EF Educational Tours is a leading provider of student travel programs, specializing in educational tours designed to inspire and engage young learners. The company offers a variety of curated itineraries that focus on experiential learning, allowing students to explore new cultures and environments while participating in hands-on activities. With a commitment to safety and value, EF Educational Tours aims to make travel accessible to all students, enriching their educational experience beyond the classroom. Targeting educators, parents, and students, EF Educational Tours collaborates with subject matter experts to create immersive travel experiences that align with educational goals. Their offerings include popular tours, STEM-focused itineraries, and new travel options that cater to diverse interests and learning objectives. Through their network of experienced professionals, the company ensures that each journey is not only safe but also transformative, unlocking new potentials for students as they discover the world.
EF Educational Tours receives high praise for its well-organized trips and exceptional tour guides, with many reviewers highlighting the enriching experiences their children had during various tours. Customers frequently commend the professionalism and knowledge of the guides, noting their ability to engage both students and adults effectively.
However, some negative feedback emerges regarding specific trips, particularly concerning issues with accommodations and unexpected delays, such as a child spending 24 hours in an airport due to flight issues. Additionally, there are complaints about unclear charges and refund processes, particularly related to cruise experiences. Overall, while many people celebrate the quality of the tours and the support provided, concerns about logistics and customer service persist.
Summary generated with AI from recent reviews
Each source counts by its number of reviews. Only reviews written by people are scored.
| Source | Rating | Reviews | Weight | 6-mo | Fake risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trustpilot Imported Trustpilot reviews | 4.4 | 1,060 | 100% | ● Medium |
Monthly average rating from reviews written by people · latest review Aug 2025.
| Month | Average | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 25 | 4.4 | 271 |
| Jul 25 | 4.4 | 729 |
| Aug 25 | 4.3 | 60 |
Share of positive (4–5★) and negative (1–2★) reviews mentioning each topic · based on the 500 most recent reviews.
“Our tour guide made all the difference”
“Greece trip -buyer beware”
Same method for every company: overall rating, legitimacy checks, the average rating of reviews mentioning each area and the 6-month trend · Travel Agencies.
| Company | Overall | Legit | Service | Value | Delivery | Trend | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.4 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.1 out of 5 (good) | 3.1 out of 5 (fair) | 3.5 out of 5 (good) | — | 1,060 |
| 4.9 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 5.0 out of 5 (good) | — | — | — | 1,109 | |
| 4.6 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.5 out of 5 (good) | 4.6 out of 5 (good) | 4.5 out of 5 (good) | — | 1,069 | |
| 4.8 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.9 out of 5 (good) | 4.6 out of 5 (good) | 5.0 out of 5 (good) | — | 1,050 | |
| 4.8 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.8 out of 5 (good) | 3.4 out of 5 (fair) | — | −1% | 1,014 |
Bottom line: EF Educational Tours is #5 of 5 on overall rating in this group. On delivery, Audley Travel scores higher (5.0 vs 3.5).
500 reviews of EF Educational Tours. Filter by what matters to you.
Very disappointed that tickets weren't included to go inside la Sagrada. My daughter said too much time was spent talking about things and she wanted time to go in and look around (palaces, cathedrals, etc.). I don't like that students were left on their own for things like scavenger hunts and free time without a chaperone.
We went on a trip with EF2 years ago, and that trip was MUCH better. We went into places like museums, etc. This time, the itinerary was a bit much. Some days on the bus most of the day and stopping in town every few hours for a short bit. It felt like we didn’t have enough time in some places, and other times we were somewhere for like five hours, and there wasn’t enough to do. The group did a lot of swimming which doesn’t really interest me. There were times I wanted to pay to go in somewhere (like a museum) during free time, but we were told free time wouldn’t be long enough to actually go into those places, especially if we were going to eat lunch. We were essentially set loose in all these cities to eat and shop. I feel like I paid too much just for transportation, dinners, and hotels. There was a heat wave during our trip. The last hotel we were at for two days had air conditioning, but the one in my room did not work. I reported it twice, and nothing was done. There was no way to ventilate the room or cool it off. I couldn’t take in enough fluid for what I was sweating out. I would recommend the last trip I took (Paris, Germany, Switzerland), but not this one (Switzerland/Mediterranean coast). We did have a great driver who would run the bus ahead of time so it was always cool when we got in.
