Mayan Princess Travel Agency — Local services in Flores

Traveled from Caye Caulker to Flores with these guys and although the trip and driving was safe and you get from A to B with no problem, they needlessly try to hustle/scam the extra dollar and ruin their reputation. In the van from the border to Flores another guy that speaks English well comes on board and explains how they are nice enough to make sure you get to an ATM before Flores as there is only one there and sometimes doesn't work (not true, I saw two in the one supermarket I randomly visited, and there's one 5 minutes walk from the bridge too). Turns out they just want all the tourists on board to have cash so they can buy their tour to Tikal. They said on the bus they're the only ones that do direct routes and give the best rates as hostels take commission but they charge 150 Guatemalan Quetzal per person for the trip to Tikal when hostels usually ask for 130. And if you want to just take a local bus it costs 40 (bus this may not be as direct or quick). In the end they completely needlessly lie to try to hustle and for what? 20-30 extra quetzal? Instead of having a good reputation? Silly. The trip we got to Tikal the next day was also fine in terms of getting from A to B, they did a good job, but we arrived an hour late, they never leave on time or respect your plans, and we also waited over an hour before the journey back just because the tour guide was slow, meaning solo travelers (without the tour guide but using the same bus) had to just sit there and wait. Complete lack of respect for people's time. They also try to scam you into getting pre-ordered lunch at a place they clearly have connections and say there's nowhere to eat inside or around but there's another restaurant by the entrance. Also you can take snacks...

We did the sunset tour to Tikal with Gio and it was ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!! Highly highly recommended this tour :)

Logistics: We arrived to Tikal at 2pm and had 30 mins to have some lunch nearby. We started the Tikal tour around 3pm, and had some free time to wander around in-between explanations. We watched the sunset from 6-6.30pm which was spectacular. We hiked back through the jungle to the minivan for 7pm and got back to Flores for 8.30pm. Saw spider monkeys, tucans, parrots, coaties and scorpians :)

There were hardly any people at Tikal by 3pm when we arrived the heat had reduced significantly so it felt really comfortable to walk around, plus we got some great photos - it was perfect! Gio was such a fab tour guide, was so full of energy and enthusiasm and was so funny! His explanations were great and he was on hand to answer questions too. Gio also pointed out lots of wildlife and clearly very knowledgeable on the subject. The jungle walk on the way there and back to the car after dark was so great because the animals were starting to become quite active again. If you don't want to walk you can opt to take a shuttle to the main plaza and meet the group there before the tour starts.

Highly recommend - do the sunset tour with...

Do not trust Edy. He lied shamelessly about the price

He got us at our most vulnerable - cold hungry wet and hungry having had a delayed travel from Mexico. Knowing they were the first travel agency we spoke to (they literally drop you off at the agency when you get off the bus and usher you in- in this case it was raining so we welcomed the shelter). We paid for the piece of mind of booking everything at once knowing we probably paid a little over normal however it shocked us at how much we overpaid. To add insult to injury he even withdrew the offer of a guide at Tikal saying they cost too much and we were getting a bargain (then on the trip we found out people paid what we paid with a guide).

The starting price was so high that no amount of haggling even got us near what we should have paid. Defo learnt our lesson. Shop around...