Do you want to be able to travel for longer without worrying about money? Work exchanges are the best way for backpackers to save money while travelling, so I thought it was time I wrote a full review of Worldpackers, my favourite work exchange website. In this post, I’m going to talk about how Worldpackers works, if it is safe, my personal experience using the site and why I think it is the best work exchange site. So here we go, are you ready for my Worldpackers review?
What is Worldpackers?
If this is the first time you’ve heard about Worldpackers, let’s start at the beginning. Worldpackers is a work exchange website that acts as an intermediary between hosts looking for people to help them with their business or project, and potential volunteers who offer a few hours of work in exchange for free accommodation and other benefits such as meals or language classes.
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In their words,
“Worldpackers is a collaborative community which connects you with welcoming hosts all over the world, where you can stay by exchanging your skills for accommodation.”
That means that you can get free accommodation with hosts all over the world, in exchange for a few hours of work.
Work exchanges are a great way to travel for longer and for less money, and they are always in my top travel tips for backpackers. However, there is more!
While being a work exchange, it is also a cultural exchange where you and your host learn from each other, leading to a greater understanding of both cultures. Worldpackers could be classed as voluntourism, and it is a great way to volunteer abroad for free – depending on what placement you choose.
Free accommodation, cultural exchange and free food for just a few hours of work? Sounds good to me!
Want More Work Exchange Travel Tips?
Check out these blog posts to learn more about Work Exchange programmes, or click here to read all of my work exchange posts.How Much Does Worldpackers Cost?
Worldpackers is free to register and browse the website for potential hosts, but there is a fee to become a verified member which will allow you to contact hosts and apply for positions.
However, the cost is minimal, with Worldpackers membership fees for a whole year costing just $49 AND I’ve teamed up with Worldpackers to offer all Tales of a Backpacker readers a $10 discount code, so if you use this promo code, you’ll get a year’s Worldpackers membership for just $39.
GET YOUR WORLDPACKERS DISCOUNT
$39 for a year’s membership to allow you to apply for as many work exchange placements as you like in that year, potentially giving you a whole year of free accommodation as you travel. You could save thousands of dollars in hostel dorms and hotel rooms – BARGAIN!!
That price is for solo travellers, but if you want to travel with a partner or friend and do Worldpackers work exchanges together, you can get a joint membership for $59 which is even more of a bargain – especially with the promo code which will get you $10 off the membership fee. So, two of you can travel the world volunteering with Worldpackers for $49, that’s just $24.50 each for a whole year’s free accommodation!
How Does Worldpackers Work?
This video by Worldpackers explains more about the idea behind Worldpackers and how it works in practice:
Is Worldpackers Legit?
You may be thinking this all sounds too good to be true – but I assure you, Worldpackers is most definitely legit! It really does work. Both in my personal experience and in all of the Worldpackers reviews I’ve seen it is real and definitely not a scam.
Is Worldpackers Safe?
Worldpackers is as safe as it possibly can be. As with anything in life, nothing is 100% risk-free, but Worldpackers do everything they can to keep volunteers and hosts safe, a lot more than what other work exchange websites claim to do.
Worldpackers work hard to maintain a safe environment for volunteers and guests, and they have a dedicated page to safety on their website. Some of the measures they have in place to keep Worldpackers volunteers safe include:
Verified Hosts
Before any hosts can post a volunteer placement or invite guests, Worldpackers go through a verification process to ensure they’re offering a safe, Worldpacker-worthy experience for travellers. When you look at a placement, there is also some “at a glance” information to help you decide whether to contact the host, including if they are a “Top Host” and if the placement is in particularly high demand:
Worldpackers Reviews
Once they are verified and have their exchange placement live on the site, Worldpacker hosts also get reviews from travellers who have stayed and volunteered with them, so you can read reviews from other Worldpackers and get a real sense of what to expect.
In addition to reviews that are visible on the host’s profile, you can also privately message volunteers who have stayed with them to get more information about the placement.
Support Team
Worldpackers offer 24/7 support from their customer service team, who can you speak to via the Worldpackers app and by email throughout your travels so someone is always on hand to help should something go wrong. Worldpackers support is offered in 3 languages too; English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Worldpackers Insurance
This really sets Worldpackers apart from other work exchange websites. If you have any issues related to your host during your stay that means you want to leave, Worldpackers will cover 3 nights for you at a nearby hostel and their support team will get you set up with another Worldpacker host as soon as possible.
