Northern Explorer

A tour group filled with fun and excitement! From andjela (dynamic tour director) victor (on the go driver)!!! As they always say second time is a charm! Thank you expat explore for the worthwhile experience!

The tour as for myself is very enjoyable,seeing places which i havent gone yet, comfortable coach with good driver.added to it is our super tour manager very tolerant to our group..funny with unending stories ..very caring woman..Andjela..

I had a good time on this tour. Driver Victor and tour Leader Andji worked very hard to make it an enjoyable experience for all the travellers. We had about 30 people on a 50 person bus, so lots of room for everybody. A lot of people (myself also at the beginning) had the impression that the tour was tightly scripted, with attractions set up on a schedule, and time to see most of the attractions in the cities we travelled to. That's not really the case at all. This is a ""taste"" of Scandinavia and the Baltics...really, if you expect to see 10 countries in 18 days, how much time can you spend in any one place? There's a lot of time spent on the bus travelling from city to city...and under EU law, the bus has to take regular stops every few hours, many of which are at highway rest stops and other such places. So you are not going to spend all that much time touring places like Helsinki, Riga, Vilnius or Berlin...remember, you are covering 5,000 kilometers in two and a half weeks. The tour should best be understood as an ""introduction"" to Scandinavia and the Baltics....a taste of what there is, so you can decide which places you want to come back to, and do in more detail. It's a ""survey course"". I saw a lot of great places and made lots of friends. I found several countries (Norway, Sweden, Estonia) that I plan on visiting again in 2024/2025, but in more detail, spending two weeks in each one, rather than a couple of days. It seems like I am complaining but I am not; this is a great tour, we saw a lot in a very short time, and you simply cannot beat the price. Hotels vary in quality from two to four star...the good ones like the Radissons/Hiltons cost about 300 Euros a night (In asked the front desk) so Expat is getting some serious volume group rate discounts here. The poorer ones are clean and good to sleep in for a night, just don't expect fancy linens, room service, or swimming pools. Overall a great tour. I will use Expat again!

It was an amazing experience. Despite very minor hiccups Angela and Victor were awesome. The tour was prepared with great thought and value for persons who want to explore Europe .

Beautiful tour. Well planned and organized. Our tour leader Andjela was the best thing of this tour. Always happy, never got upset with anyone. She took an excellent care of 35 grown up people (up to 82) with ease. Treated us with such care and love that we really enjoyed our trip. I have been before with Expat but Andjela is your best asset. Victor, the driver , kept us safe. He complied with all the regulations and never had a problem on his end. He was kind, caring and loved and respected everyone. We definitely will come back to travel with Andjela and Victor. Tour guide and driver are the best assets of Expat. They can make or break a true travel experience. I'm happy that we had such wonderful people on the group. See you on another trip Expat.

Thank you to our tour leader Andjela and our coach driver Victor. Both professional at its finest! The tour is amazing! Did meet my expectations! I enjoyed the group tour/travel as it's my first time to join as such as I always travel on my own. The next tour with Expat is definitely on the agenda! Thank you once again to Andjela and Victor, very much appreciated!

One of the best holidays I have had with Expat Explore. The tour guide Andjela and the driver Victor were excellent.

It was a big surprise (you expect a lot of Scandinavia and it is beautiful) but my highlight were Baltic states. People are amazing and so is their history. Andjela was the most caring guide, she is organized and caring, delivered some amazing stories and informations. Victor was a very good driver, focused all the time.

Amazing experience, Great guide and driver teamwork !!

The tour is very fast paced. If you want to see a lot of countries in a short period of time then this is your tour. There is a lot of walking and the bus rides can be long. Be prepared to pack and go. Branden our tour leader is good. He kept us on time and the tour is well organized.

The tour was wonderful and an amazing value. 10 countries in 18 days was a whirlwind, but well worth it.

The tour provided a very comprehensive coverage of Northern Europe and allowed us to see all the key sights.

Overall the tour delivered on our expectations. This was our second Expat tour. Our guide (Aaron) and driver (Gabriel) were just terrific! Both professional and congenial and punctual and everything one would want in a guide and driver. :-) This tour was an amazing way to get a taste of ten countries. We left with a solid appreciation of everything we experienced and have a good idea of places we might like to return to if time and $$$ permit!

I really enjoyed visiting and learning about all the cities and countries we visited. It would be nice to spend two or three days at each city. I learned enough to decide where I want to revisit.

