Intrepid Travel

I've traveled with Intrepid twice in the last year: A trip to Turkey and Peru. Both trips were amazing and unforgetable. Intrepid has been professional, responsive, and extremely patient through the entire process. Their service is oustanding. I love the fact that they are environmentally conscious. The guides in both locations were caring, knowledgeable, and organized. It's a great feeling to visit a new place and know that you don't have to worry about accommodatons, transporation, and food. I plan on Intrepid to check off more items on my bucket list. Can't wait to travel with them again.

This was my first trip with Intrepid, and I very much the communication we received before and during our trip. We traveled from Sydney to Brisbane with several stops in between and it was nothing short of magical. What put our experience over the top was our tour guide, Rach, who had the most laid-back, welcoming, yet still organized and on top of things personality. The guide drives the bus which I never experienced before, so double kudos! Honestly, I feel we got really lucky being placed with her, though I'm sure all the tour guides are equally lovely. For traveling around the world to Australia for the first time and being unfamiliar with this tour company, I'm glad it worked out so incredibly well.

As someone who travels solo, I’m apt to use different vendors on small group tours. Intrepid Travel is exceptional in designing a thorough and wonderful itinerary. I’ve met people from many different places on the tours I’ve participated in and we’ve all gotten along smashingly well. The guides we’ve encountered are natives to the region we’re visiting and therefore add much value to our tour. Although the options offered on a number of tours require separate payment, that is not a hindrance to me. I think it’s wonderful that such options are provided as it allows me to choose to participate or spend the time just relaxing and absorbing the culture of my stay. All this makes me a repeat traveller with Intrepid and there are more ventures to come.

The Iceland 8 day Discovery was our first Intrepid tour. We were inspired by a Karl Watson YouTube video, and were not disappointed. Our guide Stefan was awesome. The entire trip from beginning to end was perfectly managed from the places we stayed and ate, to the stops along the way. The van was comfortable and having WiFi on board was a big plus. Our group of 12 was fun and engaging. Highly recommend! We definitely will do another tripe with Intrepid again.

Generally good. Bit skimpy on breakfasts sometimes, a meal most would like in their hotel I would think, and not have to fork out money before even leaving the hotel each morning. Sometimes won’t allow solo room for solo traveller and that can ruin your expensive trip of a week or two or three. Lots of solo travellers out there. Take note.

I recently finished my 6th trip with Intrepid, dating back about 15 years, and they have been consistently terrific. The most recent one was Guatemala to Belize. Our tour leader Isaias was friendly, knowledgeable, flexible and fun. The other members of the group, ranging from 30s to 60s, were well traveled and easy going, and a pleasure to spend time with. Highlights were ATM caves, Tikal, volcano hike and the hot springs waterfall. I'm looking forward to my next Intrepid adventure.

I’ve traveled with Intrepid three times in the last 13 months and I just booked my fourth. If you’re hesitating, don’t! On all of my trips the accommodations, food, tour leaders, itineraries, and transportation have been top notch. The trips are well organized, run seamlessly and give you the opportunity to really appreciate the history, culture, food and people of whatever wondrous place you’re visiting. I especially love that Intrepid is committed to sustainable and responsible travel. I truly feel like it’s the definition of meaningful travel. I’ve met some amazing people on these trips and made friendships that will last a lifetime. What more could you ask for?? Book it, you won’t be disappointed!

The trip to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with the Intrepid organisation was a once in a lifetime experience. The guide was a professional, knowledgeable and caring person who added great value to this opportunity. I highly recommend the company and this tour.

Traveled with Intrepid to Iceland on a Premium trip in August 2024. Was extremely disappointed. Hotels were no different then a normal trip with other companies and didn't see as much as many other travels we spoke to for so much less money. On the meals they provided, coffee, tea and sodas were always extra. Also they only arranged for the transportation from the airport to hotel and not a return transportation. DIFFENENTLY NOT A PREMIUM TRIP AND FELT WAS EXTREMELY OVERPRICED.

