Explorica US Anmeldelser 2.036

Our daughter went to Peru with her school, and she had an amazing experience! She said the tour guide, Miguel, was friendly and knowledgeable. He told them lots of stories and facts about the places they visited. All of the travel logistics went exactly according to plan. I do not give 5 stars because she said all they ate was chicken and potatoes. She wished they would have provided more local foods. Also, the photo journal was not very good. Only a few photos of select people. Not a complete journal of everyone who was there. If this is an offered feature, they should make sure it's a stellar service. But she went, had a blast, was safely guarded and guided, and came back beaming. So for these reasons I give it a solid 4 stars, and I'm thankful she had this experience!

Went on school trip to Italy & Greece from April 2nd to the 11th, 2026. For the most part the trip was well organized, but the food was another story. I have a peanut and nut allergy and despite the restaurants being notified ahead of time, I still had issues at almost every restaurant we went to in Rome with foods being "may contain". I was singled out at the restaurant as they'd ask us to put our hand up if we had any allergies. I then had to eat an entirely different meal than my schoolmates. While they ate pizza, I ate what I think was rice with Alfredo sauce and apples. When we were travelling from Rome to our other destinations for 3 days straight, we had to eat at gas stations that barely had real food to eat. That was a big issue for me because I was barely eating in the evenings and the one time I was able to choose my meals was at lunch time and we were stopping at gas stations were there was nothing other then Pringles and chocolate.

It is evident that although the goal for Explorica is to provide a organized educational tour for schools - they will do so at the cheapest most bargin bin way possible to increase their profits. My daughters and I paid a sum of $15,000+ for the three of us to travel to Amsterdam, Belgium, Paris and London with our school. I did not have false expectations to stay in 4 star hotels with gourmet foods. I did however feel that we would be in hotels that would not have us covered in bed bug bites, showers and toilets that worked, reservations that were premade and food that was better than a cafeteria in a 1 star hospital. For this same amount of money, we could have booked our own private tours, stayed in hotels that were clean and operational without bed bugs and ate food that represented the country we were in. In addition, it was extremely frustrating that their communication to our hotels, and the restaurants we visited was poor, with one hotel not aware we had 38 travelers instead of 6. Flights were booked on an itinerary that was impossible to facilitate without missing connections and it took much complaint to have that changed. The itinerary for the cities was poor. The cities that deserved more time, we had only half a day in, and the cities that we could have skipped all together, we were in for days. The schedule of what we were to see was often changed last minute and we missed key educational places due to that. We love walking and had no trouble with walking 20 miles a day. But it was frustrating that the agenda required us to backtrack over and over again instead of doing each thing as we went along on the walk. Further frustration was in the quality of the educational experiences. 2 hours at the Louvre with 4 hours of "free time" was wasteful. Seeing the Changing of the Guard but driving by Big Ben without stopping and only one side of the bus could see, also wasteful. 4 hours of free time later that same day, before dinner was also wasteful. The planning of the itinerary was poorly done and did not allow the students to truly use the time there, wisely.
I would not expect to have amazing hotels. But the fact that the hotel situation was a bad as it was, would certainly make me reconsider ever using explorica again. The cost was far too expensive to justify using them instead of planning yourself. The upcharges for standard expectations - rooming with only individuals from your organization vs. a stranger from a different organization, was absurd. In addition the extra charge to have a guided tour in a city did not match the cost of paying for a company that offers a better, more extensive tour, while there instead.
The positive was our Tour Guide, Bram, provided helpful resources and information as well as made us feel welcome and safe. He was able to give us more history than was required of him. He singelary saved this trip from being a complete waste of time and money. When the hotel didn't have our reservation, he worked for hours getting it fixed, when the restaurant was not ready for us, he actually helped the staff in serving our dishes and expediting the ordering. When another restaurant said they didn't know about allergy restrictions, he fought to prove they did. He was the mother hen and took great care for us.
Do better Explorica. Or at least- make the price match the experience.

Tour director, Aura Tripovich, did an outstanding job leading our group through Costa Rica. Hotels were good. Food was great! The only restaurant that was not as good was the "Green Room" in Jaco, Costa Rica. The fish taco were less than adequate. It seemed like the other dishes were o.k. Sites visited were great. Horseback riding was excellent. Kayaking was great. Ziplining was awesome as well. Overall the food was culturally sound and for the most part was really good. We enjoyed the various locations. The airport hotel was convenient and were good accomodations and the food was good. The hotel in Arenal was good. The located in Arenal was right next to the town center and was very conveniently located next to various businesses such as ice cream shops, and bakeries in the central park location. The hotel in Puntarenas along the beach was an awesome location with respect to the ocean views. There was a pizza business near the hotel, which some groups took advantage of the last night in that specific hotel. Overall, Aura Tripovich, did an excellent job and made our trip run smoothly. She had a professional touch, while also being able to communicate some important items with the seriousness they require. The bus driver (Hilbert) was also a great driver. He has the bus temperature at an excellent level of coolness for my group. He was very friendly and helpful with all of our luggage. Both Hilbert and Aura did an excellent job on our tour. I give them my highest recommendation.

