smarTours Reviews

I have enjoyed all of the old offers with smarTours and am now starting in on the new tours. They have all been well planned, fabulous, and for the most part cost-effective. In the old days customer service was rude, abrupt, and unforgivable. I am delighted that most recently that has changed and now one can feel good about the total experience. Before, the tours and customer service seemed like two very different arms on the same body. Customer service needed an implant and got it. Thank the Universe for hospice.

I learned about smarTours from a neighbor who’s a frequent smarTours traveller. When I had my tour with them, the tour guide was a little rough getting started, just in her personal skills. But her knowledge-base was outstanding. Once we got the hang of her, she was great. Interactions with sales and customer service was very good. We had some travel hiccups and ** did a good job. We had a nice time with them and we plan on using smarTours to book our next trip in the future.

We've only been on one trip and it was wonderful. The tour guides and customer service were great. I would recommend them and we might book our next trip with them.

The first time I went on a trip with smarTours was 12 or 13 years ago. My travel experience on the trips I've taken with them have all been excellent. The guides are wonderful and the hotels are excellent. I'm looking into taking one of their trips to France this summer. I haven't taken any trips for several years since I went to London in 2012. But they are my first choice.

I was looking through the internet for some kind of trip that will best suit our intention of touring and we really enjoyed it the first time with SmarTours. The second time was in Greece, with my daughter–in–law and my son. And then last time was LaRue. I highly recommended SmarTours to my friends and families. However, when I refer something, I don’t get anything. But with others I got $100 or $200 per referral.

They were reasonable but they're not the best. We had no bad experience as far as the tour was concerned except that the tour guide was not very good. He was supposed to be the coordinator but it looked like he had no interest in the job. So a lot of people wrote to them and they sent back a letter to us saying that they will fix the problem and offer a $100 credit plus a subsequent travel. So we signed up with smarTours again for a Yangtze, China cruise to give them another chance and I hope they do the best this time. Although certain information seemed a little bit fuzzy since when I talk to them about the $100 credit, they say they don't have any letter and asked me to write them an email about it.

We had a wonderful, thrifty tour with smarTours. We found out about them in 2001. We took a tour in Bali and it was wonderful. The travel part of it was great as far as getting there, and they really are cheap. The tour guide we had in Turkey was phenomenal. He was with us the whole time for the full-fledged tour and he was excellent. He was actually a professor of economics, so we got a lot of interesting background.

I recommend smarTours to a lot of people. They were excellent. We went to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The tour guide who was with us most of the way was fantastic. Every once in a while they would pick up someone more familiar with the local area and all of them were great.

SmarTours is excellent. I have taken them twice, in 2004 and 2005. The hotels and the tour director I had in Southeast Asia and South America were excellent. I would use them again but have been doing a lot of cruises.

I've traveled to China, the Adriatic and India with smarTours and have recommended the company to many friends, all of whom raved about their experiences. smarTours is a great value -- excellent itineraries, accommodations and guides. Identical to other more expensive tours. The average group is about 40 people, larger than some other group tours, but the size never affected my enjoyment.

I've taken like 18 trips with smarTours, and they've all been wonderful. The directors and the tour guides have all been very professional and easy to understand, they didn't start spouting off with a foreign language in the middle of the tour like some tour companies I had taken before. Everything was in English and easily understood. Also, their drivers are the best ones I've ever had. I've gone all over the world with smarTours and I have thoroughly enjoyed it, that's why I've taken them so often. The only time I'm not going is this year because I'm going all over the United States and have weddings all over the place I have to go to. They're the best tour company for the best price, and I would recommend them.

On that tour to So America you had the worse tour guide we have ever met. He flirted with the single women and gave out little or zero info when asked about the tour. The worse part is when I ended up with my military disability taking effect (Tullio phenomena) noise induced vertigo. A waiter in the restaurant dropped a tray of dishes next to me and I went into vertigo. My wife heard that tour guide tell the local guide that I was drunk. He never asked if I was OK or cared if I was alive or dead. We gave zero tip to him. He made it the worse tour we have ever been on and we have been on tours all over the world. When I reported this matter to smarTours we received no reply. That made us ANGRY. That really put the frosting on the cake. We did manage to warn a few travelers because of our experience.

Heard about SmarTours through my husband. He has traveled for years and after we got married, we traveled. They're just wonderful. The accommodations and their tutor directors are good. The places we stay in were nice so I will recommend them.

This is the second trip I have taken with smarTours and I have been very pleased with both. The hotels and rooms are first class. The tour guides are very knowledgeable and speak English well. Speaking of the trip to Myanmar the only complaint I would have is the trips by horse and carriage. They were rough. Everything else was fine. We saw all the beautiful golden pagodas. It was lovely.

