The Lares Trek

Customer Reviews

• A

  Donna Martin

  · September 17th, 2022
  What a great adventure! Experiencing the local culture and the stunning landscaping will be a cherished memory forever.
  

  G Adventures commented on this review

  That's so nice to hear! Thank you so much for your feedback. We are very happy to hear that you enjoyed your trip with us.
  Trip date: September 2022

  Review collected by G Adventures
• A

  Robin Scott

  · September 6th, 2022
  An exceptional experience, led by a team of exceptional people.
  

  G Adventures commented on this review

  Thanks for reaching out! Our world deserves more you.
  Trip date: August 2022

  Review collected by G Adventures
• A

  Nicole Howorko

  · September 8th, 2022
  Overall I had a great time and will recommend G Adventures to all my friends. I will definitely travel with G again. I made some great friends on the tours too!
  

  G Adventures commented on this review

  Thank you so much for your feedback! We are happy to learn you had an amazing experience with us.
  Trip date: August 2022

  Review collected by G Adventures
• A

  Jennifer Auvil

  · June 30th, 2022
  The trip was well-organized and informative. What I love the most is that the company works with local communities to strengthen their economies in an authentic and respectful way.
  Trip date: June 2022

  Review collected by G Adventures
• VB

  Victoria

  · October 10th, 2019
  Warning to the reader: this will be a fairly negatively focused review and it will be long and detailed. I've had much better experiences on other organized camping tours and i think this ability to have a comparison is why other people rate this tour so highly. Price: this was an expensive tour, even though it was on sale when we purchased. It cost 950CAD/670 USD/560 GBP for a '7 day tour' which was really 5 days of programming and 1 day of either side that was not tour related at all. The first day we had an orientation which was unnecessary and could have happened on Day 1 or not at all (could have been covered in a pre-trip webinar or in an email to be honest). The last day was a day where we woke up at a provided for hotel and were free to leave. The sleeping bags/mats on the trek were also not included which was unacceptable for a tour of this price. Itinerary: This is going to be long... The first day of this tour consisted of being shuttled to various G adventures affiliated factory/handicrafts places in the Sacred Valley area, starting in Cusco. In no way was this a Sacred Valley tour - we did not see landmarks except for a brief mention from the bus window. I personally abhor this type of tour inclusion - if G adventures wants to support these types of 'community projects' they are welcome to do so with their money but not with my paid-for time. It's a cheap tactic when done by other tours and it continues to be a cheap tactic here. I expected more from a big name like G Adventures. There is so much to do in the Sacred Valley and we did none of it. I was aware we'd be visiting these types of establishments from the Trip Notes but was hopeful there would be more to it. Our day was concluded in Ollantaytambo with a short hike to a viewpoint of the ruins around the city which was nice. The trek portion occupied days 2-4. It was a half day on Days 2,4 and a full day on Day 3. The trekking was OK and not too strenuous. 3 hours somewhat uphill on day 2, 6 hours on day 3 (3 uphill 3 downhill), and 3 hours downhill on day 4. The views and remoteness i was expecting did not materialize. The entirety of the trek was within an hour of a village and we spent our Day 2 night within one and Day 3 night close to one. The porters used a truck on day 1 and Donkeys on the other days. I did not feel like there was a remote-ness aspect at all which left me disappointed. The views on the trek were also not as expected which may be an expectations mis-match. When i booked a tour that mentions Macchu Picchu in the title and associates the trek with it, i expect to at some point trek through cloud forest. There was none of that, just short vegetation mountain-y terrain which was not unique to Peru and therefore in my opinion not worth the money. There were better (IMO) views from the bus on the way to the trek. Perhaps i should have done more research but i trusted G Adventures. Day 5 was Macchu Picchu day. It was good and exactly as expected. We took the bus up to the landmark, were given some free time to see EITHER the Sun Gate or Inca Bridge, and then led on a tour of the landmark with time for photos along the way. Then we took the train to ollantaytambo and bus back to Cusco. Accommodations: The hotels on this tour were very nice. The tents for the trek were in good condition and put up/torn down for us which was great (but also expected). The bathrooms on the trek could have been better but this was not entirely unexpected. Food: The spreads were nice but the quality was just not there. The water was heavily chlorinated which was unnecessary and there are other water purification methods less disgusting. The food itself was fairly good, once or twice the protein of the meal tasted heavily of lye/lemon which was odd in context and the meats were always overdone (probably for health safety reasons). Nothing to write home about or be impressed by since the difficulty/remoteness of food transport just wasn't there so performance should have been high. I also felt that there were too many meals that were not included. I think there were maybe 3 meals on Days 1-5 that were not included and frankly for this price it should be all inclusive. The guide: Our guide's english was not the greatest and he consistently ignored questions that were posed to him acting as if he didn't hear them (somewhat odd behaviour). This was disappointing since i'm sure G adventures has good candidates for guides so i'm surprised they did not choose better personnel. I've had better guides on a free walking tour which speaks volumes. The explanations/history sessions were also lacking, with heavy reliance on the flip-book the guide had with no additional stories/explanations. Guide just didn't seem that interested in being our guide or providing us with information on the places we were visiting. Tips: the tips that G Adventures recommended in the trip notes for this tour were very high. My entire group agreed on this matter and tipped accordingly. I would prefer that G adventures pays the people it employs a good wage instead of asking people who have already paid an exorbitant price to pay more for their seeming lack of fair pay practices.
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  G Adventures commented on this review

