Central America Tour Companies

The trip was a quick journey through Central American countries, from Guatemala to Costa Rica, but I didn’t feel it was rushed. Every second day was long travel days, if you don't mind, but the following day was mostly free day or choose optional activities. As this is a small group tour, transportation was a 16 seater van where there was not a lot of leg room. A few taller people in our group traveling in these vans for 8 hours did not feel comfortable; I consider myself short and I did struggle a bit as there was hardly any space to extend my legs; we only had 13 people (including our guide - Juan Ma Perez and driver). There were a number of border crossings, some were simple and quick and others quite time consuming. I felt the ones that were time consuming and complicated were due to our guide trying to complicate things by collecting the immigration fees to pay as a group. My experience is individual payment is much simpler and quicker. Border crossing in/out of Honduras and Nicaragua were interesting. Due to the route of the tour, we travelled into Honduras twice. Our guide told us entry fee into Honduras is US$4/p or they also accept the Guatemalan Quetzals of Q$30 and we can pay separately. At the counter we handed over $4 but were given a $3 receipt. I saw a plaque and posters at the counters stating entry fee is US$3. When asked later, our guide said the additional $1 is the currency conversion fee. A couple of days later when leaving Honduras I asked the immigration officer how much is the entry fee, he advised $3. I said we paid $4 a couple days ago; he answered, "really?". A few days later as we entered Honduras again (different entry point), our guide suggested to collect the entry fee of $4/p and pay as a group, but I opted to pay my entry fee separately. When in the immigration building, our guide approached me and asked for $4. I felt his tone wasn't friendly and I didn't want to cause any scene, so I gave him the money. When at the counter getting my passport stamped, I asked the officer how much is the entry fee and if there is any additional fee for currency conversion. He answered $3 and no additional fee. When told him that I paid $4, the officer asked which counter and officer charged $4? I said we handed the money over to our guide as a group. The officer said the entry fee is only $3 per entry and no conversation fee; if we handed the money separately to our guide for payment then it has nothing to do with the immigration. When entering Nicaragua, the entry fee suggested by our guide was different to the information provided on the internet (our guide said the info on the internet is incorrect). Our guide suggested to collect the money and pay as a group to speed up the process, I opted to pay separately, however our guide stood next to me and made sure I handed over the amount he suggested. I was last in the line but first to exit with all my documentation; while it took a while for the immigration office to process the group documentation and receipt. I felt there was a level of dishonesty from our guide. Our tour (for 2024) included 1 activity and 1 breakfast; all other activities were optional with a fee. The orientation walks included were literary an orientation walk, showing the location of the supermarket, laundry, souvenir stores, etc. Many of us later did not join the walks as we had google map to help us with orientation. We also felt our guide used the opportunity to take us to the restaurant he already arranged with the owner for dinner (we were not obliged to join as dinners were not included). A lot of us wanted to experience local culture and food, however the restaurants he arranged were more burgers, pasta, pan fried chicken or steaks with just a couple of local dishes. Many of us later decided to go separate ways for meals. It was nice for our guide wanting to arrange places for meals, however perhaps ask the group what food we would like to try or experience and maybe take us to restaurants that have better review/ratings. While 95% of activities were optional on this trip, prices of activities charged in 2024 were already more expensive than what is stated on the Intrepid website for 2025! A couple of activities were US$50 more than what was stated. Fully understand that prices may increase due to inflation, however a difference of $20-$50? There was an activity organized by our guide but we were told to pay directly to the company upon arrival. Our guide assured and confirmed with us, twice, that the activity costs US$40 including return transport. On the day, we were asked to pay $45 ($5 for return transport per person). As our guide did not come with us, I texted our guide advising the issue. He said, “thank you for the update, I also thought $40 included transport”. I asked him if he would like to call and confirm with the company as he arranged and booked the activity. Our guide simply said, “it is what it is, you will need to pay $5 for the transport.” There were other people (not part of our group) said that they only paid $40 and it included transport. I felt our guide deflected his responsibility and may have pocketed the extra $/p? Later, some of us decide to look for local tour companies for the same activities upon arriving at each location and we found local companies were at least $10-$20 cheaper than offered by Intrepid. As Intrepid is a big company, surely they can get better deals for the activities? Arrangement of transportation, cost of additional activities, and some information about the tour were provided at the very last minute. There were a few days that we left later to travel to our next destination because our guide couldn’t organize a transport to pick us up earlier as originally planned. Cost of activities were provided late in the afternoon for next day. Perhaps better organization skills, such as providing the cost of all additional activities on the first day of the tour (like other tour companies do) would be great. Intrepid is a well known company and people make final payment a month before the trip, surely this should be enough time to plan the journey. Perhaps Intrepid could learn from other tour companies about organization. Tour guides should always put first the interest of their passengers. However, I felt it wasn’t in this case. Also note that now a days we all have smart phones and information is readily accessible and available on the internet.

