About us

Testimonials

Please have a look at a little of the feedback we have received from clients over the years...

Here at South America we firmly believe in the feedback of our clients, be it good or bad, as it really is the key to us moving forwards and improving our service and the overall experience. With the price of hotels and flights only on the increase we feel it is important to know where we have gotten things right and where wrong. In the below, please see what our clients are saying about us and judge for yourself. (please note that ALL of the reviews we feature are 100% real and unedited. If you would like to speak to any of our past clients please let us know).

Furthermore, we have started to gather customer reviews through Trustpilot so please take a look at our page on there to see how we are doing. Trustpilot Reviews >>

Hi Nick

 

I hope all is well!

 

I’m about to board my flight back to London and I just wanted to drop you a quick line to say thanks very much for helping me organise this trip which has been terrific!

 

Everything went really smoothly at every stage - the airport transfers, internal flights (thanks again for organizing replacement flight to Rio!), the hotels and Iguazú tours. This is definitely attributable to the planning and use of top quality companies / guides.

 

Rodrigo, who picked me up and dropped me off in Rio,is deserving of special mention. Not only was he really prompt and professional in terms of transfers but was a source of great info on Rio / Brazil which he kindly shared with me and gave great recommendations on places to visit / restaurants in Rio which were much appreciated!

 

If there is any particular review I can complete, please do leg me know / send me the link.

 

Obviously this was a fairly short trip but it definitely whetted my appetite for visiting South America and I can’t wait to do so again... I will definitely be calling on your expertise again in future!

 

Very many thanks again Nick.

 

Best

 

Louise

Louise
April 19, 2019

Hi Nick,

Just to let you know we have safely arrived in Hong Kong and enjoyed Chile very much!

We were quick lucky on the weather so all the flights were on time and nothing strange happens; a minor problem was on our date of arrival, because it is also public holiday in Chile, almost all the shops were closed so we didn't get the chance to do some shopping in Santiago. We were so impressed by the scenaries from South to North in Chile, and my parents rate it one of the best trip we have done in life! I do have some comments about the hotels we stayed:

Awasi Patagonia: The room view here was excellent, also the room deco.Torred del Paine was probably the most beautiful place I have ever visited in life, we should have spent one more night there. The lodge is a little bit further away from the national park, so for us to do all the execursions we wanted (we did Lake Grey Navigation and base of tower hike), we all need to leave the lodge very early in the morning and come back late in the afternoon. The service of the lodge is excellent, also the guide is very professional. But for the price we paid, I have to say the food here was not up to the standard we expected. I think there are two chefs there in the kitchen, for example, the omelette we had for the first two days was excellent but it was completely different on the third day; and the lamb was completely rare on one night's dinner. We didn't complain these to the hotel because after execusions we were just too tired.

Vira Vira: The best lodge we have ever stayed! We have stayed in many top brand hotels in the world, such as aman and mandarin oriental, but Vira Vira exceeds our expectations in every aspects. From the moment we arrived in the airport, every service was just perfect; the staffs were so attention to details, on our way back to the airport, they even had Chinese music for us in the car. Since it is low season, we are the only guest staying in the lodge for the first day, we decided to do an upgrade to the villas. The lodge has its own farm, so almost everything we have was from the garden, even cheese and yogurt. The food here was execellent, the best we have in Chile; in our mind, it is even better than Borago. Pucon's view was certainly not as scenic as Torres del Paine and Atacama, but we still enjoyed fishing king salmon down the river, horseback riding and hiking to see monkey puzzle trees. We also like the Spa here. The guide said the lodge was possibly inspired by Awasi, but I think in terms of general experience, Vira Vira is better than Awasi. 

Tierra Atacama: The service here was also great, we were given a complete view of what we could do on our arrival. Rooms are very comfortable and we liked the swimming pool and Spa. The execusions they offered covered all the highlights of Atacama, but since it is on a shared basis, I feel the schedule was a little bit rushed during our visit to Salar de Atacama. The astronomy execusion was paticularly good and I would recommend others to visit in the future. The food here was simple but delicious; they have more guests than Awasi and Vira Vira, so if we sit in the corner, it could be unattentive at some time.

 

And thank you so much for planning such an amazing trip for us, wish you all the best in the future.

 

Best regards,

 

Hui

Hui
April 19, 2019

Dear Nick,

 

Good to hear from you. You were on my email list, but I am still trying to catch up after 5 weeks away from Mauritius !

 

Now the feed back on the holiday - it was wonderful ! Below is a brief assessment of my (our ?) views on the various aspects of the trip :

 

Transfers - these were nearly faultless, at every airport & station (except one) there was someone to meet us & take us to our hotel. On one occasion the guide arrived 10 minutes late, but he was so helpful, knowledgeable & charming that we soon forgave him ! Similarly the transfers from the hotels to the airport/ station worked Impeccably & the guides helped us with the Check Ins. 

