Mexico Active and outdoor Trips

Luis Flores is a tremendous guide with lots of knowledge and great historical context but also a very pleasant character and cheerful personality. He took us to some wonderful local restaurants, and organised excellent optional activities. We loved the wide range of activities in the itinerary... Spectacular ruins but also cenotes, boat trips, church visits etc. The highlight was definitely the visit to the cemetery for Dia Des Muertos in Oaxaca. We have already recommended this trip to many friends and will continue to do so! Well done and thank you for adding these memories to our life.

An excellent opportunity to explore many of the archeological sites in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize under the guidance of our extremely knowledgeable and charismatic tour guide Ana. This is a ‘full on’ tour, with some very long drives, but well worth it. There is a fair amount of walking, as well as climbing at many of the sites, and a good level of fitness is needed, particularly in view of the hot, sunny and humid days that we experienced on many days. We booked our trip to coincide with ‘Day of the dead’ celebrations in Oaxaca, which was an amazing experience. Accommodation generally poor, and not to Explore’s normal standards. All in all, a great 3 week trip.

We thoroughly enjoyed this trip but we were SO glad that we chose to go at this time of year so that we could see the Day of The Dead celebrations! I cannot imagine having missed out on this most significant part of our trip. We dressed up and had our faces painted so that we could join in to the maximum. Everyone was jovial and kind hearted and good spirited. The visit to the cemetary to see the relatives celebrating was a highlight and certainly sheds a new light on death. Apart from this, the trip involved seeing many of the Mayan ruins through Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, all so different and each offering its own special attraction. The wildlife we saw around these ruins and along the river cruise was certainly unexpected and a real bonus. Take binnoculars!! Luis, our guide, was very knowledgeable and passionate about his country and the history, cultures and traditions and we felt we learned a lot about each of the three countries involved. There was a lot of travelling involved and most long days were interspersed with stopping off at sites to visit, but there were a couple of days when it seemed as if we were just going from A to B. Take lots of good books!! We were only a group of eight, so were able to spread out on the minibusses but space was tight for leg room in the Mexican minibus and it would have been a very uncomfortable ride if we had had to sit more closely together. The drivers were all very safe. The hotels were mainly good, standard accommodation, clean and comfortable and some exceeded our expectations, especially the one in Guatemala. However, one was below standard and this was the one in Palenque, The Hotel Villas Kin- Ha. The rooms were dirty and tired and the food wasn't great. It was also a way from the centre of town making it difficult to eat elsewhere. There did seem to be better rooms on offer, but we were given the older ones at the back of the hotel. We didn't do the extension and were sorry not to see Chichen Itza but we felt that many of the other Mayan Ruins we did see had lots to offer and were less crowded and more remote. Alll in all, a great holiday!

My tour guide Euri was incredible! She put everyone first and made sure at every meal we had everything we needed before she sat down. She was fun, professional and a pleasure to be with. I would defiantly want to go on another trip with her as my guide.

A lovely holiday with a great mixture of cycling and history. The cycling was pleasant through the flat countryside. The bikes were good. Our tour guide, Victor, was excellent and very knowledgeable about the sites and knew just how much information we wanted, a highlight was swimming in the cenotes. He directed us to interesting local restaurants. Angel, our driver, was great. Hotels were local with character.

Contrasts of Mexico is an Explore trip, which I would thoroughly recommend. You need to be very keen on seeing the ancient sites, which all in our group were. We had knowledgeable, professional but friendly, and experienced guiding by our tour leader Luis. He was a mine of information on the places we visited. He had to cope with some recent and sudden changes to the itinerary, which turned out not to be for the best re accommodation, and transportation. He attended to our needs well. The towns we visited were fascinating and enjoyable to explore. The journeys were long, which we expected, in order to reach all the itinerary, but manageable, with reasonably comfortable transport, and enough stops. We were given enough time at all the sites. If you are a vegetarian, or vegan you will not get a great choice of healthy, tasty foods. Maybe bring seeds, nuts etc to supplement what's on offer. The tour and all we saw was beyond my expectations.