JJ toured us in Antigua and from there we went to Lake Atitlan with him with an excursion via boat to San Juan where we hiked to the view point,... read more took a tuk tuk. He pointed out a delicious coffee shop and we enjoyed the Women’s cooperative. Throughout our journey, he was amazing; was sensitive to the pace we wanted, recommended great places to eat and had tremendous knowledge. He drove us back to guatamela city with a stop in chichi market. When he done us back to the airport, he took us in and explained everything.

The best part of this company was the help Catherina gave me in planning the trip and assisting me when our flight from to Tikal to Guatemala City was over 4 hours late causing us to miss our flight back home to NY. From the moment I said our flight was delayed until after 1am, she helped arrange a hotel, a car and looked into my trip insurance. AMAZING! HIGHLY recommend!

  One of their drivers, J.J. was the best. Very positive, yet very knowledgeable of this entire area and its history. Highly recommend this tour if you are interested in more... read more than the city of Antique. This tour takes you to places very unlike the city.

  Esteban and everyone else in the team were super friendly and funny! They helped me get a shuttle from Antigua to Xela (that cost about 100 quetzales cheaper than some... read more of the other options I had seen). Also helped me come up w ideas for hiking in Xela. They are awesome!

  This was one of our favourite tours, we had so much fun, JJ and our driver Alex were top notch, very knowledgeable and personable. We saw many beautiful smaller... read more communities around Antigua giving us a glimpse of Guatemala outside of Antigua. We visited a local wine producer, a local chocolate producer and an organic macadamia farm and tasted all the yummy goodies. We also learned about Guatemalan jade and saw all the beautiful pieces they created. Such a great day, don’t miss this tour!

  "Awesome experience"

The Chicken bus tour! " 4 hour tour"

We had the opportunity to visit some towns around La Antigua. The coffee farm... read more and shop; where we met a beautiful local family who shared the making of their own delicious coffee. The chocolate factory and all its products and the textile towns.

We visit towns and mingle with the locals. Seeing the daily life of its people was a fun experience. We also visited the common laundries; their church and a story behind each one.

The countryside is beautiful as well as the coffee plantations. The view in general is spectacular!!

Our tour guide was very kind and knowledgeable about the area.

We highly recommended this tour! Top!1 100%

  Our guide Joel was very knowledgable about the city and showed us a lot of interesting places. He gave a very good overview of the architecture, history and culture... read more of the city.

  Great Tour! - It would be hard to say what my favorite part of the tour was as every place we went to I really enjoyed.
I have been to... read more Antigua several times in the past but I have never gone on chicken bus tour before. I also have been to the villages we went to before but I enjoyed them even more because of our wonderful guide,Estephen, who was so delightfulhe was very knowledgable in all the places we went to . This is a tour that deepens your understanding of the local cultures in a very fun way.
I was thinking we would be riding around on the local chicken busses but what you actually ride in is a small private chicken bus which of course made it easier to get to the places we were going in a timely manner.
This was a tour I would highly recommend for a very fun half day.

  100% Recommend - Excellent tour and very knowledgable guide. We did a walking tour of antigua and this tour was different information specially about the interesting facts of the chickens buses that you... read more see around Guatemala. Highly recommend!

  JJ was great!! He went into great detail of the history of Guatemalan culture and made some great recommendations for places to eat/visit.

  The Chicken Bus tour is my all time favorite tour in Antigua! From the moment we were picked up by the chicken bus to the last stop having an amazing... read more lunch of pepian with an indigenous family, each stop was filled with discovery, culture, locals, and amazing views of the volcanoes. We were treated to a cacao demonstration and sampled the chocolates, then the nispero honey and onto Fredy’s café for some fabulous dark roasted coffee grown locally by his family and served in his home. Onto the macadamia farm, the only one in Central America, where we experienced a relaxing macadamia facial! We were all smiles for our lunch with a local indigenous family who spent most of the morning preparing the Papillion. We are also treated to a weaving demonstration by the ladies of the house. All in all it was a fun filled day with smiles all around. Our guide Estephen. was knowledgeable and personable, we learned so much from him. Our driver Antonio and his son Fernando managed to get us in and out of some of the small villages on the chicken bus. A skilled driver indeed! I live part time in Antigua and this is the third time I have taken my visitors on the chicken bus tour and I highly recommend it for everyone of all ages!

  Incredible & Unforgettable Journey with Columbus Guatemala Travel - Words cannot adequately express the incredible experience our families had with Columbus Guatemala Travel. From the moment we booked our trip to the bittersweet farewell, every aspect of our Guatemalan... read more adventure was meticulously planned and executed to perfection. This tour company, led by the dynamic duo of JJ and Catherina, redefines the concept of world-class travel planning, and they delivered a vacation for our father's 60th birthdays that will forever remain in our hearts and minds.

JJ and Catherina's were with us in every step from the very beginning. Their commitment to ensuring our comfort and satisfaction went above and beyond anything I have experienced in my travels. Their genuine warmth and kindness, coupled with extensive knowledge of the country's history, culture, and natural wonders, allowed us feel immersed in a cultural experience .

The Columbus Guatemala Travel team left no stone unturned in making our journey as comfortable and seamless as possible. They anticipated our every need, be it accommodations, transportation, or dietary requirements, and catered to them with remarkable attention to detail. We felt genuinely cared for and supported, allowing us to fully immerse ourselves in the beauty of Guatemala without any distractions or concerns.

