Jan 30, 2024
Fantastic experience but not easy going - This excursion was brilliant. The waterfalls were each very different, but both beautiful and Palenque was amazing. Being able to fit three fantastic visits into one day was well worth doing. It was however a very, very long day - more than 12 hours of driving in a small van along windy roads with what seemed like an infinite number of speed bumps. You start very early and don’t return until the late evening which was fine for me, but isn’t for everyone. Worth packing a travel pillow, snacks, water, hand sanitizer and bug spray.
There was a slightly more expensive option for an ‘English speaking guide’ which my partner and I opted for as our Spanish is minimal. Don’t pick this - there’s some sort of miscommunication and an English guide wasn’t provided for us, nor others who did the same having looked at other reviews on Viator. We complained about this after the tour and were provided with a partial refund. You should also note that the driver did not speak English either so confirming timings was a bit tricky.
So, in summary, a fantastic (albeit long and tiring) day, but maybe avoid if you are specifically looking for an English speaking tour (these are apparently a lot pricier FYI) or suffer from travel sickness.
Review provided by Viator
Sep 6, 2018
Magic - They are beautiful and impressive waterfalls!!! They must know them!!! their turquoise blue Palenque by car you can reach the place in an hour and a half only on the way there are children who seem to want to assault you if you do not buy something close the road.
The fee is 30 pesos per person (10 pesos in a booth and 20 pesos in the entrance)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mar 16, 2024
Nice way to travel to Palenque - Good way to see explore palenque. Feels a little rushed at the waterfalls and too much time at the ruins. The company were nice enough to let us bring our luggage (strapped to the top of the van) and allowed us to stay in Palenque for the rest of our trip.
FYI - No English and there was hardly any signal for Google translate; just to confirm the plans for the day. -Also try to be picked up first as the back row is very tiny and it's a very bumpy ride.
Review provided by Viator
Dec 1, 2018
Great travel agency owner who cares about customer experience - As there are many travel agencies in San Cristobal that do identical day-trips, it is hard for one of them to stand out. As long as you walk around and ask in a few places - you will quickly understand what is the standard price - just don't book any tours in your hotel for double the amount!
When we went on a day trip to Palenque, one of the villages we were driving through went on a strike, and were not letting any cars pass through throughout the whole day, no matter how hard we tried to talk them into it. Unfortunately we had to leave our guide & minibus there, "cross the border" and arrange another local guide on the other side as we were determined to see the sights. In the end it all worked out well, and when we returned to San Cristobal and spoke to the travel agency owner - he was very apologetic about the experience we had and refunded us a very fair amount of the sum we paid.
Unfortunately the driver didn't speak English and when our minibus was stopped by the locals it was hard to communicate about the situation and the way out of it, but luckily other tourists on the bus helped us out
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nov 6, 2018
Misol Ha Agua azul - The best of Misol HA IS ITS WATER very fresh cool to swiim the first on from the parking and comedors area is th biggest, taking the tours to this site is the best.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 27, 2018
You can't miss this if you're going to chiapas - on my next trip, I will fly direct to beautiful villa tabasco so that I can travel without so many stops and curves and I will stay in a hotel in palenque to dedicate a week to explore palenque and the Lacandon jungle, since as we were on tour we did not have enough time
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Feb 25, 2019
Regular - Take this tour through the agency passion for chiapas from san cristobal, the buses are a little uncomfortable and have bad air conditioning . I left at 4:00 am for the falls, the bus stops in the morning at a restaurant where the driver says we can get off for breakfast, and the only option is to buy a breakfast buffet offered by the restaurant, which otherwise serves poorly. Besides they tell you that there are bathrooms and they do not give you preference to enter until q all those of the buffet who paid have gone to the bathroom, and once you are empty you can pass, even though you pay to enter the bathroom. Then you get to the blue waterfalls q luckily they don't make you go with guide and you can walk freely around the falls and bathe. After misol ha, where the tour includes the entrance, but inside there is a cave where you are charged to enter and is not included in the tour. Then the tour takes you to lunch, and it is in a hotel, where you are again obliged to pay for the hotel buffet. To then go to the ruins of palenque , where you pay an entrance fee to enter the parking area, and another to enter the ruins (it is included in the tour but if there are any retired Mexicans on the bus the second entrance fee is more economical for everyone and the driver when paying the entrance fee keeps the money that is left over from what we pay in the agency for the discount of retirees...) they offer you two options of guide, one to the ruins only , which is more expensive and more time in the ruins, and another half ruins half jungle, which is more economical and they do not explain all the ruins you see and take you to the jungle which is very nothing . Many say you have to go with guidance, but I don’t even remember what they told me anymore, each ruin has an overview of what it is and I spend there that you can read while looking at each ruin. The bad thing about all the places I have visited in Mexico is that every place you enter the bathroom is charged and should not because it is inside a room that you pay to enter, and the other is the tips of the guides, the one that takes you, the boat, etc... everywhere they ask for tip and tb should be included in what you pay, also the street vendors are desperate, not much happens and you already have a child stuck asking you to buy, which is pq they should not be working at that age
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 1, 2018
Driver worked alone from 4:00am to midnight - Even though the driver did his job well, it doesn’t seem reasonable to me that he was working alone from 4:00 a.m. to midnight, being behind the wheel for more than 12 hours. It seems to me that he and all the passengers are subjected to a risk that could be avoided by dividing the driving between two people.
On the other hand, in Palenque, a single guide had to attend to three entire vans. I mean, we were about 45 people in a single group so we wasted a lot of time waiting for the rest of the group every time we had to move. If we had known we would have preferred to do this part of the tour alone.
The service of the agency was therefore disappointing.
It's a long journey. We recommend staying to sleep in Palenque to avoid 5h return in the same day.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mar 5, 2024
Little attention to the safety and well-being of travelers - They didn't let us wait in the van or at the outbound stop (around 6.30AM and after having picked us up at 4AM so we were super tired), they made us wait outside standing for 45 minutes in a place with a bad atmosphere and a dangerous looking man hanging around. Same thing on the way back, 45 minutes standing in the sun after a very tiring activity, instead of waiting inside sitting. They care more about things on the bus than about people's well-being. It seems dangerous to me.
When I mentioned it to customer service, I got a person who, far from being decisive and attentive, seemed to me not to care about our experience or safety and I did not like the way she addressed the customer after explaining a fairly serious problem. This person is Georgina. Medina. Luckily our experience in Chiapas is always good and with friendly people, not like this time when we had to deal with a poor and unprofessional service provider.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 14, 2019
It's a fraudulent agency. - It is a fraudulent agency, it does not use qualified personnel and the units are not tourist, the staff of the office is not educated, they do not give you a receipt at the time of purchase, so they believe that a client has no way to complain because they never deliver receipts for the tours that people buy. Drivers are not federally licensed.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