Conditions apply of course, but Worldpackers is the first work exchange website to even think about offering this kind of support. I’ve never had to use it myself but it is good to know that help is there if I need it! Read more about Worldpackers Insurance.
Experts & Community
Community is really important to Worldpackers. They have experienced Worldpackers available to chat with newer members for peer-to-peer advice. On the Worldpackers website, you’ll also find stories and advice from other Worldpacker members, as well as a whole dedicated section for the Worldpackers Academy.
The Academy is filled with articles and lessons to help you to travel the world with Worldpackers, preparing you for whatever challenge you might come across, and additional courses about planning and budgeting and how to make a living while travelling – so armed with all of this information you will be as safe and prepared as you possibly can be!
If you are interested in buying the additional courses, check what is available in English before you buy, as at the moment there is a lot more information in Spanish and Portuguese.
Where Can You Volunteer with Worldpackers?
All over the world. Worldpackers have thousands of volunteer positions in more than 140 countries for you to collaborate, learn, and get immersed in the local culture. Worldpackers started in South America, so they have a lot of opportunities there and have rapidly expanded the number of placements available in the rest of the world.
What Kind of Work Will You Do?
You can find all sorts of volunteer work exchange placements, from social impact opportunities and NGOs to teaching, child care, website design and more. There are lots of opportunities to work in hostels, hotels and campsites if you want to mix with travellers, or work with local people and support their business.
You can choose to do a type of work that you already have experience in, or you can try something new – it’s totally up to you!
Benefits of Volunteering with Worldpackers
There are lots of other advantages to volunteering with Worldpackers:
Saving Money
Saving money is one of the biggest benefits of doing work exchanges. During my backpacking trips, I’ve saved over a thousand dollars by working and travelling. Work exchange volunteers don’t have to pay for their accommodation or all their food, so they can afford to travel for a long time without spending a lot of money to do so.
Work exchange programs also have monetary benefits for both parties, so it is a win-win for hosts and volunteers. Hosts get help with running their business, caring for their families or creating a new eco-project without having to pay money to do it. Without volunteers, many of them wouldn’t be able to cope.
Cultural Exchange
Both parties also benefit from a cultural exchange, spending time with people from another country and culture and learning from each other. Work exchange programs can also be a great way to learn a new language or to practise your language skills as volunteers will be speaking to local people every day without having to pay for lessons.
Work Experience
The work that you do while abroad can be really valuable for your CV and for finding paid work when you return home. It’s a great opportunity to learn new skills or to develop the ones you already have.
Work exchange programs help students to get work experience during breaks in their studies, and for long-term travellers on a gap year, this kind of work experience can make a huge difference in a competitive job market once they head back home.
Security for First-Time or Solo Travellers
For solo travellers or if it is your first time travelling abroad, sometimes having the extra security of knowing where to go and having a contact in your destination gives some reassurance that you will be safe and sound. In particular, when using Worldpackers, the support they provide can help you to travel solo with confidence!
Earn Money With Worldpackers Programs
This is one of the huge benefits Worldpackers has over other work exchange websites. Once you’ve become a verified member and had at least one good review from a host, you can start earning money with Worldpackers.
By becoming a scout to find new hosts, encouraging your friends to sign up and producing blog or video content, not only can you save a ton of money with Worldpackers but you have the potential to earn a lot too! Check out the details here to see what you could earn!
Ready to Sign Up Now?
Don’t forget to validate your Worldpackers promo code for all Tales of a Backpacker readers, so you’ll get a year’s Worldpackers membership for just $39.
If you’re still not sure, read on for my personal Worldpackers UK review of my experience volunteering in England:
My Personal Worldpackers Review
I first heard about Worldpackers when I was backpacking in South America. I got chatting to a hostel worker in Sao Paulo Brazil and he said that he was doing a Worldpackers exchange. Back then I was aware of the concept of work exchanges, and I was a member of Workaway when I worked for a tourist agency in Cusco Peru.
But Worldpackers was new to me and I was keen to learn more. I read good things about them, and in 2020 was getting ready to volunteer in a hostel in Spain when the pandemic locked everything down. Fast forward to 2021 and I decided to do a work exchange in the UK to take a break from campervan life.
I searched on Worldpackers and found several possible work exchanges in the UK that I could do without needing to travel abroad. There are currently just over 60 volunteer placements listed on the Worldpackers UK and Northern Ireland site, so not hundreds but still plenty for me to choose from.
While I loved my time volunteering in hostels, I wasn’t ready to share a hostel dorm yet so I narrowed it down to placements that offered a private room (one of the cool search features on Worldpackers). There was a variety of options, like working as a kitchen assistant in Dorset, helping at a guest house in York or working on a farm in Scotland.
