Expat Explore Travel Avis 140

This is a good introduction to the Balkan countries. You see 10 countries in 16 days, it is fast paced, lots of walking, 3-4 hours sometimes more bus ride to the next country but very informative and in the company of right people, fellow travelers that are adventurous and a good guide, it is worth the trip. You will be tired but you see a lot and will learn a lot! Caution to consider the time of year when doing this tour. Summer and extreme heat may get to you.

Our tour guide Luis was brilliant he was very knowledgeable and also helpful. The coach driver Silvian was incredibly skilled and between them really made the busy tour a lot of fun. We got to see and experience a lot of different countries and food and people it was an incredible experience . It was most certainly a very affordable way to see Europe and I strongly recommend using Expat and I would certainly use them again. I found them to be great communicators before I payed a deposit. After I paid the deposit the communication was still really good and they were so helpful with any questions I had. Expat really gave me peace of mind booking through them.

This tour was quite comprehensive with Luke Watson as the tour leader and historian. Accommodations were OK with included breakfasts to start the day off right. Some side visits to places were included with others needing to be bought separately. When there were problems such as the broken bus window glass they were attended to right away. We had experienced drivers taking us along narrow roads. My wife and I would consider taking another Expat tour in the future.

This was my first time traveling with Expat, and I had heard that the experience can vary depending on the tour leader. Previously, I had only done one group tour with another company, Gate 1 Travel. What I really appreciated about this experience was the opportunity to visit multiple countries and see the highlights of each. It gave me a great overview and helped me decide where I might want to return for a longer stay. This kind of multi-country experience isn’t something Gate 1 usually offers, so I saw it as a big plus.

One thing I didn’t enjoy was having to eat breakfast so early (between 6 and 7 a.m.) and the limited access to use the coach bathroom only in emergencies. If you skip breakfast, not knowing when the next meal or stop will be, you end up starving. It would be really helpful if the itinerary could be shared the night before so people can plan ahead.

I also think daily reminders for those who are consistently late would help. If someone is late, they should be responsible for finding their own transportation to the next stop.

On a positive note, the restaurant choices included with the tour in Poland, Lithuania, Germany, and Helsinki were excellent—please keep those in the itinerary! And the amount of time we spent in each country felt just right.

Tour was amazing. Our guide Peter worked his butt off for us and Sebastiano was a terrific driver and caretaker. Our first time to Europe and we were super happy with the tour group.

My tour of Spain and Portugal was excellent. Our tour guide Gustavo was very informative as a tour guide and knew a lot about the areas that we visited. Our coach driver Mario was an excellent driver. The tour Spain and Portugal, June 7-15 covered a lot of distance. This tour requires a lot of walking and standing. I would recommend this tour to friends.

Having a knowledgeable, helpful tour guide made our trip great. His knowledge of history and interesting stories about the areas we visited added to the experience. His familiarity with the cities we visited made seeing the sights and finding good restaurants and stores so easy. He helped us on the one day we opted out of an excursion to do our own thing.

Our bus driver was also very personable. He went above and beyond, ensuring our trip was as comfortable as could be. He kept the bus tidy and offered tips for us after the tour, on finding parking in Florence.

We loved the excursions and did all but one on our leg of the tour. The excursions were well-paced for the most part although it would have been nice to have a little more time on a couple of the Rome tours (the Colosseum and Vatican visit) But these are busy sites, so it is understandable that they are moving people through quickly. And making them longer would have made for a super long day.

The meals were fabulous. Expat did a good job of choosing hotels that had excellent breakfast options. And the included and optional meals always left us full and happy. The value of the meals was fair.

The hotels were clean and comfortable and offered amenities such as a kettle and cups (we like being able to make a coffee/tea in our room). Where they didn't have these in room, we were able to get them within the hotel still.

I would recommend expat to friends- in fact, I already have!

It was great to see a broad range of countries (ten) in such a relatively short time. Local guides were very informative; however, some local tours were far too long. One was four hours and we were left at a shopping mall for an hour, possibly to give the guide time to pick up the homemade Rakija that he was selling. The local guide for Sarajevo was fantastic.

I would cut out Bulgaria and give more time to explore Ljubliana or Montenegro.