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A lot of the food we didnt eat. Severed a lot of pork. The tour guide was absolutely amazing. Needed more time at things we paid to see. Other that tour was great we loved it.
My son and I went on a 9 day trip to Japan. The sights and experiences were amazing and once in a lifetime. The reason I gave 3 stars was because the trip was unnecessarily exhausting. Our tour guide was walking at such a fast pace that most of the group were unable to keep up. It was 85-95 degrees and was draining to walk so quickly in between sights. I understand the need for efficiency but the speed of the guide made the trip miserable. There was no time to stop and take a picture, tie your show, or take a drink of water. While talking with other people I’ve heard this is very common with these tours. While I value what we were able to see and do I would not go on another EF tour because of the urgency to keep pace with the our itinerary.
My daughter went on the Capitals of the British Isles tour recently. She said the tour guide Emilio was wonderful and made things fun. However, her group had problems with the organization of activities. They were combined with another group from Louisiana. The Louisiana group got to see things such as the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, but her group did not. They had a lot of unscheduled down time. Even her group leader, who had been on several EF trips, said this was the most unorganized trip she had been on. It was difficult for the group leader to get clear answers from EF about questions prior to the trip.
We had to wait to many times for bus driver
There were several delays due to the bus breaking down and days without air conditioning, resulting in some travelers going to the hospital . The Swiss Fondue experience was ridiculously expensive considering what it was. Also flight home was delayed by hours which was problematic for those picking up returning travelers. Was told there would be a partial refund issued however have not heard anything from EF Tours about that.
Good and Bad but better hope there are no travel issues 1) Itinerary was great 2) Hotel choice in Dublin and Paris seemed great, London not so much. Heard horror stories about mold and unclean rooms. Also the location in London was out by Heathrow meaning any activity within London was going to take a long time to get there. 3) Tour Guide was great. 4) Kids seem to have just enough time on their own to explore while also getting the most out of the scheduled activities. 5) Flight delays / cancellations. This is where EF really falls down. My son's flight was canceled on his way back home. His tour leader was working with EF and the airline but wasn't really getting anywhere. I called EF directly and my experience was dreadful. I asked for a supervisor and the agent refused to put someone on the phone and asked me to send an email. An email while my son is stranded in the Paris airport!
I went on my 1st EF Tour with my daughter's school to South Africa. I loved the payment plan and the process prior to going on the trip with an exception of being notified when the flight information was uploaded. I have 3 majors comments about the tour. Overall the tour was Excellent, I loved the places we visited and the experience that we had. I had a problem with the flights and the airlines that we used KLM for our flights. I would prefer that EF Tours evaluate all flights not based on the cheapest flights. KLM waited to the last minute to change our 15 person group flights the morning of our departure and we were not able to travel together as a group. Our group was split into 3 Groups with 3 separate flights to South Africa all arriving at different times. Also, the booking agent at one of the groups was so rude and nasty to us, she gave us false information about checking bags and lost all of our bags. So, the very 1st day of out tour their were 5 female students who didn't have their bags. Not only did it the trip start off on a bad note but all of this could have been prevented if we were on a more reliable airlines. Once we got to Joburg, we were ok. Our Tour Guide Lee was awesome, but I think EF Tours should allow the tour guides with the permission of the Group Leader to have more lead way with the iternary. At times we felt rushed and it left really no room for free time at some of the places we went. I absolutely enjoyed the trip and think that Lee our Tour Guide did a great job. I would recommend that we have more time engaging with the community. Since, our entire Group were African Americans alot of people were excited to see us because it's a rare occasion for them. We loved going to Langa, and we donated clothes there but we would have loved more time engaging with the community. Thanks again for a Great trip and I can't wait to go on the next trip.