Must see countries

This is a relatively relaxing tour compared to other Expat tours that we had. Of course there's a lot of walking involved like in many tour groups but getting to the key cities required long driving which gave us enough rest between cities and the road trip (and ferry rides) were very comfortable. And we visited small cities in between… The Scandinavian and Baltic cities visited were all gems! A lot of checks in my bucket list! There were good amounts of free time. Hotels in general were very good but a few were far from city center… Our tour leader Aaron was very efficient and fun to talk with. Gabriel was an excellent driver too. All in all, EN is worth it! We are very happy we embarked on this tour with Expat Explore!

I have been wanting to join one of EE tours for some years and finally this years, I could. We joined the EN Tour and we both enjoyed the experiences. Everything was professionally arranged, immaculate! I can see the team's effort there, not only from our TL and our driver, but also from the operational team (behind the scene team); from the condition of the bus (perfectly clean, all foot rests were working, AC, reclining function, rubbish bags always provided, no smell, etc); from the engaging experiences delivered by the program itself (as it offers some included meals, which helps the participants to know each other better); the marketing effort that embrace us trying to make us to be part of the EE family (such as the social media group); the thought put into making the itinerary was awesome! Together, all EE team makes and delivers this exceptionally excellent experience to us. Unforgettable. Thank you so much! Hope we can have other great memories with you again!

Good ovrerall

all the places was great. I am going to do this again. as a matter of fact i have booked another tour for this October.

The tour was well organised and we felt safe all the way, as Evo was a fantastic driver with a professional, respectful and kind attitude. It is a long tour over 18 days, but the group spirit was good all along. We had good experiences in the countries and cities we visited. The hotels were mostly good except for the summer heat without air conditioning in some. We appreciate the changes you made to the tour due to the war and we enjoyed Oslo. Our 2nd tour guide from Berlin for the last 3 days was excellent (her name was something like Krizti)

It was amazing to explore all these countries on this Baltic circle ried.

I've already recommended this tour to several friends - 18 days in Northern Europe sounds like a long time to be on a bus, but the time passes quickly and I saw *so* much. It was great to stop briefly in towns on the way to our destination because we got to see more. My guide Aileen and driver Sylvian were the best - I never worried about anything because we were safe and we always had a preview of what was coming up next. I wasn't planning to do the optional excursions but I'm glad for the ones I did choose because they enhanced my experience and learning about where we were. My only issue is that we were never anywhere long enough to get clothes washed, so hand washing clothes as you go is a must. I enjoyed the tour, my fellow travelers, and we covered a lot of ground - I'd consider doing the tour again because it was fun and memorable.

This tour offers many opportunities for a variety of interests from the history lover to the shopper to the foodie. Scandinavia and the Baltics were so much more amazing to see than we could have imagined. Our tour leader Aileen did an outstanding job with logistics, personal relationships, and recommendations for each location. Our driver Silvian went above and beyond to take care of us for the full 18 days. We love the family feel of Expat tours. The EN tour is wonderful and highly recommended!

Aileen was a great tour leader and one of the highlights of the trip. Silvian was equally as good a driver so we had a great team. The overview of the places visited was good and plenty of nice little surprises along the way. Lots of long drive days as I suspected from the itinerary. It is a reasonable balance between seeing lots of places in a short time. I had a great time.

Great

This tour has exceeded my expectations. It gave me the opportunity to visit and explore and experience the countries and cities I have never been before. The use of WhatsApp made communications timely and efficiently. Shoutout to our driver for providing safe travel.

Super fun and happy

This was our 2nd experience with the tour operator. We had such a great time before, hence we booked again,It was generally good, tho I wish we were informed in advance during our email correspondence with Expat that they changed a part of the itinerary, since we already planned and booked our subsequent trip based on the one they emailed us!We already booked our train tix and hotel accommodations for our trip onwards from the last published lunch stop(since we were no longer going back to Ams with the grp) only to be told on the first day that we were no longer stopping there(Hannover).Nevertheless, Carly, the tour guide and Hans, the driver were considerate enough to drop us off at a train stop ,albeit small and obscure, somewhere in the vicinity before proceeding to their last lunch destination.Also, I would just suggest that whenever possible, they get real local tour guides in the cities we go to, because the one we had in Tallin, Estonia only lived in that place for 5 years and was more concentrated in impressing us with his "academic" knowledge-made us seat in the cold for 30 min "lecturing" us, instead of just leisurely walking us around and being sensitive to our requests.Carly, the tour leader, while being technically efficient and judiciious with her job, sadly lacked people skills. She hardly smiled and came off as grumpy, cold, even standoffish, to us , her supposed "guests". For instance,when we gave her our honest feedback on how we perceived that "non-local" guide, she got very defensive, and "berated" us even! Fortunately, the whole group was comprised of happy and easygoing people ( more than half were filipinos! ), hence,we enjoyed the tour ,inspite of her barely-there people skills Hans, tho, was nice and congenial, and a very good driver! Anyways, the whole tour experience was a good value for money.We just certainly hope that we will have better memories with the next tour leader should we try for the 3rd time..

