Outstanding first experience
Mexico
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Aug 19 - Aug 26, 2025
Rene did a very good job planning our trip. He listened to the things we wanted to do, and planned accordingly. The team member we most appreciated was Ibis Murillo from Rutopia who really handled the day to day details of our trip. We wanted to make a change to a planned day to incorporate a trip to Cañada de la Virgen. No problem. One hotel had no power when we arrived and we thought we would have to change hotels. Ibis was on top of it and coordinated with the hotel to find is another room, just in case. Power was restored and we remained in an upgraded room at Hotel Madero.
Any questions we had were answered promptly. That alone made us feel like the team was there to solve anything. This was our first trip to Mexico and it gave us wonderful assurance to have Ibis, Rutopia, and Kimkim taking care of us.
We had the right amount of time on our own and the right amount of planned activities. We had 2 wonderful guides in San Miguel de Allende, and Guanajuato. The guide in Queretaro was not the same level of professionalism as the first two. The only difficult incident during our trip was the guide in Queretaro not being willing to pay for a lunch that our documents clearly said was included. Not only did I end up buying our lunch, but his too. Perhaps I should have complained more but I really didn’t want to fight about it with the guide. I submitted the receipt to Ibis and was assured we would be refunded.
Despite a couple of little hiccups along the way, the experience was grand and we would use Kimkim and the team at Rutopia again.
Hotel Reviews
We nearly moved from this hotel because of power problems . We are so glad we stayed and trusted they would have it fixed by the time they said it would be fixed. It occurred as they said but they still upgraded our room because of the potential problem. The location was excellent, the room was large and comfortable. A wonderful stay! The staff explained the problem well and solved the issue very professionally.
Wonderful location and the staff were extremely helpful. The room was large, clean, and had all the amenities we needed. The hotel itself was mere steps away from the pedestrian only plaza at La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel. There were 31 stair steps to our room but staff carried our luggage up and retrieved it when we checked out. Other trips up and down were good exercise! A very delightful stay/
This hotel was very nice and quite close to centro Guanajuato. The room was a bit small but it had all the amenities we needed. I must mention however, that a nearby nightclub kept us awake until thankfully @ 2 am they stopped the music. Now, for those that love the nightlife, this hotel would be perfect!
Activity Reviews
Alfredo, our guide was outstanding. He spoke english quite well, had a very great depth of knowledge and made the tour a delight.
Susanna, our guide was so knowledgeable and personable. We enjoyed every step of our tour and Susanna gave us great ideas for activities to do on our own.
This was a disappointing day. The culinary tour description in our itinerary sounded fantastic, but unfortunately the reality did not match the description. The first stop was to be an apiary where we will get a chance to taste different types of honey. It was last and we had to remind the guide it was included. It was less than impressive. There was one bee hive, and 5 little spoons with honey on them. The vineyard may have had a cellar 25 feet underground but we didn’t get to see it. We did get a wine tasting and good explanations about the wines. And we tasted 12 different cheeses with the wine tasting. We were supposed to go to a cheese cellar where we would learn about the cheeses, not just taste them at the wine tasting. We enjoyed the town of Bernal but our itinerary clearly indicated lunch was included. By mid afternoon, we were hungry and asked about lunch so our guide took us to a nice restaurant with a fabulous view of the Bernal monolith, but unfortunately, when it came time to settle the bill, we were told we had to pay. That lunch was not included in the tour. I suppose I should have complained more but we were quite a distance from Queretaro and frankly didn’t want to anger the guide too much. Along with paying for our own lunch, his was on the bill, too. I complained to our agent from Rutopia and we will be refunded the cost of the lunch, but it was disappointing. Oh, and there was no visit to a quartz museum as described in the itinerary. So unfortunately our last day marred an otherwise outstanding week in Mexico.