TRAVEL AGENCY AND TOUR OPERATOR DESTINATIONS IN NORTHERN CHILE

  Die nach unseren Wünschen von Mayurutour zusammengestellte 6tägige Tour war großartig. Angenehm auch der deutschsprachige, vorbereitende Schriftverkehr mit Gabriel Ramos. Dank an Gabriel! Perfekt die Durchführung der Tour durch Enrique,dem... read more liebenswerten einheimischen Guide und Fahrer. Dank an Enrique für die super gute Betreuung. Ebenfalls bestens betreut in Bolvien durch Dyonisios ,dem Guide und Fahrer und seiner Frau Sandra,mittägliche Köchin während der Wüstendurchquerung. Dank auch an die Beiden.
Fazit: Wir, Christiane,52 Jahre, Juristin und ich ,72 Jahre,Diplomsportlehrerin,können Mayuru-Tours, Enrique, Dyonisios und Sandra , sehr empfehlen!!

  We used Mayuru Tours for a 5 day/4 night trip through the Chilean Altiplano from Arica to San Pedro de Atacama. Overall the private tour was well organized, the guide/... read more driver was courteous and professional and the Altiplano beautiful.

Preplanning – For our travels through the Chilean Altiplano I was looking for a company to get us from Arica in the very far north of Chile to the popular desert gateway of San Pedro de Atacama. Not many companies service this area and it was difficult to find a company that would answer my emails. Even the folks at Mayuru Tours would take more than a week to respond. With a little persistence, however, we were able to arrange a tour that met our needs. I should also mention that the tour was one of their set itineraries with very little deviation. On the plus side, they do have numerous options to choose from.

Guide – Francisco was extremely professional and courteous. He spoke only Spanish, but spoke slowly and clearly such that even Don who speaks very little Spanish, was able to understand most things he said without my translating them by the end of the trip.

Itinerary – This was a driving tour, so there were a lot of hours in the car. The landscape is beautiful, but it’s a lot of short stops. Many of the sights are not must-sees, but if you are interested in this area of Chile it is a good way to see it. They sent us a detailed itinerary, in English, with what we would see each day. Any minor deviations in this itinerary were discussed with us beforehand. Also beware that several days are at high altitude, so it is wise to acclimate before beginning this trip.

Food and Accommodations – This is not a high-end tour. Hotels and restaurants in this region are basic. I think they arranged the best that they could, but there just isn’t much to choose from. That said, rooms were generally clean and comfortable and the food fine.

Transportation – The vehicle was a 4x4 Toyota Hilux, comfortable, in good condition and able to handle the rough roads. We had no transportation difficulties. Francisco was an excellent driver. In fact he had driven trucks for the mining companies for many years before becoming a tour driver and had an intimate knowledge of the roads, hotels and restaurants along the route.

Cost and Payment – We paid 733USD/person. This covered most everything except for a few small entry fees and dinner in Pica. The same tour with an English speaking guide would have cost 956USD/person. No deposit was required. We paid in cash when we met our guide and driver on the first morning.

Final Thought – I would definitely use Mayuru Tours again and think that overall the trip was a good value for the money.

  We booked this tour to see the Salr de Surire and the volcanoes en route, since we suspected that we did not have enough fuel to do this trip with... read more our rent-a-car (we did do Chungara on our own). Our Spanish is almost non-existent, as was our guide's English, but this was not a hindrance to having a great time - our guide stopped the van everytime we found something interesting. Volcán Guallatiri was smoking at the time, and we got some good photos of this, we stopped at various places around the Salar itself, including the Termas de Polloquere where we had our packed lunch. Lots of flamingoes (Andean and Puna), tinamou, rhea, vicuñas and vizcachas - a brilliant day out.

  Contratamos 4dias (3noches) i 4tours en San Pedro de Atacanama. Nos sentimos bien acogidos y se cumplieron con creces nuestras expectativas. Gracias al trato dispensado por Cecília i a los... read more guias de los tours.
Merece una mención especial Lorena (que fué nuestra guia en "lagunas amtiplánicas" y "geyseres del Tatio" por su profesionalidad y simpatia.
En cuanto al "hotel Dunas", sencillo pero acogedor, tuvieron un tracto muy correcto.
Gràcies per tot, de tot cor.
Família Riutort-Isern.

  Nous avons passé 3 jours et demi avec cette agence. Arica-Putre, -lac de Chungara-village de Parinacota- Salar de Surire- Cariquima-Humberstone-Iquique. Le voyage a été personnalisé suivant nos souhaits.
Ce voyage... read more s'est passé en mars 2019 soit moins d'un mois après les pluies exceptionnelles de février 2019.
Notre guide, Francisco originaire de Putre, a fait preuve de très grand professionnalisme, prudence et connaissance parfaite du terrain. Il a su s'adapter à nos demandes raisonnables et bien que nous parlions très peu la langue espagnole, nous avons créé des liens humains très forts.
4 jours qui resterons marqués dans nos mémoires.
Je recommande vivement l'agence Mayuru.

