Exoticca: Travelers’ App 4+

My husband and I returned from Portugal and it was simply amazing. We are so grateful we booked through Exoticca! Everything was well planned and structured for time. You will have people in your group who may not be respectful and care about time and be late and say well I paid for this trip but do not realize that the others have paid just as well. I lose my patience with those types of people. Antoine our guide was fabulous and and very transparent about everything, it is people who chose not to listen or care about time! Overall the experience itself with Exoticca was amazing and my husband and I stayed extra days in Lisbon and were able to navigate by ourselves due to the great tours by Antoine. We have already booked our next adventure with Exoticca!!

This trip was a total disappointment. Upon arrival in Istanbul, we were told by the transport company who was to take us to our hotel that Exoticca had not paid them & that transportation could not be provided. It was finally straightened out & we were eventually taken to the hotel. No one at the hotel to greet us, no one to talk about the upcoming tour & no apologies from Exoticca
The major problem with this tour was that it was run by Euroriente NOT Exoticca. This company is a huge provider of tours in Turkey & they are about quantity not quality.
Most of our time was spent on a tour bus. Food stops were very rarely at nice cafes to enjoy local cuisine. They were at gas station rest stops. We were continuously taken to places that tried to sell us goods…carpets, jewelry, leather goods, Turkish delights, ceramics. We got to our hotel at 7 in the evening & up on the bus by 7 am. We were at the Agean & Mediterranean and never stopped in a town to enjoy. Just a short tour of ruins and then back on the bus.
The best tour I took was thru Airbnb experience as I had an extra day in Istanbul
Save your money and do not take a tour of Turkey thru Exoticca. Our fellow passengers on this tour felt the same way & many of us had travelled with Exoticca to other destinations. Every one of us felt this tour was terrible and we would never travel with Exoticca again I would recommend a different travel company to Turkey.

We picked the Superior package for Greece and I had read reviews regarding issues with trip and poor customer service. Well I experienced it for myself. The first hotel we got to in Athens was in a shady area with homeless people and drug addicts lurking outside… we were told we had an upgraded room and given keys to a tiny room with a small bed and a window with a wall outside. When I went to front desk I was given a tour of two rooms, one a normal holiday inn type of room for an additional 25 Euros and an executive suite for an additional 100 Euros. I picked the room for a total of 50 Euros for two nights. Told them I would want the same room when we returned after a night of traveling and was charged the additional 25 Euros. Everyone in our group was given the same room as us for no cost. We were also asked to pay 25 Euros again when we returned after few days of touring and this time we refused to pay and the hotel staff was rude. Rest of the rooms in other places were average and ok. I requested Exoticca to issue a refund of 75 Euros we paid for three nights for an average basic room even though we picked ‘Superior’ package. Shady shady shady.