Italian Delights

Traveler Reviews

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  John

  March 15th, 2026
  1
  My wife and I have travelled in Europe for 14 years. On bus tours with Cosmos and Globus 5 times and many self guided...
  My wife and I have travelled in Europe for 14 years. On bus tours with Cosmos and Globus 5 times and many self guided tours. The trip with Expat Explore was a mess! The only trip in over a decade that we did not enjoy. We understand that it is a budget tour company, but 1&2 star hotels (except 1 that was probably 3 star) and non-authentic included meals that were downright awful. With past tours with other companies, they would bring you close to the destination or transit hub. On day one with Expat, there was a 600-700 meter sprint to the metro in Rome. Our legs were toast for the remainder of the trip. At one of the included meals, we were debating whether it was pork or chicken and couldn't figure out. Just awful. Most tour companies include many excursions. Expat, pay - pay - pay for excursions. After a decade and a half of European travel, I would highly recommend you NOT travel with this company. Pick another. Especially if it is your first time. You won't know what you will miss. And it will be a lot with Expat. In a nutshell - avoid this tour company. Saving a few hundred dollars is NOT worth it. Bad hotels. Bad food. Below average excursions that are an added extra charge. Disingenuous tour director. Great driver! The only good thing about the trip!Show more
  Traveled in September 2025
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  Paul

  November 13th, 2025
  1
  Do not use Expat Explore. They cancelled my trip and then tried to keep my money. This past spring, I booked the...
  Do not use Expat Explore. They cancelled my trip and then tried to keep my money. This past spring, I booked the Italy Rail Express tour for May 2026 because it had both Venice and Milan on the itinerary. A couple of weeks later, I happened to look at the online itinerary and discovered that it had been changed; the Milan portion of the trip had been cancelled. When I called Expat Explore, they gave no explanation for this change and claimed they were about to contact tour participants to inform them of the change. In September, Expat Explore emailed to inform me that the ENTIRE TOUR had been cancelled. Their email said this was because of "the uncertainty of the economic climate in certain parts of the world..." That's ridiculous...so nobody is traveling to Italy these days? When I called them, they said it was because not enough people had signed up for this tour. But at that point, the tour wasn't for another EIGHT MONTHS. Very strange that they cancelled the whole thing so early. Trying to get my money back has been a nightmare. They were difficult to communicate with at first; they repeatedly told me they would be in touch with me to arrange a refund, but I heard nothing from them. I finally had to file disputes with my credit card company for the money I paid Expat Explore. They informed me of the tour cancellation on September 17. But on September 29, they charged me another tour payment! They charged me a tour payment for a tour they cancelled! I provided them with documentation that I had been charged another payment, but they later claimed they had refunded everything they owed me. They finally provided me with refund receipts for the payments I made before the trip was cancelled, but one of the refunds I received was a credit from my credit card company, so Expat Explore did not refund me even what they themselves admitted they owed me! This should not have been so difficult. Looking at my credit card activity to see what Expat Explore charged me, and what I had been refunded, things clearly did not add up. Expat Explore ultimately refused to refund me the payment they took after the tour was cancelled. They told me they believed they had refunded everything, and if I thought otherwise I should take it up with my credit card. That is what I did, and it was only recently that I finally received the last amount I was owed. Expat Explore cancelled the trip and refused to refund all of the money they charged me. It has taken a month and a half and well over a dozen phone calls to Expat Explore or my credit card to get back everything I paid. I don't know whether this tour company is a scam, or if they are ridiculously incompetent. Either way, DO NOT BOOK WITH EXPAT EXPLORE...unless you want a tour company that cancels your trip for no good reason and then tries to keep your money. Save yourself the hassle and find another tour company!Show more
  Traveled in November 2025
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  Sandra

  October 24th, 2025
  3
  Food was fair, to be more detailed to what was served such as seafood, what it consisted of. Same pasta served each...
  Food was fair, to be more detailed to what was served such as seafood, what it consisted of. Same pasta served each meal. Hotels were ok except for Tuscany, needs were like box springs.Show more
  Traveled in October 2025
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  Jeril

