Highlights of Mexico small group holiday

Planet

During this tour, we visit various UNESCO heritage sites including Chichen Itza, Palenque and Uxmal; some of the Maya civilization's biggest and most important sites. Entrance fees to these sites go directly back to their maintenance and ongoing preservation for future generations. In addition, our Tour Leaders and local guides always brief customers carefully on how to act in the sites - our packed lunches are carefully taken out with us and recycled.

We encourage customers not to buy single use water bottles. Our local Tour Leader will advise you where to refill water bottles with clean, safe drinking water, therefore reducing the necessity to buy plastic water bottles throughout your trip. As well as preserving the integrity of the ancient sites, this behaviour also continues its positive impact throughout the rest of the trip.

As a travel company we are continually looking for ways to improve and are proud to be ‘Responsible in everything we do’. Education is key, and so all staff, Tour Leaders and partnering suppliers are trained in responsible and sustainable tourism. At our Head Office, we continually strive towards a sustainable and planet-friendly working environment, including having solar panels installed and a company commitment to reducing our plastic usage.

A good example of one of the lodges that we us on this trip is the Escudo Jaguar in Frontera Corozal, which is owned by a group of indigenous Choles and set in an Ecotourist center with access to the protected natural setting of the Lacandona jungle.

Whilst you will only spend a short time in Belize it is an important ecological destination with the largest stretch of tropical forest north of the Amazon.

Our leaders are trained in our detailed Responsible Tourism Policy. As a company we are careful to minimise our impact on the environment we are travelling through, so our tour leaders brief groups carefully on avoiding damaging any of the ancient sites we are travelling to, avoiding generating waste and careful use of resources.

People

Wherever possible we like to meet the people themselves and get to learn a bit more of their lifestyle, but only when we can be sure that we are not imposing on them. This is particularly important in the indigenous Tzotil villages of Zinacantan and San Juan, where the Tzotil people share their customs with our groups. We do use local tour leaders and guides along the way, so we’ll be able to get a real insight into the daily life of local people in Mexico – traditional and modern.

In Mexico, there are innumerable opportunities to interact with local people, particularly through the important place that home-cooked food has within each community. Our Tour Leaders recommend authentic cantinas, restaurants, bakeries and markets where vendors sell their produce, ensuring our visit benefits a wide range of people and allowing us to connect with the local communities.

We believe that learning about and respecting local people is an integral part of the travel experience. Why not brush up on your Spanish before you travel? Being able to chat with local people, even just a few phrases, shows great respect and will really enhance your experience!

As a company we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of the UK travel industry body AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators.

In Mexico, there are innumerable opportunities to interact with local people, particularly through the important place that home-cooked food has within each community. Our Tour Leaders recommend authentic cantinas, restaurants, bakeries and markets where vendors sell their produce, ensuring our visit benefits a wide range of people and allowing us to connect with the local communities.

We believe that learning about and respecting local people is an integral part of the travel experience. Why not brush up on your Spanish before you travel? Being able to chat with local people, even just a few phrases, shows great respect and will really enhance your experience!

As a company we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of the UK travel industry body AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators.

As well as our tour leader, we use local guides at points on this tour, so we’ll be able to get a real insight into not only the background to the festival but also the daily life of local people in Mexico – traditional and modern. Wherever possible we like to meet the people themselves and get to learn a bit more of their lifestyle, but only where we can be sure we that we are not imposing on them. We believe learning about and respecting local people is an integral part of the travel experience and particularly important during a festival which celebrates the lives of people’s nearest and dearest. We recommend that our groups brush up on their Spanish before travelling, as being able to chat with local people, even just a few phrases, shows great respect for their culture and traditions, as well as being great fun!

Employing local Tour Leaders and guides also generates employment. We support a variety of other local businesses throughout this trip such as restaurants and cantinas, locally owned hotels and transport businesses, ensuring that our visit benefits a wide range of people. On this trip we also utilise local produce for a picnic breakfast prepared for our stop in Mitla.

In addition to the above, we are continually looking for ways to improve and are proud to be ‘Responsible in everything we do’. Education is key and so all staff, Tour leaders and partnering suppliers are trained in responsible and sustainable tourism. At our UK Head Office, we continually strive towards a sustainable and planet-friendly working environment, including having solar panels installed and a company commitment to reducing our plastic usage. As well as this, we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of UK travel industry bodies Tourism Concern and AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators. We acknowledge that air travel has a negative impact on our environment, so we work together with Cool Earth to offset carbon and protect our important rainforests.