  Thanks for taking the time to review your experience Victoria, and sorry that some things were disappointing here. We have alerted our Customer Solutions team to your difficulties, and they will be in touch with you soon.
  Trip date: September 2019
• 

  Suzi

  · June 5th, 2018
  Though Paulo appears to be a nice person, I question why he is a senior guide. He had no extra water, no water purification tablets, no medicine and no concern for our safety. He left 7 out of 8 of us to hike for an hour by ourselves as the sun was going down the 2nd day of our trek. There were 2 sick people that he didn't check on- one of which was dizzy and short of breath the entire time. 2 other people rode donkeys half way up to the steepest part of the trek when they should have never been there in the first place. One of them was put on oxygen and the junior guide made sure that he got down safely. I can honestly say I would ask for my money back if I thought you would give it. I'm horrified that you would have a guide on staff that doesn't look after the safety of those traveling with him. The sun went down by the time we made it to camp on day 2 and a horseman had to shine his phone over the trail so we could find it. Someone could have been seriously injured. I wouldn't recommend your company to anyone at this point- especially anyone traveling by themselves.
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  G Adventures commented on this review

  Thanks for taking the time to let us know of this. Oh boy - what you have described is quite shocking. Safety is an absolute priority for us, and this falls very far short of what we expect. Please connect with us at customersolutions@gadventures.com... Show more
  Trip date: May 2018
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  Blake

  · October 30th, 2017
  Wow! What a trip. Eddie (Edison Romero) and JC (Jeiko Cuenco) were entertaining, well informed and very engaged with the whole tour. They seemed invested in our success and they really bonded with the group. Food was unreal! The chefs outdid themselves in their meals. Also accommodating for people with dietary restrictions. I never went hungry! The trek itself was breathtaking (sometimes literally). The views were stunning and the trails were great. Felt like something out of a movie. Would recommend to anyone in a heartbeat!
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  Trip date: October 2017
• CB

  Christopher

  · July 4th, 2017
  Fantastic experience. Marco our tour guide with G Adventures was awesome. The scenery and Machu Picchu were unbelievable.
  
  Trip date: June 2017
• MB

  Mark

  · May 18th, 2017
  My experience was amazing!! I enjoyed every minute of it and the people that were on the trek really added to the experience. The main issue I had is that the tour guide was not the best. A really nice guy, but he seemed to lack in English and an ability to be able to explain things. If a question was asked it took about 10 mins to try to explain to him a simple question and lacked detail when describing certain artifacts or ruins.
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  Trip date: May 2017