The parts of the trip that were beyond Explorica's control, were excellent: Italy, the weather, and the Italian guides. However, there were some significant concerns we had: the most significant was how our tour started. We were supposed to begin in Venice, but you took us to Amsterdam for a 7 hour layover and then flew us to Milan to board a bus to drive 4+ hours to Venice. So our kids were 30+ hours on the road without any tour. This was a colossal mistake. We lost an entire day of our trip because of this. I had also specifically requested that we get varied meals for supper (with protein and vegetables). 3/6 of the suppers that were organized by Explorica were just noodles in a plain tomato sauce. The one meal was manicotti with a tomato sauce... it was rough. I love food and love all sorts of foods. I struggled to eat it. Two small manicotti with, literally, three teaspoons of a whipped mousse for dessert. Many ordered in another supper after we got back from supper because it was so weak. The final concern we had was with our first hotel in Venice. The location (near Venice Beach) was excellent, but the condition of the room: cold showers for some, a metal cot-style bed (mine being held together with Tuck-Tape) with a thin mattress, and a really weak breakfast (minimal options compared to all the other European breakfasts we have seen on other tours).

Our trip was magnificent from start to finish. It was perfectly planned and executed. Do not hesitate to use Explorica for travel! They are able to get deals and events that you can’t get yourself!

Had a great time in NY and DC saw lots of cool stuff there really life changing for my first time there

I had an amazing trip to Belize with my tour guide Dino who showed us amazing sites and locations with the history behind it!

Explorica is the way to go when it comes to student travel! They support you leading up to the trip with excellent communication and ideas! They support you even more on the tour-we had a couple get food poisoning and have to be hospitalized. Explorica was there every step of the way! Their insurance covered the costs and their people covered the stress! They even got our people back on tour after missing their flight-FANTASTIC! The guides they have on staff are amazing! They make you feel like family and are so proud of their country! They got to know us and added things to our tour they knew we would enjoy like chocolate tastings!

Some hotels were below par. Some dinners not good.
It would have been nice if these things were consistently good.
Otherwise happy with the tour

Once again explorica delivers a great experience that students really love. The students were able to see many things with a wonderful guide and they really enjoyed the experience and it was painless for the chaperones and the parents enjoyed the updates in the tour center.

All around great experience with the Rome & Sicily itinerary. Will definitely be booking future trips with Explorica!

There was hardly any programing provided in the cities we visited. The kids had to pay to enter or participate in “optional” programing or have up to 8 hours of “free time”.

All the time traveling is a very nice experience. Italy is a beautiful city full of art. For sure I will visit it again.
I would like to say that to be in the bus for 6 hours was no good. I could be preferred to visit a near city. The trip is short, but if you add some "day lost" is sad. We practically lost the first (2nd) day in the middle of nowhere waiting for the other group arriving.
Go from central to north Italy and back, it is a lost of time too.
The breakfast and some dinners I could qualify like "poor options" (no flavor cereal as unique option? sad).
I am not complain, but I think it could be better.

EXPLORICA has a wonderful crew of professionals that make traveling with a group super easy. They help navigate, answer questions that in return helps the families with booking their students trip.

Both of my daughters travelled to the East Coast in the 8th grade with Explorica and had a great time. No major hiccups during travel. Accommodations were good overall, though one of the hotels had issues with the shower not working. The kids are kept very busy from sun up to lights out with non-stop activities to maximize their experience (great for that age group). Not much time given to eat, and kids are left to fend for themselves buying fast food- with the benefit of them appreciating my home cooking upon their return.
Amazing how much they packed in, and yet the experiences were meaningful, especially the memorials, and due attention was given to teaching history and making it alive for them, which is the whole point of the trip.

We had massive delays with our flights and the Explorica emergency help line was very little help. They mostly just phoned us back to see how we had solved the issues for ourselves.

The tour was well organized with specific educational visits for the students and parents alike. Our Tour Director was amazing in the way he related with the students. This Explorica Tour got me to plan another tour next year, by popular demand from students and parents.

I have taken 6 trips with explorica and I have the best program consultant, for the last 11 years, she has really helped me and it is partly because of her, that I am so loyal. Of course the trips are great. and the Tour director was fabulous too. But my feeling towards Explorica is from my experience with her.

The activities and expertise of the leader were fantastic. What wasn't so great was that I had asked for the tour to be in German, or at least German language focused, and our tour guide spoke English with us. I asked the company as well as the tour guide to even do a blended German and then repeat in English, and they did not. I don't like that getting my students to learn German and enroll in my curriculum is a challenge, and then when they go to the country where they learned the language, they are taught to speak English with the Germans. I did not like that at all. I feel it did not support their language learning goals at all.