Panama Tours and Trips

Sorry did do this week's ago but lost it while trying to post a photo with it. So here goes, Loved everything about the tour, with a fantastic tour leader, Tommy taking care of us, and ensuring each of us had the best trip ever. We all really appreciated meeting Tommy's wife, and eating with them, while understanding better about life in Guatemala. 10 of us on the tour - 4 couples and two singles. Everyone got on really well together. The surprise for my husband and I was to reconnect with a couple who we had last met 23 years ago on another Explore trip along the Silk Route. We all had a great time seeing so many different birds, and a highlight of my trip was visiting the sloth sanctuary, along with walking around the Cerro *****, the bird watching boat trip on Lake Suchitlan, Suchitoto, horse riding at Rincon de la Viega, kayaking at Bocas del Toro, the pre-Easter celebrations in Antigua, visiting the island of Ometepe - the list just keeps on going. The only minor criticism is that you have to keep paying out for all the optional tours - would much rather have paid for them in one lump sum. Not sure how you get round this one though, but these add ons really make the trip, with most I would suggest as being g essential.....

Wonderful taste of Central America. Copan serene, Tikal majestic, Volcano sooo.. beautiful. Each country was facinating. Carlos Morales ( Tomos) negotiated all our interests .

Brilliant trip, taking in the highlights of 6 Central American countries. Lots of wildlife-spotting, history (ancient & modern), and capped by visits to the Maya sites of Copan and Tikal.

A great taster trip of Central America with a huge variety of activities and experiences. Carlos Tomas is an amazingly good guide: very experienced, knowledgeable, resourceful and fun to travel with. My second time in Central America and this trip definitely makes me want to return soon. Hotels are all comfortable and well-located with local flair. Single-room supplement is a bit steep however.

This is a full-on tour with bike rides most days. The bus rides are quite long to cover 3 countries in 12 days but i really enjoyed the bus rides. The bike rides are very well planned on interesting, varied and generally not too busy routes. We got the chance to cycle 900metres on the pan american highway in Costa Rica which was fun and crazy. Crossing the intercontinental divide in the Panamanian highlands was a highlight and absolutely stunning. Most of the rides were thro beautiful countryside. There are some hills, but all the group made it up every hill without needing to get off to push bikes or use the bus instead, and there are a lot of downhills that we all enjpyed. Its worth doing some training if you can, but the cyclng was more stunning, better routes and not as hard as i had envisaged. Even the longest ride was finished within about 3 or 4 hours. Food in all 3 countries was lovely and the guide took us to some nice restaurants so we ate together most meals. My only slight criticism would be the itinerary- 2 nights in horrible touristy La Fortuna is more than needed and the hotel there was more or less a backpackers hostel. I would expect more for the hefty price of this holiday. Other hotels were pretty good, though we couldn't enjoy the 2 best ones as we were only staying one night which was a shame. And... another point i havent mentioned is that this is a holiday of Very Early Starts. Often we left the hotels before 7am, with breakfast at 6 or 6.30am. This is both to start rides before it gets very hot, and also to fit in the packed itinerary which, as i said above , is very full on. Very calm and engaging guide Christopher (aka Fez) did a great job with the complicated itinerary and 2 border crossings and was non judgemental and encouraging about us cyclists. All in all, an amazing, thoroughly enjoyable holiday in 3 memorable countries.

Very exciting fast paced trip. Well organised. Opportunity to visit and cycle through 3 different countries. Beautiful scenery and great weather. Excellent leader