Explore Worldwide Reviews 241

We took a 12day Explore holiday touring the Garden Route in South Africa.Booked via Trailfinders in Ireland. We had never done a group holiday before and were slightly apprehensive. But, it turned out to be one of the best holidays we have ever had. Our tour guide Bee was exceptional. She had so much knowledge and passion for her country that it oozed from her. But , more than that she made the trip so much fun and treated everyone with respect and kindness. Unfortunately we lost our driver Riyann half way through due to issues with our minibus but he was also a great ambassador for South Africa and Explore. Very knowledgeable and extremely safe driver. The tour itself was short and we packed in as much as possible. We loved every minute of it. Stayed in some really lovely, and varied and accommodation. Our favourite was the Karoo Art Hotel in Barrydale and the Tsitikama national park lodges. South Africa is a beautiful country with so much to see and do. Bee organised everything from dinners, where to shop, where not to shop, where to get lunch, toilet stops etc etc. The list goes on. If we were doing again , we would arrive a day or two earlier and have had more time in Cape Town as time there was very short. We would definitely do another tour with Explore/ Trailfinders. Well done to all.

Explore sent me a brochure but didnt put any postage on it so I had to pay the Post Office to get the brochure delivered. If they cant get the postage right what chance have they got in getting my holiday right.

This is our 6th and worst Explore itinerary we have been on.

If you want to sit in silence on a train going from one grey city to another, then Simply Japan is certainly the trip for you. In Japan, it is frowned upon to talk on public transport, so it is not possible for the guide to tell you what you are seeing as you travel around, either by train or bus.

You should also know that cash is king in Japan. The train from the airport to Tokyo, for instance, has to be purchased with cash; neither the ticket machine nor the service desk would accept a credit/debit card.

Another thing you should consider is if you can’t climb up two flights of stairs with your suitcase, then consider going on a SAGA holiday instead; this isn’t for you either. (This is clearly stated in the trip notes, however it appears that people do not always read these)

The pace of the trip is such that when you arrive in a new city, you barely have enough time for a cursory look around the included cultural activities, such as a castle or temple, before you are whisked off again to check into your hotel.

Miyajima Island, for example, where you only have about 2.5 hours on the Island, which isn’t even long enough to take the cable car to the top and back (90-minute queue just to get on the cable car at the base, or a 1.5-hour walk to the top).

The same is also true for the Hiroshima Peace Museum, where the pace through the museum is quite slow due to the content, but you have to rush through to meet the evening deadline. The same also happens at the Crow Castle and the Nijo-jo Castle.

The guide provided very little inspiration on what to do on the free days, and if asked about certain options, they had to resort to Google. Travelling to Nikko, for example, seemed to stump them even though it’s recommended in the Explore itinerary. Because of this, we couldn’t get an early enough Express train, which limited our time at Nikko.

Kyoto was the same, with the teamLab museum being just one block behind the hotel, but again, we missed out on getting tickets as they sell out the day before. However, if you wanted to know what bar the guide would be at that evening, then you didn’t even have to ask for that information.

The tour guide’s knowledge is also a little limited and not well researched, as they didn’t even have their history correct, as they said the bomb dropped at Hiroshima was called Enola Gay, (the bomb was called ‘Little Boy’, the plane was Enola Gay).

The only redeeming feature of this trip was Nagano, where you stay in temple lodging, and in the morning attend morning prayer. Nagano as a location, is very pretty, but you hardly spend any time there to look around. You arrive mid-afternoon and then leave mid-morning the next day, a totally missed opportunity as many of the group commented they would have liked to have stayed longer and looked around.

In hindsight, we wish we had gone with G-Adventures on something like their Iconic Japan tour, as it would have had some more interesting activities, such as Kembu martial arts, Sushi experience and calligraphy, etc.

This was supposed to be the last leg of a world trip using multiple tour companies, airlines etc, but unless you book direct with Explore you are treated as a second class customer. Following our trip it took over a month before we could submit feedback due to issues with Explore and Feefo. When we did get to submit feedback it has been kept separate from the actual Simply Japan web page and so not visible to others using the Explore web site. Even though we pointed this out nearly a month ago they have still kept our feedback hidden (how many other customer feedbacks get swept under the rug?).

Reply to their feedback:
Wow a typically dismissive reply in less that 24hrs to a Trustpilot review, shame you couldn't do the same to our direct feedback to Explore. After submitting the same review to Feefo and direct to yourself via email we simple got a "we will pass it on to the relevant department".