  Sabíamos que nuestra fecha era complicada por el invierno altiplanico, así lo advirtió la agencia. De todos modos quisimos hacer el tour de Arica a Iquique a traves del altiplano,... read more y nuestro guía Francisco se esmeró por ponerle humor, darnos información interesante sobre cada lugar donde estábamos, visitar lo más posible. En sus palabras, "hay que ir y ver cómo está". Encontramos mucha fauna, un tour muy fotografiable. El guía también fue muy respetuoso de nuestros tiempos e intereses, logrando crear un entorno muy ameno. El vehículo y la conducción impecables. Un aspecto a mejorar: el hotel de Putre, no tiene calefacción y pasamos frio. Sacando eso, ¡Los volveríamos a elegir sin dudas!

  Helmut was wonderful, his local knowledge of cultures and history was excellent
He involved us in the experience
Can’t rate Helmut more highly, he at all times made... read more certain we had what we needed and always went out of his way for us
We will be recommending this tour to our friends

  Excellent! Thank you so much Mayuru. I loved this trip. The service - from first emails to the tour guide & driver - was excellent. Everyone was friendly,... read more helpful, knowledgeable, professional and efficient. I have actually done this trip twice in 3 years because the the scenery is stunning and Mayuru make it possible to see all of its beauty without large crowds or coaches.
I am a female solo traveller and I felt totally safe and very well looked after the whole time. Thank you so much. It was the perfect trip, and I would do it all again without any hesitation.

  We had 8-day tour from Arica to San Pedro. The first 5 days were in a form of private tour with a driver/guide. This part was great: you get to... read more go to little visited places and experience the vastness of north Chile. Our driver was friendly and knowledgeable. We hardly ever got off the road, which I regretted a little, but we got to see a lot as it is. Accommodation and food was nothing more than basic, which is OK, and what you could expect from such remote places. When we got to Sand Pedro De Atacama for the last 2.5 days, we fared well from our guide and were set for 3 short excursions with one of the local operators. This part we enjoyed less: the excursions where in packed buses and I often felt like a member of a herd which is pushed from one meadow to the next. It seems like everyone in San Pedro takes the same excursions which have fixed routes at fixed times. So, everywhere we stopped we had 2-20 buses, of other operators, offloading their passengers together with us and departing together with us. We sometimes felt that we were given too short of a time to appreciate a location, while in at least one case we were not allowed to visit the destination... That's right, we drove a long way to Piedras Rojas, but the place is closed due to rehabilitation. You don't get to see it at all. The hotel which we were accommodated in was 10 min walk from the center of town and had only basic facilities (no wifi in the room, poor breakfast, etc.). The promised transport to the airport in the last day was again a seat in a bus with pre-set departure time which meant for us a long wait at the airport - we opted to pay for a private taxi instead (not that expensive) and get some more relaxing time in the town. Overall the cost of this trip was high in any standard, yet we felt that, especially in the last three days, we didn't get our money's worth. If I did it again, I'd probably rent a car for the entire duration, or at least for the last part in San Pedro. I'm sure that we would have had a different experience in San Pedro had we drove our own car, or paid for a taxi to avoid the crowds, make better use of our time, and visit some spots off the beaten track.

  Precioso el tour y la agencia muy responsable, el conductor muy prudente para manejar y muy instruido en toda la historia que conlleva el recorrido. Lo recomiendo al 100%.

  Wir - eine Freundin, ein Freund, mein Mann und ich - suchten eine 4-Tages-Tour von Iquique nach Arica. Im Internet entdeckte ich Mayuru Tours und schrieb diese agencia de viajes... read more an. Gabriel antwortete mir umgehend und bot mir eine sehr interessante Tour an. Das Preis-Leistungsverhältnis fanden wir in Ordnung - deshalb buchten wir auch gleich bei Mayuru Tours. Wir wurden pünktlich von dem Fahrer Enrique in Iquique abgeholt. Er strahlte uns sehr sympathisch an (die Sonne ging auf - und das war echt so), verstaute geschickt unser vieles Gepäck und fuhr mit uns zum Altiplano. Enrique wusste nicht nur alles, was wir ihn fragten, er fuhr uns auch noch sehr gut und sehr sicher von Iquique nach Arica. Es machte einfach Spass mit ihm - immer gut drauf - immer sehr hilfsbereit - nichts war ihm zu viel - TOLL! Kaum zückte ich die Kamera, fuhr er sofort langsam oder hielt an. Phantastisch! Er zeigte uns soooo viel von seiner wunderschönen Heimat und wurde nicht müde, uns alles ausführlich zu erklären. Mein Spanisch ist nicht gut, aber er sprach so deutlich, dass ich fast alles verstand. Mayuru Tours hat uns wirklich eine herrliche Reise mit guten Hotels und Restaurants ausgesucht. Wir waren total begeistert. Enrique überraschte uns an zwei Abenden im Restaurant mit besonderen Aufmerksamkeiten 🙂 VIELEN DANK ENRIQUE - das war wirklich super!!! Die vier Tage gingen leider viel zu schnell rum, aber wir haben in dieser Zeit sooo viel Schönes erlebt und konnten so viele neuen Eindrücke sammeln. Diese phantastische Tour wird uns unvergesslich bleiben. Auf jeden Fall werden wieder bei Mayuru Tours buchen. Wir sind so oft es geht in der ganzen Welt unterwegs, hatten aber noch nie einen so zuverlässigen Tourveranstalter wie Mayuru Tours, bei dem ALLES so wunderbar geklappt hat. Hier hat alles gestimmt - wirklich alles! Vielen Dank MAYURU TOURS, vielen Dank Gabriel und HERZLICHEN DANK ENRIQUE. Wir werden uns wiedersehen!

