Tikal Go Tours — Attraction in Flores

I was expecting more for the money that I paid. I’ll break it down in to parts: I paid for four star hotels and stayed at 2-3 star hotels. The start of my trip started really rough after staying at a nightmare hotel in Antigua. I was able to verify every hotel with InGuat which is Guatemala’s tourist office and the hotels I stayed in were not what I was promised. Some of the hotels were below proper condition, in local not suitable for tourists. I had to pay $200 extra so that they could transfer me to a true 4-star hotel in Antigua. The guide in Antigua, Estuardo was amazing! Ask for him. He knows places, everyone basically knows him. He recommends the best food spots and places to see. He was also partially my guide in Atitlan and thanks to him my stay at the lake wasn’t too terrible. Him and the driver went above and beyond for us to have a great experience at Antigua. The other guide in Atitlan was awful! Tikal Go took us to San Juan which was a great town to see but the guide didn’t explain or encouraged us to go to El Mirador! We were so upset we missed it. Then he took us to San Miguel, this is not a tourist area. While I appreciate the locals and the time of being among people and culture it was not a place for tourist due to a few things I rather you search. They could have taken us to San Pedro or San Marcos. When we asked the guide if we could go to San Pedro, they asked Carlos the sales supervisor and wanted to charge me 500Q more! Is insane the lack of service and audacity to charge more. In Peten, we were taken to Tikal. That was an amazing experience. The guide was great, he knew the jungle very well. We did the early morning tour and wow was that an experience being in the jungle in the dark at 4am. We were then taken to Flores, the hotel was ok but not what we paid for. Lots of locals , noisy and some shady stuff at Hotel Isla Flores. We visited Flores on our own. The tour included private driver, flights in Guatemala from the city to Flores, hotels, and guides. Doesn’t include tip, the average daily tip for driver and guide $20-$30 each. If you wish to book them just do the tour at the locations but don’t book the full tour, book your own hotels. We were also told we would have the option of kayak and that wasn’t done. Our meal in Tikal was supposed to be lunch but they instead instructed the hotel to use our free breakfast included with our room for boxed lunch which we only ate the snacks, that was upsetting. Hotel: they booked me the Convento Santa Catalina hotel by the arc awful! I requested to be moved and had to pay $200, in Atitlan the hotel had no AC mainly for locals and it was humid the only nice thing was the views, in Tikal we stayed at Jungle lodged and they had booked us a small room with no AC and we upgraded by paying $200 at the hotel for AC and light all night, at Flores the hotel was ok but in the middle of too much and locals. I searched each hotel and the most they paid was $120 per room when I paid close to $6k 4-star package for three people. You can imagine what they saved since they only booked one room instead of three since it was for my husband and son but they charged for my son as an adult since he is 14. I was expecting more from this company. They should be refunded us for the lack of communication and inconvenience of almost breaking our vacation due...

I would not recommend this company for your trip to Tikal.

First and foremost, the worst part was the driver/drive. We met the company at the border and were then driven to Tikal. On the way there it felt scary and like we were flying, but we were not seated where we could see the speedometer (our children were in those seats). On the way back, though, I was seated where I could see the speedometer and on some parts we were going 100 kph and even up to 120 kph at points. The road is very curvy and bumpy and this was very dangerous). (The driver did slow down for bumps, but often just swerved around them onto the other side of the street). He also illegally passed vehicles when there was a solid line many times, often in scary conditions where there was a curve coming up so you could not see if cars were coming. I contacted TikaltoGo about this and was told yes, 120 kph was way too fast for those roads, but then was told the driver denied it and the guide said he "couldn't be sure" because he was engaging with my children. But, on the ride back, the guide was not engaging with my children at all and instead was talking to the driver the whole time. It bothers me this speeding was not acknowledged but instead turned into a he said/she said. The person who initially responded to my email from the company did not then respond to my follow-up.

In terms of the tour, it was just OK and felt very rushed. We booked a private tour, meeting at the boarder. The guide was very friendly, but compared to other tours we took during our vacation, his historical knowledge was lacking. He told us he is a freelancer with this company--we're not sure if the guides who are fully employed by the company know more. We were not given much information about Tikal and the Mayans. We had to ask a lot of questions to get any information - our questions were informed by guides from other tours we took earlier in our trip. The guide did answer our questions for the most part. Again, the guide was very friendly and nice to our children, but for this price, we expected more. The tour was also very rushed, and it turned out we were an hour ahead of schedule (though maybe slightly less because we started early) but we were made to feel rushed and like we were behind. My children wanted to look at things on the jungle walks, with the 6 year old being a little slower, and the guide walked very fast not looking back. At one point I was out of sight with our 6 year old and felt scared, not sure which way to go, and called out. Again, for the price, it felt rushed without much information. We even had a 20 minute stop at the bathrooms and were STILL very ahead of schedule, so it bothers me we were made to feel rushed and I wonder what we missed. I did contact the company about this, and the follow-up I received was essentially denial with inaccurate information.

I'd go with another company, especially...

My girlfriend and I took a private tour of Tikal from Guatemala City, the package which included all the transportation and lunch. I thought the price was high going in, but it was money well spent. It was nice to have all the logistics taken care of in advance.

Our driver, Guillermo, was very friendly and got us to the airport on time in the early morning, and even though our return flight was delayed 2 hours (TAG Airlines fault, not Tikal Go) he waited for us and got us back to our hotel.

Our tour guide, Roel, greeted us at the airport in Flores and really gave us the VIP treatment. He was very knowledgeable about the Mayan history and culture, and had a lot to tell us about the ruins. He had answers to all of our questions and explained everything really well, in English and Spanish. He made all the difference in the trip, and made sure we had a good time. By the end of the day, it felt like we were old friends. I can only hope the other tour guides are as good as him. His partner, Melvin, was our driver and also provided excellent service, getting us between stops very quickly.

The ruins themselves are spectacular and immense. I'd never seen anything like it. Not just the temples, but the surroundings and wildlife nearby, you really feel immersed in the Mayan world.

The lunch that was provided was quite good for being situated in the middle of the jungle. Other beverages were made available, which was good because it's quite warm there. Sunblock and mosquito repellent are not provided, but are a must. Both were available at a shop we stopped at on the way to the Park.

Seeing the Mayan ruins at Tikal is an experience of a lifetime, but Tikal Go made it even better by putting everything together for us. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to make a quick day trip...