I would highly reccomend Whipala for anyone visiting San Pedro and looking to go on some local tours (I do not believe they do the Bolivian Salt flats). My Girlfriend and I went on three (hot springs, moon valley and the geysers) with three different tour guides. All were excellent, and very enthusiastic about area, geography and nature. All the guides spoke good english.
Very good experience with this agency. The guides are very friendly and knowledgeable about the different routes. They make the experience very good in San Pedro.
Excellent number of people per van (never more than 9), which opens possibilities of questions and answers. It feels a family atmosphere.
All guides with excellent level of English.
Breakfasts, lunches and snacks very rich and strong. Recommended 100%!
Excellent attention from both the administration and the guide!
Although we did not arrange a tour with them for a price, the attention was the best of all, the greatest detail of the explanation.
When traveling for a long time around budget we discard it, but if you can afford it this is the best option without a doubt.
I used this company on a tour to the El Tatio geyser, paid 24,000 pesos (20% discount with cash on all tours). Picked up on time by our guide Pepe - very charismatic, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and funny guy; he really made the tour fantastic. Rather than give an account of the tour, the company itself seemed very reliable and professional. Very comfy bus, tour ran to time, staff in office very informative, patient, flexible and helpful. Would definitely use again.
Excellent travel agency !!! Serious and the guides are spectacular, it has an unbeatable timing to avoid the crowds
It is very good attention and service, all very dedicated and worried That you are well and that your experience is magnificent! here with a friend from the agency, Julian,
Really friendly. Their tours are really fun and the cars are new. The groups are maximum 9 people.
Pay in pessos chilenos and younwill have a 20% discount
Really enjoyed the two tours I took with Whipala. The company was super well organized, the food included in the trips was great, and our guide Pepe was the best tour guide we had in our 3 months trips in South America! Very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and engaging. Their prices are very competitive too (if paying cash).
We did two tours with Whipala: Laguna Cejar and Valle de La Lune. Both of them were excellent! Roxanne was very friendly and helpful with booking the tours at their local office, and Felipe was a super knowledgeable and entertaining guide for both tours. Having a guide really makes a difference when exploring this area, and I would highly recommend booking with Whipala for the best experience!
Seriously the most fantastic experience in San Pedro with this group. Went to the moon valley with Sebastian and he was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about everything! Also went to the geysers with Filipe who was equally as knowledgeable and went extra mile to show us all the animals and plants on the way home. Very happy!
Far away the best tours of San Pedro we did with this agency! Your guides very wise and attentive at all times, thank you!
Excellent tours and service! I did two tours with them and enjoyed both thoroughly. Nice guide, relaxed atmosphere, not rushed, great explanations in English and the best bit is that they don t drag you from one artisanal market to next trying to force you to buy souvenirs that you don t want . The vehicles are new and clean too!
We went to the Geyser du Tatio mid January 2018. We come back disappointed, the guide was rather a driver, the summary explanations see false (he tells us that the Geyser rejects sulfur).
Not enough time for swimming.
We used TripAdvisor ratings to choose this agency. Disappointed!
San Pedro has a lot of expensive agencies, but whipala has a great service for good price: 20% discount for paying in cash and really good guides with a lot of knowledge and good vans. The groups are small and the guide use microfone so everyone can hear the explanation. English and spanish of every guide were really good as well.
The Laguna cejar tour has snacks before sunset, but It is a feast: pisco sour, cookies, olives, cheese and Chips.
For Piedras Rojas they had to put me on other company tour, but It was as good as whipala (even though whipala was better)
Brilliant tours and ladies in the office are very helpful. We did the package of 5 tours in 3 days and although tiring with some early starts each tour was brilliant and very varied. A bit more info on each tour regarding clothing to wear and when swim wear should be taken would be useful.
I want to share my experience of today ..... we took a tour to the cejar lagoon passing through the eye of the salar and ending in tebenquiche ... the person in charge of the "Rodrigo" tour only limited himself to taking us to each of the parts without any explanation or description of the places .... when we went to the third place please ask if you could explain the origin or its qualities of what we were visiting ...... to which he replied, to Despite my great surprise and annoyance, that explanation was given on the tour of Valle de Luna, so he refused to explain any of the sites visited .... in short, bad, very bad ... and it gave me shame Being Chilean for the foreign tourists who were in the van. I only limit ourselves to stroll !!!! Very bad experience !!!!!
I do not recommend it at all !!!!!
Great experience with the guys from Whipala. Everything was perfectly arranged. I ended up doing three tours with them (Valle de la Luna, Piedras Rojas and Geysers del Tatio) and it was just great. Knowledgeable and friendly guides, nice breakfast, small groups (which I think is a major advantage) and good cars.
I can strongly recommend Whipala!!
A unique experience thanks to this agency, 100% recommended. Guides really worried about their passengers, very friendly, very worried about accompanying until the last leg of the tour and explaining in order to know this beautiful place.