What really caught my eye though was the chance to work with horses at a livery stable in Shropshire. I adore horses and used to ride a lot when I was a kid but it has been a few years since I spent much time around them. The host, Terri, had lots of excellent reviews, and the position was advertised at a minimum of 2 weeks which sounded perfect.
As well as a room all to myself, I would also get all meals included so I could save lots of money too. And play with ponies!!
I sent a personalised request to the host, Terri, explaining why I wanted to come and volunteer and why I would be a great fit for the position. She replied promptly the next morning and we arranged a date to start. It was quick and easy to arrange and a few days later I arrived.
Terri’s home is full of animals which was a little overwhelming at first, but I soon got used to the five dogs, various cats and chickens! I had my own room which was great, and the bathroom was just next door. There was another Worldpackers volunteer at Terri’s at the same time as me so it was nice to have company.
The work was physical but easy – every morning we would go to the fields and bring in the ponies and horses which needed to come in for breakfast and set about picking up the poo from the fields with wheelbarrows and shovels. It isn’t as gross as you might think – and that is what a lot of horse care is about, all the grass and hay they eat has to go somewhere!
We’d work for a couple of hours in the morning, usually from about 9am to 11.30 or 12pm, and then have a break to do whatever we wanted until 3pm when we’d be back doing any mucking out of the stables that needed it and prepping hay for the next day.
I loved being around the horses and got to know their personalities, even though there wasn’t any riding or grooming involved. Bear in mind that the work still needs to be done in all weathers, so if you do volunteer at this Worldpackers placement, bring waterproofs and warm clothes!
If you want to learn more about the horses and work extra hours I’m sure Terri would be glad to show you more – like so many things, the more you put in the more you will get out of it. I was content to work my allocated hours, glad of the chance to be outdoors instead of sitting in front of my laptop, but catching up with blog stuff in between and after shifts.
It wasn’t all work of course, and on my days off and between shifts I could explore the surrounding area and enjoy some of the things to do in Shropshire. I had a day out in Ludlow and visited Shrewsbury, and my fellow Worldpacker spend a weekend in Birmingham.
My favourite part of the workday, apart from hanging out with the horses, was dinnertime, when the whole family came together to eat a meal cooked by Terri’s partner Andy. The dishes he made were usually typical English meals, such as cottage pie, spaghetti bolognese or stew. Some days we had a takeaway pizza or went to a local tourist spot for a picnic lunch.
It was lovely to be welcomed as part of the family, and I’d forgotten how much fun volunteering could be!
Anything I Don’t Like About Worldpackers?
One downside to Worldpackers is that there might not be a suitable placement in the destination you are looking for, but as the site grows they will have more hosts signing up. One way to make sure there are suitable placements available before you sign up is to browse the destinations you are looking for.
However, if you find available placements, I found it much easier than Workaway to get accepted, as hosts were much more responsive. It seems that Workaway is a victim of its own success in that way, that there are so many more volunteers applying for positions that hosts can get overwhelmed.
The only other thing I didn’t like was the 600 character limit on reviews. True, most things you need to say can be said well within that amount, but perhaps having the ability to write longer reviews would mean fewer questions from people looking at that placement. In the few weeks since I finished my placement I’ve already had 5 messages about the experience, which is great to meet fellow Worldpackers, but it can get tiresome if I’m just repeating myself over and over.
How Does Worldpackers Compare with Other Work Exchange Sites?
I’ve written a whole other article comparing Worldpackers vs Workaway and analysing the top 6 work exchange websites – that is Workaway, Worldpackers, WOOFF for working on organic farms, Helpx and some free alternatives, so take a look at those posts for more information. However, in a nutshell, I think Worldpackers is the best work exchange platform because:
- It’s great value
- The website is easy to use
- There is excellent customer support
- The hosts are responsive
- You can earn money while you travel
While I’ve only been able to use my Worldpackers membership once this year, I’m looking forward to getting much more out of it. Don’t forget that while Worldpackers is a great way to travel the world for free, you can also explore your own country if you’re not ready or able to travel internationally.
For backpackers and budget travellers, there is no better way to save money while travelling, and when you sign up don’t forget to validate your Worldpackers promo code for all Tales of a Backpacker readers, so you’ll get a year’s Worldpackers membership for just $39.
Enjoy! And do let me know how you get on, I’d love to hear more Worldpackers reviews from you all!