  The 2 days tour was amazing, we learnt a lot about Chilean culture and history thanks to our guide. Our driver was very nice and experienced. We felt safe on... read more despite the many crashed cars on the road.
The selected restaurant were good, and the hotel in Putre was very nice as well.
We saw many beautiful landscape and wild animals. We ended the tour with a dip in the thermal springs, that was an amazing experience.

  I guided a 13 Day Atacama tour from March 4-15 this year. I contracted a van and driver for the tour to go from San Pedro to Putre, with... read more stops in 3 national reserves, the Vicunha NR, Flamingos NR and Lauca National Park and on to Arica, with 3 more full days.

Mario, our driver, and guide excelled in every way. He really knew all the areas we went to and knew people at every stop. I have been operating tours in South America and living in Brazil for 43 years, and have had a lot of drivers. I will now insist in having him drive all our tours from Arica!

  We had an amazing time thanks to our guide Juan and our driver Roberto! The scenery was beautiful and the tour was well-planned.

  Zu dieser Jahreszeit gab es heftige Regenfälle und die Zufahrt zum Salar war auf der Hauptroute gesperrt. Es existierte jedoch eine Umgehung auf absolut passabler Allradpiste. Das einzige Fahrzeug was... read more auf der Route unterwegs war/ die Route kannte, bei wunderschönen trockenen Wetter und Sonnenschein war das moderne AllradFahrzeug von Mayuru. Francisco der Driverguide, der mit einem Pärchen unterwegs war, lud uns ein, ihm in unserem eigenen Fahrzeug zu folgen. Immer wieder stoppten wir und erhielten auch von ihm Abklärungen. Ein wunderschöner Tag in absoluter Abgeschiedenheit an diesem fantastischen Fleckchen Erde ohne weit und breit einen weiteren Touristen zu sehen!! Absolut empfehlenswert!

  Ma fille et moi avons réservé un circuit de 4 jours avec Maruyu dans le Nord du Chili (depuis Arica jusqu'à Iquique en passant par l'Altiplano, parc Lauca, lac Chungara...).... read more Nous sommes revenues enchantées !!
D'abord les premiers contacts par mail : notre interlocutrice à l'agence était réactive et a répondu à toutes nos questions dans des délais rapides. Elle nous a même proposé une guide francophone, ce à quoi je n'avais pas pensé au départ, et de réserver nos billets de bus après le circuit, ce qui était très sympathique de sa part. Tout était bien organisé, clair et transparent. A noter que j'avais contacté d'autres agences, et entre celles qui n'ont pas répondu du tout et celles qui mettaient des semaines à répondre ou à ne pas répondre...bref, seule Maruyu nous a convaincu de son sérieux !
le circuit : très bien organisé, Francisco, notre chauffeur, était un excellent conducteur, très prudent et attentionné. Quant à Andrea, notre guide francophone ce fut une très belle rencontre !! Les paysages étaient sublimes (malgré le mauvais temps, et oui c'était l'hiver bolivien et c'est le seul point négatif, l'agence n'avait pas prévenu que le temps pouvait être mauvais à la période où nous y sommes allées), nous avons pu voir une faune très riche, que personnellement je n'attendais pas forcement à ces altitudes.
Le fait d'avoir une guide francophone avec nous a été un vrai plus pour comprendre la vie dans l'altiplano.
Pour l'altitude : ma fille a été un peu malade le 2ème jour mais rien de bien grave. Quant à moi aucun problème : pas d'alcool et peu de cigarettes dans les jours précédents et un deux cachets de diurétique les deux premiers jours m'ont permis de très bien supporter l'altitude

Pour finir, je recommende vivement cette agence, même si les tarifs ne sont pas donnés !