader who most of us felt went above and beyond when helping members out on what were at times really quite technical descents.
His knowledge and sense of humour were excellent and his passion for Greek culture and history was contagious.
Recommended.

Had a great family kayaking holiday in Croatia. Well organised, great guide and reasonable price. We wished that we had found this type of holiday years ago (two teenage daughters) as it kept us all active and entertained. Would definitely recommend.

Guide did not request insurance details, appeared anxious eg Jill Jill where have you been when I was exactly on time, on walk with poor visibility rushed ahead, despite 3 requests from me not to rush. No safety advice about a steep descent and went ahead in wet weather when unsafe. Someone slipped and I had a serious accident; group had to take over when guide panicked. In hospital he did not provide clarity and subsequently misinformed me about meds Explore corroborated his version by email, also said he had advised against going ahead - untrue, but surely if so the expectation would be not to continue? Wanted to go back to Baku - this was not expedited; I was alone in an upstairs hotel room no means of contact as poor internet, reception not always covered and walking especially stairs as extremely painful. Many more issues; the most frightening experience of my life. Physically and emotionally scarred for life

Cycling Croatia- July 2022.

What a great trip . Scenery amazing .
David (cycling/tour guide ) was informative and great fun .
Our bus driver / ex film star, George Clooney was great fun and knew his way around a bike , given his history , that was hardly surprising.
Great people , lots of fun.
Opportunities to swim and sight see along the way . Great bunch of people on the tour . Mixed abilities but this was taken into account .
Sone of the hills are tough and would recommend electric bike or do not go in July when it’s extremely hot .

Had a brilliant time . Thank you David and George 😂😂😂

We recently completed the Canadian Rockies and Pacific Coast tour. This tour was not as advertised and was a poor value for the price paid. My husband and I spent $650 U.S. dollars a day for the trip (not including insurance) and it only included our lodging for each night and the van ride each day, NOTHING else was included. Our van driver stated he was mainly our bus driver and not a tour guide! We had nice accommodations on 5 of the 14 nights and the rest were just adequate. For 2 nights our cabins were on a very busy highway and we were kept awake by the road noise. No meals were included and we went to a grocery store on most days (sometimes twice a day) to pick up food for that day or the next. I personally go on vacation so I don't have to cook. We had breakfast in our room for at least 7 days since there was no restaurant in walking distance from our hotel. Our guide/bus driver was not knowledgeable on the areas we visited and often relied on the fellow passengers to give insight as to what to see. We wouldn't arrive to major cities until the late afternoon which meant the museums and tourist attractions were closing. We also stayed at least 45 minutes from the towns we were visiting for the day which meant early get ups and on the van to get to our destination. We did a lot of hiking, about 6 miles a day which was great but this was not considered a hiking tour (according to the description).
The bright spot of the tour were the fellow passengers. We had a great time getting to know new friends. We also saw beautiful countryside and lots of wildlife. This lead to the "2 star" rating instead of a "1 star" rating.
We have been on many organized tours and this one was definitely the worst we have been on. Your money can be better utilized using a different company.

We booked a self guiding walking trip with Explore! and cannot be more disappointed. There is absolutely no "guidance" whatsoever. The trip details are non existent starting with day 1 with no details of where the hike is supposed to start. We are in Sicily so it is a foreign country with a foreign language and every time we tried to find out where to go, it was met with " so sorry, we have no idea what you are talking about" All that was needed from Explore!'s is proper directions, and a starting point for the walks. We received NONE. This was a daily occurrence.
The situation got even worse on the one and only day that the company actually arranged something. We were supposed to be collected at the hotel to do a tour of Mt Etna, but as we had no details of the operator's details , we were left with total confusion. We had no idea where to go or where to wait. The hotel had no idea either and we received no instructions from Explore about what to expect. It turned out that we were supposed to take hiking boots as well as swimming costumes. All the other tourists on the trip knew exactly what to bring and where we were going , except us. Needless to say we had to borrow shoes and could not swim.
If we were not seasoned travelers, this trip would have been a nightmare. Please DO NOT use them as all you get in return for your money is confusion.

I booked a last minute trip to Jordan. Departure was on Saturday (I already had the tickets) and I booked on Thursday. George on the phone was really honest in describing the group and the tour. They managed to confirm the booking within hours. Everything was above my expectations. The tour guide Abdallah was excellent. The hotels were all very good and there was a level of care for the client that I was not expecting. Can't wait to travel with them again.

Just back from a fabulous holiday with Explore. We did the Greek Island Wanderer trip and I would highly recommend it if you haven’t visited any of the Greek Islands or your unsure which ones to see. This gave us a taster of 4 islands. Paros, Syros, Santorini & Naxos with the option to visit Delos & Mykonos. There were 16 people in the group and there was the option to go walking/ hiking on each of the islands. Our tour leader Eleftheria Papadoku was amazing, so well organised when it came to organising the tickets for our trips & ferries. Everything just went so smoothly. I would highly recommend this trip and would love to do it again in the future

I booked my first group trip with Explore, as I thought it would be the easiest and least stressful way of travelling. They also arranged the flights for the same reason. My luggage never arrived in Costa Rica from the American Airlines flight, and I spent my whole holiday without any luggage. Two months later and still no bag. I contacted the emergency number provided on the details but was told it was not an emergency. I was told to phone American Airlines and time on my holiday on the phone on multiple occasions for almost an hour each time. Explore never contacted me to ask if I had located my baggage. And even though the flights and trip were booked by them they said it was not their responsibility. The trip to Costa Rica was good because of the guide and the group but this company are awful. If you have a problem they will not help you!

Recently completed 10 day Egypt tour with 4 day red sea ext through explore, i have Traveled with similar companies before, i found explore to be slightly more organized with better service than its competitors, hotels used are of a higher standard, however they sometimes hide true trip cost in the optional excursions, ensure you add things up before booking. Overall my trip was some £200 pp more than i expected and in Egypt cash is required. That said i think you get good value for money, hassle is minimized as much as possible by professional guides (Egypt hawkers/guards are difficult). Usually we were ahead of other groups and had temples/ locations entirely to ourselves, we often felt like VIP's, although this did mean many early starts. Wa'ael our guide was excellent friendly and knowledgeable. We arranged the red sea ext independent of Explore and opted for a local bus to the resort. In retrospect i wish we had arranged our onward transport with explore as the bus trip (GO bus) was fraught with delays and discomfort, despite leaving the tour Wa'ael sorted out our remaining travel needs and we had no further problems. My Egypt Highlights where: Karnak, Philae temple, Edfu temple, the bent pyramid (Only if your in shape) sailing the Nile, red sea snorkling, the food and the culture.
What i didn't like: The guards/police who will try to show you something in expectation of a tip, At Hatsheput temple and botanical gardens it felt like they would not leave me alone.
Tiresome pestering by sellers, i wanted to shop at times but looking often brought unwanted attention. The need to pay for optional excursions in cash which meant always looking for ATM'S.
Things to note: Haggling, never ever Accept the first price in Egypt, its at least 1/3rd more than you should pay. (does not apply for minor foodstuffs/drinks)
I traveled during Ramadan it did not negatively impact my trip, in fact i personally found it very interesting aspect, The Muslim people where very forth coming and welcomed my curiosity.