4-Day Lost City Small-Group Tour in Santa Marta

We hired a tour paying SANTIAGO 800€ to be able to make the reservation, 20% of the total price that is what we were told. We had medical problems more than half of the friends we were going so we decided to cancel the tour more than 3 days in advance. According to their privacy policy they would have to return 10%. The company doesn't pick up the phone and when we get in touch with them they say it's not their fault we talk to Santiago and he doesn't pick up the phone. To ask for the money and hire the tour very well everything and very attentive, then they do not respond. Don't hire here.

Lost city is a magical place and the walk is really spectacular. Accommodations are comfortable, companies have great logistics everything is always ready at the agreed time, and guides know the place very well and will tell you very interesting things. However, I think it’s important to know what the experience is about so you don’t get disappointed. There is very very little time for breakfast, lunch, dinner, shower... I mean, if you eat at a slow pace like we do, it's really stressful. You have to walk many hours in a row, without breaks, at a pace that we could not connect with the place or with our own rhythm. Our feeling was to go all day running, we felt quite a lot of pressure and we lacked connection. If you like the mountain in sport and you are a person with fast pace you will do very well. But if you like the mountain to be in connection with nature, in our experience we do not enjoy lost city as we would have liked. Importantly, this is only our experience, these aspects have more to do with the logistics of all companies than the management of Baquians in particular, but I thought it important to reflect this experience because it is very expensive and so that other travelers can get to know it. I would have really liked to read it before I went.

From beginning to end, I felt this tour company was lacking in professional especially when this tour was not cheap by any means ($500 per person for 3 nights and 4 days). Firstly, I asked over and over what my pickup time will be before the start of the tour and never heard back despite calling and reaching out to the office days prior to the tour, but got no response. On the day of the tour, they surprised us that they were ready to pick us up when we hadn't even had our breakfast because they never told us what time pick up was which was frustrating! Secondly, there were 2 nights out of 3 where our group of 8 had to choose which 4 people would share beds or use hammocks (on our last night, hammocks were not even an option and people HAD to share beds). They said the tour was overbooked and that there was no other choice but to share beds. HOW ARE YOU OVERBOOKED WHEN YOU KNOW EXACTLY HOW MANY BEDS THERE ARE AT EACH CAMPSITE?!! We were livid and infuriated as a group because we were asked to decide internally for ourselves who would share the beds. Considering how hot and humid the weather was, sharing beds on a twin bunk bed was not something anyone wanted to volunteer for, rightfully so!! As for the hammocks on the second night, it was even worse according to our groupmate who volunteered. She said not only did the hammocks smell terrible, the guides around her were talking late into the evening, couldn't sleep because of the loud snoring and people bumping into her hammock when they had to get up to use the bathroom. She said after being unable to sleep for couple hours, she asked one of our groupmates if she could share the bed with them. I found all of this unacceptable but what was most intolerable was when we made our complaints to the tour agency about getting some compensation back for having to share beds, they did nothing about it. I gave the benefit of the doubt before making this review by giving them a chance to make amends but after 3 weeks of following up, they offered no compensation back. This seems to be a common error that happens all the time so I would think twice before going through this company. Lastly, my booking said it would have 4 dinners but only had 3 dinners so I feel I am also owed some compensation back but received none. Skip this company altogether and find another company that will be more accommodating and honest than this company.