explorica tours

Meet EF Go Ahead Tours

We’re part of the EF family, which means you’ll enjoy all the perks of EF’s global network, educational heritage, and local expertise–with itineraries and amenities geared toward adult travelers instead.

Authentic local meals with beer or wine included

Flexibility to add activities or enjoy free time

Small groups capped at 38 travelers

Handpicked, centrally located hotels

Travel with family & friends, as a couple, or solo

Curious about exploring the world? Join any of our eye-opening group travel experiences , created for you.

All Go Ahead Tours include:

• Smaller groups, capped at 38 travelers
• Authentic meals, with breakfast included daily
• Handpicked, staff-vetted hotels
• Comfortable transportation
• Tour Director & local guides

Browse all 200+ tours or call us at 1-800-590-1161 .

Plan an exclusive trip

Experience the world with your friends or family members—make any trip a private departure with just 9 travelers!

Benefits include:

• Choice of departure date
• Dedicated Tour Director
• A more personalized on-tour experience
• Private Tour with 9 travelers (and your group can be as large as you’d like)
• Free travel! Earn benefits like one spot on tour for every 9 travelers you bring

Find out more details today at 1-800-438-7672 .

Organize a group

You can share your love of travel with friends, family, and neighbors as part of our Group Coordinator program and enjoy the same EF benefits Group Leaders love.

• Free travel! Earn one spot on tour for every 6 travelers you bring with you
• Global Rewards, our industry-leading loyalty program
• Global Points you can spend on travel experiences

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Your safety and well-being has never been more important than it is today. This is our Travel-Ready Approach for you.

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Keep exploring these tours.

A Week in Greece: Athens, Mykonos & Santorini

9 days | 12 days with Rome extension

4.7 out of 5 stars

A Week in Italy: Venice, Florence & Rome

9 days | 11 days with Sorrento Peninsula extension

4.6 out of 5 stars

Save up to $700 by 9/2

Plus, celebrate the holiday weekend by locking in your lowest price before prices increase next week.†

London, Paris & Rome

11 days | 14 days with Madrid extension

4.8 out of 5 stars

Highlights of England, Scotland & Ireland

12 days | 14 days with London extension

The Greek Islands: Mykonos, Santorini & Crete

14 days | 16 days with Athens extension

A Week in Ireland: Dublin, Cork & Galway

8 days | 11 days with London extension

A Week in Switzerland, Germany & Austria

9 days | 11 days with Prague extension

Grand Tour of Italy

15 days | 17 days with Rome extension

Suggested companies

Worldstrides, ef educational tours, passports travel.

Explorica US   Reviews

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Reviews 3.7.

1,796 total

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Horrible company policies - all benefit themselves

1. They decide halfway through payments they are going to start charging 2-3% credit card fee. I would’ve accepted or chose a different payment method if this was known up front, not halfway through payments 2. Had to cancel and yes I did have insurance but they deduct $800 from the refund. Waiting on a $4500 refund and they tell me I have to wait 3 MONTHS for it to be processed! Ridiculous and should be paying me interest then. “ It takes 12 weeks for a refund to be processed on our end please know some banks may delay the availability depending on the financial institution, all refunds will always be sent back to the original form of payment unless the refund is declined, then a check will be sent to the mailing address on file. ” Update: they decided they would transfer the refund without the 12 week wait so I am updating to 3 stars.

Date of experience : August 05, 2024

Our guide Deenah was the best! We loved Greece!

Our guide Deenah was the best! She is amazing! Loved a lot of our local guides and all the places we went and loved the cruise ship! Beautiful and amazing historical sites, beautiful beaches and great food! Only issues was tipping for local guides was not relayed to us and I felt so bad for them that we tipped them anyways bc they are amazing! Clearer communication before trip to budget tipping for those local 1/2 day guides and bus drivers. Also last day in Souni was underwhelming and kind of boring. Guide did not go up to temple of Poseidon with us and did 20 mins. instead of an hour. Frustrating.

Date of experience : August 04, 2024

I few travel hiccups ,connecting…

I few travel hiccups ,connecting flights should be booked further apart to keep from missing connecting flights especially if international travel is involved. Ilaria is an Excellent tour guide! We loved her! All our day guides were great as well!

Date of experience : August 02, 2024

8 days in South Korea

The accommodations were outstanding and the tour was very well organized. I felt we saw about as much as we could in 8 days without it being overwhelming. Our tour guide, Jenny, however, insisted on discussing politics and comparing South Korea to the U.S. It was overbearing and boorish.

Date of experience : June 19, 2024

Do not book with Explorica!

They cancelled parts of the tour before we arrived, stated the itinerary was a list of options not where we were going, the pricing was constantly changing and I am still waiting for the refund credit I was supposed to receive 2 months ago. Communication was terrible. The people selling the tour said one thing but the tour guide told us something different. The tour guide dropped us off with the local tour guide but did not go on the tour with us so was unable to offer pictures of the group for the tour diary and had to use the photos we provided her.

Date of experience : July 11, 2024

Adaptive and Empathetic

I had an mis-matched group of travelers this year in terms of ability to keep up, and the tour changed a couple of months before we left leaving me thinking we had exclusive rooming when we did not. Some times it seemed everything was going wrong for me as a group leader this year, and yet my tour director made accommodations (as did my group) to best navigate our troubles. I cannot express how much I appreciate this support. I respect and appreciate the patience shown, as I work to improve that specific area of my tour leadership.

