Evolve Tours - North York, Ontario

Monica P.

We worked with Evolve Tours to plan a High School Spring Break Europe trip in 2024 to Paris & Barcelona for 86 students and 10 staff members. Evolve worked closely with us on every detail including itinerary, rooming, flights, meals, etc, to craft a fantastic and memorable experience for our students. We also had the most amazing tour guides!

Brett C.

As a school, we have been using Evolve Tours for nearly a decade to coordinate our end-of-year trips. Our long-standing relationship with Evolve is a direct result of their high-quality tours, prioritization of safety, and responsiveness to feedback. Trips have been customizable and have always met our school's unique needs.

The staff at Evolve, be it the management team or tour guides, are professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. As costs have gone up, the Evovle team has been committed to finding creative ways to keep costs down, without sacrificing quality programs. I would without hesitation recommend Evolve Tours to other schools or institutions looking for excellent educational trips that enhance classroom learning and create memorable experiences for staff and students.

We look forward to using Evolve Tours again for the 2024-25 academic year!

John S.

Jeff and the team are very responsive and caring. They aim to please. Evolve Tours organized a custom tour for UCC students to Mexico City and Oaxaca - it was a great tour with many unique experiences on the itinerary. With a few tweaks for next year we hope to send another group!

Hamilton O.

A fantastic organization with excellent leadership that is driving positive change and moving in the right direction. I highly recommend exploring their educational tour services for students.

Brett G.

We had an incredible trip with Evolve. Through Evolve, we took over 40 highschool students on an arts trip to Vancouver. Jeff at Evolve took our requests for attractions to see and mixed them with Evolve’s knowledge of what to do and see in Vancouver and came up with an excellent itinerary. We asked for a busy, interesting itinerary and Evolve designed our tour so that we saw and participated in everything you can imagine seeing in the best arts trip ever. Evolve’s guides, Will and Kelley, were wonderful with teens, very knowledgeable, full of energy, and constantly anticipating any potential transportation snags and taking measures to ensure we got everyone where they needed to be quickly and safely. I knew that Vancouver was a great Canadian arts destination, but I hadn’t taken students there in the previous 8 big trips I had run. I’m really glad that I finally did, and that it was through Evolve. I wouldn’t hesitate to take another arts trip to Vancouver, as there was lots for everyone, and I would encourage other Canadian teachers to take their students to Vancouver. The next trip I plan will definitely be through Evolve.

Michel L.

I have travelled with students groups to Spain for over 20 years and have used the services of five different educational travel agencies. I can say with confidence that Evole Tours is hands-down the best in the industry. Their values as stated on their website are exactly what I was looking for: authentic and interactive activities while touring a foreign culture that are enriching for students. I didn't want just the typical tourist-trap landmarks where you are among other tourists only with very few of the locals. I was also wanting to offer students adventures that were off the beaten bath. Of all tourist agencies, Evolve was the only one that could deliver 100% of what they assured you they would do. They are professional and attentive to details, and had little difficulty catering a tour exactly to my needs, which have become very specific with time. The last thing a teacher wants is to deal with unexpected surprises in Europe while traveling and / or difficulties dealing with tour managers in Canada. With Evolve, it was total piece of mind for me. This is VERY COMPETENT tour agency, and not your fast-food version of the educational travel industry as too many others are. Evolve was also able to provide me with services in Spanish in Spain and French in my school. I strongly recommend them to any teacher or group leader that has had issues with their last agency. As for pricing, there is always a catch-22. You often get what you paid for. Sure there are cheaper trips available tours from other agencies, but the hotels will be poorly situated, the food sub-standard and the tour inflexible and you may find the local guides uninspired. That being said, when three other agencies bid for the last itinerary I planned, Evolve was not the most expensive, and nevertheless we had more bang for our buck. Thanks Evolve!

Virginia C.

We had a great time touring Washington, DC with Evolve Tours. They took care of the bus, the driver, hotel accomodations, museum tickets, baseball game tickets, and our tour guide accompanied us EVERYWHERE! He was knowledgeable about the city and so helpful to have leading the tour. He even helped with room checks, sick students, and was accommodating if we needed to alter our plans.

sonja H.

My son was on a tour of Toronto with his grade 8 class with Evolve Tours for which I paid $150. The itinerary for the trip included the Aga Kahn Museum, the Hockey Hall of Fame, a Blue Jays Game, Ripley’s Aquarium and an elevator ride up the CN Tower.

I was extremely upset to learn that my son did not experience all the things for which I paid and have requested some money back because of not receiving all the experiences that were paid for.

My son said they arrived at the Rogers Center and while they got into the gate the tickets supplied by the Evolve tour guide would not scan and no one in the group could get in. The Evolve Tour guide left the group for an hour and half, leaving a group of 13 year olds waiting while the game I paid for my son to see was going on. When the tour guide finally returned with new tickets, they had to walk around to another gate and only gained entry to the game for the final inning, missing over 90% of the game. As per the Evolve Tours itinerary this is the location the kids were scheduled to eat lunch. How can they get lunch when they are left to sit at a gate for hours and not let in because Evolve Tours cannot get the proper tickets? How could the kids have even seen anything that was even left of the game if they were meant to then get lunch at the stadium?

Also on the itinerary was a trip up the elevator at the CN Tower which my son did not get to experience either apparently due to changes in customer policies which impacted the timelines as the group had to be on the bus by 5:15pm.

I have not yet heard back from Evolve Tours as to the status of my request to get some money back and I understand that my son’s school is following up on the poorly executed tour as well. If this is how a local tour is organized I could not imagine sending my child on any of their trips abroad, I would be to worried that they would fail as miserably as they did here.