If you're looking for a tour company with award-winning guides and commitment to giving a wide range of activities and experiences, look no further than Explore! Explore! reviews describe the company as a total life experience, with enthusiastic and diverse planning, and a full on experience from the word go. Operating a variety of small group adventure tours since 1981, Explore! has become a well established, trusted tour operator in the UK. There are plenty of Explore! reviews from customers who have been to numerous destinations, which describe the service as outstanding and well-planned. Travellers will be exposed to numerous opportunities, such as meeting locals, sampling cuisine and experiencing the wildlife - these are all mentioned in many Explore! reviews.
9th April 2013: Cuba is a fascinating country and our tour really gave us a good insight to local life and culture of the area. Our guide, Osmin, was very knowledgeable and a fantastic tour leader. Our flights, organised by Explore, weren't the best, and I definitely wouldn't recommend Air Europa as an airline. But our transportation in Cuba was good, the hotels we stayed in were basic but clean and had everything we needed. Visiting local people, for example going to a tobacco plantation, was an experience most people visiting Cuba won't get. I would have preferred a visit to a sugar plantation and to learn about the production of sugar, but perhaps this is something that another group will get to do in the future. Another great trip from Explore. Thank you!
29th August 2012: 5 guides over the trip - from very good to very poor. Communication and organisation of the trip was less than satisfactory - eg conflicting details concerning the homestays between info from guide / updated details given to 2 clients / Explore itinerary. Everything was done on the cheap, but this was not listed as a 'Budget' trip. Last day was a l o n g bus journey from Siem Reap (departed 7.30am) to border to Bangkok (arrived 5pm), then that was followed by the flight home early hours of the next day. 2 other days of long bus journeys also included.
Hotel accommodation was fairly basic but reasonably comfortable. Big plus for the hotel in Phnom Penh - on the riverside about 50m from the FCC and 200m from the Royal Palace. Generally the breakfasts in the hotels ranged from poor (Luang Prabang) to adequate (the rest ... eg The Royal Hotel in Bangkok for thos of you who know it). Dinner was NOT included at the homestays even though it was Hobson's choice ... eat or don't eat because there was no where else. The cost was irrelevant (a few £ including beer at each).
Little was included apart from transport and accommodation. The section of the tour between Pakse (Laos) and Kompong Cham (Cambodia) was fine with interesting stops etc. For those of you new to SE Asia and those countries in particular, clients were left to get on with things with little background information and advice. The guide in Luang Prabang made little mention of the historical and cultural aspect of the town. The day tours offered in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap were overpriced when compared with those sourced locally. A small-bit place opposite the hotel in Siem Reap offered a 3 temple day trip inclusive of everything (not lunch) for half the price of that offered by the Explore tour leader. This locally sourced trip was very good.
Overall, this whole trip was at the bottom end of the range of numerous trips I've done with Explore.
