Worldpackers guide and reviews [2024]

Worldpackers®¹ helps people travel as volunteers, to work in one of 140+ countries, contributing to the local community in a broad variety of ways.

If you’re looking to explore your international volunteering options this guide is for you. We’ll answer all the key questions - including: what is Worldpackers and how does it work? And: is Worldpackers safe and legit?

Plus, to help you manage your money no matter where in the world you finish up, we’ll introduce Wise - a low cost way to send, spend, hold, receive and exchange 40+ currencies, with the mid-market rate.

What is Worldpackers?

Worldpackers is an international volunteering organization which connects people looking to volunteer abroad with hosts in 140+ countries who need help with a broad variety of activities.

Volunteers get accommodation in return for a set number of hours work during their time with a host - and sometimes food and local activities are provided as well.

The average number of hours work requested by hosts is 25 a week, with 32 hours a week the maximum allowed.

The volunteering opportunities provided by Worldpackers are pretty diverse, from working in social projects and NGOs, to hostels, animal shelters, farms and schools.

Traveling as a volunteer is attractive to many people - including those looking to get around the world on a limited budget and those who want to travel consciously and contribute to the local communities wherever they are.

You can travel alone, with friends or in a couple - and volunteers of all ages (over 18 of course) are welcome.

How does Worldpackers work?

Worldpackers allows members to apply to volunteering opportunities around the world, and offers support including a large number of reviews from previous volunteers to help you pick which opportunity might suit your specific needs.

Depending on the Worldpackers membership you pick you can also get WP Safeguard, which offers money for emergency accommodation if something goes wrong, among other support and benefits.

Here’s how the process works if you want to use worldpackers to arrange a volunteering experience overseas²:

If something goes wrong and you need to change your plans, you may be able to get different levels of Worldpackers support for accommodation and to help you find an alternative opportunity, depending on the plan you’ve signed up for.

Once you’ve successfully completed a volunteering opportunity you can leave a review for the host - and they can also review you. Positive reviews help you get picked for the next position you apply to.

If you’re not living in the US — or if you simply want a more flexible account you can open from anywhere — check out Wise.

Wise isn’t a bank, but a money service business (MSB) that offers an account which allows you to hold, send and receive money. As well as getting an attached debit card — plus you’ll get some extra perks which suit anyone living an international lifestyle.

You’ll be able to hold 40+ currencies, and get local account details for up to 9 currencies including USD, to get paid easily by wire or ACH.

Wise offers linked debit cards for spending and withdrawals around the world, and all currency conversion uses the mid-market exchange rate.

That means that whenever you send a payment or spend in a foreign currency your dollars are converted with the mid-market rate with low conversion fees from 0.41%*. Easy.

This way to easy
international payments

Is Worldpackers legit?

Yes. Worldpackers is legit and safe as long as you take the normal common sense precautions as you would traveling anywhere, and follow their process to understand the role of volunteer and host, and how volunteering should work.

Worldpackers is an established community for international volunteering. They’ve been supporting travelers for over 10 years and have over 200,000 reviews on their site of hosts and volunteers, showing their broad span.

Is Worldpackers safe for volunteers and travelers?

International travel does come with some risks. However, with Worldpackers there’s a community behind you which you can ask if you have questions and a good depth of reviews which have been left by other volunteers to allow you to decide if a particular opportunity might be right for you.

As well as this, you can get WP Safeguard when you sign up for a membership plan with Worldpackers.

There are different costs and features which can be selected depending on your attitude to risk and the type of travel you’re planning - but this offers extensive support if anything goes wrong with your volunteer opportunity as well as payment for emergency stays if a place doesn’t work out for you.

Worldpackers reviews

Before you apply for a volunteering position with Worldpackers you’ll be able to view some reviews of the hosts you’re interested in⁴.

These reviews are written by people who’ve volunteered with the same hosts⁵, and so can be handy to work out if an opportunity is likely to suit you or not.

How do users rate Worldpackers' services?

Worldpackers has a claimed profile on Trustpilot®⁶, which aggregates user reviews. However, it is not active on the site and there are only 16 posted reviews at the point of writing.

The Worldpackers rating is a Poor 2.1 out of 5, but with so few reviews it’s hard to validate this information. Reading through the posted reviews is still a useful exercise if you’re considering using the company - just bear in mind that the low numbers may skew the rating significantly.

On the Worldpackers website there are plenty of quoted reviews which are far more positive - so asking around or looking out for other external ways of getting recent feedback on Worldpackers may be worthwhile.

What are the pros and cons of using Worldpackers?

Not sure if Worldpackers is right for you? Here are a few pros and cons to consider:

Worldpackers vs. Workaway

Workaway®⁷ is another large and reputable company offering volunteer travel opportunities around the world. Workaway boasts over 50,000 hosts in 170+ countries - a slightly broader range than Worldpackers.

It also has over half a million live reviews of hosts and travelers - significantly more than Worldpackers.

Workaway only has a flat fee and one membership plan - which may mean Worldpackers is a better fit for you if you were planning on trading up for a plan with more support built into the costs you pay.

Other than that the services work in a similar way - which suits you best will depend on your preferences, but Worldpackers has a reputation for being better for first time volunteer travelers while Workaway offers more scope in terms of countries, hosts and types of opportunity.

Volunteer travel can suit lots of different people, from gap year students traveling before university to couples looking for a different type of vacation, to groups of friends who simply want to give something back to the community.

Use this guide to start your research into Worldpackers and what’s on offer for you - and remember to take a look at Wise as the perfect partner no matter where in the world your travels take you.