We really enjoyed our trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos. Definitely a once in a lifetime trip that I’m so happy we went on. With that said, there is a ton of travel time. It feels like it could be streamlined better so that you aren’t spending so much time on a bus. Also, they set us up for flights home that had a 12 hour layover!
Several big the hotels were not that nice and one was a hostel, which was unexpected. Trip was great, tour guides were wonderful but my daughter said it was very overpriced.
The overall experience was good. The trip itself was smooth and easy to manage and I felt comfortable the whole time. However I was charged $870 dollars on my personal account when a student canceled on our trip a month before the trip and EF left me with the bill. If leading a trip is going to cost me money for planning it and putting time into it, I would rather just do it on my own.
The trip started out nicely, however once they arrived to the hotel in England, I was told that the rooms were full of bugs and the mattress was covered in mold. Once this was discovered, EF Tours did not make other arrangements for the students to stay. They had to endure this for three days. Once, they left England the rest of the trip was enjoyable.
Overall, the tour was a pretty good tour. Some of the highlights were our tour guide and our bus driver. They both did a great job. The cities that we visited and the historical landmarks that we visited within those cities were also great. As an adult that accompanied my student on the tour, I was rather disappointed with three things. 1) The airplane travel. I live in a hub city for an airline and ended up being placed on two other airlines. Traveling from the US to Europe wasn't bad. We had no problems. Returning to the US from Europe. I was delayed by 24+ hours due to weather. If EF Tours would have used the major airline that flies directly into the city I live in from Amsterdam, instead of probably going with what I would guess was the cheapest airfare, I would have not had to incur flight delays and would have returned home on time. 2) The hotels that we stayed at weren't too bad. They didn't look great from the outside, but on the inside, they were normally decent. There were two downfalls to the hotels. In order to save money EF Tours put us at hotels about 30-40 minutes outside of the main downtown area. If we stayed closer, we would have had more time to tour the cities we were visiting. My second complaint about the hotel was that the hotel in Switzerland was rather disappointing. There was no air conditioning. With the amount of money that I paid, I should have been staying in a hotel with air conditioning. I understand that all hotels in Europe don't have air conditioning, but to me air conditioning should be required when traveling from the US. 3) The food was just average. Again, for what I paid for this trip, I would expect that the food would have been better. It wasn't horrible, but it didn't "WOW" me. Maybe I am the wrong demographic to be providing a review because I am providing it from a parent's perspective, but this is what I thought. My son (the student on the tour) had a great time, but he shared some of the same concerns as I did.
They organized a tour and it went well enough, but my child complained of extensive waiting (2-3 hours) for a bus when they could have been exploring. I've had other friend do guided tours with other companies, and they got to see a bunch more each day. Little disappointed.
communication
The trip was good, very busy and kind of exhausting. The most disappointing part was the food. When you are in another country, you expect to eat authentic food from the region. Some of the food was obviously precooked and kept warm, not very good. Also, EF Tours asked us multiple times if we had any food intolerances/allergies. My son and I both went and we both cannot eat gluten. I was assured multiple times that there would be food for us. There was food for us but nothing to write home about. There are plenty of really good gluten free options in Europe and they could have tried a little harder. We deserve better than an unpeeled orange on a plate for dessert. If you are going to ask about allergies/intolerances…do a little more work on your end to make the experience good for everyone. The best meals we had were the ones we got on our own. Like I said, so many delicious gluten free options were available but not given.
EF Educational Tours is a leading provider of student travel programs, specializing in educational tours designed to inspire and engage young learners. The company offers a variety of curated itineraries that focus on experiential learning, allowing students to explore new cultures and environments while participating in hands-on activities. With a commitment to safety and value, EF Educational Tours aims to make travel accessible to all students, enriching their educational experience beyond the classroom. Targeting educators, parents, and students, EF Educational Tours collaborates with subject matter experts to create immersive travel experiences that align with educational goals. Their offerings include popular tours, STEM-focused itineraries, and new travel options that cater to diverse interests and learning objectives. Through their network of experienced professionals, the company ensures that each journey is not only safe but also transformative, unlocking new potentials for students as they discover the world.
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