Chiapas Tour Companies

The organisation of the tour was great, very reliable. The guides were quite knowledgeable and nice to talk to. Got to see everything I wanted in Chiapas, nature, Maya sits and got to spend some time in San Cristóbal de las Casas. You get to spend three different days with different people and partially different guides, so as a side advantage you get to know different people along the way. The other people on the tour were a nice mix of Mexican and overseas tourists, younger and older. Was the perfect tour for me.

This trip is equal parts natural beauty and ancient history/ ruins. The waterfalls and lakes were beautiful. They would be great places to spend time in the water. If you have never seen Myan ruins, these are impressive. You should know this is not a tour where you will have a guide with you for your trip. There will be a different guide, driver and group of people will be with you each day. This is English and Spanish so you may not be able to communicate effectively with your fellow travelers. We drank only water we purchased and yet many of us got sick. I think it was the roadside eating places that were lacking. When you have Montezuma’s revenge it is difficult to enjoy a sigh that requires some hiking in the hot sun with no toilet in sight. We had a 3:30 am, 5:30 am and two 6:30 am pickup times. Our driver was always 20 to 35 minutes late. This is not a restful vacation. Some of the sights we visited required vigorous hiking on uneven terrain. Some of the guests struggled.

Please keep following in mind: 1). You are going to be traveling with a new and random group of people for every day of the "Experience". 2). Most of the group will be local Spanish speaking people, which is not a problem except that your guide will not be able to focus too much on explaining things to you. It is a huge advantage to be Spanish speaking on this tour. 3). Do not fall the trap of upgrading the hotel. You will be disappointed. We paid an extra fee that was higher than the actual cost of 4 star hotels and still ended up in the same hotels as everyone else. If you can book the hotels yourself. 4). You will be taken to places to eat that are basically cafeterias and more like truck stops. This is not a problem in and of itself since you get to immerse yourself in the life of regular people you will be traveling with. However, if you expect a gastronomic experience you will need to search that out for yourself (there are plenty of options in your free time.) 5). The scheduling is not very efficient. On Day 2 we visited local villages and were home by 3pm. On Day 3 we were driving for 8! hours and came home at 9:30pm which gave us no opportunity to have a nice dinner since on Day 4 we had to get up at 3:30am to drive 8 hours to Palenque. It would have made a lot more sense to switch the activities of Day 2 with Day 3! 6). The long drives are NOT very comfortable. The vans had very uncomfortable seats and were packed. 7). The redeeming qualities were the sights (Gorgeous!), the people (welcoming and friendly), the drivers (professional and helpful). 8). Bring mosquito spray to Palenque. A lot of mosquito spray!

Wonderful experience of the lesser known parts of Mexico. Guide was knowledgeable and seamlessly transitioned from Spanish to English. I do wish we would have had time to wander Palenque on our own. The last hotel I was booked in had a race finishing at 6am the next morning- loudspeakers and music that was very loud-which was brutal since we had a 3:30am start the previous day.

It was a great experience throughout Mexico very nice, we had a great time, I was very lucky with the group and with the tour leader Jaime! I will definitely repeat.