2 independent reviews for Mexico 16 day tour
Reviews for Mexico 16 day tour
Simon Hannam review 26 Mar 2023
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Probably the cenotes and the friendliness of the Mexicans. Sorry, two things!2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
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 holiday 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 holiday overall?
This was a great holiday. 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 holiday?
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 travellers booking this holiday?
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 holiday 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 holiday 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 travelling in between places but the extent to which you reconcile travelling 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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