Went on the South Africa Highlights & Safari tour, plus the Victoria Falls extension in January 2013. The tour guides work very hard... ** was our guide in South Africa and he is extremely knowledgeable. ** never sat down; he was constantly talking giving us the history and interesting facts about South Africa. Half-Day Cultural Heritage & Township Tour, Blyde River Canyon, Kruger Park safaris, wine region were just a few highlights from my trip.

We like SmarTours and have traveled with them at least 6 times. WE enjoy not having all the meals included in the package as we like to be adventurous and visit local restaurants on our own. We would like a few more tours included rather than being optional. The optional tours are sometimes too expensive, no value.

I've enjoyed many great trips.

India/Nepal 14-day Mar 2-16, 2015 - The tour and itinerary was comprehensive and engaging if a bit strenuous at times. The escort, **, made the trip an unforgettable experience for everyone and was the single greatest satisfaction factor. The hotels were a little over the top, less luxurious accommodations would have been fine. Constantly having to tip different local guides and drivers was a bit annoying.

The guides in Peru (**) and Ecuador (**) were excellent. We couldn't have asked for better guides. The trip to Lima was hurried and may be not necessary. We could have stayed more in Guayaquil. The whole trip was very well-coordinated. The itinerary was hectic and we needed some "down time" to recover some days but outside of that, everything was great! I would highly recommend this to anyone.

Patagonia - Tour guide's great. Hotel's wonderful. Food so so.

I loved this trip! It was professional, informational, varied, and affordable. Loved the sights, the food, the guides, the accommodations. Cusco was delightful. I would do it again, but I would like to spend more time with local people. The highlight of the trip for me was our visit to a weaving and crafts CO-OP. All the Incan ruins blew me away. I'd always dreamed of going to Machu Picchu and we had two days there. I was traveling with a bird watching friend who fell in love with Galapagos, plus our guide in Peru was very knowledgeable and she could barely keep up with all the birds he identified. All in all, a dream fulfilled for both of us.

So far, I've gone on a trip just once with smarTours to China and I booked it online. My travel experience with them was fine -- The price was right and the hotels were fine. Maybe when I retire, I'll book my next trip with them.

I have taken several SmarTours over the past few years and have always found that my vacation was great. The guides and planning has always been top notch, the hotels are hit & miss; sometimes very high end, and other times just acceptable. I have met repeat customers on a couple of my trips (those that I have traveled with before) & many of SmarTour guests have taken more than 6 of their trips. I have recommended SmarTours over and over again.

I've taken two trips with smarTours--to South Africa and Borneo--and consider both of them to have been excellent value for money. Like others, I was skeptical about how they could conduct excellent tours with international air included for low prices. But I was convinced. The local guides were excellent; they used what seemed to be top-notch local companies and the hotels ranged from good to outstanding. There are only two drawbacks. First, their groups can be large; filling a bus is one way to achieve economies of scale. Second, they apparently contract with certain airlines, which can result in awkward routings and long layovers. Still, I would--and may--travel with them again.

My husband and I have traveled to Peru/Galapagos, The Best of South America, Israel and Jordan, Cambodia and Vietnam and have recently booked Vienna, Prague and Budapest with smarTours. The value and reliability is what draws us back time and again. We have been very pleased with the quality of the tour directors on every trip. On our most recent, the escort not only took care of those who got ill, arranged for special meals for several in the group, he took pictures throughout the journey which he made into a CD for each of us to bring home. We have recommended smarTours to a number of friends and relatives who too have enjoyed the tours.

I travelled with smartTours at least two times and each and every time it has been a great experience. We stayed at very nice hotels and I will certainly travel with them again.

All of our land trips have been with smarTours, and we have been satisfied and happy with every experience. Our first major retirement trip was in Thailand. We have toured South Africa, east Africa, Scandinavia, China, and several other countries. All accommodations were superior; guides were excellent, and all tours were well planned. We recommend smarTours whenever we talk about great trips.

I have never rated on the internet before so this rating includes several trips I've taken with you (India, Thailand, Peru). I have always gotten more than my money's worth with smarTours! And had a delightful time. Our guide for South Africa was not our favorite, but the guides in the other locations were EXCELLENT and went above and beyond.

I like SmarTours because they are efficient, well-priced, & don't bombard me with emails or snail-mail or big packets of blah-blah. I know, when I sign up for a SmarTours tour (I have gone on quite a few), exactly what to expect; only the essentials will be covered in the literature; I won't have to read pages and pages and pages of stuff; and all the people touring will be fun and adventuresome. Tour guides are always competent and enjoyable. Thanks, SmarTours. I <3 you.

