Name: smarTours
Address: 500 7TH AVE, 8TH FL, NEW YORK, New York
Rating: 4.42

“We had a great time on our Amazing Thailand tour! Our guides, Ketsara and Noc were both truly amazing, patient, helpful, and informative. The tour was well organized and went very smoothly. The only negative was a few of the hotels could have been a little better, but even so, they were acceptable. Highly recommend!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“We had a small group and everyone got along great. Our tour guide Max went to extraordinary lengths to accommodate our special needs and to make our trip amazing. Most of the hotels were great.our driver was very skilled and courteousl. I would highly recommend this trip to my friends.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Beautiful county. Too bad our guide was too busy talking on his cell phone to explain what we were seeing. Fortunately we had a great bus driver. he was always there to help us on and off. Our guide again was very very busy talking on his cell phone.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“The trip was great but Rok, the tour guide, although friendly, was lazy and instead of giving us historical information while riding on the bus to various destinations he was on his cell phone chatting away. If we asked a question he would answer however he preferred talking to his friends or other business associates. Had this been our first smart tour trip, we’d never consider taking another one. Our Eastern Europe trip’s Tour guide was very engaged with the guests and she was filled with interesting information so that’s why we chose to go to Croatia with you again. Now it’s questionable if we’ll go with your again. A bad representation for your company.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Not good experience at all”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Treasures of Turkey: Turkey was a true marvel! My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the “Treasures of Turkey” tour. The size of the tour was perfect (20 people) and I feel that the group had good rapport. Our tour guide, Dilek Yarcan, was amazing. She was patient, understanding and very knowledgeable. Our driver Omar was very polite and attentive and kept the coach in pristine condition. Dilek’s archaeological background/experience put that extra special touch to the sites we visited. During free time, we explored on our own and we felt very safe in Istanbul and Antalya. All the sites we visited were amazing but the following were my highlights: St. Sophia, Ephesus, Pamukkale Hot Springs, Aspendos, & Cappadocia. My only wish is to have been allotted more time in Pamukkale Hot Springs and Ephesus. Due to poor weather, we were not lucky enough to do the balloon ride in Cappadocia which was one of my bucket list items. The hotels and included meals were great. All in all, I recommend this tour.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I just returned from France on the tour Unforgettable France. The tour started out on a sour note in that we were bumped from our flight after waiting to check in for over forty five minutes. We then were booked on a BOAC flight to London with a 50 minute layover to Paris. We barely made the second flight after running thru the airport to be the last two on the plane before the doors closed. This could have been avoided since your office was advised at 11: AM of the cancellation. In addition the same problem arose on the flight home. You have our E-Mail address and our telephone number. Why were we not made aware of the cancellation? I also had a problem with the schedule. We left Paris after two nights only to return for one night. If we had extended our stay in Paris we could have avoided returning to Paris and could have traveled to the next city without having to take the train the following morning. You should rethink the meals for dinner. Rabbit is a poor choice for American visitors, and you may want to speak to the hotels regarding the breakfast menu. It should not be too difficult to have hot scrambled eggs in the morning. Agnes as a tour guide was super and the choice of bus companies and drivers that moved us from town to town were professional courteous and always on time.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“3 stars I just returned from the tour which started out on May 8. Some hotels were wonderfully located, some not. Our group of 30 found that the whispers which were supposed to help us hear the tour director or local guides did not work well unless you were within 10 feet of the person and our last tour was done without them and was much more enjoyable. Sadly we had little time to enjoy what we were seeing on the guided tours as it was a fast sprint from Point "A" to Point "B". A leisurely stroll with less time in churches would have been nicer or cutting out some of the sites to see so that as a group we could appreciate what we were seeing and marvel in the beauty. Plus a few people on these tours got lost as they were not a power walker like Renata was and in certain places there were huge crowds. Finnair's food leave much to be desired. I knew it must be bad when they were handing out the dinner trays and said to look at the other options which were for sale which a few people took advantage of. There was so little time in Helsinki. I would have liked another full day there to explore. I just returned from the tour which started out on May 8. Some hotels were wonderfully located, some not. Our group of 30 found that the whispers which were supposed to help us hear the tour director or local guides did not work well unless you were within 10 feet of the person and our last tour was done without them and was much more enjoyable. Sadly we had little time to enjoy what we were seeing on the guided tours as it was a fast sprint from Point "A" to Point "B". A leisurely stroll with less time in churches would have been nicer or cutting out some of the sites to see so that as a group we could appreciate what we were seeing and marvel in the beauty. Plus a few people on these tours got lost as they were not a power walker like Renata was and in certain places there were huge crowds. Finnair's food leave much to be desired. I knew it must be bad when they were handing out the dinner trays and said to look at the other options which were for sale which a few people took advantage of. There was so little time in Helsinki. I would have liked another full day there to explore.