What‘s Included

Meeting and Pickup

What To Expect

Reviews

• Amazing experience

  ALIRIO B,

  Oct 7, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  An excellent tour to Lake Atitlan with the best tour guide in Antigua Ms. Nayeli. We will highly recommend to all our friends.

• A very complete tour

  Mariela D,

  May 14, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  Punctual, Nayeli a very good guide, the car journey passed fast, it is worth knowing the villages. Recommended.

• Niyeli the tour guide was amazing. Great little towns

  Carla M,

  Mar 22, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  The boat was super rough so if you have back problems beware. Lots of hills. Wear appropriate shoes .

  

• Fantastic!

  Sandra C,

  Feb 8, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  Our tour guide Naylel was fantastic! Always volunteered to take pics of my husband and me. Very courteous and informative.

• Best views in Guatemala

  Christian P,

  Feb 1, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  Absolutely beautiful views. With everything included, this is 100% worth the money. You do and see so much without having to worry about driving yourself or navigating the areas. And exceptional service as well.I absolutely recommend THIS company.

• Horrible experience and the tour company is not honest.

  Angela C,

  Jan 23, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  1.00

  We had a horrible experience with this tour company. The night before our tour was scheduled we received a message on WhatsApp saying to be outside the hotel at 5:30 AM. We were outside at 5:20 AM. They crammed over eight of us in this tiny shuttle bus. I received several calls from the tour company asking if we were there and I said yes we were already in the shuttle bus. It was a three hour trip down to the lake and we were all so very uncomfortable. Once you’re there, you are forced to eat breakfast at a place that they choose and you are treated poorly. Most of the tour went smoothly until lunch where you are forced to eat at a place where the food was absolutely an inedible. The tuk tuk was supposed to be included, but they try to make us pay for it. Then at the end of the tour, the shuttle bus was over 45 minutes late and they crammed over 10 people most people sitting in the aisle way to get back. I have reached out to via tour and the tour company is not being truthful about the circumstances. Do not take this tour.

• Great Day Teip

  Carol P,

  Jan 7, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  This was a wonderful all-day adventure. Diego was a patient and great leader. I will say that anyone with mobility issues should be aware that it is a little difficult at times. Getting in and out of the boat was not easy and there was one long walk up a very steep hill. We would have liked more free time for shopping, but overall, it was a great trip.

• Horrible In Every Way

  Susan F,

  Jan 5, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  1.00

  Horrible experience from beginning to end. I originally booked a non-private tour for five people. A few days prior to our scheduled tour, Nelson from Guate Tours, messaged me asking if I wanted to switch to a private tour at an extra $25 per person. Nelson advised he already had 15 people signed up for the non-private tour and we could tailor our tour accordingly. I agreed since we would be able to switch pick up time from 6:00 am to 8:00 am. The additional $125 payment had to be in cash. We were picked up at our Airbnb at 8:00 am. This was the only thing that went right. Our driver was Cesar and our guide was Neily. The minivan was in poor condition with dents and a crack in the windshield. We proceeded to the lake with several unscheduled stops by the driver for refreshments without any explanation from Neily. The driver was constantly on his cell phone as we traveled through high mountain passes, switchbacks, and treacherous roads. At one point, in order to avoid traffic, the minivan left paved roadway and traversed a small river to then reemerge onto paved road. We were incredulous. Arrival at the lake three hours later was nothing short of miraculous considering the unsafe driving conditions. We then were shepherded to a bathroom for $5Q each where there were no functioning toilets and no running water. Absolutely unacceptable conditions. We were herded onto the public boat for the trip across the lake. No commentary from Neily and no views in the boat. We arrived at the town and disembarked only to stand idly waiting for about a half hour for two tuk tuks to transport the group up the hills. It was obvious Neily had her "preferred drivers" and we watched and waited as numerous tuk tuks passed asking if we wanted rides. Neily was on her phone trying to arrange for the tuk tuks who were "stuck in traffic." At the lookout viewpoint we again stood around and waited for our tuk tuks to transport us back down the hills. One would have expected a private tour would have the transportation waiting for the passengers at their convenience. Neily was disengaged and did not provide information about the lake; we googled the information ourselves. This was a lost opportunity to learn about the area residents and how Lake Atitlan impacts their lives. Lunch was taken at an unappealing restaurant with a limited menu. Litle did we know there were numerous restaurants a little further down the street that were better suited for the group. One of our group members fell il and I told Neily we needed to cut the tour short and head back to Antigua. It was about 2:30 pm and we would make the 3:00 pm boat. Earlier in the day I had communicated to Neily that we needed to begin the return trip by 3:00 pm since I did not want to be on the mountain roads in the dark. Upon arrival at the van meeting point we discovered the minivan was nowhere to be found. Neily misrepresented status and we were told Cesar is "ten minutes away," he is "stuck in traffic." he is "changing a flat tire." The lies went on and on with Neily unable to properly manage the situation. Being mindful we had an ill traveler who we needed to get back to Antigua, I told Neily we needed to order a taxi. She was ill equipped to do so. We waited a total of one hour and forty minutes to finally locate Cesar down the street waiting for us on a corner. The drive back to Antigua was a repeat of cell phone usage on dark, wet roads since it had started to rain. Be advised there are no streetlights on Guatemala's roads- very scary. Our driver again made unscheduled stops for refreshments. The entire minivan was silent for the 2.5-hour drive to Antigua- no commentary from Neily and we knew the driver was heading to a party after he "dropped off the Americans." A few members of the group have Spanish fluency and could understand the driver's telephone conversations. Arrival back in Antigua was 7:30 pm. This was a miserable day, and I would give it zero stars. I plan on discussing this experience with the Viator corporate office.