I certainly enjoyed my trip to Ireland with smarTours. It was just great! My guide was always very friendly and easy to talk to but I didn't have any special needs or requests so it wasn't a problem for him. The customer service team was cordial and the tour was exactly as it was described and advertised to be. We also fortunately had wonderful weather. Ireland is not necessarily known for a day after day of sun but we got it and enjoyed it. It's a real possibility that I would use smarTours on my next trip again too because some of the things they do in Europe are very interesting to me. I just have to look around for a little bit. Overall I had no disappointments at all.

Since SmarTours no longer matches singles, I cannot travel with you any more. In well over 65 countries, I have NEVER paid a single supplement. It's really too bad since I enjoyed my 4 tours with you.

SmarTours gives a Big Bang for the buck... great hotels, knowledgeable tour guides, great itineraries, all make smarTours a great value.

I really enjoyed my experience with smarTours. We've done a number of tours with them and I'd recommend it to my friends. I don't think there was anything that we didn't like about them.

Purchased a Vietnam Angkor Wat tour and Travel Protection from SmarTours for Mar '15. SmarTour refuses to acknowledge that I have bought travel insurance from them, even when so requested by telephone. Feels like they want to keep it open whether they have or they do not have a Contract with the consumer.

I went to South Africa with SmarTours this past November, and I can confidently say that choosing SmarTours to lead me on that 2-week safari adventure was one of the best decisions of my life. They made the entire experience effortless; from the moment I arrived in Cape Town and met my smiling tour guide, Ron, and the rest of my travel companions, the two weeks that followed were seamlessly prearranged and organized better than I ever could have done if I arranged the trip on my own (not to mention sizably more wallet-friendly too!). As a group, we travelled all throughout South Africa. We visited Swaziland, visited Nelson Mandela’s home, went on a leisurely walk with clumsy one-year old lions, observed magnificent animals in Kruger Park from merely inches away, and that’s only to name a few.

I want to be fair in my review, but I also need to be completely honest. I am giving smarTours three stars because there were some parts of the trip that I felt were outstanding, like our tour guide in Shanghai, Allie, she was amazing! College educated as a tour operator and it showed in everything she did. Our tour guide in Beijing is another story all together. His answer to everything was that he had been doing this for twenty years! It showed! He was a long-time disgruntled employee and it would be highly advised for him to seek another line of work. Name withheld for obvious reasons!

My husband always says "you get what you pay for." I have been on three Smartours, and two were marginal at best. The Jewels of the Adriatic was fantastic due to a great itinerary and a superb tour guide named Roc. Most of the people on the recent South American Odyssey felt the tour was lousy; many said they would never take Smartours again. Some of these people had taken many other Smartours and felt this was not up to snuff.

Several weeks ago I sent a deposit to smarTours for an April trip to morocco. Shortly after, the ebola situation appeared and I decided it was unwise for me (or anyone) to go to Africa until we know it is not a threat. I contacted smarTours less than 3 weeks after I sent in the deposit. I know they hold the deposit but I thought under these unusual circumstances, they would refund the $300. I was told they wouldn't but if I took another trip within the year, they would apply the deposit. That seemed a solution. Today I got a letter saying they would apply the deposit AFTER taking $150 off for a change fee. I have been a customer for years, although that is not significant, but I think it is unconscionable that under this unusual health threatening situation they would penalize me (and others?) for what I consider a logical decision.

I had been on a SmarTours in 2011 to Turkey and very happy. We joined with 5 others on a tour to Scandinavia. We were disappointed with SmarTours this time, and will NEVER join another SmarTours; in fact, there were about 16 total on our tour that basically said the same thing - and some had been on SmarTours numerous times.

My issue with SmarTours is that they are holding me to a non-refundable deposit agreement which I did not agree to, when we had a medical condition that caused us to cancel in sufficient time. I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of New York and have taken my complaint to the Attorney General - Eric Schneiderman. I would encourage all who have had issue with SmarTours to do the same. Consumer Hotline 1 (800) 771-7755.

I am not surprised that Sun Tours does not care about its customers' comments noted on this site. The only thing that Sun Tours is concerned with is that its customers precisely follow every word of instructions. There can be no deviations, no changes for any reason are allowed and Sun Tours ensures that the customer will spend time and money because it did not follow Sun Tours' often senseless rules.

