"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%

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

  I had a wonderful time walking around Antigua with Esteban. He was very knowledgeable of the history and culture that laid the foundation of Antigua. We visited many churches... read more and neighbors and he answered all my questions!! Very patient tour guide too. I highly recommend this tour company!!

  Guatemala Experience - I had the pleasure to work with Columbus - Guatemala on my entire 2 week trip. Everything went as smooth as possible and Katherine was always available to help... read more and adjust anything I needed. My Antigua walk (along with rides around Guatemala) was provided by Esteban. That guys sure knows Guatemala - what a wealth of information along with being an all around good person. He showed me around Antigua, took me to a great place for a local lunch, drove me to a few small towns (which were amazing), and helped me practice my Spanish. I would highly recommend using Katherine and her crew to set up a vacation. Mine also included Semuc Champay, Tikal, Lake Atitlan and an overnight hike to the Volcano Acatenango. All were done through Katherine and Columbus, Guatemala - and all were a major success. I look forward to working with them again. Such a beautiful country with kind and generous people.

  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!!!

  Great sights, and energetic and funny tour guide. Unfortunately, the tour took 8 hours when it was supposed to take 4 hours

  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!

  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!!!

  The entire staff went out of their way to make sure everything went smoothly for me.

The booking was smooth, the guide was super knowledgeable and interesting, the picnic... read more was delicious, the entire Pacaya experience was amazing.

I have dealt with other agencies before and I’ll just say that I highly recommend booking a tour with these guys!

  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.

  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.

  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 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!

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

  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!

  I had the best experience with JJ. He catered as best he could to what would interest me and was very knowledgeable and fun throughout the entire tour. It was... read more a wonderful learning experience and I saw places I otherwise would not have been exposed to or found myself. I recommend this tour if you wanna get a good introduction to Antigua.

  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.

  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.

  I cannot imagine a better tour guide for our day in San Juan Comalapa. We wanted to see this village known for it's local artists and the for the market... read more that was happening on that day. The drive from Antigua to Comapala was great because Esteban explained oh so many things about not only this region - but about the entire country of Guatemala. His vast knowledge of history, agriculture, traditions and the Mayan culture is wonderful. We had been in Guatemala for nearly a week - we had so many questions...he certainly filled us in on the chicken buses and the beautiful clothing we had seen. The mural was wonderful: each panel showed village life from traditions to their history including the horror of the civil war. The market was vibrant...the merchants were wonderful.
Esteban arranged for us to meet Oscar Peren in his Gallery. This was certainly a highlight for us. Esteban translated as Senor Peren spoke of his art.It was a personable experience I will never forget. I am thrilled to own one of his paintings. But I did not feel pressured to buy.
We felt safe in the comfortable SUV . Esteban is an excellent driver. He even provided water and snacks for the drive.

  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!!