• An unprofessional nightmare

  HknRead2013,

  Dec 27, 2024

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  1.00

  We are four traveling school teachers, visiting Guatemala for the first time. This $520 USD day trip was the thing we were most excited about, and was our Christmas present to ourselves. We booked it over a month ago and counted down the days. Instead, thanks to Viator and Guate Tour by Nelson, our trip was ruined. The day I arrived in Guatemala, Dec. 22, I messaged the tour operator in the Viator app to confirm our address. He said they’d be happy to pick us up there. To show you the nature of our communications, my reply was:  I got multiple, detailed messages that we would be picked up at 6 am on Dec. 26 at our apartment. The night before, at 8:30 pm on Christmas, as we were going through the packing list, making sandwiches for the next day, and preparing for an early night, I received one line in the Viator App - the only place we had communicated - that, “Pick up is 5:30.” I said to my group that this didn’t sound like the person who had been texting me, and I wondered why the message was so abrupt and the time changed so last minute. I sent a message in the app asking for clarification. That message was not answered, so we decided we needed to be ready for 5:30 am, and we got up at 4:30 am. At 4:55 am, I began getting abusive messages from the tour operator, saying we were uneducated, imbalanced jerks who used bad language, and he wouldn’t serve us. I wrote that I had no idea what the message was talking about and we’d never used bad language - ALL communications had been through the Viator app and only through the Viator app. At 5:11 am, I requested urgent help from Viator, explaining the awful messages I’d gotten, but also giving the benefit of the doubt, saying maybe his phone had been hacked or he had us mixed up with someone else. We said we were upset but still willing to take the trip. The Viator operator told us to call the tour operator directly, and gave us the phone number. He also told us to be sure we were in the designated spot, so we couldn’t be blamed. We did everything we were told and provided loads of documentation of what was happening. I continued to try to communicate through the Viator app that there was clearly a misunderstanding. My husband called Nelson several times and also sent texts, explaining that we were still waiting outside in the rain at our pick up location (for almost an hour), hoping there was a mixup and our trip was still happening. Nelson did not answer the calls. Nelson later said we were lying and we were drunk and trying to cover up “what we did.” He sent screenshots of a WhatsApp chat he was having with someone else at exactly the same time I messaged him in the Viator App, asking for clarification on the pick up time. We had no idea any of this had happened until the next day, because it was not my phone number. In the WhatsApp chat stream, he had sent the same message he’d already sent me in the Viator app, a few minutes after he’d messaged through Viator. The person replied with a series of dirty words that didn’t even make sense (and were misspelled). Instead of texting back in the Viator app to ask for my number, realizing that clearly this wasn’t me, literally ONE MINUTE after he got the first dirty text he messaged that person to say our trip was canceled and he wouldn’t work with people like us. Zero effort to verify anything or to come back to the chat we’d already been having in the Viator app. Had he messaged back in the app, or even answered his phone the next morning, we could have cleared up the misunderstanding and had our trip. Instead, he continued to say we were lying - even after we’d sent my contact card for WhatsApp, showing it was one digit different than the person he’d been messaging. He repeated that he wouldn’t serve us “so you can claim your refund.” I was left heartbroken and sobbing. When I followed up with Viator, expecting a full refund, they first told us we couldn’t have any refund, and then that we could only have 50%. We did not cancel and were ready and waiting at the agreed upon spot. Despite being called names and treated rudely, we were the ones trying to smooth things over, allowing for a “misunderstanding.” Viator also asked me to provide the same evidence I’d already shared over and over again through their helpline and emails. I have booked through Viator for many years, thinking there was some customer protection, but I will not make that mistake again. We would have been much better off going into any of the tour shops in Antigua to find a good fit. Instead, we have lost hundreds of dollars and we’re extremely upset and disappointed that we will not see Lake Atitlan and that we were treated this way. This has been a truly horrific experience. It’s terrible that someone sent Nelson nasty texts, but given that we’d had a series of pleasant, professional texts, and that I was texting him in the Viator app AT THE SAME TIME, his impulsive, instantaneous, enraged response in WhatsApp and name-calling in the Viator app was unprofessional and completely out of line. It would have taken very little effort to clear up that the WhatsApp number was one digit off my actual number and that the messages were clearly not from the same person he’d been communicating with.