March 2nd to March 12th. The experience was really, really cool. I must admit that I was a little nervous from the beginning! Their company doesn't really provide any information to you over the phone (They all sound foreign, their call center obviously isn't based in New York like they claim), you're just expected to read their site and then set a reservation! So the 4/5 was due to this issue - I mean, I mailed $600 across the country to them and just HOPED I wasn't being scammed. Thankfully, I wasn't and had a great time with my brother. I didn't do too many of the actual Tours while I was there because I wanted to go solo on my own, but both of the guides were pretty decent guys! The crowd was typically an older one, but we met some really nice people.

We toured China and also took Yangtze cruise. Our Tour Director was a freelance person. He never cared enough to wait for everyone on the tour to get their luggage and then go to the bus. Never. Brought bus to the terminal while arriving at a new town. We almost lost four of our fellow travelers. Repeated request by our group members that did not eat meat, were not properly addressed. As a minimum, I would like to see Smartours drop this young tour director. But, the Hong Kong person was absolutely outstanding. He said he could have been our tour manager in China if they wanted it.

I was travelling alone to Kenya where I was to meet my daughter and join the group (of 9) from SmarTours. Since I left from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, I was not with any other participants. There was no one at Kennedy Airport in New York to meet me or tell me where my plane was leaving from. I boarded the plane on time and landed in London where there was an 8 hour layover. There was no one to meet me there. I hung around for an hour roaming from place to place and had SmarTours paged to tell them I was there. No one responded. I finally checked into a hotel room near the airport for some well needed rest. I met the plane for Kenya at the proper gate in time to see the other people on tour. They knew that there was one more person and they knew my name, but the person in charge (from SmarTours) did not page me or look for me.

Our tour guide was excellent, and the first three of five hotels were nice, not great, but nice. The last two hotels were the worst. No porters to move luggage, which meant flagging luggage on our own. I fell at the last hotel, and cut my hand. The hotel told me that smarTours did not pay for porters so that is why there were none. Food was horrible, and breakfast lines at day two hotels were very long.

The office in New York is rude and condescending, not helpful. I am on a smart tour to Scandinavia. It is total confusion, long bus ride of 10 hours today, totally unnecessary, poorly planned and organized, guides and tour operator uninformed. I have traveled extensively with many companies in the past. I will never use smarTours again. This is my first and last trip with them

I was on the SmarTours Danube Discovery Tour from Budapest to Vienna in October 2012 when Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, and all flights to JFK airport were cancelled. Our return tour tickets from Vienna to the USA were through JFK. The SmarTours tour director proceeded to dump us at the Vienna airport knowing that all flights were cancelled and then disappeared for 3 days. Austrian/Lufthansa arranged food and lodging for 2 days and nights and told us to return on Wednesday morning, which we did, only to find out that nothing had been done in the intervening time to arrange our return to the USA. SmarTours had not even released our tickets so Lufthansa could book alternative flights for us! After our group held up the Austrian/Lufthansa check-in counter, so that other passengers could not check-in until we were taken care of, Lufthansa managed to get us all booked back to the USA by the following weekend. They then arranged additional food and lodging for us until our various departures. The tour director mysteriously reappeared on Wednesday night long after Lufthansa had made these arrangements.

Credit Card Payment Refused/Deposit accepted and not returned: In March of 2012, we sent a deposit of $600 to the above mentioned company in order to secure two places on a tour to South America. At the time, it was very clear to the company that we reside in Israel. As proof, we sent copies of our Israeli passports. The company had no problem with our residence and cashed our deposit check immediately upon its receipt. When the balance of the payment was due, in order to expedite its arrival, we sent a check for $7,656.00 to the company via Express Mail Service. Unfortunately, this check was held up by US customs and therefore it did not arrive in time to secure our reservation. The next option suggested by SmarTours was to pay by credit card. To do this, we had to add $100 per ticket to the price of the tour. We agreed to this option since the check had not arrived and furthermore, by using our credit card which was issued in the United States by JP Morgan Chase, we were assured of travel insurance.

In early January, I called to book a trip with Smartours.com to go to Turkey on 10/3 to 10/16, 2012. I was told over the phone to send in $300 to hold my place, so I sent in a check. I called today and told them due to ill health, I could not go. I spoke to Esther and she said the $300 was non-refundable but they would offer a credit of $150 for another trip within a year. I told her I was never told the $300 was non-refundable and had sent the check on 1/13/2012. The invoice with the information that the deposit was non-refundable was not sent out until 1/23/2012. I said the trip was 7 months away and I was not told, but they will not refund my money. I am 82 and need the money now that my health is bad.

We recently returned from 2 weeks in Israel with smarTours and had the best vacation we've ever had. The tour guide was excellent, the hotels were top of the line, and the sight-seeing was wonderful, traveling aboard a luxurious tour bus. Not having cancelled, I can't speak to their policies, but we did purchase insurance just in case.

