17 Jan 2022
Two parents and an 11 and a 13 year-old took a GEM Tours Tikal Sunset Tour from El Remate in late December 2021. I’ve taken a number of tours of historical ruins around the world, but I don’t remember one as well-organized as this one. The emailed PDF of the tour was quite detailed, complete and accurate, almost to the minute. GEM sets up WhatsApp channels for each tour group, so your last-minute questions are responded to very quickly. Roel, our guide, proved to be a fountain of information on the history of Tikal and the Mayan civilization. Also impressive was the tour’s efficiency: instead of us having to wait behind a long line of cars to buy admission tickets, we just drove to the front of the line and gained admission - GEM Tours had purchased our tickets the day before. The included-in-the-price lunch at one of Tikal’s restaurants was tasty and filling. We noticed that Roel knew the best walking routes (to avoid crowds) among the ruins, which was unsurprising since he grew up in and around Tikal with his father, a park ranger. While crowds weren't a big issue during our Pandemic-era tour, it was easy to see why crowd-avoidance skills will be (hopefully!) critical. Roel was professional, knowlegable, and kept us entertained with his great sense of humor. He paid particular attention to the questions of our kids. Roel kept his COVID-19 mask on throughout the tour. It was truly a wonderful afternoon. We highly recommend Roel Contreras and GEM Tours.