If you book a guided trip, like one of our small group tours, your guide or tour leader will use their expert insider knowledge and local connections to make the most of unexpected opportunities. You might be invited to watch the sunrise from a lighthouse or to join family Diwali celebrations. They’ll be on hand to make sure your trip goes smoothly, taking care of logistics. Our tour leaders are all hand-picked and trained by our experienced team to ensure consistently high standards.

Sustainability is one of the driving principles of Explore. We care deeply about travelling in a way that positively impacts the people and places we visit.  

We have joined forces with other leaders in the tourism industry to help tackle the largest environmental crisis ever faced: climate change. As a responsible tour operator, we know that we are part of the problem, but this is our commitment to become part of the solution. 

We have individually measured the carbon footprint of every single one of our 400+ tours – including accommodation, transport, food and activities – as well as our business operations and staff. We’re now working hard to reduce those footprints, with the goal of reducing our carbon by 50% by 2030, in line with the Glasgow Declaration, of which we were a founding signatory in 2021.  

Meanwhile, we continue to mitigate our impact with partners like ClimateCare and Rewilding Britain, and continue to develop new lower-carbon tours from UK itineraries to rail-based holidays.

We carefully select our accommodation to give you a comfortable night’s sleep in the best possible locations. The places we stay are every bit as important as the sights we visit and the things we do. Wherever possible we choose small, local and family-run properties. Occasionally, when we want to get off the beaten tourist trail, we may stay in more basic accommodation. Choices are based on what’s available in the places we want to stay; we choose the accommodation to suit the itinerary, not the other way around.