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Buyer's guide · Updated October 2026

The best student travel companies, compared.

Published by Passports Educational Travel — one of the five companies compared here. Five operators run most of the educational group tours American teachers take abroad; this is the full index of who they are, who owns them, how they price, and how they review. Sourced, and including us.

The London skyline at twilight along the Thames
What this guide covers
  • In-depth profiles: history, ownership, reputation
  • Side-by-side matrix: price, hotels, medical, fees
  • Price and quality, mapped honestly
  • The exact questions to ask any operator
How we made this comparison

This guide is published by Passports Educational Travel, and Passports is one of the companies on it — so we have kept it to facts you can check. Every Trustpilot rating below is the operator's public TrustScore, re-read on October 20, 2026. Competitor pricing and policy details are sourced from each operator's own published terms, histories from public records, and we link a line-by-line comparison for each. Operators change their terms; verify any number with the company before you book.

For the budgeting side — per-student price ranges by destination, what drives them, and the add-on fees to audit — see what an educational tour actually costs (our 2026 Cost Report).

Side by side

How they compare, at a glance.

The differences that move the price and the experience — drawn from each operator's own published terms. A green check means it's in the base price. Click any operator for its full profile below.

Operator TrustpilotTypical pricePrimary regionsHotelsOverseas medicalAdult supplement
Passports Educational TravelThat's us4.9$$$ · all-inEurope · Latin America · JapanCity-centerIncludedNone — 24+ travelers pay a per-night double-room charge
ACIS4.7$$$$ + add-onsEuropeCity-centerAdd-onCharged
EF Educational Tours4.5$$ + add-onsWorldwideOften outside centerAdd-onCharged
WorldStrides4.3$$–$$$ + add-onsUS · WorldwideVariesBundled (capped)Charged
Explorica3.7$ + add-onsEurope≤45 min outAdd-onCharged

Price tiers are indicative of the typical all-in cost once each operator's published add-ons are included. Competitor details reflect each operator's own published terms as of 2026; open any profile below for the exact figures and sources. Operators change terms — verify with the company before you book.

Price × quality

The market, mapped.

Every operator, plotted: independent review score against the typical all-in cost of a comparable trip once published add-ons are counted.

Typical all-in cost per traveler →

Vertical axis: public Trustpilot TrustScores (2026), to scale. Horizontal axis: typical all-in cost tier ($ – $$$$) once each operator's published add-ons are included — indicative, not to scale; get real quotes. WorldStrides spans a band because the experience varies by sub-brand and itinerary.

The index

The five operators, in depth.

Histories, ownership, pricing posture, and how each is actually reviewed — listed by independent Trustpilot rating, highest first.

One family tree

Much of this page traces to one Worcester company: ALSG (1965), the first outbound student-travel company in the United States. Passports was founded directly by ALSG's founder; ACIS by an ALSG Tour Manager; WorldStrides absorbed NETC, started by ALSG sales-floor alumni; EF's US operation was built partly by ALSG hands. We're proud of the alumni network — we just happen to be the one that's still in the family. Read the full history of the industry.

Nº 1 of 5 · by Trustpilot rating

Passports Educational TravelThat's us

4.9Trustpilot

Passports Educational Travel is a family-owned educational tour operator in Worcester, Massachusetts, that has planned custom, all-inclusive group trips for American teachers and their students since 1992 — and it holds the highest Trustpilot rating of the five major student travel companies, 4.9 stars.

Passports is the family continuation of the company that started the category. Dr. Gil Markle founded American Leadership Study Groups in Worcester in 1965 — the first outbound student-travel company in the United States — and founded Passports in 1992. His son David Markle runs it today: second generation, one office in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts, no call centers, no parent company, no investors.

The model is depth over volume. About 60% of groups travel on fully custom, private itineraries, and the quote is all-in: round-trip airfare, city-center 3- and 4-star hotels, three-course dinners at local restaurants, overseas medical coverage, and all tipping — no adult supplement (travelers 24 and older who aren't leading the group pay a per-night double-room charge), no on-tour upselling. Career Tour Directors stay with the group gate to gate, and every tour runs on PassportsGo, the company's own app: live map, geofenced meeting points, head-count roll calls, and a one-tap emergency button localized in 24 countries. About 280 Passports group tours depart in 2026.

On independent reviews it leads the field — 4.9 on Trustpilot, with 99.5% of every review in company history at 4 or 5 stars. The sticker sits in the premium tier alongside ACIS, but because the quote is all-in, the final invoice typically lands under ACIS and closes fast on the budget operators once their add-ons are counted. The honest caveat: Passports is the smallest operator on this page, by design. Groups that want the biggest catalog, or a domestic D.C. trip, will find more of those below.

Why teachers pick Passports
Nº 2 of 5 · by Trustpilot rating

ACIS

4.7Trustpilot

ACIS was founded in Boston in 1978 by Peter Jones, an ALSG Tour Manager who had worked under Passports' founder — which is why an ACIS itinerary looks more like a Passports itinerary than anything else on this page: same city-center hotel tier, same caliber of tour managers, same respect for the educational arc. Today ACIS is owned by AIFS, the American Institute For Foreign Study, a multi-brand parent that also runs AIFS Abroad, Au Pair in America, and Camp America.

