Panchito Tours — Local services in Baja California Sur

Labeled on their web site as “San Jose Golden,” we took this excursion last week, and it is indeed golden. Headed up by our guide, Franco Vargas, the tour picked us up in a van, already containing seven others, but with adequate room. Franco offered water and soft drinks from the cooler, and proceeded to give a bilingual intro to the Cabo area, on the way to San Jose. In the town, he lead us to a number of shops (Okay, let’s be honest, the company is probably paid to bring us to specific shops.) and then to some truly unique and interesting art studios. All of the shopkeepers were welcoming and friendly. After an hour or so, we agreed to head to the restaurant, Jazmin. The included dinner was chips/salsa, choice of Mexican entree, dessert, and one alcoholic beverage, plus water. The setting was an adobe home in glorious Mexican style, and there was also a short traditional dance and music performance in and around the tables. After dinner, we had 30-40 minutes to spend at the Thursday art walk festival on the town square, where large numbers of vendors sold their art and handcrafts. There were also performances by various groups of dance and music on the outdoor stage. It was attended by a big, but not overwhelming crowd. Overall, great fun, just to roam. There were several stops along the way to use bathroom facilities, as there are no public facilities in the town, so we were told. The return to the hotel dropped us off at 830 PM, after about 5.5 hours total. This was a very enjoyable excursion, and provides good value for the price. BTW, we felt completely safe the whole time. Highly...

Terrible tour, do not go! Our tour was supposed to be 6 hours with a glass bottom boat and city tour. The boat was not a glass bottom. We went to a tequila tasting which was the same as any you could get by walking into any tequila shop in Cabo, then when I tried to buy the tequila, the place wouldn't give me my credit card and delayed me so that the tour guide left without telling me. We were supposed to have lunch and the tour guide said that half of the group had not paid for lunch so we couldn't do that. He finally made a reservation but took the other half of the group on the rest of the tour while we ate. He told us he would come back to get us but never did. We walked to the location we had heard him tell the other group to meet and he was there. He then told us he could take us to the market but he didn't recommend it and everyone had already done it without us. We were so concerned about being left again that we just went...

We went on a tour of Todos Santos from Cabo San Lucas yesterday. We happened to be the only ones on this tour, so we had our tour guide, Franco, to ourselves. Franco took us to some special places we wouldn't have known of otherwise, such as the blanket factory (with absolutely beautiful woven textiles) and an organic market. We visited the mission and a couple galleries (and saw a live demonstration of an old art form). We had an informative tequila tasting and lunch at Hotel California. Franco was knowledgeable and took good care of us. We're going home with unique items that I don't think we would have found in the markets or on our own. We will book another tour with Panchito Tours...