 

Hotels - these varied from good to excellent. Sarah & I we’re not over impressed with the Hotel Lot in Lima, although Graeme & Janine liked it - they had a better room !

 

Choice of Destinations - you also helped on what places to visit in the 2 countries. We enjoyed all the cities/towns & sites that you chose for us. 

 

Guides - most of the guides were excellent. A lady guide (Sarah) we had in Lima was less than impressive, although by the end of the morning she made up for it by taking us to the Larco Museum about which she was very knowledgeable. Generally the guides were friendly & well informed & also not clock watchers. 

 

We really enjoyed both Colombia & Peru. Everyone we met was very friendly. The service in the restaurants was good & the food generally delicious & not expensive. 

 

So Nick, many thanks for organizing all this. The only question we now have is, where do we go next year !

 

Kind regards

 

Tim

Tim and Sarah
February 27, 2019

Dear Nick,

Since coming back from our wonderful trip to Columbia and Peru, I was quite busy. Sorry to have taken so long to add to Tim’s comments on our trip.

 

Transfers: This is one of the great pleasures not having to negotiate with taxis etc... What a pleasure to be met by our guides who were all good and efficient.

 

Hotels: You always choose hotels in good, central areas. However, in Lima, the Lot Hotel was a bit disappointing, although its position was good. We walked along the escarpment to Barranquilla which looks trendy with Boutique Hotels. We had a delicious meal at Rosa Nautica Restaurant on the Pier where I picked up a brochure for The Ficus Hacienda. We booked a tour for the next afternoon and really enjoyed visiting the hacienda where they breed Peruvian Paso horses and fighting cocks.

 

The choice of destinations in Columbia was great: I particularly like Cartagena, the Salt Cathedral and the Coffee region. We had a great little Hotel in Pereira and a very entertaining guide called George.

The hotel in the Sacred Valley was fabulous. We had great day trips to the different Inca sites. Of course, Manchu Picchu was impressive.

Cusco has a lovely city centre and enjoyed our stay at The Marriott. We found a nice small restaurant; Baco, just down the road from the Hotel.

The train journey from Cusco to Puno was very scenic specially for the first 5 hours.

We liked the hotel in Puno situated outside of town and we were able to to walk round the Peninsula where is located the Belmont Hotel. The day trip to the floating Islands and Taquilla Island was beautiful.

 

The Jungle: we were lucky as we did not have too much rain. The lodges were great and were happy to have our own plunge pool. I was a bit disappointed not to see more wildlife.

 

General comments: people were great in both countries. Towns were clean and the central squares very attractive, the museums ( Gold in Bogotá, Larco in Lima) incredible, the archeological sites amazing... this holiday was an education for us as we discovered so much.

 

The next trip: What about Southern Brazil(Curitiba), Route Romantica, the wine region, the Falls in Argentina, Mendoza, Antarctica ????

 

Thank you for organising our 2 visits to South America, both were wonderful holidays.

Best regards,

Janine and Graeme.

Graeme and Janine
February 27, 2019

Yes, definitely one ocean expedition ship the experience was fantastic , staffs was very helpful and friendly , we enjoyed a lot during the trip , and they organised many talks about this land we really learned knowledge from there ,

thanks again for your arrangement !

Regards, Amy and Albert


SEE THEIR GALLERY

Amy and Albert
December 29, 2018

Hi Nick,

Happy New Year!

Yes, we have just gotten home after a 12 day Argentina whirlwind. I have to say that drivers from H&T Tours were great in every city we visited. They sometimes had to wait for us, but we never had to wait for them!

Hotels: 1. Club Tapiz was incredible. The food, the staff, the setting, everything was perfect.

2. Cyan Hotel - pretty outdated room, although spacious. Staff was excellent though and we liked the breakfast.

3. Hosteria Senderos - Excellent staff, room was tiny but very nice! Breakfast was average.

4. Mine Hotel - Excellent staff, beautiful room. Great location in Palermo Soho. I think we booked the right amount of time in El Calafate (2 nights) vs. El Chalten (3 nights). We felt like there was more to do in El Chalten, whereas the main draw in Calafate is the Perito Moreno Glaciar.

Thanks again for all of your help planning the entire trip!

Best, Emily

Emily and Joseph
December 24, 2018

Hi Ed,

Happy holidays!

We are home now after a wonderful and adventurous whirlwind of a trip. Paul and I wanted to thank you for helping us to plan the perfect trip for our family. We all had a fabulous time. Patagonia is an exquisite corner of our earth and we are so lucky to have been able to visit. Each of the hotels you booked for us were spot on. They were charming, clean, friendly atmosphere and relaxing. The recommendations that you made based on our expressed travel style and plan allowed us to relax in the full confidence that your companies' expertise was worthy of our trust.