  October 5th, 2025
  5
  The tour was excellent with some caveats. I can’t say enough positive things about our guide. Roma is a fantastic!...
  The tour was excellent with some caveats. I can’t say enough positive things about our guide. Roma is a fantastic! Her depth of knowledge of every stop was outstanding. We were able to go places we would have never been able to go on our own. The stops were always beautiful and full of history. We particularly appreciated Roma’s inclusion of many religious sites which made our tour even more meaningful and memorable. The accommodations each night were always comfortable, though if you tend to be on the big and tall size, the bathing facilities were interesting occasionally. The included meals were usually quite good. I had to remind myself it’s a budget friendly company several times along the way, however. I do suggest you provide a better explanation of the daily intensity including walking distances with hills and uneven steps for people on the more mature side (65+) who are considering this tour. Your definition of “moderate” and mine are quite different. We did 7+ miles on uneven ground on some days. Lots of hills and some steep steps. Had I known, and I will take some responsibility for this, I would not have chosen this particular tour. Expect long days and short recovery periods. Lesson learned. For fit and trim people, this is tour is an excellent choice. You cover a huge amount of territory with lots of highlights in a short period of time for a very reasonable price.Show more
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  Traveled in September 2025
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  May

  September 11th, 2025
  4
  Violetta F. our tour leader, was awesome. She always shared information about the places we were visiting to keep us...
  Violetta F. our tour leader, was awesome. She always shared information about the places we were visiting to keep us informed. She even reminded us about pickpockets on our public transit. Violetta made sure we knew where our meeting points were, but helped us with our individual interests/ experiences. For example, she guided me to how to take the tram to the vaporetta stop, water bus to my Batela steering lesson, where to meet the group for lunch, then I got to visit the UFFIZI Gallery, met the group to go back to the hotel-during our free time. She always made sure we all got to our sites safely-came back for me when I got lost, so caring, can’t say enough of her friendly passionate professionalism-the BEST tour leader!!! The itinerary was excellent-so many iconic/historical places, in a short amount of time. Our driver, Teo, was professional and got us safely to places even with heavy traffic, or downpour of rain. He dropped us off as close as he could to city centres, but often times there would be 30-45 minutes fast paced walking in the heat/humidity (I had to walk with a cane/or hiking poles on hilly terrain), so be prepared to walk LOTS with Italian Delight tour-at least 10,000 -18,000 steps or more per day! Some of us got taxis together back to the bus parkade-saved our tired aching legs/bodies. Accommodations were average/ basic/clean, A/C, with the same cold breakfast (cold cuts, cheese slices, cereal/yogurt, hard boiled eggs, croissants/ toast, fruit, coffee/tea). Only BV Oly Hotel Rome had hot scrambled eggs with bacon. The breakfasts helped to energize us for the day. Provided dinners did not reflect the diversity of Italian cuisine-always chicken/or pork with potatoes, tomato pasta-no ravioli or lasagna etc. Best meal was the optional Tuscany lunch sampler, or meals on your own. All in all, we had a great group of fun, caring people from all over the world, not too affected by the Italy airport strike! Excited and want to return to Italy again. Wish the timing for the daily itinerary was provided early on, so we could make our own choices of other tours to fill the exact same time as Tour Radars optional tours etc. Good job, Tour Radar!Show more
  Traveled in August 2025
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  Rena

  June 12th, 2025
  4
  This tour was pretty fast-paced but worth it for all the places you get to see. My parents are in their early 70's...
  This tour was pretty fast-paced but worth it for all the places you get to see. My parents are in their early 70's and kept up. There were a couple stops where we could have used a few more minutes for pictures (Pompei) or souvenir shopping. In my opinion they should really change the beginning and ending hotel in Rome, the BV Oly. Dirty, WiFi spotty, and poor service. But overall the rest of the hotels were pretty decent. There was a switch-up between booking the trip and attending it - it was supposed to originally be a stay in Sorrento with an optional boat trip to Capri - but especially with the explanation we were super happy with the resulting stay in Salerno and the boat trip up the Amalfi Coast. Positano was gorgeous, and the tour of the ornate Crypt of Saint Matthew in Salerno with the hot priest was awesome (shoutout to Nella!). I can't say enough good things about our tour leader, Violetta! She made everyone comfortable, had a great sense of humor, and really went the extra mile. Our family had booked a boat tour on Lake Garda prior to the trip, which I ended up cancelling when I found out we wouldn't have enough time in Sirmione to make it. She heard about it, mentioned she might have a contact, and adjusted that day's schedule to add the motor boat tour around the peninsula as an optional excursion for the whole group! (I hope they add that as an optional for trips in general, it was fun!) Our family got to experience that boat tour, which really meant a lot to us since we traced our ancestors back to the 1560's on the shores of Lake Garda. So very grateful to Violetta and ExPat. Grazie mille!!!Show more
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  Traveled in May 2025
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  Michael