• A nightmare

  Heather P,

  Dec 27, 2024

  - Review from Viator

  1.00

  We are four traveling school teachers, visiting Guatemala for the first time. This $520 USD day trip was the thing we were most excited about, and was our Christmas present to ourselves. We booked it over a month ago and counted down the days. Instead, thanks to Viator and Guate Tour by Nelson, our trip was ruined. The day I arrived in Guatemala, Dec. 22, I messaged the tour operator in the Viator app to confirm our address. He said they’d be happy to pick us up there. To show you the nature of our communications, my reply was:  I got multiple, detailed messages that we would be picked up at 6 am on Dec. 26 at our apartment. The night before, at 8:30 pm on Christmas, as we were going through the packing list, making sandwiches for the next day, and preparing for an early night, I received one line in the Viator App - the only place we had communicated - that, “Pick up is 5:30.” I said to my group that this didn’t sound like the person who had been texting me, and I wondered why the message was so abrupt and the time changed so last minute. I sent a message in the app asking for clarification. That message was not answered, so we decided we needed to be ready for 5:30 am, and we got up at 4:30 am. At 4:55 am, I began getting abusive messages from the tour operator, saying we were uneducated, imbalanced jerks who used bad language, and he wouldn’t serve us. I wrote that I had no idea what the message was talking about and we’d never used bad language - ALL communications had been through the Viator app and only through the Viator app. At 5:11 am, I requested urgent help from Viator, explaining the awful messages I’d gotten, but also giving the benefit of the doubt, saying maybe his phone had been hacked or he had us mixed up with someone else. We said we were upset but still willing to take the trip. The Viator operator told us to call the tour operator directly, and gave us the phone number. He also told us to be sure we were in the designated spot, so we couldn’t be blamed. We did everything we were told and provided loads of documentation of what was happening. I continued to try to communicate through the Viator app that there was clearly a misunderstanding. My husband called Nelson several times and also sent texts, explaining that we were still waiting outside in the rain at our pick up location (for almost an hour), hoping there was a mixup and our trip was still happening. Nelson did not answer the calls. Nelson later said we were lying and we were drunk and trying to cover up “what we did.” He sent screenshots of a WhatsApp chat he was having with someone else at exactly the same time I messaged him in the Viator App, asking for clarification on the pick up time. We had no idea any of this had happened until the next day, because it was not my phone number. In the WhatsApp chat stream, he had sent the same message he’d already sent me in the Viator app, a few minutes after he’d messaged through Viator. The person replied with a series of dirty words that didn’t even make sense (and were misspelled). Instead of texting back in the Viator app to ask for my number, realizing that clearly this wasn’t me, literally ONE MINUTE after he got the first dirty text he messaged that person to say our trip was canceled and he wouldn’t work with people like us. Zero effort to verify anything or to come back to the chat we’d already been having in the Viator app. Had he messaged back in the app, or even answered his phone the next morning, we could have cleared up the misunderstanding and had our trip. Instead, he continued to say we were lying - even after we’d sent my contact card for WhatsApp, showing it was one digit different than the person he’d been messaging. He repeated that he wouldn’t serve us “so you can claim your refund.” I was left heartbroken and sobbing. When I followed up with Viator, expecting a full refund, they first told us we couldn’t have any refund, and then that we could only have 50%. We did not cancel and were ready and waiting at the agreed upon spot. Despite being called names and treated rudely, we were the ones trying to smooth things over, allowing for a “misunderstanding.” Viator also asked me to provide the same evidence I’d already shared over and over again through their helpline and emails. I have booked through Viator for many years, thinking there was some customer protection, but I will not make that mistake again. We would have been much better off going into any of the tour shops in Antigua to find a good fit. Instead, we have lost hundreds of dollars and we’re extremely upset and disappointed that we will not see Lake Atitlan and that we were treated this way. This has been a truly horrific experience. It’s terrible that someone sent Nelson nasty texts, but given that we’d had a series of pleasant, professional texts, and that I was texting him in the Viator app AT THE SAME TIME, his impulsive, instantaneous, enraged response in WhatsApp and name-calling in the Viator app was unprofessional and completely out of line. It would have taken very little effort to clear up that the WhatsApp number was one digit off my actual number and that the messages were clearly not from the same person he’d been communicating with.

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