An excellent journey across Central America. Seeing the different cultures and their histories. These countries are each very unique. We had a great group of about eleven. Our tour guide, Walter, was exceptional! He has excellent understanding of each country and prepared us at every stage, especially the multiple and complex border crossings. Walter also facilitated us getting our unique, individual best experience from the tour. Different interests, e.g. history, culture, activity etc were taken care of via the options that were availed. Intrepid's social responsibility - reduction in environmental plastics, accommodation in facilities that support needy kids etc. was also a major plus on the organization. All through the tour, we never felt unsafe at all. Applying the commonsense principles that apply every where would ensure you have a safe and fulfilling experience. This tour is not an in-depth tour, but essentially scanning the landscape. I intend to do a follow-up on a few selected spots that I want to look more into. Also, as I didn't know if or when I would be back in the region, I did a pre-tour of Belize, then a post-tour of Panama. That took care of all Central America at a go. It would be great if these two components were integrated into the official tour. Overall, an excellent experience, and made new friends.

Overall I enjoyed the trip and we saw quite a lot in a short period of time. Some of the hotels were not very good especially the hotel in Merida (dirty sheets and towels and smell from drains), Flores gutamela (poor quality hotel and dirty towels again) and the hotel in playa del carmen was beside a night club so the walls were vibrating from the base of the music. There was some free time and activities were good but the activities later in the trip were quite over priced (Guatemala and Belize). Think some of the itinerary can be looked at also as unsure if one spot can be missed or longer as felt like not a lot of time in Guatemala and Belize and both squeezed in with long 9 hour bus days for both. Use of public buses is fine but one was when all group of 17 got on and all bus full so standing for trip. Not ideal especially when members of group were ill. Think use of a public bus for long trips on a long travel day should be looked at as it makes a long day worse when ill members and standing.

Costa Rica Quest Tour description on TourRadar did not mention that a lot of activities included in the description cost extra money, each costing between $45 to $65. This was communicated only after booking the tour. Only one meal was included. The hotels used by this tour (G Adventures) were just okay, some of them subpar with small rooms and no WiFi in many rooms. The transportation arrangements were excellent. The best part was the local guide(CEO) who was extremely knowledgeable and flexible and made the experience quite enjoyable.

Volcan Masaya, Granada & Leon, Suchitoto, Atitlan, Antigua

This tour exceeded my expectations. Our tour leader, Oscar, was passionate and extremely knowledgeable. I would recommend this tour to friends and family.

Pura Vida! Very organized with transport, food, hotels, and activities. San Jose is beautiful and people were great! I stayed in the city but went to beaches and even a local futbol game, great experience!

Itinerary was good, special rafting and kayaking was wonderful, The service has problem: 1) 7 day before departure, I was told the tour cancelled for unknown reason 2) ask me to add $2000 for same tour, I didn't agree 3) route changed to adjust to same price 4) 4 night in La Ceiba accommodation was hostel style, I had to rebook myself, final get $100 partial reimbursement The driver Erik and Emilio are very helpful and nice and professional , the hiking guide and rafting guide are good too

There were only three of us on this trip. One guide handled Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador; the second guide met us in Nicaragua. The first guide was quite good--a guide who also drove. The second was not as good--a driver who also guided. We had local guides throughout, and they handled the details, especially in Nicaragua. I understand that this is a low-to-moderate trip, but still our introduction to Nicaragua came as a surprise. We made a "beach landing," wading in from about eight inches of water. In general, I got what I paid for.

