Highlights of South America & the Galapagos Reviews

No tour is perfect but this was excellent value for money, one of our most memorable trips, plus we made a few lifelong friends :) The weather was on our side, especially at Machu Picchu and the first day at Iguazu Falls but it rained pretty heavily on the second day. Our group, compared with the other Bunnik group was more active and less whingey, ...read more so we thank God for His perfect matching! I really liked the SMALL group concept. All of us survived the high altitude. Our local guide(s) were all knowledgeable and one was so helpful in calmly helping my wife when we had visa issues at the Bolivian border and pre-filling out the entire group's immigration forms at the airport!

Our tour director was competent but we can only rate her 3/5. Accommodation was standard (though we were unfortunate guides pigs for Bunnik's new hotel option which provide woeful service) but the fantastic hotels in Machu Picchu and Iguazu Falls made up for it. Tip: When booking Easter Island extension, ask for a hotel upgrade as the default one was very very mediocre & a massive let down after our South American tour :( Ending with a cruise was ideal as it provided down time, especially to review our 'digital mountain'! Last but not least, though I started to get the flu on the last day, God miraculously provided us with an upgrade to Business Class, so I could rest before returning to work. Yvonne Brooks was fantastic in answering all our queries and expediting our requests. Yes I would recommend this tour... and I saw they have a luxury version, which I think I would have gone for re accommodation!

Touring 6-7 countries in South America over just under 6 weeks was an excellent way to do it & considering it included 15 flights as well as a 2 week cruise seeing glaciers etc it's very good value. Our tour guide, Gina, was excellent & a very caring person as well as extremely efficient & I know all people on our tour gave her 15 out of 10; she also ...read more came on the ship with us (a first for Bunnik) & continued her excellent service (I'm sure Marion Bunnik does appreciate her as she also joined us for a few days as did her son Dennis; both lovely people & willing to listen to feedback good or otherwise. As it was Bunnik's first inclusion to Galapagos Island with the Grand Tour of South America we provided her with some suggestions - eg the Darwin Centre is a bit tired & something else would be better. We put Yvonne at Global Journeys through some extra paces but she handled it all willingly so thanks Yvonne; we're now looking at booking a tour of UK & Ireland at your terrific discount (again) so we are standing by our recommendation of Global Journeys & their unbeatable prices. Thanks heaps. PS Bunnik Tours were excellent value, but again the optional tours with the HAL cruise ship were very expensive.