Explorica US Reviews 1,957

Gioconda was a great leader. Her knowledge about all the places she took us was exceptional. We loved the places she took us to eat. There were different options of food and she took orders in advance, that way when we got into the restaurant we didn’t have to wait a long time. My travelers and I liked the idea that she offered us to take us to a laundry place where we can leave our clothes and pick it up the following day. We also loved that one of the hotels had a laundry room including at the stay open 24 hrs for us to use. I would definitely would love to have on other trip with Gioconda and Edgar as a great, cautious and polite driver.

Date of experience: July 05, 2025

Our tour guide for our trip to Costa Rica, Javier, was one of the highlights of the trip! He was so friendly, knowledgeable, attentive, patient, energetic ... you name the good quality, he had it. Most of the places we went, people there knew him and you could see they were genuinely happy to see him. It was hard to say goodbye to Javi at the end of the trip. We saw so many amazing things and everything was so well thought out. When there was an issue with something, like a hotel room or something, he was right there to help and get things straightened out. Such a great trip!

Date of experience: June 23, 2025

Ivan, our guide, was excellent and did a fabulous job of getting us all where we needed to be in a timely fashion. Our group bonded with him and he made the trip special. My only negative is the quality of the Four Season Hotel in Glifayda. It is a two star at best but that was minor. The cruise was spectacular. We loved all the dancing and karaoke! The shows and food were great. We especially loved the beach day in Rhodes.
TY

Date of experience: July 06, 2025

This is difficult review to write because one must balance the positive against the negative and not allow the bad aspects to overwhelm the good parts. With that in mind, I will begin with the positives about our school trip to Greece. We had a GREAT local tour director. Georgios was wonderful! He was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and flexible. He made an effort to connect with both the chaperones and the students. The kids loved him. The guides at the various sites (Acropolis, Delphi, Olympia, etc.) were informative and engaging. Experiencing these sites was one of the highlights for the students. I understand Explorica had to pack a lot into the days we had, but some added downtime would have been appreciated, especially with the heat at the end of June.

The big negative was the accommodations at the start of the trip. We were placed at the Hotel Four Seasons in Glyfada. It may have been the worst hotel in all of Europe. They were so many problems that it is difficult to list them all here. It was DIRTY with cockroaches in many of our rooms. Trash and used bandages were found in drawers. Hair was on the bedsheets and pillows. There was the smell of mold in many rooms. Doors did not work. When these issues were brought to the attention of the hotel staff, they responded with advice like to stomp on the cockroaches.

We were booked to stay at this horrific place for the first two nights of the trip and then for three more at the end of the trip. The leader of the trip immediately contacted Explorica about changing our hotel for the last three nights. We could bear staying for the first two nights, but we were seriously bothered with a return. After checking out, Explorica originally responded by saying there were no hotel rooms available for the last three nights. A quick Google search showed many available rooms that would have accommodated our group. It is disheartening that their first response was an obvious lie. After putting more pressure on the company to help us, they responded with a hotel change, but each person would need to pay $272 more. That was unacceptable. We should have never been booked to an unsafe and dirty hotel in the first place. Now they wanted to fleece our students to get us a minimally acceptable hotel. Eventually, they agreed to waive the additional charge. The hotels going forward were very good. But it begs the question of why they did not originally book us there. The reviews of the Hotel Four Seasons on various travel sites are consistently negative. Explorica had to know there were many issues with this hotel.

Reviews are meant to recommend the service. It is impossible for me to recommend Explorica because they broke our trust. When the issues with the hotel were brought to their attention, they responded by lying that there was nothing they could do. Then they tried to charge us more money to make the change. It took several days and many calls and emails by our school leader and parents to finally get their attention. It tells me what their priority is and it is not the safety and comfort of their clients.

I cannot recommend Explorica to my fellow teachers.

Date of experience: June 24, 2025

Our first international tour was simply amazing! We had some bumps and bruises (literally) but our guide, Nadia, and World Assist helped us through all our issues. The students and teachers on the trip had a fabulous time in London, Paris and Rome!

Date of experience: June 28, 2025

We had a great time in Italy and Greece. I absolutely loved our tour director Elena. She as very knowledgeable about the places we visited. She gave great suggestions on what to do during our free time. We had a couple of hiccups on the trip but Elena was right on top of getting things fixed so the tour would move on smoothly. I would also like to give a shout out to Georgia, our tour director in Greece. I loved all the places we visited. Wish we could’ve spent more time in Greece. We met some really nice people from Wisconsin, Houston, and Philadelphia. My only issue with trip is the long wait time at the airport for the connecting flights. We had a layover for 6 hrs in Atlanta. I know this might not be something that can be fixed but the wait was way too long.

Date of experience: June 25, 2025

The guide Tomo-san was amazingly helpful and informative. All the students loved him. The addition of the excursion to Hiroshima was a good experience for all. The food selections were solid - the making your own okonomiyaka experience was definitely enjoyed by the students!

Date of experience: July 03, 2025

Overall the service was great as usually. Some issues with hotels and breakfast but otherwise nicely done. Also our Tour Director Mirianna was exceptional and would like to use in future tours.