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“3 stars I just returned from the tour which started out on May 8. Some hotels were wonderfully located, some not. Our group of 30 found that the whispers which were supposed to help us hear the tour director or local guides did not work well unless you were within 10 feet of the person and our last tour was done without them and was much more enjoyable. Sadly we had little time to enjoy what we were seeing on the guided tours as it was a fast sprint from Point "A" to Point "B". A leisurely stroll with less time in churches would have been nicer or cutting out some of the sites to see so that as a group we could appreciate what we were seeing and marvel in the beauty. Plus a few people on these tours got lost as they were not a power walker like Renata was and in certain places there were huge crowds. Finnair's food leave much to be desired. I knew it must be bad when they were handing out the dinner trays and said to look at the other options which were for sale which a few people took advantage of. There was so little time in Helsinki. I would have liked another full day there to explore. I just returned from the tour which started out on May 8. Some hotels were wonderfully located, some not. Our group of 30 found that the whispers which were supposed to help us hear the tour director or local guides did not work well unless you were within 10 feet of the person and our last tour was done without them and was much more enjoyable. Sadly we had little time to enjoy what we were seeing on the guided tours as it was a fast sprint from Point "A" to Point "B". A leisurely stroll with less time in churches would have been nicer or cutting out some of the sites to see so that as a group we could appreciate what we were seeing and marvel in the beauty. Plus a few people on these tours got lost as they were not a power walker like Renata was and in certain places there were huge crowds. Finnair's food leave much to be desired. I knew it must be bad when they were handing out the dinner trays and said to look at the other options which were for sale which a few people took advantage of. There was so little time in Helsinki. I would have liked another full day there to explore.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I just returned from the tour which started out on May 8. Some hotels were wonderfully located, some not. Our group of 30 found that the whispers which were supposed to help us hear the tour director or local guides did not work well unless you were within 10 feet of the person and our last tour was done without them and was much more enjoyable. Sadly we had little time to enjoy what we were seeing on the guided tours as it was a fast sprint from Point "A" to Point "B". A leisurely stroll with less time in churches would have been nicer or cutting out some of the sites to see so that as a group we could appreciate what we were seeing and marvel in the beauty. Plus a few people on these tours got lost as they were not a power walker like Renata was and in certain places there were huge crowds. Finnair's food leave much to be desired. I knew it must be bad when they were handing out the dinner trays and said to look at the other options which were for sale which a few people took advantage of. There was so little time in Helsinki. I would have liked another full day there to explore.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Great service. Our tour and guide were turned to be just awesome. We had an incredible time visiting many beautiful places.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“The Cruise was very well organized, personnel were polite and efficient. Cruise Director and Cruise Manager were outstanding. This is our second time having Galia as Cruises manager and as always she was very professional, effective and caring. The ship was excellent as well, well maintained and well managed. All its personnel were well trained and did their job very effectively. The food was excellent with enough variety to satisfy all tastes.The local tour guides were good, some better than others, but all did their job and conveyed the information as needed. Galia and the ship personnel were extremely attentive and helpful upon our disembarkment, they called us a taxi and made sure the driver understood our final destination. Our congratulations to SmarTours for, once again providing a most rewarding experience”

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Posted 5 years ago

