I just did the ATM tour with Yaxche Adventures. Generally, it was well-organized, and the caves were magnificent. The bus picked us up punctually, and all necessities were provided. ... read more /> Unfortunately, our guide did not provided us with any information until we got into the cave, which was too bad, since we were all interested in learning about the surrounding area. Inside the cave, he was very knowledgeable and informative.
My other concern was that the vegetarian meal option was very disappointing - considering we paid the same price as the meat-eaters, and we didn't get any protein or any fruit!

  Dwight made our trip easy and fun all the adventure trips were GREAT ATM cave was amazing. The tour guides were friendly and helpful. Good food as well. ... read more The hotels were completely comfortable

  What a day!

We were a little apprehensive as it cost $95 dollars each and had no idea what to expect but we had a fabulous day.
It... read more took 20minutes by air conditioned van to where the journey went off road.. we got on the back of a pickup with kayaks on the trailer and off we went! It was good fun. Took around 40minutes crossing the river in a couple of places and enjoying the jungle landscape to get to
Where we'd start kayaking.

We set off in the kayaks around 10am, along Indian creek. What a laugh we had!
Passing through three networks of caves- waw! We'd expected this to be little caverns but in fact it got quite technical in places and thoroughly enjoyable!

Nice picnic lunch at the end of the second cave with a little walk in the jungle to see some Mayan carvings/painting, and then it was back to the kayaks.

The day finished at 3pm
Where the driver and pick up waited at the other end for us.

What a day with the lovely
Jose as our guide!

  We booked the ATM Cave Tour through Yaxche. For details of ATM, look it up. I'd rather review the tour company here. The only critique... read more would be that when they called to confirm my reservation with the concierge at Chaa Creek, they had the wrong date. They thought they were

  We booked the ATM Cave Tour through Yaxche. For details of ATM, look it up. I'd rather review the tour company here.

The only critique... read more would be that when they called to confirm my reservation with the concierge at Chaa Creek, they had the wrong date. They thought they were taking us on Friday, but our tour was actually Saturday. We found this out late on Thursday, but our concierge was able to reach someone after 8 pm to correct the mistake. No other problems took place, so the moral of the story is just make a quick call to confirm your reservation the day or two before your trip.

They had a driver pick us up around 7:50 am from Chaa Creek, about 10 minutes outside of San Ignacio. We were asked to be ready at 7:30, as they started hotel pickups in the area. That driver dropped us off at the meeting location in the middle of San Ignacio where the rest of the group was waiting. We were a group of 8 in a van that could hold 12.

Our tour guide was Ian. This guy knew his stuff. I'm a history teacher and my classes study a little bit of Mayan history, so I could tell how well researched he was. It went way beyond a surface level knowledge of the basics. He knew the science, history, chemistry, archaeology, etc with incredible detail. This was our second big tour of our trip and both times we've been impressed with the knowledge these guides have of their tours/sites. In this case, Ian has been doing this for 17 years and is one of about a couple dozen guides that are allowed to take people into the caves. This is the only tour he leads, so he is intimately connected to it.

Ian liked to move quick to stay ahead of the crowds. He had us passing other groups on the way to the cave, but was sensitive to the physical needs of our group.

This is a precious archaeological site, and Ian and his colleagues rely on these tours to make a living, so he was very professional. He had very good, clear instructions, but could balance it with humor or a trick to keep it fun. Safety of his guests and of the site/environment were clear priorities, but he still made it one of the best adventures of our lives, and we're not sheltered inexperienced adventurers.

After the cave tour, the lunch Yaxche provided was delicious. It was local Belizean style rice and beans with marinated chicken, plantains, mashed potatoes, and coke/fanta/water.

When we got back, they had the driver take us from the general meeting spot to drop us back off at Chaa Creek, arriving there right at 3 pm. All in all, a wonderful experience and as a representative of Yaxche, Ian was a champ!

I didn't see other guests tipping him (each group being 2 people), but I gave him a $20 US. I don't really know the etiquette for tipping so I'm probably not the best to ask, but I did check with the front desk at my resort for what a fair tip might be for a full day tour and they said $25 US would be good.

Based on this experience, I would definitely endorse Yaxche for your tour.

  I am so pleased we discovered Yaxche Adventure Tours and our tour guide David Hernandez. I think we found the best tour guide in Belize! David came with... read more our little group of three to be our guide for a day of ziplining and cave tubing. He was extremely knowledgable about all things Belizian (Archeology, Birding, Agriculture, History, etc.) and we greatly enjoyed his presence. While leading us through the caves he took his time with us and allowed us to stay as long as we liked without rushing us through, showing us the secret little nooks and crannies that can be missed on a rushed tour. I am so pleased with the professionalism of the tour and would recommend Yaxche Adventure Tours and David Hernandez to anyone.