Natalia Tavera Daza

From beginning to end, a big shout out to Natalia and Ximena! Natalia tailor-planned our trip to our interests and it was a pleasure working with her enthusiastic personality. Our family was looking for an authentic experience for our trip of Colonial Mexico. From the diverse activities to the beautiful accommodations, they exceeded our expectations. We will never forget hiking the volcano Popocatepetl, visiting archaeological sites, and seeing the vibrant colors of the colonial towns. ... read more

From beginning to end, a big shout out to Natalia and Ximena! Natalia tailor-planned our trip to our interests and it was a pleasure working with her enthusiastic personality. Our family was looking for an authentic experience for our trip of Colonial Mexico. From the diverse activities to the beautiful accommodations, they exceeded our expectations. We will never forget hiking the volcano Popocatepetl, visiting archaeological sites, and seeing the vibrant colors of the colonial towns. Ximena was available at all times during our trip, and she was responsive to every question we had and did so in a very professional, kind, and timely manner. Our guides Emiliano, Jorge, Lupita, Rafael, and Maria were passionate and very knowledgable about their culture. Our drivers were also very professional. Thank you Kim Kim Mexico team!

Hotel Reviews

Casa Jacinta Guest House

Del Carmen, Coyoacán, Ciudad de México

This hotel was very personable and authentic. It was perfectly located walking distance from the center of Coyoacan. We very much enjoyed the breakfasts as well--freshly made in the kitchen and traditional Mexican food! The staff was extremely helpful and accommodating.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Posada del Tepozteco

Tepoztlán

We very much enjoyed this hotel for a couple of restful days! The grounds and views are beautiful, and everyone in our family was able to find activities that suited them: reading by the pool, massages, or walking into town. Located near the town center, it was easy to walk into town to explore the local market or climb el Tepozteco. The staff were also very friendly and accommodating--and the breakfasts were divine!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

History, Culture & Gastronomy in Mexico City

Mexico City

Emiliano was a wonderful guide! This was our first day in Mexico City and he gave us a great introduction to the city and the food. He tailored his tour to our interests (more history over gastronomy) and brought us to some hidden gems such as Plaza Loreto and the Cultural Center. The food was also AMAZING with lots of variety. It was so nice to have a guide to show us the safest foods to eat as we were a little worried about getting sick on our trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Enjoy the great archaeological site of Teotihuacan, and the most emblematic religious site in Mexico: The Basilica of Guadalupe.

Mexico City

As an anthropology professor, our guide Jorge was incredibly knowledgable and passionate about the Teotihuacan and the Basilica. We felt that we were able to really understand the importance of Teotihuacan in the Aztec culture as well as the significance of the Virgen de Guadalupe among Mexican catholics. We also felt that we had plenty of time to wander through Teotihuacan as well as the Basilica by ourselves and did not feel rushed at any point.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Discover the Magical town of Cholula

Mexico

Our guide Lupita was incredible! She is so passionate about her city of Cholula and took all of her time explaining the history behind the city as well as its beautiful churches. Although the tour says 5 hours, she spent more like 8 hours with us. There is so much to see and learn about!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hiking in Popo-Izta National Park

Mexico

We so much enjoyed hiking with Rafael! He is very knowledgable about the geology and landscape of the park as well as the volcano and its activity. He is also wilderness-medicine trained so it was very interesting to learn about his work in the park. It was a wonderful way to see Popocatepetl and and the vast nature in this area. We also appreciated that Rafael took all of his time on the hike and paced us well, asking us if we were doing well with the altitude change.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

My local specialist was not Natalia, it was Ximena. Natalia booked the initial trip and then it changed for some reason that I was not made aware of.
There are several areas of improvement in communication and research that could have/should have been done prior and during to make the trip better. I had to make decisions on my own a few times due to the specialist not understanding timing/our needs etc. and the roads in the Yucatan. They clearly have not traveled there, or not driven... read more