Loved the trip, saw so many amazing places.

This was a wonderful tour and we saw so much in the 18 days but I found there was too much bus travelling. I guess I knew this when I booked it but didn't realise how tiring it would be. The last day we travelled from Berlin to Amsterdam ... it was 660 kms ... such a wasted day. We really needed three nights in Berlin and another overnight stay somewhere between Berlin and Amsterdam even if it cost more.

Tour guide and bus driver were great. Met lots of people. So little time and so much to see.

My only comments is about Hamburg, Germany. There was nothing to see, we should've stayed 2 days in Sweden or Denmark and just skip Hamburg.

Shae and Hans were awesome!

I had a really great time on this trip. This is my 2nd expat tour and traveled as a solo traveler. I met new friends and new memories that I will cherish forever. Our tour leader Shae did a fantastic job coordinating the tour and accommodating all our needs. She was very helpful to everyone and made sure we got everything we need from start to end. Also, visiting Russia was one of the highlights of this trip and I also had a great during our overnight ferry ride from Stockholm to Finland. There are karaoke and live band on the ferry so we all had a chance to dance and sing our hearts out that night so it was really fun.

I like the way expat does the tours. Although twice now , my guides have been average to o below. Used other tour companies and had great guides, just not experiencing that here. Shae was average at best, but she got the job done. Hans was outstanding driver. I make my own time that is why I have my third trip booked next year.

My husband and I really enjoyed this 18-day Northern Explorer trip. It was amazing to see 10 beautiful countries and learned about their cultures and histories. Our optional excursion to Moscow via Sapsan high-speed train was great. Thanks to Vicky, our awesome tour leader, for her hard and professional work. Also thanks to Hans for his safe and excellent driving. This is our 2nd trip with Expat and we love it, thank you Expat.

Fantastic tour and a great taste of Russia and the Baltic countries. Shea did a great job and driver Paul was fantastic! Another great expat tour.

Our 2nd holiday with the tour operator and by far the best thanks to our wonderful tour leader Vicky and driver Hans. Vicky gave us so much information on every town and country we visited I can't believe we were able to learn so much. Nothing was ever too much trouble, we couldn't have asked for more. Loved all the optional extras, the hotels were mostly 3-4 star and all meals supplied were great. Thank you Expat for helping us enjoy one of our best holidays ever. Vicky and Hans gave us a holiday to remember forever ????????????

Wonderful tour. Moscow and st Petersburg was amazing.. Warsaw experience out of this world and the smaller states and cities were just the icing on the cake. .

matt de tour director,he is a pro take care off every single thing,god guy,the driver paul super great driver,thank you both.

This was an awesome trip around Europe, with a stop into Russia and I'd highly recommend it. Amazing experiences, met some wonderful fellow travellers, 10 beautiful countries, stunning scenery, tons of (often very sad and humbling) history and loads of truly wonderful memories made. Our tour leader Victoria and our Driver Hans were brilliant - both made the experience easy and were always helpful, knowledgeable, patient and kind. Be prepared for some long travel days and some short city stays - if you want a more relaxed pace or longer stays, perhaps choose the 3 country tour. This one packs so much in. A real highlight for me was the overnight ferry - the Swedish archipelago was so beautiful and it was a great experience. Thank you, operator, for a wonderful first tour!

Discovered New places and had a wonderful experience throughout the tour

its a great tour but I had some issues with accommodation, some of the hotels the wifi wasn't working properly, also I found bed bugs on the bed in Radison Blue close to Helsinki, I had to ask for another room, but I couldn't sleep that night thinking about that. expat is great company I had so much great memories of my previous tour with expat, that's the reason why I come back this year, but this tour wasn't the best.

Too often we arrived late afternoon to early evening at a destination only to leave early in the morning the next day. Too little time to get any sensation of a place. Only when we spent 2 nights did we feel like we had truly experienced a locale. Optional tours were often too specific & lengthy. Best part was meeting new folks on the bus.

You get to see a lot on this tour, but some long days on the coach.