The programs are unapologetically premium — expertly built European itineraries, strong teacher loyalty, and award-winning customer service (a 2014 Silver Stevie for Customer Service Department of the Year). The quality shows up in the reviews: 4.7 on Trustpilot with roughly 92% of reviews at 4 or 5 stars — the only operator here in Passports' review tier.

It is also, typically, the most expensive way to run the trip. The premium sticker comes with published add-ons on top: a $100 adult fee plus $75–$150 per night starting at age 21, and travel protection at $40–$55 per traveler per day. Passports includes those in the base price. Our line-by-line verdict: same trip, smaller invoice.

Passports vs. ACIS — line by line
Nº 3 of 5 · by Trustpilot rating

EF Educational Tours

4.5Trustpilot

EF is the giant. Bertil Hult founded it in a Lund University dorm basement in 1965 — the same year ALSG started in Worcester — selling English-immersion trips to Brighton for Swedish students. Six decades later, EF is one of the largest private education companies in the world, still family-held, with hubs in Zurich, London, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. EF Educational Tours is its American student-tour arm and the biggest name in international student travel.

Scale is the product. Volume keeps the brochure price low, and for many teachers EF is the first quote they see. The contract is where the price moves: a $200-plus-$90-per-night adult supplement, travel protection sold in $190–$590 tiers, Tour Director gratuities collected separately on tour, and hotels that — per EF's own accommodations page — “may be located outside the city center.”

Reviews at EF's volume are genuinely mixed: 4.5 on Trustpilot, with about 1 in 7 reviews at 3 stars or below. None of that makes EF the wrong choice for a budget-first group — it makes the all-in math the thing to check. Our verdict page says it in one line: EF wins the brochure; Passports wins the trip.

Passports vs. EF Tours — line by line
Nº 4 of 5 · by Trustpilot rating

WorldStrides

4.3Trustpilot

WorldStrides began in 1967 as Lakeland Tours — founded by an Illinois middle-school teacher who figured he could run his students' Washington, D.C. trip better than the operator he'd hired — and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia in 1979. It grew into the largest student-travel organization in the country, first on domestic capital-city programs, then internationally through a decade of acquisitions: Explorica, NETC, ISA, Envision, BrightSpark, Casterbridge, Oxbridge.

Since December 2017 it has been majority-owned by the French private-equity firm Eurazeo, with Primavera Capital as minority partner; it filed for Chapter 11 in July 2020 and emerged that October — the first travel company through pandemic-era bankruptcy. Contracts run organization-sponsored by default, which puts the school itself in a contractual role most teachers don't expect, and the legal entity on the paperwork is Lakeland Tours LLC dba WorldStrides.

Quality is the hardest to generalize on this page. A “WorldStrides trip” might be operated by any of several acquired brands, and the experience tracks the brand and the itinerary more than the logo: 4.3 on Trustpilot, with about 1 in 5 reviews at 3 stars or below. Domestic D.C. programs are its home turf. For international tours, ask which sub-brand actually operates yours — and read that contract.

Passports vs. WorldStrides — line by line
Nº 5 of 5 · by Trustpilot rating

Explorica

3.7Trustpilot

Explorica was founded in Boston in 2000 by former EF executives — including EF's former president — with a plan the courts later made famous: undercut EF's prices. (The early rivalry produced a landmark web-scraping lawsuit, EF v. Explorica, in 2001.) WorldStrides acquired the brand in 2016.

The model is budget. Hotels are “two to three star (European standards)” within 45 minutes of a major tourist attraction, per its own hotel-quality page; the contract adds a $125 adult supplement, a $45-per-night double-room surcharge, percentage-priced Trip Mate protection, and $6–$8-per-day Tour Director tips collected in cash on tour.

It's the cheapest sticker on this page and the weakest review profile — 3.7 on Trustpilot, with roughly 1 in 3 reviews at 3 stars or below. And the brand itself is folding into WorldStrides: per Explorica's own site, tours departing in October 2027 or later are sold through WorldStrides. Booking Explorica now is booking WorldStrides with an older brochure.

Passports vs. Explorica — line by line
How to choose

How to choose a student travel company: the questions to ask.

The averages look alike. These six are where operators actually differ — then the full checklist to take into every sales call.

What's actually included

Get the all-in, per-traveler price, then ask whether airfare, city-center hotels, every dinner, ground transport, guided entries, overseas medical, and tipping are in it — or billed later.

Hidden fees

Ask specifically about adult supplements, single-room charges, and fuel surcharges. A low sticker can carry $1,000+ in add-ons by departure.

Cancellation terms

Read the refund schedule before you put down a deposit. How much is refundable, and up to how many days out? Some operators retain 100% inside ~60 days.

Hotel location

Ask for the star rating and where hotels sit relative to the city center. “City-adjacent” can mean an hour of coach commuting each way.

