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

  Columbus Guatemala Travel was amazing! We booked our travel itinerary with them just a month before traveling to Guatemala and they were able to book great accommodations and adventures for... read more my husband and I. The tour guides were great, especially Esteban. He was full of knowledge and has a very friendly and fun personality. We enjoyed our time in Guatemala. It is beautiful with so many things to do and see! We loved the culture and the opportunity to see Mayan ruins and the land. We will definitely be coming back!

  I was lucky enough to be the only tourist on my tour, so I had a personalized experience, but nonetheless I believe it would've been just as good with other... read more guests. Esteban was professional, enthusiastic, and flexible in delivering his wealth of information and tailoring the walk to my pace, questions, and interests. His English was fantastic, and his familiarity with the city is evident by how many locals said hello to him throughout the 3.5 hours. The tour is a great way to see the city and understand it's rich history. I recommend taking the tour on your first day in Antigua so you can have a better awareness of all of the city has to offer with which to personalize and maximize your stay.

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

  Culturally Rich Tour - Had a fantastic tour around the villages south of Antigua - Catherina from Columbus Travel was able to make it happen in the end even when the date I picked... read more originally didn't seem to be available. The tour was incredibly in-depth, and we visited the villages to the south of Antigua, visiting many of the local small farms, artisan shops, and local landmarks in the area.

Everywhere we stopped by didn't feel touristy, it just felt a part of the local neighbourhood. (For those interested, just note that the tour does encompass a few local small businesses showcasing quality Guatemalan products, but that's fairly expected - it's always good to support the local community.) As an added bonus, the personalized "Columbus Chicken Bus" was a funky concept 😉

Carlos the guide was stellar, and he dedicated hours to explaining sites in the villages and everything along the route in such great detail, making sure nothing was lost in translation to help me get the most of the afternoon. The tour never felt rushed, and Carlos bent over backwards to reflect the best of Guatemalan life!

Thanks very much to the entire Columbus Team!

  This travel agency is a hidden gem!!!

Katy and stefano were one of the most helpful and understanding travel experts i have seen in the past 3 months. They... read more helped me sort out an amazing experience with full of local hidden pearls that you will not find with standard agencies. They have such a long history with travelling and guatamala that they recommend places only that are of extraordinary. Just hop in their office and youll ubderstand what i mean.

Thanks for all the great tips throughout my travel in guatamala!!

  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!

  street food tour - We did a street food tour, 55$ seems first like a lot but the whole day you pay anything, food/drinks/chickenbus-transfer etc. is included. Our guide Esteban was really nice and... read more very informative. Not only trying some street food (which was delicous) but also you will get a lot of culture and history information, we went to the local market aswell. We would highly recommend it 10/10.

  Unique trip, really delivered. Had a fun half day travelling around the surrounding villages with Stephano (who created the tour) and JJ in the Chicken Bus. Learnt a lot... read more about the area and visited some genuine local enterprises, each with a good sustainability credentials. Thoroughly recommend, it's got to one of the best short trips in Antigua. Columbus staff all really friendly and helpful.

  great time - Amazing experience , the tour guide Gabriel was very experienced and great guy . we enjoy the places we visit in a safe environment. will recommend and do again.

  Ask for JJ. He is super knowledgeable and has so many fun facts about the city. It's a long tour, but doesn't feel like it when you're on it. 10/10... read more experience; I highly recommend this walking like a local tour with JJ.

  This was the most breathtaking experience of my life. Yimer was an excellent guide & the horses were lifesavers (Champion and Pancho we miss you!) My friend and I had... read more a picnic in the craters of an active volcano and we shared with our guides and learned about cheese leaves and rode the horses up and down (I am from the American south so the altitude killed me during the hike.) The pictures our guide took of us are going to be framed in my home. I am so happy. They were THAT good.

  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.

  Thank you so much Colombus Travel! A few weeks ago, I was travelling in Antigua and was in desperate need to transport to Lake Atitlan and not only did they... read more do everything in their power to help me, but the were so positive too! I really appreciated your help!

  The guide had a lot of knowledge and enthusiasm about one of the nicest cities I ever has visited. Very good experiences. We walked around in the city, visited different... read more highlights.

  Wow what a wonderful way to spend the day exploring Antigua’s surrounding villages/towns!! My partner and I decided to book this tour instead of climbing the volcano and we were... read more worried we would regret it, but we honestly could not be happier! Our tour guide JJ was absolutely incredible - so warm, friendly and easy to talk to (also spoke perfect English which was bonus). He shared openly so much wonderful knowledge and history about his local area, the people and surrounding villages, culture and their way of life. JJ’s passion and love for his country and community truly shone and he was also so kind, patient and giving with his time and knowledge. If you are looking for an authentic experience in which you want to learn more about the locals and their everyday life whilst visiting some amazing family run businesses (with great wine and chocolate) then do not hesitate to book this tour! Thank you so much JJ and Columbus Guatemala Travel for the amazing experience!!!

  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!

  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!

  Great insight and some nice street food and coffee! Learned a lot about the city and about Guatemala as a whole. Would recommend

  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!