We especially enjoyed the all inclusive Hotel las Torres. The staff, guides, food, excursions, the bar were all perfect. We made many friends with the local baqueanos and guides as well as other patrons from all over the world. We visited glaciers, hiked 8 and 12 hrs to two amazing peaks to Fitz Roy and Torres del Paine. We learned to horseback ride and then went back for more riding up the mountains with the well loved horses. We climbed Perito Moreno Glacier and enjoyed whiskey at the top. We got sun-burnt on the beaches of Zapallar and toured Valparaiso and Vina del Mar.

The people of Chile and Argentina are so friendly and welcoming. This was truly a bucket list trip.

Thanks for your expertise in helping us - it was the perfect trip for our family to truly bond, laugh, push each other up the mountain and just chill together.

Sincerely
Laura & Paul

Laura, Paul, Alex & Gianna
December 11, 2018

Hi Ed!

We had an absolutely amazing honeymoon!! Thank you so much for your help in making that happen.

Our favorite place was definitely Mendoza, and Club Tapíz had a lot to do with that. We loved it there and didn’t want to leave! They even gave us a bottle of champagne (sparkling torrontés) with cherries and chocolates to celebrate our honeymoon. That was a really nice touch. The whole place has an air of luxury about it that we were looking for in our honeymoon, and I’m so glad we were able to relax and enjoy our time at club Tapíz. We also really enjoyed their complimentary wine tastings every evening! It was a fun way to make friends with other guests, and it really felt like a family event. The restaurant there was also wonderful! I truly can’t say anything bad about it. Oh, and as a bonus for us, there were puppies right outside the front of club Tapíz! So every day we went out to play with them and it really made our honeymoon! And of course we had so much fun visiting different wineries. We hired a driver one day, and the second day we did a bike tour. Both days were amazing. Mendoza is such a beautiful place!

CasaSur Palermo was great as well. They were very good to us, especially on our last day when they held our bags all day long and even allowed us to shower in the spa before heading to the airport. The staff at the front desk was helpful in answering our questions and helping us to book reservations. We enjoyed that they offer a complimentary welcome drink that you can take to the gorgeous rooftop. We only wish we knew about the rooftop sooner, we didn’t find it until our last night. All in all, it was a great place to stay. And we loved staying in Palermo. I felt safe there, and it was easy to get to the subway to go into town.

La Cantera Lodge was nice. We felt that the photos online made it look more luxurious than it actually was, but we really enjoyed the pool and restaurant there. I ultimately wanted to feel like we were in the jungle, and I was still happy to feel that way. The falls are just incredible! We enjoyed every second of seeing them. At first I wasn’t sure if we should bother going to the Brazilian side (since we had to pay for visas, etc) but it was so worth it!!

One thing we should have looked into ahead of time was the weight limits on checked bags with the domestic Aerolineas Argentinas flights. They only allow 15 kilos, so with our purchased bottles of wine from Mendoza, we were over the limit and had to pay. I think you mentioned that you’d be going to Argentina for your honeymoon, so I just wanted to warn you about that. It’s not too expensive at least.

I’ll be sure to write reviews and post pictures for you soon! We truly had an amazing honeymoon. It was everything we wanted and more! So thank you so much!

All the best,

Marissa and Sam

Marissa & Sam
November 25, 2018

Hi Ed,

Seldom does a vacation manage to end up checking off every box. I have to honestly admit that our vacation to Chile was one such! It helps that Chile is such a beautiful country- I guess you already know this fact. But what made it a truly remarkable vacation was that, while I was out there hiking and enjoying the splendors of Chile, everything was taken care of to the best of my satisfaction, and I could just "be present in the moment!" Thank you for taking care to do such a thorough job.

I am pleased with all the accommodations chosen for me- they met/ exceeded my expectations regarding comfort, service and activities offered. In particular, I want to give a shout out for Jose, your representative agent in Santiago. He was phenomenally efficient, helpful, and may I say, even classy!

Take care,

Dinesh

Dinesh & Uma
November 24, 2018

Hi Ed

Apologies for the delay in responding.

The holiday was amazing and I can’t believe we actually did all of that.

It was well planned apart from a couple of incidents where timings were extremely tight. As you know, we missed the flight but even if the flight was on time, the turn around would have still been tight. Might be worth adding in some more buffer time in furture.

Thanks again for your help. We’d definitely recommend you and your services to our friends and family and use you again.

Have a lovely Christmas and a happy new year.

Aliya & Don

Aliya & Don
November 14, 2018

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