Who you actually deal with

One advisor from quote to return, or a chain of handoffs? Does a full-time Tour Director travel with the group, or a part-time guide who meets you there?

Independent reviews

Look past the headline rating at the full Trustpilot distribution — the share of 1- and 2-star reviews is where operators differ most.

Before you sign: twelve questions for any operator

  1. What is the all-in price per traveler, and what isn't in it?
  2. Are round-trip airfare, every dinner, ground transport, and guided entrances included?
  3. Is there an adult supplement or a per-night charge for adults — and from what age?
  4. Is overseas medical coverage included? What does cancellation protection cost?
  5. What's the refund schedule if a student cancels — and if the group ends up too small to run?
  6. What star rating are the hotels, and how far are they from the city center?
  7. Who is my one contact from the first quote until we're home?
  8. Does a full-time Tour Director travel with the group for the whole trip?
  9. Are the Tour Director's and driver's tips included, or collected on tour?
  10. What does your full Trustpilot star distribution look like, not just the headline score?
  11. Who owns the company, and which legal entity signs the contract?
  12. What happens in an emergency abroad: who answers the phone, and what's the protocol?

Ask every company the same twelve, in writing, and compare the answers side by side. A good operator answers all of them without hesitating.

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Common questions

Choosing a student travel company, answered.

What is the best student travel company?

There is no single answer — the right operator depends on what you value most: the lowest sticker price, the most included in that price, the strongest cancellation terms, or the best independent reviews. The honest way to choose is to compare operators on the same factors (inclusions, hidden fees, cancellation, hotel location, support model, and the full Trustpilot distribution) rather than on the brochure. By independent Trustpilot rating, Passports leads the group at 4.9 stars, followed by ACIS (4.7), EF (4.5), WorldStrides (4.3), and Explorica (3.7). Full profiles of all five — history, ownership, and pricing posture — are on this page.

Which student travel company is the most expensive?

Among the five major operators, ACIS typically produces the highest total invoice: a premium sticker price plus published add-ons — a $100 adult fee plus $75–$150 per night starting at age 21, and travel protection at $40–$55 per traveler per day. Passports sits in the same quality tier (4.9 vs 4.7 on Trustpilot) with those items included in the base price, which is why its all-in total usually comes in lower for the same trip.

Which student travel company is the cheapest?

Explorica advertises the lowest sticker price of the five majors, with EF Educational Tours close behind. The gap narrows once published add-ons are counted: adult supplements ($125 at Explorica; $200 plus $90 per night at EF), travel-protection plans sold separately, and Tour Director gratuities collected in cash on tour. The honest comparison is always the all-in total for your specific group — and note that Explorica tours departing from October 2027 are sold through WorldStrides.

Which student travel company has the best quality?

Anchored to independent Trustpilot ratings: Passports (4.9, with 99.5% of all reviews at 4 or 5 stars) and ACIS (4.7, roughly 92% at 4 or 5 stars) form the quality tier. EF (4.5) and Explorica (3.7) are budget-positioned, with about 1 in 7 and 1 in 3 reviews respectively at 3 stars or below. WorldStrides (4.3) is the hardest to generalize — it operates many acquired brands, and quality varies by sub-brand and itinerary.

Who owns the major student travel companies?

Passports Educational Travel is family-owned (the Markle family, second generation, Worcester MA). EF Educational Tours is family-owned (the Hult family; founded in Sweden, hubs in Zurich, London, and Cambridge MA). ACIS is owned by AIFS, the American Institute For Foreign Study. WorldStrides and Explorica are private-equity-owned — majority Eurazeo with Primavera Capital — following a Chapter 11 reorganization in 2020; Explorica is folding into WorldStrides, which sells its tours departing from October 2027.

How much do student tours cost?

It varies by destination, length, and group size, so most operators quote custom. The number that matters is the all-in, per-traveler price — what is actually included versus billed separately. An all-inclusive quote folds in airfare, hotels, meals, ground transport, guided sightseeing, overseas medical, and tipping; a low sticker often adds adult supplements, travel protection, and gratuities later. For per-student price ranges by destination and the exact add-on fees to audit, see what an educational tour actually costs.

What should I check before booking a student trip?

Six things: (1) exactly what is included in the per-traveler price; (2) hidden fees like adult supplements and single-room charges; (3) the cancellation and refund schedule; (4) hotel star rating and distance from the city center; (5) whether one advisor handles you start to finish and whether a full-time Tour Director travels with the group; and (6) the full Trustpilot star distribution, not just the headline rating. The twelve-question checklist on this page turns those into the exact questions to ask any operator in writing.

Is Passports.com a passport service?

No. Passports.com is Passports Educational Travel — an educational tour operator that plans guided, all-inclusive group trips for U.S. teachers and their students. It does not issue, renew, or process passports or visas.

Where do these Trustpilot ratings come from?

Each rating is the operator's public Trustpilot TrustScore, re-read in October 2026. Passports' is 4.9, with 99.5% of every review in its history at 4 or 5 stars. Ratings change over time; verify each on the operator's Trustpilot page before deciding.

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