We have just returned from the Central America tour run by Penguin Tours. This was a 13-day tour, although since the first & last day were just pickup/return to airport, there were actually 11 days touring across 4 countries. Although the sites visited were excellent and well worth visiting, the guides, transport & hotels were definitely lacking. SITES: The cultural tour included a number of Mayan ruins (Iximche & Copan), several walking city tours (Antigua, Suchitoto, Leon, Granada) and several boat tours, nature visits etc. Unfortunately, parts of the tour were changed without the group having been notified in advance, and in fact even when this was pointed out to the guides, they were unresponsive. HOTELS: The hotels that are provided in the tour description are NOT the hotels where we stayed. A revised list of hotels was provided a few days before we left. They were almost all further away from the centre, and in some cases (such as Omotepe Island), far away from available restaurants etc (lunches & dinners were not included on the tour). Facilities were inconsistent (some rooms had AC, some only fans, some nothing). In some cases, drinking water was provided, sometimes not. In some cases, the reservations (number of people per room, etc) did not match what was required. TRANSPORT: We were 10 on the tour, and had a minibus provided for most of the time. In some cases, the transfers were not ideal: having to take our suitcases off the minibus to take a ferry & reload the suitcases on another minibus on the other side for example. However, the biggest problem with the transport was the lack of organization: we regularly left on VERY long drives after noon, stopping for needlessly long lunches (because nothing was pre-ordered and we had to wait 30-40 minutes for service), arriving after dark too many times at the hotels. This was a lack of organization on the guides’ part, and we were never given detailed info to know what to expect. GUIDES: We had 2 guides for 10 people: 1 guide from Penguin travel, the other a local Guatemalan guide. The guide from Penguin was responsible for our check-in at the hotels. The local guide provided info on Guatemala for the first few days, but for the rest of the sites in the other 3 countries, local guides from Honduras, El Salvador & Nicaragua provided local walking tours. Other than that, our 2 guides were busy talking (Spanish) with the driver and having beer at every rest stop & lunch. Many times, we weren’t told in advance where/when we were stopping for lunch, and they did not provide guidance/suggestions for dinner or free time. Fortunately, most of the group were seasoned travellers, and could adapt. This was very disappointing, since we had heard excellent reviews about Penguin Travel for other (European) tours. WE WOULD 100% RECOMMEND A TOUR OF CENTRAL AMERICA, BUT NOT WITH PENGUIN TOURS.

Eduardo our guide and Victor our driver were both wonderful, looking after us every step of the way, and always attentive to our requests and enjoyment of the holiday

This was a fantastic holiday but marred by one serious incident occuring on the snorkelling activity at Caye Caulker. The Anwar operators were negligent and while adjusting my snorkel I was left behind to fend for myself with my group nowhere in sight. No buddy system was put in place and there were at least another six groups in the area making identification of my group problematic. I had no other choice but to swim against the swell to the boat some distance away. It look me at least 30 minutes to reach the boat, totally exhausted and I am a good swimmer. Other members who stayed on the boat noticed a lone swimmer but none of the crew! On reaching the boat the Anwar skipper was angry with me and said it was my fault which greatly upset me. I stayed silent as I was upset by his outburst but after lunch the whole crew gave me 'special attention' on the next two snorkelling sessions, implying they realised that my complaints were justified. However this is not about me but I fear that a future participant who is a poor swimmer could be in real danger. Further evidence of them not monitoring me was that out of all the photos taken of the Exodus snorkellers I was not in any! However the rest of the trip was great - our tour guide Jorge was informative, helpful and went the extra mile. The tour was well organised with good transport, accommodation and food. Reef experience - see previous comments. The reef/coral was not in good health and the only colours were the purple fan corals. The fish such as the rays & sharks were attracted by the operators feeding them. Climate change and acidification of the oceans has impacted reefs all over the world so perhaps they are best left alone without the impact of hundreds of snorkellers in a typical day?

Trip was well organized from the day first to last day. All drivers and tour guides arrived on time and were very professional and polite. I travelled alone and felt extremely safe. Country is stunningly beautiful. I enjoyed exploring nature and saw a lot of wildlife. I would recommend this tour anyone who enjoys nature and looking for some peace and quiet time. Thank you for this great adventure.