"We curate our itineraries carefully and provide detailed trip notes, so our customers know what to expect in terms of pace, transport, and accessibility.", your trip notes don't tell you how to get to Nikko only typical train costs, Japans train network is made up of lots of private companies and so is not always easy to navigate, even for locals, and your guide was none the wiser.

"information that doesn’t reflect our experience of the tour." good for you, you had a great time, this is our feedback and the experience was poor.

"Please note that Feefo has its own independent moderation guidelines, and reviews that don’t meet those standards may be removed by them without any involvement or control from our side" the Feefo feedback was submitted using the link YOU sent me, the feedback has not been removed, its just not tagged to appear on the Explore web site.

Upgraded - Forts and Palaces of Rajasthan

This is my 12th Explore trip and as ever it was just fantastic. Our guide was on top of everything checking all went smoothly.

I had a concern that the upgraded accommodation (staying mostly in restored minor palaces etc.) may have meant we lost the lovely look and feel of my Explore trips, but it didn’t.

Totally recommend this trip and Explore.

I recently went on the Highlights of Chile tour and it was exceptional. The itinerary was well planned, our tour leader was one of the best leaders I've ever travelled with and we had wonderful weather. I also travelled on the Easter Island Extension which was a a magical experience - I loved it all.

I am about to go on my third trip with Explore. Ive been to Croatia and Southern India. Im about to go on a 20 day trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. The reasons for my repeat bookings are
Excellent varied trips
Always feel safe
Knowledgeable guides
Generally interesting and like minded people on tours
Insightful cultural Homestays
Hotels as described. Usually comfortable to premium
Reasonable prices especially if you catch a sale

I do highly recommend

We are back from 2 weeks in Colombia (contrasts of Colombia) and strongly recommend the trip. No excessive commercialisation for Christmas, nice weather, delicious, healthy food, lovely people. Everything was superbly organised and as on the itinerary and even more. Our guide Andre was completely devoted to us, he loves his country and his job. He is the Rolls Royce of the profession.
Thank you for helping us to discover another beautiful country.
Graham & Marie-Madeleine Scott

Just back from fantastic trip to Jordan saw lots of sights weather for December was very good friendly people very very safe country
Our team leader Abdallah was fantastic nothing was too much for him he was able to answer all questions from the tour group and he had a wealth of information about the history of the many sites we visited and about Jordan in General
I will return to Jordan at some point
Thank you explore and a very very special thank you to Abdallah
Edward

Myself, Paul and Joyce cannot, even if we tried!, fault this tour. We enjoyed all five countries, Costa Rica, Nicaragua (being our favourite), El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Only one small drawback. Another day or two in Honduras would have been nice instead of the one.
Our Tour Leader Miquel Vasquez was superb and made our tour so enjoyable. Not only was he very knowledgeable about each country we visited, but also very helpful, very friendly, fun to be with and nothing was too much for him. He made our holiday. Our other guide we had for one of our boat trips and a site visit, Ramone, was also such fun and very knowledgeable. The four drivers, Wilson, Winston, Ivan and David, were very safe drivers, helpful, polite and good fun.
Had a good group to. 7 of us.
Explore please thank them all for a fab holiday and for keeping us safe throughout the entire trip.
If you are going to do this tour, which I highly recommend, then please ask Explore if they can book you with Miquel. You won't be sorry.

This was my first time doing a tour such as this and based on my experience I am already looking forward to booking another! The group was lovely and our guide was excellent - so friendly and knowledgeable! I have been to India before - to visit family - but on this tour we saw and experienced so much. It was busy but very enjoyable.

Just returned from a great tour of Jordan with guide Zuhair. What a varied and exciting trip packed with visits to antiquities at Jerash, Karak and Petra, wild encounters in the desert and Red Sea plus mixing with local culture in Amman and Aqaba.
It was a busy itinerary but Zuhair made sure everyone could enjoy the experience at their own pace.
Hotels were good quality, clean and comfortable. Our minibus driver was excellent and all the staff were met were so friendly and helpful.
We loved our visit to Jordan and learnt so much about the history of the region.

Unfortunately there were only 2 people booked onto our quite expensive trip, with a trip leaving 2 days after us, this was put on sale. Explore booking agreement means they can still run the trip with 2 people, do we are missing out on the group experience. We never wanted a private tour. Explore offered to pay 50% of the air fare fees to change our booking but we didn't have another £1500 available to rebook the flights. At one point our trip wasn't even advertised! I do have to wonder if the trip im on was loaded in error, as not advertised and theres a trip 2 days later. I had to email them a screenshot asking why and one person has been very helpful and got our trip advertised. We are still the only 2 booked on it. Extremely disappointed. I will definitely consider if I use Explore again, which is a shame as I've used them for years.

