Central America small group tour

Planet

The very ethos of our style of travel is responsible; small groups on fully escorted tours, experiencing the very best of a region, a culture and a landscape, with a friendly local hand guiding the way. Our itineraries are designed to give our travelers real life experiences without compromising the part of the world we are exploring; to travel responsibly is at the heart of our commitment as a global tour operator.

This epic trip from Mexico to Costa Rica is designed to follow the ethos of low impact and even positive impact tourism. Traveling through six Central American countries, visiting beaches, ancient ruins and pristine rainforests, this trip does much to support local industry and initiative and provide employment opportunities as we go.

In addition to this we encourage all our passengers to take steps to ensure that their trip is environmentally responsible as possible. On this trip you will get the chance to snorkel in the pristine waters of Caye Caulker, Mexico, visit the heart of the rainforest on Ometepe Island, Nicaragua and explore the cloudforest in Monteverde, Costa Rica. We want our visits to assist in the preservation of all these stunning locations and you will be encouraged to treat them with care. For example, your group leader will brief you on the dos and don’ts of snorkelling to help protect the fragile marine environments. You’ll be encouraged to stick to the marked pathways in the jungle environments and to treat all destinations with respect.

Your group leader will also be on hand to assist with the appropriate disposal of rubbish en route, recycling wherever possible and we encourage all our travelers to use refillable water bottles with purification tablets rather than contributing to the rapidly escalating problem caused by the copious number of plastic bottles discarded globally on a daily basis.

People

You’ll stay in small, locally owned budget accommodation, from hotels to a basic homestay in San Jorge La Laguna and be accompanied throughout by a professional local group leader. Those who opt to explore some on the Mayan ruins en route or who decide to take on one of the many optional hikes in this itinerary will also benefit from the knowledge and experience of various local site guides employed in the various locations. What you do in each destination is up to you, so your group leader will be on hand to help with arrangements, including recommended local suppliers to use for things such as cycle hire, kayak hire and guided tours.

Meals on this trip are at your own expense giving all travelers freedom to choose the places you eat. When dining together, your group will eat in traditional, locally owned restaurants, and during the day will purchase food en route from local vendors and small cafes, again your group leader will be on hand to recommend the places the locals eat and where to get the best regional specialities.

Our emphasis on tour is real life experiences and to experience the best of these we encourage all our travelers to be aware of local sensibilities when they travel with us and to behave accordingly. With the high degree of local interaction on this itinerary, it is worth noting that Latin Americans can be very conscious of appearance so try to be casual but conservative in your dress. Outside of beach areas halter tops and very short shorts should not be worn. When visiting churches or religious sites shoulders and knees should be covered.

You’ll mainly travel on this trip by local bus. As well as being by far the best option environmentally, this offers great opportunity for cultural interaction with your fellow bus travelers. Due to safety concerns however we do not use the brightly painted ‘chicken buses’ that are a common sight throughout Central America, instead using more modern, efficient inter-city coaches.