Shop Around Before You Book! -- I booked the 9 day Wild Costa Rica trip through On the Go. Before booking, I checked out reviews for this company and they all seemed pretty decent. Booking was easy, the staff were friendly. However, they do not make it clear until after you pay that the trip is operated through a different company. You can find this information in carefully hidden in one line of the 8-page trip notes (I suggest scouring the downloadable trip notes carefully BEFORE booking with this company) and the travel voucher you receive AFTER you pay also has it stated more clearly, but by that time they have your money. I wouldn't mind but for two issues. 1) The price difference for booking through On the Go was $400 more!!!! When I inquired what the price difference covered, the question was not answered. 2) I would have liked to researched the company actually facilitating the tour BEFORE I booked. As it turns out, their partner company was awesome. I highly recommend checking out Tucan Travel before booking a tour like this. They did a great job facilitating the tour, the guide was excellent, and it was well organized. I had a great time on the trip The next time I travel, I will be booking through them directly.

Olivia, of Marvelus tours, did an amazing job of tailoring a tour package to our needs, despite the fact that we planned our trip at the last minute. She always replied to my inquiries promptly and was very helpful.

I would not recommend this tour to anyone considering what I went through. It seems like they are not organized at all. Transportation part was okay but the accommodation was very poor. One of the nights, I had a late check in at a hostel due to transportation, when I reached the premises they didn't have my reservation (not sure who is responsible for this) but they were fully booked and I had to walk around and search for another accommodation at 2am. When I did find an accommodation, the company refused to refund me for the hotel knowing I had no other options. Overall very poor customer service. I definitely will not choosing Marvelus ever again.

We loved the travels! It was a good mixture between highlights and 'traveling'. It is an organized tour, meaning if people booked it on the same dates, it can be that you are traveling together. Some of the traveling days are long, be aware of that together with the temperatures in these regions. The contact with the organization went good! When something is unclear or you have questions someone is available at all times.

Some transport & accommodation issues, but the Bamba Travel team responded & actioned quickly.

If you go to Costa Rica, pray you get Luis. He absolutely made the tour, and the whole group felt the same. He never failed to bring optimism, enthusiasm, education and encouragement on every single day, and his energy was contagious throughout the whole group. Luis is the perfect tour guide and a wonderful person, a true asset to TruTravels and leaves a positive impact on everyone lucky enough to meet him. He helped people overcome fears, push themselves out their comfort zone and learn about the beautiful country and culture of Costa Rica and wider Latin America. It was an incredible experience and the worst part of it all was having to say goodbye! The tour itself was incredible, with amazing activities in a supportive environment of like-minded individuals. Feel as though I have made friends for life and had experiences that I will take with me forever. Costa Rica is beautifully diverse country, perfect for nature and adventure lovers. We were lucky enough to see LOADS of wildlife which was a big highlight for me. The activities were great, and the guide’s recommendations for optional activities were amazing. A really nice part was that you never felt pressured to do optional activities if they just weren’t your thing. Ill be recommending the Costa Rica Adventure to everyone I meet! It was friends I had made on previous tours that told me to do this one…. best recommendation ever.

The Costa Rica Adventure was amazing and an unforgettable experience. Our tour guide Luis made the experience fun, comfortable, exciting and adventurous. His passion for life and food made the trip not just fun with activities but also a unique food experience. You won't regret it, Luis is the heart of the tour and he went above and beyond.

The tour itself lacked a sufficient amount of activities, sights, viewings. Very appreciative of the organisation. The hotels were fantastic. The locations were fine. But after 7 days, I felt left unfulfilled. It was also surprising that after 5 days myself and the two others on the tour boarded a bus to our final destination, from which we spent the final two days of the ‘tour’ on our own. Having said that, these two days were spent in beautiful Antigua and I was able to actually do find some activities to do!

the tour itself was a pretty good introduction to San Salvador and some of the local hot spots. I added a 2 day Copan tour that I'm not sure would be worth all the travel just for that site, if you've seen other Mayan ruins (it's neat, but depending on how well-traveled you are might not justify the lengthy travel days). Not overly a fan of the hotels and their location in san salvador - not much in walking distance and my upgraded hotel seemed way more interested in hosting the various events than being a hotel, to the detriment of the hotel guests. Might be a culture thing but wasn't a great experience. good guide. good mix of things to see and culture, history.

super good super guide and ride both highly recommended

. Excellent! Very punctual, friendly and with excellent service

Overall, very good, but no on-site tours were included on the last few days.