Date of experience : July 24, 2024

Costa Rica trip was amazing!

Explorca did a great job with our 10-day trip to Costa Rica. The itinerary was wonderful since we got to visit different places every day and each one was unique. Food was delicious and hotels were great too. If you like nature, adventure, fun activies and new experiences, CR by Explorica is the trip you are looking for.

Date of experience : July 18, 2024

Good guides and interesting sites, but poor accommodations and scheduling.

The Tour Director who traveled with our group was wonderful, and the sites we saw were incredible. However, most of the hotels were of poor quality (to the point of being hazardous) and far away from locations. There was no ability to "go out and explore" at the end of the day if we wanted to, because we were so far away from anything. We spent a total of over 20 hours of our trip just riding the bus, and a large portion of our lunches were actually just grabbing a quick sandwich or something at a gas station. The Tour Guides we had at locations like Pisa, the Colosseum, and the Vatican were well-informed and friendly, but we were on such a tight schedule that it was hard to take in pictures, look at all we wanted to see, and really take in the experience. The itinerary we were given beforehand was vague on time and access; somethings we "experienced" only by seeing them briefly from a bus window as we drove past, and without knowing how much time we would/wouldn't have to "explore" each location, it was hard to plan in advance what to do, so I often spent what little time we had to individually explore just trying to figure out on Google Maps what was available in the area that we would like to do.

The company responded rapidly to my request…

The company responded rapidly to my calls and guided and helped me with the steps I had to take during the incident that I have during the trip.

Date of experience : July 22, 2024

The tour is fantastic buy it needs some improvement

The tour is fantastic, a little ambitious for a short period of time, so you have to be in a rush in some places. Food in some places were not good, I wish explorica reviews the menu with the restaurant to avoid repetition, too many carbs. Some hotels are better than others on term of cleanliness. Tour Director and bus driver were phenomenal.

Date of experience : July 13, 2024

Fantastic experience both planning and on tour!

Our recent tour was well-organized, educational, and an amazing value for the amount of activities and excursions we completed. We had a fantastic tour guide and bus driver who cared about each one of us and had a genuine passion for Costa Rica. My Explorica representative, Amanda, did a phenomenal job helping us plan and recruit for this tour over the past two years and was always willing to answer questions along the way. I will definitely be using Explorica again for future tours!

Date of experience : July 16, 2024

12 days in Spain

Our tour director was phenomenal. She was deeply invested in the success of our trip and connected wonderfully with both kids and adults. Nearly all of our site visits were great experiences. Highlights were the flamenco dancing in Madrid (with student participation!), our visit to the Basque Country, and our two-day extension to Lloret the Mar. Our travel by air and land was smooth and our cultural experience was customized for our group. We had a great time!

Date of experience : June 22, 2024

The world assist number as far as I know is completely useless, they never resolved my problem. The transportation company that was hired to pick up and drop off my students is also the worst. The bus they used to pick us up from the airport had no a/c and the temperature that day was of 100.

Date of experience : July 10, 2024

After the experience from our previous…

After the experience from our previous tour I had stopped all recruitment and considered canceling this tour. I am so glad I didn’t. This was everything the last tour wasn’t. Thank you so much for restring my faith in Explorica!

Date of experience : July 17, 2024

The island 🏝️ of Puerto Rico was…

The island 🏝️ of Puerto Rico was beautiful but sadly our tour guide did not do much explaining about the history, geography or sites from the island. We never knew before hand what was going to happen during the day and had to be constantly asking the tour guide in order to know. Also, she didn’t use a microphone on the bus or outside so we had to rely on others to be able to hear.

Date of experience : June 24, 2024

Walk Like an Egyptian!

Our tour to Egypt was an incredible experience full of rich history, incredible sights, and a yearning to learn more each day we were on tour! I would highly recommend going through Explorica as every detail was polished and made the tour feel like an investment in our future selves. 10/10 experience!

Date of experience : July 08, 2024

Amazing tour guide

Amazing tour guide - I would give Izabella 6 stars because she added so much value to the trip. Itinerary was excellent and well planned with good hotels and meals. Transportation was our only issue as some of the bus companies had unfriendly and uncooperative drivers that did not secure proper permits. Explorica was responsive to concerns and managed pre-trip planning well.

Great Organization

From an organizational standpoint, Explorica does very well. Everything is planned for the entire trip so there is usually never any worry about what happens daily. I say usually because even Explorica can't plan for everything, like a transit strike.

Date of experience : June 23, 2024

Poor planning

Poor planning. Poor communication during the trip. We saved for litterally years for this trip. I sent my wife and daughter and they spent more time on a bus or train than seeing anything. Flights were missed. They tried to send my 14 yr old daughter home through Chicago and my wife on a different flight through Denver. Multiple tours were canceled so they Spent alot of "free time" but didn't know where to go. Don't waste your money.

Date of experience : June 15, 2024

Our group had an amazing experience…

Our group had an amazing experience with Explorica. All the tour guides, bus drivers and restaurants were top notch and educational. The tour sites included in our package were the best and everyone enjoyed their time there. The locals were very knowledgeable and my students learned an amazing wealth of information about Ecuador and Galápagos Islands. We all agree that the tour was well organized and the pace of the trip was manageable. A shout out to our tour Director, Fernando Sanchez for an unforgettable experience. Thank you Explorica!

Date of experience : June 26, 2024