“The entire tour was excellent except for one comment on the included breakfasts. The brochure states that all 10 breakfasts are "full buffet breakfasts". Eight were "full buffet breakfasts" but two were only box lunches (certainly not full buffet breakfasts). The box lunches were on April 11 and 16. We feel that we are entitled to a cash refund for these two inferior breakfasts. This would apply to Gordon and Ruth Omland, and Marvin and Margaret England who were all our travel partners. Thank you for your kind consideration to these requests.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“This is my third trip with smarTours, and I have thoroughly enjoyed visiting India, China, and now Peru with smarTours! Our group visiting Peru was THE perfect size with a total of 14. Everybody got along so well and had so much in common. It was stimulating to hear others talk about their travels while increasing my desire to travel to other areas not yet visited. Our guide Enrique was excellent and enhanced our stay in Peru with his knowledge of the Inca culture and civilization. He arranged for us to have a local guide at Puno who also did an outstanding job sharing her love of country and people with us. I compared several travel agencies before enrolling in the Machu Picchu trip. SmarTours offered the best value and covered more places that I desired to see in Peru than other agencies. My only complaint was the long wait in Miami for the Avinca departure. We were told that our flight would be leaving at 11:00 pm, and we did not leave until 2:50 am. Since we were told to arrive at least three hours before departure, we were at the Avinca ticket counter by 6:00 and could not even check in or go pass the security point until the ticket counter was maned after 1:00 am. It was very uncomfortable to wait outside the security area for eight plus hours. Thus we started our trip off very fatigued.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“This tour was great!! Our tour guide Johnathan was amazing! Couldnt have asked for a better person!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Excellent guides. Great accommodations in Egypt. I’ve been on 2 Smartours. Both needed a little more relaxing time. 2 forced marches a day is not a vacation; it’s a fact finding mission. I was disappointed in the tipping scheme in Egypt. Our guide, Hepa, in Abu Simbel insisted we tip the “travel agent”. It appeared to me that he was a man who owned his own business, and therefore should not require a tip. He provided a product, and no service except leading us to the bus, which Hepa should have done. It felt like Hepa was shaking us down for her colleague, especially because it wasn’t mentioned in your tip guide. Dina was very good about explaining tipping the government paid security agent, if he provided a special service. I contributed significantly to the economy, by purchasing gold jewelry and I am happy to tip appropriately. I am not happy to be hustled no matter how small the amount.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Smart tour is an excellent company I had a great experience I would recommend it to everyone everything was five star from the food to transportation the tour guides everything”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Overall the trip was very good. Felt we saw a lot of Japan. Our tour director, Yoko, was phenomenal and absolutely made the trip. Her knowledge, expertise and warm personality were outstanding. She went above and beyond to assist everyone. Can’t say enough about her. However there are several things that we did not like. We purchased land only and I felt that smarTours was not customer friendly after that. 1) It seemed that since we weren’t doing the whole package their response was “too bad so sad” you’re on your own. There was no help or basic information given on ways to get from airport to hotel. There was no way to see if we could be picked up by bus picking others up even though we landed within 5” of those booking entire trip. Receiving information on confirmed trip with hotel info didn’t help in arranging bus transfers early. 2) We had to prepack overnight clothes etc twice and carry with us as our luggage was sent another way. We had NO warning ahead of the trip regarding this. Not good! 3) we did not like having so many meals on our own. 4) Voice boxes for hearing guide had a lot of static. I’m not sure that we will use smarTours again. We were lucky to have a terrific guide that helped make our trip.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“My husband and I and our 4 adult children went on the Best of Cuba trip. We had an amazing time. Both the American and the Cuban tour guides were friendly, well organized, and informative. We had the opportunity to meet with and interact with a number of artists, musicians, educators, and theatrical performers. We covered a lot of ground and as a result had long bus rides, but this could not be helped as the roads were not always in good repair. Twice an informative film was shown on the bus with discussion afterwards and I think that we would have benefited from even more of these since there was ample time. Our driver was excellent and we had complete confidence in him. Everyone we met was welcoming and friendly and we were happy with the hospitality and service at the hotels and restaurants that were selected. Our group was just the right size—21 travelers and the 3 staff members. There was vague mention about bringing toys or school supplies to the children that we were to meet one day and I wish that we had been given more specific information on what to bring as I did not bring anything and wished that I had. Overall it was a fascinating experience and we hope to return to Cuba some day.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“The trip to Israel was very educational. Our tour guide, Jacov Kuchuk, was excellent! I was extremely disappointed that SmarTours would not upgrade our plane tickets to Comort+.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	3.8 out of 5

smarTours Reviews