My local specialist was not Natalia, it was Ximena. Natalia booked the initial trip and then it changed for some reason that I was not made aware of.
There are several areas of improvement in communication and research that could have/should have been done prior and during to make the trip better. I had to make decisions on my own a few times due to the specialist not understanding timing/our needs etc. and the roads in the Yucatan. They clearly have not traveled there, or not driven themselves or to make arrangements with more time allowed because of construction/closures/ road issues etc.
Just having some more life experience would be helpful for your specialists, and also knowing the area well is even better. Taking in mind lack of cell service in areas we were going to, and the cultural differences taken into consideration. Thankfully, I can figure my way around without a cell phone and have traveled to many different countries in the past. It was a little exhausting having to explain to communicate better to the specialist and why things weren't doable. We ended up doing about 70% of the planned trip and was able to find my own way around but it ended up costing us more money. One of the more expensive hotels (Hotel Okaan) we booked on my birthday (Dec 24th- xmas day 25th) had no working toilet inside the rooms and they didnt seem to care or want to refund any money. I will be returning to Nuevo Durango on my own and that was worth it. The pueblo was great, The experience was great. The specialist....was OK.

Our trip to Mexico was amazing!

Rutopia basically set us up with a personalized guide in both Mexico City and Oaxaca for our family of four. We felt totally taken care of -- private car, private transfers, and private tour guides showing us around everywhere -- flexible to our needs. It was totally a luxury, and not how we usually travel. I think we could have done this trip for about 30% cheaper if we did it on our own. But, we were traveling with two small kids, without knowing... read more

Our trip to Mexico was amazing!

Rutopia basically set us up with a personalized guide in both Mexico City and Oaxaca for our family of four. We felt totally taken care of -- private car, private transfers, and private tour guides showing us around everywhere -- flexible to our needs. It was totally a luxury, and not how we usually travel. I think we could have done this trip for about 30% cheaper if we did it on our own. But, we were traveling with two small kids, without knowing much Spanish, so I was glad we paid extra for the luxury. It was worth it. We would have never found all these tours and private guides without the help if Rutopia (via KimKim).

Also, Rutopia found us two gem hotels to stay at -- little boutique hotels in quiet neighborhoods with easy access to everything -- Casa Decu in CDMX and Hotel Tabaa in Oaxaca. We LOVED where we stayed.

Highlights:
* Food Tour of CDMX with Adrian from Eat Mexico. Learned about all the foods of Mexico and their history. Fruits, pastries, cheeses, mole, and tacos.
* Seeing the CDMX Anthropology Museum with our guide Jose.
* Dinner at Rosetta in CDMX. One of the best restaurants we've ever eaten! (We did this on our own)
* Seeing the Pyramids of Teotichuacan with our guide Jose. Good explanation of the site and plenty of time to explore on our own. I just wish we could still climb the pyramids.
* Private transfer from CDMX to Oaxaca stopping in Puebla and Zapotitlan Salinas. The cactus reserve near Zapotitlan Salinas was particularly awesome to visit. Way off the beaten path -- but spectacular to be among the cactus like that.
* Street Food Tour of Oaxaca with Pepe from Ethnoturstica. We ate ALL the things and learned so much about the history of Oaxaca, Mexico, and all the different types of food -- from memelas, to agua fresca, to mezcal.
* Guided tour of Monte Alban with Alejandro. Learning all about this ancient Zapotec site that I'd never heard of before the tour.
* Visiting the alebrije workshop and the black pottery workshop near Oaxaca.
* Private cooking class in the Oaxacan country side -- starting with a visit to the market to buy everything, cooking everything from scratch, and eventually eating it all.

Things I would do different:
* Xochimilco in CDMX was meh. It was a Mexican party boat. It wasn't what we were looking for with two small kids. Most people can safely miss.
* Don't book a tour everyday. If I had to do it again, I would have one "dead" day in CDMX where we can do things on our own, e.g. visit the Centro Historico and another "dead" day in Oaxaca where we can just wander the city.
* Tell your guides early on that you want to have lunch and to work it into the plan. The working assumption was usually "no lunch". Which didn't work for the kiddos.
* Don't book fancy dinner reservations on the days that you are doing food tours. After the food tour I basically didn't want to eat for another 18-24 hours I was so stuffed.
* Note that Guides are important for context at various sites -- but you don't need them all all the places. For example -- Centro Historico, Coyoacan, the more "tourist markets", and many other places in CDMX are easily visitable on your own. I would strongly recommend getting the private guide for Teotihuacan, the Anthropology Museum, Monte Alban, food tours, and the cooking class.

