Gloria R.
Yelp
I wish TripAdvisor hadn't strayed me wrong, but they totally did. My reservation was for three individuals traveling to Puebla and Cholula from Mexico City. The description shared that the trip time would be 10 hours long, we'd be picked up at our hotel at 8:30am and we'd be able to see the Pyramid in Cholula followed by the town of Puebla with a knowledgeable guide.
Sounds great, right? What actually happened was one of the worst tour experiences I've ever had. Quick summary - the total trip time was 13.5 hours, it was incredibly unorganized, and the tour guide was actually sharing misinformation to everyone. Read on for the full, and painful experience.
We're picked up at our hotel in Polanco about 15 minutes late, and are dropped of at the Monumento de la Revolución because we need to transfer buses, so far, nothing alarming.
We group together based on destination, and it takes one hour to organize everyone together. The bus arrives, we're pointed to where to go and this is where it all starts. The bus actually smells horrible, just like a port-o-potty, and they overbook the tour so that families can't sit together. What transpires is 20 minutes with the "organizer" who is directing people off the bus, back on the bus, etc - basically sheer chaos with no end in sight.
Once we're on the road, it's 10am, and we wasted 1.5 hours waiting for the tour operators to get organized - as an FYI it only takes 2 hours to get to Puebla from Mexico City, which means I could have Ubered there easier. By the time we start driving, there's no stopping and without a restroom. We knew it was going to be terrible once the tour guide shares that the UNESCO site we're seeing is not considered a pyramid - WRONG - it is!!!
We arrive at the pyramid and everyone needs to use the restroom, so we get directed to a place that requires 5 pesos to be inserted in a machine - who has coins?!?! It's 12:30 pm and we wait another 30 minutes for the tour operator to obtain the tickets to enter the pyramid (something that should have already been done). Now it's 1pm and we only get an hour to see the ruins and the church at the top of the pyramids.
By 2:10pm - 10 minutes late, we head from Cholula to Puebla which takes an hour. We're directed to a dank looking hotel for lunch at 3:10pm and my friends and I call it quits on the tour and leave. The tour guide let's us know that the bus will be leaving at 5:45 pm from a textiles market, so we enjoy our day and meet them there.
Unfortunately, some incompetent passengers are lost for 20 minutes, which means that we leave at 6pm and arrive back to Mexico city at 9:30pm. Was it worth $62 per person, 13.5 hours of my life, and a guide that couldn't speak English very well? Goodness NO!