Best of Central America (from Playa del Carmen to Penonome)

Customer Reviews

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  Nolan

  · January 12th, 2024
  Amazing tour ! Every guide was great 👍
  

  Intrepid Travel commented on this review

  Hi Xiaofeng, thank you so much for your review. We are pleased to know that you had a wonderful time exploring incredible Central America, and we hope to see you along with us again in future. All the best to you, in 2024!
  Trip date: January 2023
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  Zeljko

  · January 28th, 2019
  I am now in last week of this tour, and with latest accommodation fiasco in Boquete I've finally had it SHAME ON YOU INTREPID I gave lot of $$$ to Intrepid this winter and horrendous choice of sub-standard rat holes we are forced to spend nights has just about killed every desire to ever travel again. Add brutal local transport, incompetent tour guide on Antigua to San Jose leg, list goes on. I will fill full review once I am back home, but to anyone reading this: There are other travel agencies around. Stay away from Intrepid. SHAME ON YOU INTREPID
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  Trip date: January 2019
• 

  Rudolph

  · March 21st, 2018
  No breakfasts were included - it would have been sufficient for all if each establishment could offer coffee, toast, butter, jam and a fruit. Guides were not very forthcoming with interesting facts and history of countries/towns.
  

  Intrepid Travel commented on this review

  Hi Rudolph, Thank you for sharing your experience with us. And thank you for your feedback, we will certainly pass it along. Our Basix trips, such as this one, often don’t include many meals and are advertised as such – this way we are able to keep the... Show more
  Trip date: March 2018
• PG

  Peter

  · December 13th, 2017
  Accommodations and transport on the whole were better than expected. The tour I booked on was actually 3 separate tours back to back. Border crossings and charges to cross were 'fluid' with information from Government websites, Intrepid and tour leaders all conflicting making it difficult to trust Intrepid or your leaders and leaving me with the feeling I was being ripped off. Intrepid's management response was less than satisfactory.
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  Trip date: October 2017
• J

  J.C.

  · June 9th, 2017
  The trip was better than expected, specially the accommodations. The guides were variable, from excellent to just satisfactory. The coverage was more than satisfactory and the transport provided was mostly good, with a couple of exceptions when we felt unsafe crossing some waters in small boats. We did not like the late start of some trips to the next destination as it left us very little time to enjoy some places. A minimum stay of two full days is ideal for most of the places covered. Overall, I really enjoyed the trip and I won't hesitate to use the same company again.
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  Trip date: February 2017
• AM

  Anthony

  · June 23rd, 2014
  44 day Mexico to Panama. Only 1 or 2 overnight stops, everywhere else 2-3, travel days were mostly short around 4-5 hours average. Guide was excellent in recommending activity centers and restaurants (where he got no commission or free food that I could see, just an honest recommendation), helping learn Spanish and arranging nights out. Accommodation was mainly basic, simple twin rooms and most had 2 double beds, all of them had ensuites and some had free air con, others it was an expensive payable extra (All had fans which were good enough). Some hotels like Roatan and Boquete were amazing. Tour was alot of beach destinations with similar snorkeling/scuba/day trip options which is no surprise. Most unique tour locations were in the mainland revolving around ancient ruins (Tikal was my favourite), jungle activities like zip lining, bungee jumping, atv's etc. and scenery/wildlife tours. Private transport 90% of the time with occasional public buses which were fine as well (guide gave us cheap option to upgrade to private buses on these legs). Private buses were on the smaller side but even as a 6'4 guy I was ok with most having more than the 16 passenger seats required. Food started off heavily Mexican but once away from first couple of countries there was alot more variety. Basic food from $4 to $7, expensive up to $12-$15. Beer from $1 to $3 depending how toursity the area. Some place charged more for sift drink than beer. If you want a party place this tour might not be it, while some large palces (Cancun, Playa, San Jose) have places open all night, alot of the smaller places you go to the town is bascially dead by 10 or 11 and the hotels either dont have bars or dont want you making noise. If you like other substances they ARE everywhere, weed from $5 to $12 a gram, more in cities, less rural. Nobody cared and alot of people did it openly at bars in small towns. Weather was harm and humid every day and that was at the end of the summer season. Only need 1 pair of pants, 1 jumper for occasional stops in mountain places, everywhere else singlets and shorts are fine with no dress code at any bar even in the cites (except Panama City). Enjoy.
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  Trip date: April 2014