Do not book a tour with Intrepid. Their "policy" on deposits is unreasonable, inflexible and downright thieving. I booked a tour in India with them over seven months ahead of its departure date, paying a 400 euro deposit. I then learned that another tour I planned to take immediately following theirs was unavailable for my desired dates even though the website showed it was available. Because I then could not find any other suitable tours that fit with the Intrepid tour dates I booked, I asked Intrepid, just three days after my booking, to credit my 400 euro deposit to another of their tours. They very rudely refused, insisting that their "policy" didn't allow credits much less refunds. They didn't care that the tour was over seven months away or that I made my request for a credit within three days of the booking. Fortunately, the good people at PayPal saw how unfair this was and refunded my 400 euros. You may not be so lucky. Avoid the thieves at Intrepid. There are plenty of other tour companies that don't try to rip you off like Intrepid does.

I booked a three week tour of Italy from Rome to Palermo. By the third day I was sick as a dog with a bacterial infection. They boast about meal included everyday which was only breakfast buffet in Hot Hot weather with no ice or refrigeration. The food looked like it was left over from the previous night. Eventually went to ER with dehydration and was forced to take a taxi back to Rome from Amalfi for $550 after only six days of the three week tour. Intrepid would not refund any of the $6,000 I paid for my three week Solo Tour. They dispute everything I say even though I have medical receipts for everything I did. What a shame; do not use them.

Guide got sick for 6 day trip on day 1 and then spent several days around us no masks no testing but sleeping in our tour van and we weren't sure if we would get sick from him. The six day tour only had 2 half days of actual content, and they purposefully booked 2 hour flights with a stop over so it's 2 hours each way to waste time during the 6 days to match check in times at the hotel instead of making the time more efficient and giving us time in the cities. Guide didn't help us arrange anything and basically we paid $3000 for six nights at motel-level stays that were dirty and with non working bathroom fixtures and mold on the air conditioning but the tour was marked as a premium tour with 4 star accommodations. We literally got for $3000 transportation and poor lodging and a few tickets here and there. It was extremely poor value and we didn't get time in cities because it was extremely inefficient. Do not use this company because they also don't respond and don't care once they take your money. They claim to make arrangements but mostly keep information from you so you have no idea what you're doing day to day. Every day was 6/7am start times but we only did one thing because of inefficient planning or travel. Pretty much the worst tour you can take in South America.

Had a good experience with this group The staff was very friendly and accommodating during covid Glad we found a good resource for future trips

booked trip in 2019 with them prior to Covid for my son. They are getting 2 stars because in general they were okay to work with. The people at the office were pleasant enough. The company as a whole now is requiring all passengers have covid vaccines. Absolutely no reasons or acceptable reasons why not to have it. If you value your freedom of medical choice this is not the place for you. This policy will be in effect forever is what i have been told by them. Also beware, they recommend airtreks to book your international airfare with. It has been a absolute nightmare to work with airtreks. DO NOT book through airtreks until you do some research and see if you can get some other options!

I have yet to travel with them. And the reviews I read are very mixed and all across the board from total disaster to glorious. So traveler be aware. Now they are very upfront - travel insurance required, medical info must be provided, which meals are provided and hotels and transportation. So since I have not traveled yet you may ask what is this person writing about...the office staff who you make your reservations with. Most are very sweet, willing to listen and helpful. AND then there is Meg, a staff member who I have had the most unpleasant experiences having two separate conversations with and after each conversation I have called to speak with someone to complain. Only today I found out she was a supervisor. OMG!!! The woman needs to be retrained or fired. Today's call was to let them know I have my insurance. I went to the website and logged on to my trip but was unable to update it so I called. I waited in the clue for 15 mins (ok they are busy - no worries). I give Meg my info and then she wants Allianz phone number so I give her their 800# and she says NO THE NUMBER OF THEIR OFFICES IN MOROCCO. But they deal with Allianz all the time. In fact they want you to buy insurance from Allianz and they have staff people that help you with that too. They will even get you plane reservations. Well as a supervisor Meg should know all this. She should have transferred me to another staff member. Instead I got an earful. So the woman needs some retraining in policies and services that the company offers and then a few classes at Dale Carnegie. Well I called Allianz and their only number is the USA 800# and if there is a problem you call them collect from anywhere in the world per the customer service rep from Allianz. So I called back Intrepid only to get Meg on the phone. No way in hell I want to talk with her. So I ask for a supervisor and learned she is the only supervisor...OMG...so I told her I was calling to complain about her and if there was was no one else to talk with I was going to write a review online. So here is my review.