Date of experience: July 02, 2025

The trip my daughter went on was not ok in the least my daughters health along with other children health was not a priority. The hotel they put the group in was gross with blood on the walls and bed and who knows what else. My daughter has celiac disease and her health didn’t matter ether she was served hotdogs for breakfast and can bet those were not gluten free. With the amount of money these families paid I expected better do not use this company.

Date of experience: May 29, 2025

What made my experience great was that there was no time during which I was bored. Everything from the Tour Director link-up to dinner schedules was extremely well coordinated. Every aspect of the tour was well thought out and planned.

Date of experience: June 30, 2025

Our guide was amazing. She was friendly, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and fun. The trip would not have been the same without her. We had a great balance of scheduled events and free time. I felt little stress because everything was taken care of which was so nice.

Date of experience: June 23, 2025

Our hotels were wonderful and centrally located. The food in every single place was fabulous and delectable. Our tour director was superb in every single way.

Date of experience: July 01, 2025

The company set us up for failure.

They paired three groups together that were wildly different in abilities and interests, as well as timing- we were left with 5 hours of "free time" in Zurich with no transportation or knowledgeable guide in the sweltering heat while the last group to arrive had 1 hour to enjoy the city before we left for the hotel.

The hotels were so far outside the city that we couldn't use them to go back to for a break in the heat and activity, which my group needed (and I specifically asked about beforehand).

In Switzerland we had no transportation during the day, nor were we shown how to use public transportation if we needed it. It was a very walking-heavy tour; unfortunate for those with mobility issues, which was an issue my group had that I informed the tour guide about beforehand.

Our tour guide had never been to Switzerland before- not her fault, but then why didn't we get local guides? Walking tours would sometimes have 20 minutes between stops with no talking about what we were seeing, history of the area, etc.

Days weren't planned out in advance, or at least specifics weren't shared with group leaders, so those with special needs (mobility issues, or those who needed to research gluten free lunches beforehand) couldn't plan ahead and therefore oftentimes not participate.

The hotels and food were exactly as I expected, except- we had a hotel that was described as beautiful, lake views, rooftop terrace.... that's where we had our meals, but 100 yards up a steep hill is where we actually slept, in their hostel outpost. This meant that several in our group couldn't eat the meals, because they couldn't make it up and down the hill.

Our tour guide tried her best, but as a history teacher, mine was not the right group for her, and as a group with mixed ages and abilities, this was not the right trip for us. The company had all the info it needed about our group ahead of time to make adjustments and suggest a different trip. They set up the tour guide for failure, our group participants for failure, and me as group leader for failure, embarrassed to have led this trip.

Date of experience: June 26, 2025

Thank you once again for an excellent DC Education trip. We went to many areas....I would recommend our bus driver again James and tour director antonie....they were outstanding.

Date of experience: July 01, 2025

Slow down! Even people without a bad knee like mine mentioned pace was way too fast, especially since all we did most of the time was speed walk up to places, take quick pictures of them, and move on. I asked repeatedly if I could let group go on and meet them at certain times and places, but was told that leader didn't always know where we would be, despite having a tight schedule. My leg got worse and worse on the trip until I was using the cane I had stopped using over a month before. I have been to Germany several times, and I do speak the language. It would've made my trip much easier.

Date of experience: June 27, 2025

Explorica delivered exactly what was promised on our 11 day South Korea and Japan tour. We had a wonderful time and would do this tour again. Thank you for a perfect tour!

Date of experience: June 27, 2025

We just completed our second educational tour with Explorica. Working with our contact at Explorica before the trip was easy and very helpful. Once we arrived at our destination, our local guide was incredible. On the way to and on the way home from Europe, we encountered flight delays and cancellations that left our group stranded in the airport, and the support from World Strides/Explorica was unacceptable. The company makes it seem as though you can easily work with the airline to get rebooked and get support from the on call team if needed. The airline does not work with anyone in person to rebook group travel. I spent hours on the phone and felt like I was getting no where when finally the group reservations desk closed and the line went dead. World Strides kept insisting there was nothing that they could do until they got approval from our Explorica representative who was not able to answer their phone/respond to emails at the time. They even hung up on us multiple times when we were calling for updates. We spent HOURS in the airport waiting and eventually were sent to a dirty, unsafe hotel where people had to sleep on the floor because the airline wouldn't give us enough hotel rooms. Explorica is great as long as nothing goes wrong on tour. Otherwise, they do not have appropriate/adequate supports/protocols in place to ensure a quick resolution. It was an awful experience for my colleagues and me.

Date of experience: June 26, 2025

I find Explorica to be a good value for my students. The guides are always excellent, my representative always finds a way to accommodate our small groups, and the itineraries are filled with great experiences.

Date of experience: June 28, 2025

Working with Explorica US was an easy process that created life time memories for my students. I would not hesitate to step into another adventure with this company.

Date of experience: June 16, 2025

Our trip to South Korea and Japan was very well organized, fun, and an absolutely wonderful trip. Explorica delivered a perfect product and they delivered everything they promised and more. This is a trip you will want your students to experience

Date of experience: June 28, 2025