Viator Tours Review [2023]: Are Their Tours Any Good?

Check out Viator tours here: https://www.viator.com/?pid=P00101686&mcid=42383&medium=link

I always find that tours are the hardest thing to book before a trip, so you want to make sure you’re using a reliable website to find the best tour options. If you’re looking for tours during your travels, you’ve likely come across Viator before and are wondering whether to book with them. I’ve put together a well-researched review so you have more confidence about whether to spend your money, or not, on Viator tours!

What’s the best platform for booking travel excursions, activities, and things to do? Many seasoned and first-time travelers use Viator, a global tour and attraction booking company based in San Francisco. Viator is certainly not the first or the only existing booking site for consumers, but it has certain benefits that many travelers find appealing.

For first-time travelers, using a booking company to plan excursions to places they’ve never been is the best way to travel stress-free. Companies like Viator make planning and embarking on trips much easier, whether you’re traveling solo, with a partner, or with the whole family.

Whether you’re new to traveling or you’ve been all over the world, Viator claims to offer a marketplace of global tours that will satisfy every adventure along the way.

Before you decide what travel booking site to use, it’s important to do your own research. We’ve put together this honest review of Viator in order to help travelers decide whether they’d like to try using the service on their next trip.

What Is Viator?

Viator is a TripAdvisor company that pulls together experiences from all over the world, allowing you to book through them. Viator’s focus on memorable experiences will enable you to make the most of your travels while having the flexibility to make plans as you go (or well in advance). 

Viator was bought by TripAdvisor in 2014, so you’ll notice similarities in how reviews work. With TripAdvisor being Viator’s parent company, you can feel better if you trust TripAdvisor’s reputation.

How Does Viator Work?

Viator works by providing tours, tickets, experiences, and more worldwide at competitive prices. Tours have detailed descriptions, and you can search availability for your party size.

One of the things that makes Viator tours so good is that their description page offers ample information to help you decide whether that tour is for you. 

You’ll find an overview, including departure and return information, what to expect, additional info, cancellation policy details, an FAQ section, and reviews from fellow travelers

What more could you want?

Booking with Viator

To make any bookings with Viator, you’ll have to have an account. You can sign up easily using your email address, use either a Google account or Facebook account, or sign in with your Apple ID. From there, you can easily access all your bookings in one place.

Viator also has an app available on the Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. 

Let’s check out the two major features Viator has to offer.

Viator’s Major Features Explained

Tours

Unlike online travel agencies (OTAs) like Travelocity, Viator specializes in tours and experiences. This means that you’ll be able to find walking tours, site visits, day trips, and more. You won’t find anything about hotels, restaurants, or other aspects of travel.

Instead, Viator is there to fill your days while traveling. 

When you search for a destination on Viator, it’ll give you long lists of tours available in and around that destination. You can sort through tours by style. For example, food, outdoors, likely to sell out, etc. The site also gives you the ability to filter tours by price point, duration, and time of day.

I love that flexibility! And it’ll really make searching for the perfect excursion more hassle-free.

You can even sort by “deals and discounts” to see what’s running on sale to save some money!

Things to Do

In addition to providing loads of tours, they also have dedicated pages to several cities outlining the top things to do and how to plan your trip there. 

Here’s their detailed page for things to do in London, and here’s another for Vancouver, Canada, as references! To get to these pages, simply enter the city of your choice into the search bar, and then find the link to the “things to do in (city)” page at the top! Or scroll down to the bottom of the home page for some options. 

If you’re someone who prefers things being planned out for you, why not explore doing a group tour with Contiki or EF Ultimate Break?

How Do You Contact Viator’s Customer Support?

Since Viator is used for booking tours and experiences, you’ll want to know how to contact them if you have any difficulties with your booking or questions. 

Finding Viator’s contact information on their website is a bit of a challenge. It is only easily accessible through an existing booking. Beyond that, they don’t actually publish their contact information anywhere, so asking any pre-booking questions can be rather difficult. 

They claim to be there for customer support 24/7, but this seems to be only after you’ve made a booking. 

Viator’s Cancellation Policy

One of Viator’s biggest perks is that they offer a free, 24-hour notice cancellation policy. They advertise that many experiences are fully refundable with at least 24 hours’ notice. 

It’s important to note that not every Viator tour/experience is refundable at least one full day before the experience, so double-check your booking carefully. Some experiences have stricter refund policies (requiring more notice), and others never allow for a refund due to a cancellation. 

Why Are the Numbers So Polarizing?

I believe that quality fluctuates between the different tours offered on Viator. With the massive collection of things to do and tours on Viator, their reviews naturally are polarizing.

In general, the latest Viator reviews are positive about the tour experiences and most users recommend using Viator. Some travelers weren’t impressed with Viator’s ticketing service or, in extreme circumstances, were allowed to book tickets after events no longer allowed entry.

Many negative reviews speak to less than enthusiastic guides, crowded venues, or subpar meals, factors outside Viator’s control. 

Is Viator Worth It?

On a while, we believe that Viator is worth it to find fun and different experiences for your next destination of choice! Viator has various things from which to choose and have detailed descriptions, so you know what you’re getting when you book.

Since you’re not booking through the tour companies themselves, though, be aware that any communication from them might go through Viator and can cause miscommunications or problems.

You could always use Viator for research and try to book directly, but many tours exclusively use Viator.

We would recommend it as a resource for tour booking, though!

Fellow Traveler Reviews

With more than 100,000 reviews, travelers get the full picture of what to expect when booking a tour on Viator. This puts travelers back in the driver’s seat rather than having to trust the suggestions of a travel agent without knowing much about the tour or excursion they are paying top dollar for.

That’s not to say there aren’t brutally honest reviews on Viator; trust us, there are!

Travelers do not hold back and explain in detail their bad experiences, disappointments, and other parts of the trip that were not to their liking. Reviews are beneficial for people who are new to the area and don’t know what they should expect. With these honest reviews, both positive and negative, you’re able to make an educated decision on what tours are best suited to your tastes, without wasting any money in the process.

Viator: Pros and Cons

Like any tour company, there are pros and cons to using Viator for booking tours when you travel domestically or abroad. Here are the significant pros and cons of using the Viator website for planning parts of your travel itinerary.

Pros

• Huge selections
• 24 hours Free Cancellation Policy
• Available Worldwide
• Detailed Descriptions & Reviews
• Reputable Company

Cons

• Poor accessibility for customer service
• Communication issues with vendors
• Subpar time of response for support