Had to cancel trip due to extended family illness that was not covered in the trip insurance policy. We canceled 4 weeks ahead of time. The whole trip was canceled by Smartours for a full refund of those who did not cancel. Moral of the story, do not pay in cash! I will not use this group again.

Smartours customer service is extremely rude and disrespectful. When asking questions that couldn't be found on their website, customer service reps consistently interrupted me and the operations manager even hung up on me after she was done talking. They were condescending and over-powered the conversation by talking over me.

This is a commendation not a complaint. My grandson and I went to China last year with them and it was excellent from start to finish. I was so pleased that I am trying to set up another tour this year, with another grandson.

This is in response to Emily of Los Angeles’ complaint of Jan. 29, 2010 regarding her smarTours of Thailand. Trip insurance covers most of the expenses you paid for and did not get to use. You should contact them. I am surprised that smarTours didn't point you in their direction. If you didn't have trip insurance, the person that is trying to profit from your tragedy is you and you need to grow up. SmarTours clearly defines their refund policy in the terms and conditions section of their website.

I purchased two trips for the Amazing Thailand tour as a present for my mom's birthday. Several months before the trip, I lost my job and was having a tough time in general. A few days prior to the departure, we had a tragedy that occurred and I didn't think that we would be able to go on the trip. I called smarTours and spoke to a manager and explained to her my situation.

I have always wanted to voice my opinion of smartours in print. This will be my 5th trip with them and they have all been awesome. I've met many people who have traveled on their tours more times than I have. For the value, bang for your buck, you can't go wrong. For example, my husband wanted to go to just Australia, plan our own trip, but I said, "Look, we can go to Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti for $4000." There is NO WAY we could have seen what we saw for that money if we had done it ourselves. Tahiti isn't included anymore because it is SO expensive but even without, it's a good deal. The Thailand trip was unbelievable for the value. I took my niece on the Kenyan one and she still gives presentations on her experience at school. Have you seen the prices listed for a 12-day safari with other groups?? It's like $5500 and we paid $2800. My least favorite was the Tango Express... but I was in a bad mood and they don't have dates for it anymore. We leave for the Italy one in March and I will be very surprised if my mother, who likes to complain, has any. I can't say enough positive things about smartours. I love them.

We were on a tour of Eastern Europe. All we got were a city tour and then everything else was an additional cost like on a cruise ship: an excursion. That didn't seem very fair. The Hotel Scandia had a nice lobby, but the rooms were NOT any 4 or 5 star rooms although they claim to be. Helsinki is VERY expensive. On the trip, we pretty much set out on our own, using the metro or public transportation. Concierge advice on where to go and what to do. We did SmarTours to India and it wasn't like this one-- it was exactly what it said it was going to be-- no excursions. If it was an add-on, we knew about it first.

This is in response to Barry of No-Woodmere, NY ((06/13/06) complaint re SmarTours Russian River Cruise from St.Petersberg to Moscow May 29 to June9.

RE Russian River cruise St Petersberg to Moscow May 29 to June 9, basically my complaints are about the ship 1-i didnt expect to find large size cabins but this was ridiculous, twice the size of a phone booth. My wife and I couldnt stand side by side and had a hard time passing each other.

We took the Smartours 11 day trip through Eastern Europe. For reasons of economy, I assume, we were routed from JFK through Helsinki to Budapest. The time between flights was 40 minutes. When we questioned Smartours we were assured that the plane would be held if it was late. The plane was late and the flight was not held. We were told that the reason was that there was only 6 people from the tour on the flight and this was not sufficient to hold the flight. The next flight to Budapest was 8 hours later.

Booked trip to south america, was there 6 days, and when group arrived in buenos aires, tour escort told me my trip was cancelled and had a strange man take me from the domestic airport to the international airport and send me home with no explanation, no change to prepare for an international flight, and over half of my trip was aborted at that point. I did not want to leave,had paid for this trip months ago, and there was no reason for this. if the tour company had a problem, they should have advised me not on sat. afternoon, but thu or fri at which time i could have contacted the company in new york, as of course they are not open on sat, and i was not properly packed for an international flight of almost 15 hours.

My wife and I were supposed to leave on vacation to Vietnam on 2/17/03 from Fort Lauderdale and connect with Korean Air for the tour's transantlantic flight at JFK. As a result of the “snowstorm of the century” all flights to JFK were cancelled. When called smarTours for help, we only got a recitation of their rules and policies, such as no rescheduling of our vacation to another date, no refund of any kind and no offer of assistance with Korean Air who would only agree to rebook us on a flight either from JFK or LAX five days later.