  May 29th, 2025
  4
  Good overall but lacked some planning
  Traveled in May 2025
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  Dawn

  January 9th, 2025
  5
  Awesome trip. A little rushed but still wonderful!
  Traveled in July 2021
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  Michael

  November 23rd, 2024
  3
  Overall, an average tour with some amazing days and some downright boring days. Breakfast each day was terrible!...
  Overall, an average tour with some amazing days and some downright boring days. Breakfast each day was terrible! No hot meals, and most days involved being rushed to eat bread and lunch meat for breakfast, before bringing your luggage to the bus, and getting everyone onto the bus by 5:30 or 6:30 AM! There were very few places to get lunch in most towns, and the entire group of 30 had to stand in line to order and didn't have time to eat before the tour guide would be yelling at us that we "HAVE TO GO! CAN'T MAKE THE BUS WAIT". The dinner restaurants were below standard, with dinner not being prepared on time, shortages in waitstaff, and lack of options as we were served the same meal on multiple occasions. The hotels after Venice were awful!!! The electricity completely went out in one. The elevator didn't work in another, and the hotel in Tuscany gave the impression that someone had recently been murdered there. Assisi, San Gimignano, and Siena, and the lengthy bus rides to get to each, are boring wastes of time, with few shops, photo ops, or points of interest. There is absolutely not enough time given for the fact that the entire group has to walk several miles from the bus parking to the train station in La Spezia before having to split the group onto different trains to get to Cinque Terre, and you don't have time to visit more than one of the 5 towns! We were lied to about this! Your stop in Pisa is only about 1 hour, and you don't have time to climb the tower! Your stop in Verona involves a ridiculous amount of walking and is so early in the morning that most places aren't even open. You'd be better off to save your legs and energy, and just take a taxi to Juliet's balcony. Your only in Florence for 4 hours. 4 HOURS!!! And you have to walk over 2 miles from where the bus parks to get to the city center, and you have to eat lunch. Forget trying to visit Pitti Palace, the Duomo, or the Accademia Museum, or to properly enjoy the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. You won't have time! FLORENCE SHOULD BE AT LEAST A FULL DAY, OR OVERNIGHT!!! That would be so much better than staying in a murder hotel before having to wake up before the sun to go to San Gimignano and snoozy Siena. The Vatican IS NOT part of the trip and you need to reserve that separately, MONTHS IN ADVANCE! With all of that said, the first seven days of the trip were amazing (excluding breakfast). Rome, Pompeii, Capri, Sorrento, Montecassini (decent necessary stop to break up the long day on the bus), San Marino, and Venice were fantastic and had a good itinerary.Show more
  Traveled in June 2023
  

  Reply from: Expat Explore Travel

  Thank you for sharing your feedback. We’re sorry to hear that some aspects of the tour did not meet your expectations, particularly with breakfast and hotel accommodations. We value your input on these areas and will take it into consideration for future improvements. We're glad to hear that the first part of the tour was more enjoyable, and we appreciate you taking the time to highlight both the positives and areas for improvement. Your experience is important to us, and we hope to provide you with a better experience on future travels.

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  Alexandra

  October 13th, 2024
  5
  Everything went very smoothly and the tour was amazing! The tour leader, Sam Taylor, was fantastic and went above and...
  Everything went very smoothly and the tour was amazing! The tour leader, Sam Taylor, was fantastic and went above and beyond. Even when I was sick, he was very caring and helpful. Nothing went wrong and it was the best tour group ever!Show more
  Traveled in October 2024