Terrible customer service, 1-2 weeks lag in response time on trip questions. 72 hours before leaving they still can't tell me where I will meet the boat and and I spend hours on hold. Now they tell me that I am the only person on my trip and do I want to rebook. I have a $2000 wasted plane ticket. I will never book with this company again.

Tour itself was excellent but when the going got tough, Intrepid was nowhere to be found. We encountered a visa issue (mistake made by Vietnam Immigration) enroute on our way to meet up with our tour group and not only did Intrepid not respond in a timely fashion but when they did respond they chose to remind us of our cancellation policy instead of actually assisting us. It was all about covering their bases rather than helping us; their motivations were very apparent. Our family (2 adults, two kids) spent 24 hours in the Vancouver airport trying to solicit help from anyone we could think of. We got nothing from Intrepid, not even sympathy. Only 2 out of 4 of us ended up flying to Vietnam to join the tour and then on Day 2 Intrepid had the gall to offer us the assistance we needed 4.5 days before (which was much too late). As a result of their disorganization and inability to provide support in an emergency, only half of us were able to go on our family tour of Vietnam and the two of us that did go had a veil of sadness over our trip that we were unable to get over. A very disappointing family vacation overall. Buyer beware; should you encounter any obstacles, you will be on your own.

Booking a tour with Intrepid during COVID was a horrible mistake. The company was inflexible with my booking during the height of Omicron (I would have happily rescheduled my tour). I felt forced to go on my $3K+ tour only to get COVID on my trip. I am an avid traveler, I've been to 35+ countries and I'm constantly looking for ways to improve my travel experiences. Unfortunately, I don't think Intrepid cares about the health and safety of its travelers and I would never use them again.

This tour group is so low class, I can't believe I got suckered into paying $1,500 for tour of Italy and it didn't even include meals, which was never mentioned at the time of booking. They also never mention anything about the mandatory insurance in case of a medical emergency. And their customer service reps are kind of jerks. I had sprained my ankle about a week before they just didn't give a darn. So I had to eat my $1,500, there's no way I could go on the trip. Run don't walk from booking with them. Also, I'm in San Francisco and they are a local Bay Area group. And I read 2 reviews that were from September of 2018, which is just this month, which are clearly fakes. Total scam artists.

So DISAPPOINTED in Intrepid Travel today. I booked a trip online for Cuba last night, booked my airline, paid for the travel insurance they required you to purchase. Then this AM I got a phone call telling me that the trip I booked wasn't appropriate for Americans! Nowhere in the brochure I downloaded did it say that that trip wasn't appropriate for Americans! Oh, then they offered me a different tour for double the price, uhhhh, no thanks! I wouldn't recommend this travel agency!

The Trip from Hell Avoid Intrepid Travel! My daughter and I recently returned from a tour in Central Asia booked through Intrepid Travel. After about 24 hours of travel, we were not met at the airport nor did we have a room. After getting that straightened out, the next morning we were informed that the vehicle we would be traveling in had no air conditioning. The temperatures were over 100 degrees to about 115 degrees or more. The heat was unbearable and no one inquired about how we were coping or our health. (I didn't pee for two days despite liters of water.) Our welfare was ignored. So we left the tour early so we wouldn't have to camp in the hot desert for two nights. The tour leader booked our flights to Istanbul but neglected to tell us we would have to rebook our flights to Los Angeles. Upon arriving at the airport in Istanbul, we were told we couldn't get on the flight. New tickets cost us $1800 EACH! Intrepid Travel has refused to take responsibility or provide any satisfaction in this matter. BEWARE!