As we traversed the breathtaking landscapes of Guatemala, we were in awe of the team's ability to introduce us to the very essence of this magnificent country. Their carefully curated itinerary took us on a captivating exploration of ancient Mayan ruins, vibrant markets, serene lakes, and lush rainforests. We encountered warm-hearted locals, tasted delectable cuisine, and discovered hidden gems, all the while feeling the guiding presence of JJ and Catherina.

It's rare to find a company that surpasses all expectations, but Columbus Guatemala Travel did precisely that. If you're considering a trip to this magical land, do yourself a favor and book with them – it will undoubtedly be one of the best decisions you'll ever make.

To JJ, Catherina, and the entire Columbus Guatemala Travel team, thank you for giving us the gift of an unforgettable, life-enriching adventure. Your passion, dedication, and exceptional service have left an indelible mark on our lives. We cannot recommend you highly enough and eagerly look forward to our next journey with you.

  Great time! JJ was an awesome guide. We live here and got to see a lot of hidden treasures. A lot of nice villages.

  Excellent tour, lovely villages, friendly people and history. Amazingly supporting local people. Felix made our tour extremely interesting, we really enjoyed it.

  I’m a long time user of Tripadvisor but never got around to posting much, but wanted to write about this tour because it was my favorite tour in Antigua! There... read more is so much history, culture, and wonderful visits to villages packed in to this tour and it didn’t feel rushed. Felix was our tour guide and he is top notch making it so informative, interesting, and enjoyable. He’s one of the best tour guides in all my decades of traveling. We had a multi lingual group and Felix made sure everyone got all the information and no one was left out. We were able to tour longer than advertised because our group enjoyed all the sites, and Felix asked if anyone needed to go and would accommodate to our schedule. The Guatemalan people are so friendly and welcoming and this tour is great because you get to see different villages around Antigua and learn about their rich history. Don’t miss out on this tour it’s so worth it!

  JJ was such a knowledgeable and interesting guide. It was definitely obvious that he was passionate about his country and his people. I loved the Macadamia farm tour... read more it was super interesting. A fun half day thing to do while in Antigua. I recommend it highly!

  My experience with Esteban was exceptional. He's very knowledgeable, passionate about what he does, and very personable. It was a day well spent and I can't thank him enough. He... read more went above and beyond (provide names of some great restaurants, and tailor the tour so I can see a few places I wanted to visit) to make sure my experience was a good one. I would recommend this tour to everyone, but especially for solo travelers like myself!! Don't hesitate to book and request Esteban!!!!

PS- He's a great photographer!!!

  Best Tour Guides Ever - Columbus Guatemala Tours is hands down the best travel tour operator I have ever worked with. I’ve booked through tour groups in countries like Brazil, India, Italy, Germany, and the... read more UK, but have never worked with such an organized group of individuals who truly care about crafting an all around experience for you.

Catherina was responsive, thoughtful, and dedicated to crafting a full trip itinerary that met our travel needs, and did so in a short timeline. She made sure we felt like our needs and ideas were incorporated into the plan, but ultimately, we learned to trust her expert local opinion on what to do and where to eat, and it worked out better than we could have imagined. Not only did she handle the itinerary, she also took care of all of our bookings, making trip planning simple.

JJ, our tour guide for the entirety of the trip, is one of the most friendly guides I’ve ever met. He was extremely thorough about making sure we knew what the plan was, where we were going, and translating all things shared by local guides or merchants - he never made us feel like the language barrier was a limiting factor in our experience. JJ was generous with his time and energy, allowing us to make adjustments to schedule and make detours as needed - he was always on time and never missed a beat. He even came on all of our hikes to make sure we felt safe and taken care of, and brought us a lot of laughs on the way. One thing that also stood out was how generous he was to all of their suppliers and local guides, the folks that drove the tuk tuks, the boats, and even showed us around the volcano. He treated everyone with the utmost respect, and made them feel included and welcome to experience the journey with us.

Overall Guatemala is a wonderful country, full of rich cultural experiences and tremendous nature. We hiked to watch the sunrise at Tikal, the volcano of San Pedro, and Acatenango to see Volcan de Fuego erupt. Each of these activities were magnificent in their own way, and were awe inspiring views to say the least. We also had the luxury to stay at Casa Palopo in Lake Atitlan, which was the perfect hotel to soak in the majesty of Lake Atitlan. In Antigua, we were lucky enough to spend time with the extended Columbus Guatemala tour team, and they made the city feel like home. They hosted a surprise birthday party for my dad and I during a cooking class, and we got to celebrate as if we had been family forever. I will forever cherish the experiences and memories I created in Guatemala, and I’m grateful for the Columbus Guatemala team for making it happen!

  The Chicken bus tour was awesome!
Stephen was an excellent guide - very knowledgeable, comprehensive, informative and fun to spend 4 hours with. The Chicken Bus experience was cool.... read more Driver and son were prompt, professional and a pleasure to be with. We covered alot with multiple personal tours of boutique, family run small business' where everyone takes great pride in their work. I learned a ton. Chocolate (cacao) tour and tasting seeing how the process works - all by hand. Wine tour and tasting was nice. The macadamia nut farm was enlightening. The indigenous townspeople were all very friendly, personable and humble. Overall, a great experience!

  We took this tour with our two toddlers and all of us had a blast. All staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. We visited spots we would have never visited... read more by our own. We learned about coffee, chocolate, textiles, and lots of history . It was a unique/authentic experience Definitely recommend this tour for all ages.

  Amazing guide - JJ was an incredible guide. So friendly, personable, knowledgeable, and kind. He really made this tour amazing and unique for us both :D. The fresh chicharron & tacos was a... read more real highlight! Highly recommend!