3 independent reviews for Mexico tour, 16 days
Reviews for Mexico tour, 16 days
Marco Ang review 7 May 2023
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Difficult to choose from all the perfect moments, a mixture of the diving in a cenotes & the visit to deserted Uxmal & the visit to the indigenous village.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
All was perfect, perhaps a longer stay in Valladolid.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Not really, certainly not in Tulum, where the hotel resorts were powered by generators4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Perfect, very good organized, dedicated staff.Read the operator's response here:
We are very happy that our travelers had a great time in Mexico and that all the work by the staff and guides was very much appreciated.
Some comments for question 3. We do try to use all small and local hotels in our tours so that the income goes directly to local communities. Sometimes it is a bit more difficult (like in Mexico City, as most hotels are very big). Also, a lot of our hotels try to be conscious of the environment and have programs in place. We do realize that in other countries the development of sustainable tourism is already be at a higher level, while in Mexico they are just starting.
All these resorts here make use of generators as the area suffers from electricity fallouts now and then. This is not environmentally friendly and the best would be to have them replaced by solar energy panels. We will question this and discuss this with our team in Mexico that hotels should be more clear what they really do and how they contribute and how we can stimulate the use of solar energy.
Best regards Marcel
Simon Hannam review 26 Mar 2023
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Probably the cenotes and the friendliness of the Mexicans. Sorry, two things!2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
We loved Mexico City. Two whole days wasn't enough. The Secret Cenote tour was brilliant and the guide was particularly lovely and informed. Merida was also great. If going to Oaxaca, there is not more than one days worth of sight seeing of the city so good idea to book a tour or do something else. Tulum was very expensive but the beach was fabulous. We preferred Holbox though as a the beach was free of seaweed and not so expensive to eat out.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
The guides we had were really fantastic and spoke excellent english. Hopefully some of the money found its way to local projects. The hotel in Oaxaca was supporting some very impressive local projects, particularly with providing classrooms and education.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
This was a great vacation. All the connections, pick ups and organised trips worked really well. Also, the team was incredibly helpful both before and during the trip and were very patient with last minute changes to our plans.Stewart Adkins review 28 Jan 2023
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Seeing the massive scale of the ancient civlisiation remains at Teotihuacan, Chichen Itza, Monte Alban, Uxmal and others was impressive. We also enjoyed the visits to the Virgen de Guadalupe, the demonstration of how to make ropes from the agave plant and the beautiful colonial town of Oaxaca.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Although each of the ancient ruins are impressive in their own way there are many of them. You dont need to see them all since there is a lot of repetition. Be selective and spend a bit more time enjoying the colonial and even modern sites, such as Oaxaca, the cathedrals in Guadalupe, the free concerts in Merida Plaza Grande. Try and read the short history of Mexico (80 pages) before you go. There is so much that a visitor needs to understand to appreciate how Mexico has got to where it is. Over 60 Indian languages still spoken! The separation of state and religion! The war with US! The revolution and the civil war. Also take plenty of small bills for tips. Workers seem to depend on these since wages are reportedly very low and need to be supplemented.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Definitely benefited local people. After oil, tourism is the second largest industry. The employment for taxi drivers, guides, waiters, hotel staff etc must be huge. However, their pay is poor and tips are a significant part of their total remuneration, perhaps more than half in the case of waiters. Who knows whether the net effect of tourism reduced environmental impact! It can support conservation and we did see evidence of that at many of the ancient sites.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Overall good but if we were planning afresh we would probably cut out Merida since the trips to Uxmal, Kabah and Izamal were not so novel as to be worth taking time away from Oaxaca or Mexico City. To do justice to a sight-seeing trip you have to accept some long days traveling in between places but the extent to which you reconcile traveling vs a deep dive into fewer places is a personal choice. With hindsight we would have travelled less but explored Oaxaca and Mexico City more.Read the operator's response here:
We are very happy that our travelers enjoyed Mexico and its impressive cultural heritage. As all our trips are customized we can offer any variation or combination all according to the wishes and tastes, as clients prefer. As is suggested, to stay maybe longer in a place and travel less, can be taken care of with all our pleasure.
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