Central America Tour Companies

The CEO moved it from Good To Excellent. Found some of the options expensive for the Canaian Dollar but you had could choose options or not choose any so that was good.

Amazing. Wow wow wow. What a trip this was. It was jam packed with hiking, home stays, rice and beans, white water rafting, chocolate cheese and sugar making. I would really recommend this. I will never forget a trip this like. Thank you also so Ingrid our tour guide - she was the best!

This is a tour for sedentary travelers. Very little activity. Lots of sitting in a van and going out to eat. “Hikes” were short walks. Accommodations were in very touristy areas Seemed to be an overemphasis on eating. Activities in Monteverde (rainforest hanging bridges, butterfly garden) were not very good and were way overpriced Morning hike in Monteverde rainforest was not done. Optional activities in Manual Antonio were not available unless you had a group interested in going. Tap water in Costa Rica is potable There is no need to bring manual or chemical filtration.

Too many days without any activities.

2 of the 4 hotels were less than 3stars. Much time was spent on the road.

Fantastic trip! Well organized, fun and informative.

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.

This tour exceeded my expectations. Everything was well-organized, from the transfers to the excursions. I loved visiting the Old Town and the boat ride on Gatun Lake. The trip to Taboga Island was a true paradise.

A quick getaway of some Panamanian highlights. Comfortable -if somewhat worn- accomodation. Well-coordinated transportation.

This tour was amazing! Olivia and Daniel from Marvelous Travel were always available to answer questions. All the private drivers, shared shuttles and private boat captains were on time and courteous. The tour guides for the boat tour and volcano both spoke English which was helpful. The highlight of the trip was the Mayan Family Stay. My daughter and I were fortunate to stay with Daniel's wonderful wife and children. They made us feel so welcomed. We ate authentic Guatemala food which was delicious and his daughter taught us to make fresh tortillas while we were wearing their native dresses.

It was fine. I gave my comments to the Agent directly

Absolutely an awesome trip. I love the information on the government, history and the education system. Daniel was fantastic, as was our driver, Ricardo. I also loved all the family owned businesses and restaurants we went to. And the lodging was awesome. Some of the hikes were more strenuous than expected; but we were given options. Overall, the trip exceeded my expectations. The restaurants picked offered a good variety of foods and the prices were fairly mid-priced and fair. The only downside would be one couple, Daniella and David, were on the negative side, especially David. He complained constantly about the rain and many of the places we ate. Daniel went out of his way to accommodate them by trying to find a more economical place for them to eat, while the rest of us enjoyed the restaurants he chose. It's a shame you can't give personality tests before some of the trips! HaHa. Our spirits were not dampened though!

First, I want to say that our tour guide Daniel was EXCELLENT in all things! He shared his vast knowledge of all of the beautiful areas that we visited and his obvious love for what he does was contageous! We had one traveler in our group who complained about EVERYTHING and at times was very rude to Daniel and condescending. Totally uncalled for. It made the others uncomfortable at times. However, Daniels patience and ability to handle the situation was very professional. Now as for the trip itself, it was all that I expected! The various areas we visited were beautiful and full of so much "nature" in the form of birds, lizards, monkeys, crocodiles, turtles and other forms of life. The vegetation was mind boggling. As much as I loved the various hikes (thank goodness for my two walking sticks) I had to back out of a couple because of my bad knee. Daniel made sure that I was included at least in the ascent to the top of the hills in a jeep with the others in order to see the area, and while they made the trek back down, I returned in the jeep. He was always watching out for me to make sure that I didn't fall flat on my face! Overall, the meals that were included were good. The restaurants that Daniel chose for our meals that we paid for were excellent and in a fair price range (the complainer thought $6 was too much to pay for a meal and made a big deal out of it, so Daniel took him next door to a far less "expensive" restaurant.). While we were staying at El Establo in Monteverde I missed a step in the poorly lit hallway stairs and had a nasty tumble. Although badly bruised hip, I survived. Daniel made sure the management knew about the poorly lit stairs so that they could hopefully fix it before someone else fell. The various national parks were absolutely beautiful. Seeing the sloths up close in Manuel Antonio Park was a real treat. Great trip! I would highly recommend it to anyone!

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.

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.

I had an absolutely amazing 10 days in Costa Rica with Gema! She is such a kind-hearted, friendly person and made us feel so comfortable instantly! Gema was so knowledgeable about each area during the tour and took us to the most amazing spots, and I feel as though I really got to see the real Costa Rica! Everything was also so well organised both before the trip and during, with an itinerary and packing list for each day/ activity. Gema really integrated into our group and made our trip so much more fun! xx

It was a nice trip. The guide was very friendly and helpful. The included activities were niced and organized. I also liked that the restaurants were pre-booked which made it easy to connect with other people in the group. Maybe the tour could be a couple of days longer so other famous places in Costa Rica can be visited as well.

super good super guide and ride both highly recommended

very nice tour to discover the must-sees of Costa Rica, the only regret is that activities at Arenal and Monteverde were not included in the tour. but the hotels were there to organize excursions. impeccable organization by Destination Services (except for the Interbus drivers, who were 20 minutes late on average, but that's the Pura Vida philosophy!) and local team reachable by whatsapp at all times.

There were some issues with the activity bookings but we had a great time nonetheless.

4 Amazing locations in Costa Rica! From the Caribbean to the Pacific and the mountains in between this journey showcased the amazing flora and fauna of this most diverse Central American country

Wonderful tour! Would highly recommend the Nat Geo Journeys tour in Costa Rica

Tour was great. The tour provider was extremely responsive anytime we had a question.

Very nice proposal. Well organized. Great different experiences. Everything worked as planned. Hotels were old and simple but comfortable. Observation point in 2 hotels breakfast time was late vs pickup time of activities so you have to be prepared.