Really exquisite breakfasts and snacks
Very good agency, they explain everything very well, an incredible treatment, punctual and the guides know a lot and explain it very well. Greetings to Carlos and Pablo, two great guides, it's worth it
Hey guys, Thank you for those beautiful expeditions in Atacama desert. We had 5 impressive, beautiful and interessting tours with the best guides! Pepe, javier and leonardo were the best! Thank you for those trips, you made them perfect :) Price performance unbeatabale!
Hi, I recommend this agencies and their guides Felipe and Pepe exelentes.
We booked the excursion to the Lagunas Altiplanicas and to the geysers "Tatio". The advice in the office brought along the tours with other information. The prices are reasonable (we only had two more expensive offers from other suppliers) and there is a 20% discount on cash. The breakfast is great! (Small flatbreads, dry cakes, cookies, various spreads, scrambled eggs, ...). The tours in the morning will be picked up and returned at the place of his choice. The stopovers are relaxed, usually without time limit, so there were never too long or short breaks. On both tours there were a few special vantage points that are not noted in the booklet, but are on the way.
Lagunas: Pepe, best guide! Great views; lots of information about the places, lagoons, volcanoes etc .; we were only five (plus driver / guide) in a legal seat. So one quickly got into conversation with the others and we had an interesting morning, especially as we were always a good 20min ahead of the other tours to see all the sights without many other tourists.
Geysers: even if other providers start earlier, 5-5.30h is enough; It is really cold until dawn, but seeing these bubbling and steaming pools is quite impressive. But here is much more going on. Every day countless pickup vans (our group consisted of 12 people plus a guide in 15-seater), but distributed in the geysers that is quite good.
Anyway, we were very happy with Whipala and do not think we have gotten too little for our money. Vllt synonymous cheaper providers, but price performance is great at Whipala!
I did 2 tours so far. The geysers and moon valley. Loved it. Food was good. Pablo the guide spent the time to speak in English to me the only English speaker on both tours. He would explain each stop very well. He would answer any questions. But most of all, I enjoyed that he didnt over do it and gave us as much free time at each stop to enjoy it by ourselves and get feel where we were. Some other tours I saw looked like a sheppard driving sheep or they talk so much you dont get to walk around much. I hate that. Pablo also took the time to spot animals and stopped to let us take pictures and told us some about the animals. One more tour tomorrow will be great im sure.
Excellent agency and great value for money! We did four tours with them (Laguna Cejar, Valle de la Luna, Lagunas Altiplanicas and Geiser del Tatio), and were fortunate to do all with Javier, who is an amazing guide, very intelligent, professional and attentive. The agency has a very good service, they explain everything about the walks, the values, how to dress and what to take. Breakfast and snacks, included in some tours, are also very good. Recommend for sure!
Super agency !! We made the valley of the moon, the lagoons with the extension red stones and the geysers of Tatio. The three rounds were perfect, nothing to say. Good guide, small group and good meal. I recommend this agency :)
Good, reliable tour company with fair prices. Tour guides are kind, however the tours are not catered to English speakers. More so to Spanish speakers. The explanations given in English are 50% shorter than those in Spanish. Nonetheless, a great company and I would use them again.
Excellent tours! Everything worked perfectly and our tour guide was very nice. He clearly knew what he was talking about. He spoke both Spanish and English which was great since we only know a bit of Spanish.
I only cam recommend them, the drivers/guides speak good english, are friendly and helpful. I cannot compare the prices, but they seem to be reasonable.
Great experience, we did several tours with Whipala (antiplanic lagoons, valle de la Luna, geiser del tatio and valle do rainbow); we were all very satisfied, very professional, punctual and attentive guides. I recommend it for sure!
Couldn't ask for more in an afternoon tour to the moon valley. Guide was very passionate and accomodating and strived to help us make the most of the experience
We took two tours with Whipala. The guides
were friendly and knowledgeable and the tours were very well organised.
Very good tour to El Tatio today. Guide was great, v good breakfast, informative and professional. Gracias
Without a doubt a very professional and good level agency at an affordable price. We did all the routes with them and the truth is that we cannot say anything bad about them. The guides are very friendly and knowledgeable about the subject, they explain very well (especially Felipe). The breakfasts and lunches they offer are sufficient and rich. Punctuality and the means of transport they use is comfortable and safe.
Good e-mail contact, guides with extensive knowledge, willingly and interestingly share it. Tasty trips with rich meals. I would recommend!
Had an awesome tour to El Tatio with Whipala. Both the girl at reception and our guide were super cool.
Excellent, very good service and worried about having the best experience, Javier very good guide.
Cool! Congratulations to the guide of the geysers, who explained to us many more things than we had ever asked ourselves. Congratulations for the team!
We had the opportunity to take the tour to the valley of the rainbow, where Rodrigo was our guide. An excellent professional, providing attention to customers and always looking to pass on all the knowledge he has.