All in all though, an amazing experience -- we really felt like we got to see large swaths of Mexico, learn a lot about the culture and food, and be taken good care of the whole time.

Hotel Reviews

Casa Decu

Mexico City

Fantastic boutique hotel right in the heart of Condesa. It's on a quiet street just steps from the greenbelt that circles the neighborhood (Amsterdam Ave). The room we were in (a suite) was well appointed for our needs. We had one room with a queen bed and a crib. Our older daughter slept on the couch in the living room that could be converted into a comfy twin size bed. There was a kitchen as well with a fridge, microwave, and sink -- perfect to store water, milk, make bottles, etc. One of the best parts of Casa Decu is the rooftop. We had breakfast on that roof every morning . There is a nice spread of juice, coffee, bread, cereal, yogurt -- with the option to purchase hot food if you wanted. It was really relaxing to go up there every morning overlooking Condesa and have a lazy breakfast and chat with the other tourists at the hotel. The staff was really helpful as well -- pointing our restaurants, letting us store our baby stroller and car seat on the ground floor, and keeping the room sparkling clean.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Tabáa Oaxaca

Oaxaca

We loved our stay at Hotel Tabaa. It's located just three blocks away from the Historic Center of Oaxaca in the neighborhood of Jalatlaco -- just a short walk from all the action, but on a quiet corner away from it. The inside of the hotel is a beautiful courtyard that feels like a little oasis in the middle of Mexico. We loved spending time in the courtyard having breakfast, tea, and hanging out on the hammock with the kiddos. Our initial room was a single room with a double bed -- that wasn't big enough for our family of four (which includes a baby). But after talking to the owner, he was able to switch us for the last three days to their master suite that had two separate rooms -- a master and a "family room". That was a perfect fit for us on the ground floor. I wish it had a kitchen, but we made do. The little breakfast kitchen in the courtyard was just ten steps out our front door, so we ended up using that to store our milk and make bottles for the baby. It really just felt like our courtyard. The staff was *super* nice and helpful as well. They went out of their way to make us feel welcome and helped us order food when we arrived there late at night on the first day, store our baby stuff under the stairs, help us switch rooms, and just talk and get to know us (and us them). It felt like staying at a family house rather than a boutique hotel (in the best way). Super authentic.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hands in the Dough: Rural Cooking Workshop in Oaxaca

Oaxaca

This was one of the highlights of our trip. It was such an authentic experience. Pepe, our guide, took us to meet Dalia, our cook, at the market in Tlacolula. There we picked out all our vegetables and meats and took them back to Dalia's house in the village of Santa Ana del Valle. There she has a big kitchen where we got to work. Dalia only speaks Spanish, but Pepe was there to translate for us. We made: * a mole from scratch with dried chiles, corn, and other herbs. We ground it down on an old school moler stone. This was much of the fun. * A pumpkin flower soup with zucchini in there. So good. * mashed down corn to make empanadas and the mole base * sweet empanadas from our corn mash and corn husks We ate: * our mole over chicken * said soup * chile relleno * agua fresca * said sweet empanadas We would do this again in a heartbeat. My 8 year old loved it and participated in everything. The baby was happy there crawling around on the floor and interacting with all the other people.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tour the Canals & Floating Gardens of Xochimilco

Mexico City

This was meh. It's a Mexican party boat. Wasn't the right fit for us as a family of four with a baby. We just sat on the boat for 2 hours and in traffic for another 3 hours to get there and back. Would not do it again. It felt very "manufactured", e.g. a tourist trap like experience where it's just a bunch of other tourists on boats and people trying to sell stuff to us.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The hotels were all great. The guides were friendly and knowledgeable. The local support team was there for me when difficulties arose. read more

The hotels were all great. The guides were friendly and knowledgeable. The local support team was there for me when difficulties arose.