Canada Explorer Trips

Tour manager was awesome. Clare has excellent communication skills. Enjoyed all the arranged activities, especially visiting the lavender gardens, the First Nations, and the goat farm. I hope Collette adds more small group tours in the future.

Thank you to Carl & the Explore team for a fabulous holiday. Carl went out of his way to ensure everyone enjoyed the trip - with lots of Canadian-themed activities - including wildlife bingo, snacks and music! We all enjoyed the restaurants Carl selected, booked ahead and shared meals with us. Carl was patient, kind, attentive and accommodating throughout the trip . Some feedback for Explore - the Vancouver hotel is too remote from everything Vancouver has to offer & I suggest reinstating the original more central hotel offering.

Enjoyed the trip, loved the festive setting with snow and Christmas festivities. Quebec City had some lovely shops and restaurants, enjoyed the french influence and Canadian French people. Montreal was a lot more urban but enjoyed the market there and ventured over to the mall for indoor shopping. We took a uber and went to some more shopping locations than were on the itinerary. The Christmas markets were small so it didnt take much time, but we found some nice downtown shops to walk to and restaurants to enjoy lattes and pasteries. It was a great trip!

We throughly enjoyed our trip to the Christmas Markets of Montreal and Quebec. It was cold and windy a few of the days, but that is to be expected in Canada in December. We chose to drive from southern Mass, and it was an easy drive, even though it snowed most of the way. Our tour took us around the cities of each place, and pointed out the highlights of each. We then visited the Christmas Markets in each city. Quebec City was our favorite. The markets there were the best, as were the stores. Chateau Frontenac was beautiful and a must in Quebec City. Bernadette was a great tour manager finding great bus stops and keeping us entertained on the bus. We enjoy the restaurants chosen for dinner, as well as the two excursion; the 'Yule log' making and the breakfast in the sugar shack. Very enjoyable!

All the activities were very enjoyable - the visit to the Albert Giles Copper Studio making a Christmas ornament, decorating a Yule log at Madame Germain’s, and a visit to the Sugar Shack where we got a taste of winter weather with quite a bit of snow. Hotel accommodations were top notch. Shopping in Old Quebec City was a fun experience with many unique local shops. The Christmas markets were very crowded but still interesting.

The whole tour was magical! The snow set the scene for strolling through the markets with gluhwein and delicious food. Walking through the towns all lit up with beautiful Christmas lights and displays was equally festive. I thoroughly enjoyed creating our own tasty Yule log and the icing on the cake for me was the maple syrup farm. There we had a traditional breakfast and made maple candy on a board of snow. Thankful for the variety of maple products in their gift shop. The chunky maple sugar cubes are the best. A new found favorite for coffee, tea or just eating by themselves. What a treat!! Oh, and maple cream cookies….THE BEST!