This trip was good value for money and packed a lot in. Visiting India is an experience for all the senses. There was a great guide, a superb driver, an excellent small group of very lovely people and a comprehensive itinerary. We covered quite a lot but there were a couple of elements which were a bit unnecessary and not strictly honest which dampened the overall experience.

Take good sturdy shoes, flip flops would not generally be appropriate. Modest dress also applies to guys keep your knees covered or wear a sarong covering your shorts if visiting certain holy places.

The option ‘After your visit to Amber Fort, you'll have a relaxed afternoon, where you may choose to visit one of the many bazaars which are bursting with delights, from marble statues to antique textiles, traditional print blocks to local musical instruments’. Our guide told us that this would be an opportunity to have a look at these things and absolutely no obligation to buy, however there was a very hard sell activity that we were subject to and really no choice to avoid.

Two overnight train journeys are not relaxing, time consuming and unnecessary. Once is certainly an experience but twice is a punishment not to mention intimidating, unhygienic and lacking any form of privacy in 3rd class and separated from the rest of the group by more than 10 long carriages. The flight from Varanarsi back to Delhi was only about £30.00 so I did that rather than be subjected to the intense discomfort of another sleepless overnight sleeper for the second time. When the group cannot be kept together for this section of the trip the group leader is not able to adequately support.

These two experiences spoilt the trip for me and I would suggest they be reviewed. Travel consultants should also be honest in managing realistic expectations.

Returned from a trip with Explore on 5th October on which there had been a number of issues. I had to request a link to send a review and did not receive one until 14.10.25. I returned it the same day.
This review which is quite critical, does not appear on either the Explore or Feefo websites. I emailed both on 19.10 25 and 21.10.25 respectively to ask why but haven’t heard from either.
My advice - do not trust the reviews on these websites as critical reviews may not be there.

Writing this on 29th October 2025.
Holiday was fine and the guide excellent but Explore don’t seem to care about customers once they return from holidays.
I have been chasing Explore about the value of a voucher since 22nd July.
Following the holiday there were a few additional issues which I advised Explore on 6th October. I have yet to get a response, 3 weeks later, despite writing again on 22nd October.

Recently back from the Machu Picchu and Palccoyo Mountain Trip in Peru, and we did the Amazon Extension too.

Machu Picchu and Palccoyo Mountain trip was great - a good amount of time take to acclimatise before the proper hiking starts, and some interesting sightseeing along the way with a knowledgable guide. Palccoyo is a great, much quieter alternative to rainbow mountain which we were happy we did. We also did the Quarry Trail rather than the Inca Trail, as permits were sold out for the 4 day Inca Trial, and we weren't disappointed! The quarry trail provided some interesting variance, and we had the trail and cmapsites to ourselves with the exception of one couple walking in the other direction ont he last day so it felt like a really authentic experience. After 3 days on the quarry trail, you have a night in a hotel to freshen up before the final day of hiking on a short section of the Inca Trail and into Machu Picchu which was amazing. Explore manage Machu Picchu tours in an organised way to avoid much of the hassle of how busy it is with the buses etc making it quite a stress free experience and a wonderful sight. We also added the Waynapicchu hike which we loved.

Amazon Extension - incredible addition - especially with the premium accommodation option. Fab food and excursions, and we saw loads of animals and plants including 3 species of monkey within about an hour of being there, so we were very lucky! Our guide for the Amazon was fantastic and so talented at spotting wildlife with great knowledge.

Would definitely recommend both parts of the trip, a tab way to explore Peru!

My family and I went on the new Family Adventure holiday on Madeira. The guide and trips were great and the hotel was surprisingly nice too. Very happy people!

Amazing experience from start to finish! Travelled on my first family trip, to Thailand. Everything about the trip and the itinerary was incredible I wouldn’t have changed a single thing. My kids (aged 7 and 10) had such a great time and gave everything a go! The tour leader was fantastic. Found the explore app really useful when on tour too.

I've recently returned from the Botswana Wildlife Safari, what a fantastic trip! It has a well-planned and varied itinerary for seeing as much as possible and our guide Phenyo worked tirelessly to ensure we had a great experience and saw everything we hoped for and more. I had a wonderful group and everything went smoothly from start to finish, I'd definitely recommend Explore and in particular the Botswana wildlife safari to anyone looking for an in-depth safari experience.

Excellent moorish tour of Andalucia visiting all the highlights. Our tour guide Lydia was excellent going above and beyond to ensure all members of our group were looked after. The fault ravel element can be challenging finding room for luggage. So take the advice and pack lightly. Hotels in general were good except for the 2* hotel in Ronda which was very basic. That said I would still recommend this tour