Of the four tours I’ve taken, I’d give our tour guide for this one the lowest rating. When walking to/from our hotels, or getting off the bus to meet a local guide, she would walk ahead, never looking back to see if the full group managed to cross at the light. “I’m not your mother.” For three days on the bus, she gave negative overviews of two optionals in Hungary- Budda vs Pest, and the local Baths. For the baths, she said we could do it on our own. “Or do you need me to hold your hand and leave you at the door?” Regardless, by day three there weren’t enough interested and the optionals were cancelled. Three of us prepaid and instead of the money going back to our cards, we were given cash (€) on the last day—to exchange back in Canada at a loss.

We enjoyed our informative Great Britain tour. Our Tour leader Peter and drivers were extremely knowledgeable about the countries. They went well above and beyond to be helpful and all the communication was clear. We experienced little extras throughout the tour with some added stops which were really interesting and beautiful. We felt safe in the hands of expert bus drivers and we always arrived on time. Thank you to Expat for having quality, capable and experienced drivers and leaders. This was our 7th tour with them, we will be back for more!

Our tour leader Emma and driver Gabriel treated us as family and were always full of positivity. I loved hearing the history of the area for each scenic stop. It was easy to relax and enjoy the trip and make memories of a lifetime because of them. Expat Tours are fabulous!

What a great trip!!! We saw so many places that I never would have thought to visit! Our tour guide Mike was wonderful!!! He was organized, friendly and so helpful!! Highly recommend this tour!!

Highlights tour with Kinga, an amazing, cheerful, kind and knowledgeable tour guide! Shoutout to Alex, our happy bus driver! The experiences were on point and we were busy and walking pretty fast! We were introduced to the rich and heartbreaking history of Central Europe with some lovely surprises: Salt Mine and Da Vinci in Krakow, the restful evening walk in Ljubljana, the tallest underground slide to the Schlossberg tunnel in Graz, and of course, the beer!!! Expat Explore delivers.

We loved everything about our trip. Our tour guide, Emma Oszvald, was amazing! Her knowledge, personal attention to each traveler, and overall joy was infectious. Sam was also a first class, gentleman driver. The hotels, excursions, orientation walks, and food all made for a pleasant experience. We would travel with Expat again!

We did a whirlwind tour around Western Europe and it was fast, but it was great. Our guide Emma provided tons of historical background and was great at letting us knowing what was going on and keeping us on track. Our driver Sam did a great job keeping us safe and navigating through narrow European streets

I was very impressed by the tour leader, Willem. He was excellent on keeping the tour moving, herding the cats (people), keeping us informed of activities, and numerous other issues which I was very very pleased over.
The tour gave a great understanding of South Africa, the hotels were good, food was good, and options were good.
I would recommend this tour to anyone interested in traveling in South Africa.

Gustavo, our tour guide was amazing . He really cares about the well being of everyone in the group.

We loved the countries that we travelled to. The tour was a great eye opener for Europe. Offering us little tastes of where we would love to revisit one day. What we found though was that our tour guide was lacking the knowledge and experience for most of the countries we visited. He was not very invested in the travellers and we felt that he was interested in getting through the trip. Personality was pretty flat, and was googling information before arriving at destinations. Obviously more training was required or not giving him such a big tour to contend with 🤷‍♂️However, we have travelled with the company before and the previous tour guide was fantastic! Ps this message is by Effie, Aari’s mum.

Great value . The complete package was most interesting and very well executed . Flawless.
The value was also very good as almost everything was included .

I have travelled with Expat Explore 5 times now...

They are still my number ONE choice of bus travel option. They choose the highlights of each destination and take you there.
Travel affordable options - but take extra funds with you because this is good accommodation with basic inclusions.
You will need to have funds for extra excursions as well as to add to Expat meals because they include basics - so you must have extra funds if you want to drink more than water at any meal supplied by Expat. Sometimes one has spare time and can do extra things but be prepared to keep up with the tour group times! This is of course very important! Enjoy.. every minute!

Italian Delights was our first trip with Expat Tours, and we weren't disappointed. Our tour guide Ciro and our safe driver Teo were amazing and made our trip extra special. Ciro was so caring, funny and had a lot of incredible knowledge about his homeland Italy.
Ciro also helped us with a dietary issue and made sure he rang every restaurant to make sure the right food was served.
It was an incredible experience, and we saw so much of Italy in our two weeks. There is a lot of walking involved so wear comfortable shoes.
We highly recommend Expat tour and we be looking at booking another tour in the near future.