Colombia Local Travel Experts

This was my family’s first time taking a personalized tour and working with RoughGuides. We choose RoughGuides after reading reviews on multiple travel-related sights. RoughGuides has direct staff and contracted guides in many countries. Our trip planner was based in Ecuador although our trip was to Chile. RoughGuides utilizes a web chat system to manage planning staff and traveler communications. The traveler provides an initial summary of trip goals and the RoughGuides planner starts building a plan/itinerary for the trip. The process was straightforward but would be easier and more efficient if RoughGuides had a detailed “traveler profile questionnaire.” For example, our family prefers quiet mornings until about 10 AM. This fact didn’t seem relevant until draft plans/itineraries continued to have touring activities start between 8 and 9 AM. Overall our family was impressed by the quality of the RoughGuides team and the local travel guides/drivers who RoughGuides employs. All of our guides spoke understandable to excellent English and were well-versed in local facts, histories, and culture. One of the ways our family enjoys the local flavor of destinations is via food tours. We usually include at least one food tour in our itinerary. This experience sold our family on personalized touring. We’ll continue using personalized touring when traveling to destinations where our native language, English, is less common.

We had a great experience--detailed and timely communication, follow-through on commitments, and friendly staff. We would travel with Rough Guides and their local agencies again.

Our trip to Ecuador spanned a variety of regions from Galapagos to Yasuni, ending at the Volcanic region of Ecuador. This complex 2 week trip with young kids was made possible thanks to Rough Guides and their Ecuador partner. Instead of pushing back on our requests, they accommodated all our needs, staying in touch throughout the planning process. We have booked previous trips with Rough Guides as well, and they even appreciated us as repeat travelers. A shoutout to Tamer and Maria Jose for their attention and support during the planning process as well as during the trip. As with any trip, there were minor hurdles and issues here and there, Maria was regularly seeking feedback and helping either resolve the issues, or provide complementary dinner as a token. All the guides were very friendly and accommodating. But we were especially impressed with Daniel for Quito and surrounding areas and Jose for the Yasuni experience. Daniel was passionate about sharing his love for Ecuador with us. He helped us through long, tiring journeys ensuring that kids felt cared for. Jose from Yasuni Cultural Center went out of the way to ensure that my little kids are able to enjoy the wilderness of the Amazon basin. Overall, Rough Guides will definitely be on my radar for next travel.

The organization of my trip was complicated with many internal flights, transfers and tours at 4 locations through out Peru and every time our drivers and guides were on time. Tours were run with professionalism and when any problems arose the communication from both the main rough guides liaison and the local guides were prompt and they were able to solve the issue quickly.

We just returned from a 2 week trip to Ecuador and visited the capital city, Amazon basin and the Galapagos. Tamer is world class and assembled a perfect itinerary. He checked in with us constantly ensuring we knew all the details about our upcoming adventures. Tamer also connected us with the most wonderful guides and experts- Alejandro, Sebastian and Remi (Namo Wildlife Reserve). They were incredible, accommodating and made the experience one we will remember forever. Thank you from the Barbato’s!

Rough guides curated the perfect experience for my family. I cannot thank Tamer and the team enough from Rough Guides - we just returned from a two week adventure Quito, Amazon & Galapagos. And he was there every step of the way before, during & after. Answering all of questions supporting my requests to ensure we created the most magical experience for my family. He went above and beyond to ensure that my 9 -year-old who was celebrating his bday while we were away, had a birthday cake and a lovely dinner. The guides that he recommended were so knowledgeable and helpful. And I felt like I could truly relax instead of having to worry about all the logistics. Thank you again so much for making our adventure truly priceless. ❤️

My husband and I (80 and 79) just returned from a 47-day trip to Peru. What a great experience: Lima, Ballesta Islands, Ica, Huacachina, Arequipa, Colca Canyon (and condors!), Puno, train to Cusco, Machu Pichu and the Sacred Valley, and finally an Amazon cruise. Rough Guides planned the entire trip. Tamer and Maria Jose, who is their local travel expert for Peru, listened carefully to what we wanted, created a plan for us, modified it as we re-thought things, and then booked all the lodging, internal transfers, and a few tours. The boutique hotels were wonderful. For the most part, the transfers from place to place went smoothly. Everyone was attentive to our needs. However, connecting up with our guides in Aguas Calientes (we found the hotel on our own) and at Machu Pichu was difficult, largely a result of holiday crowds. If we were doing it again, we would have arranged to spend more time in Machu Pichu perhaps even staying at the Park for 1 or 2 nights. The 7-night Amazon cruise on La Perla was spectacular. The lodging, food, naturalist guides, crew, wildlife viewing were amazing. A nice way to end the trip. Highly recommend. Thank you, Tamer!

Our trip to Peru was organised brilliantly by Raquel and Tamer. The itinerary was perfect and the transportation and accommodation arrangements were great too. Raquel was always available for any help we needed at whatever time. She was checking in on us at regular intervals and making sure our journey was seamless. I would highly recommend Tamer and Raquel as your contacts if you are looking to visit Peru any time soon. Thanks so much both!

Tamer and Maria Jose from Rough Guides was more than helpful through the whole process from planning to execution. Tamar kept in touch with us constantly and even when another company, a cruise line, we were working with let us down while in Ecuador, Tamar and his local guide took up the slack and helped us amazingly. In addition to Tamar, the local guide, Sebastian Carrera, was amazing. In short, he was great!! Please see our review of him on Trip Advisor. Overall, an amazing trip that happened thanks to Rough Guides.

The perfect experience! We really had the best possible experience with our local guides Tamer and Maria Jose in Ecuador. He put together a brilliant programme taking account of all our (specialised!) wishes, checking in every few days in the run-up to and every day during our holiday to make sure thing we’re going smoothly. He helped make changes on the spot, found the perfect local guides and drivers for us (who were all brilliant too) and was fun and very professional to work with. He was absolutely invaluable to us and became more like a friend than an agent! I can highly recommend working with both him and Rough Guides