Excellent Attention very good advice 100% recommended
We made four tour with this agency (Laguna Cejar, Valle de la Luna, Geyseres el Tatio and Lagunas Altiplanicos). All this tours were well organised and very interesting. We had for different guides for our tours. All of them were safe drivers and explained lots of things to us. The breakfast provided for the geyseres and laguna altiplanico was rich and very good (bread, eggs, avocado...). The prices were fair and as far as I can say, quite low compared with other agencys.
I did the Tatio tour with Rodrigo. The tour was amazing and the guide was the best that I could expect, expert and funny. I strongly suggest this agency for tour.
We did the tour to the Tatio Geysers and it was perfect! We loved the guide, very professional and friendly. Being a small group tour the pace is quieter. Includes breakfast, very complete and very rich. We would repeat!
Very good agency. Punctual and the guides very nice and with much knowledge.
I am also a professional guide in Greece and I have to recognize that Felipe and Javier have been one of the best guides we have encountered during our trip through Chile! Passionate, knowledgeable and very friendly! They treated us excellently. The other guides were also great. Well organized all the excursions we choose, 4 in total. Highly recommended!
I wanted to give lower but I gave three because I didn't do a tour with them in the end. So to be fair.
I had bad booking experience with them.
Was trying to book Cejar tour, the lady at night told me there was one more seat, so I told her I wanted to reserve and rushed to withdraw money but when I came back she just told me that there was no seat, she counted wrong.
This is just ridiculous, that she could confirm that before I rushed to withdraw money. I was rushing to hope not to delay her off work time.
It is not a big deal if their attitude can be better.
She just said sorry without even look like sorry.
And when she told me to transfer me to another agency I refused the offer because I didn't know how is the quality of another agency. And she just said ok coldly, and turned away.
Very arrogant attitude for the receptionists here.
They treated the tourists who speak more Spanish or maybe who looks more Westerner with very different and better attitudes. More welcoming to them.
For my case and I saw another Asian's case is that they would answer all of your questions but with a cold and impatient face.
I came here because a friend recommended me them. But I have to say I am VERY disappointed with them. Very bad attitude. I would rather pay more or find another tour agency with a bit less quality but better attitude than booking any tour with them.
This small agency offers great professionals who are very didactic in their explanations and entertaining, making it a very enriching experience. Highly recommended
With them I lived the greatest experiences of my life, their tour and tour guides are fantastic, they are very well prepared, they are the best
We did the tour to the geysere and loved it. Our guide was Ricardo (I hope I got the name right). He was really amazing. The breakfast had everything you could wish for. We saw a lot of landscapes and animals. I can really recomend this tour.
We really loved our time spent on Whipala tours, we did the geysers and the full day to piedra roja. We regret not doing the moon valley as well with them!
Our guide Pepe was super knowledgeable and made learning really fun!! Plus his English is excellent and he was very well organised! Definitely reccomanded!!
In a word: absolutely satisfied (oh two ^ _ ^ ...)
We exchanged a few emails from Italy, then on our arrival we paid for all the tours booked (in cash rather than with paper, with a very discounted price).
The girls in the offices didn't seem very prepared: one spoke only Spanish, the other a little English.
Guides and tours are excellent though. We really congratulate PABLO and especially FELIPE, two fantastic guys, full of energy, always happy and enthusiastic about their work, as well as patient and always available.
We have done the following tours with them (I make a copy of our booking email):
- ARCOIRIS VALLEY (RAINBOW VALLEY)
- MOON VALLEY
- PIEDRAS ROJAS (RED ROCKS) (includes the Highland Lagoons + Atacama Salt Flat + Piedras Rojas Lookout + Laguna Tuyajto Lookout
- TATIO GEYSERS + MACHUCA VILLAGE
Agency definitely recommended!
Note: The vehicles available are very good, quite new, clean. They are also supplied with equipment for any problems (for example: oxygen tank).
Probably the period we chose, May, allowed us to avoid the crowd and made these tours more enjoyable.
Always punctual, the guides and the girls of the agency with good disposition, the breakfasts that included some exquisite tours.
The guide Felipe of this agency is rude, harsh and has no respect for dealing with tourists. Not wise and careful with older tourists, it is also irresponsible to park the car in the wrong direction, putting the lives of tourists in the van and those coming in the right direction at risk.
He has no profile for dealing with people, he has already done other tours with this agency and we have never felt as disrespected as customers on tours with him! For him there is only his truth and his arrogance, he is unwilling to listen and to respect opinions different from his, much less to understand that to be a guide requires resilience! I highly recommend Whipala as long as this guide does not accompany your tour! I only regret that he is part of this agency and leaves such a bad impression. There are other complaints on his tripadvisor too!
Nice tours for a fair price (in cash). Some of the guides didn't explain anything and it was more of a driver than a guide. It's a bit of luck who you get.
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