Teotihuacan Pyramids and Shrine of Guadalupe

Anna, our guide, was a delight and the experience was quite pleasant. We were lucky with the weather being in the lower 80s and overcast. We began at the shrine where we went inside for an informed overview and then on to the church and chapel. Then to the pyramids with two hours on our own to investigate. Afterwards we went to eat; I would not suggest including the meal which was rather dry and tasteless - maybe better to order from the menu. Our guide kept us informed throughout the trip in an entertaining manner. We were six English speaking passengers; so, the trip was all in English which made it even more enjoyable.

Absolutely amazing tour. We really enjoyed all of it. The restaurant wasn't great but it was still worth it.

Olympus Tours is hit or miss. If you get lucky and get assigned a good local tour operator, you're in luck. I booked 2 tours with Olympus Tours - one for Teotihuacan and another one for Taxco. The one for Teotihuacan was quite disappointing as the tour guide could barely speak English. He was literally forcing words out one word at a time and it was quite painful to listen to. I didn't get much from the narration and neither did the other English-listening parties on the tour. Another low point of this tour was too much time was spent in shops where they sell you silver jewelry and stuff and too little time spent on the actual sites. We saw the Sun temple in Teotihuacan but didn't have enough time to check out the Moon temple.

We were picked up at our hotel and our guide was fabulous. He was knowledgeable, enthusiastic and energetic. I don't normally like a shopping tour but we stopped at a few places where we could see how things were made. There was no high pressure sales and the stops were interesting with quality goods which you could purchase if you chose to. At a Mescal distillery we were able to sample different ages of mescal and tequila There was a couple of hours in Teotihuacan with free time to climb the pyramids walk around the site. At the Shrine of Guadalupe we saw the old and the new Basilica. We chose the lunch included option and I really enjoyed it. If you only had one day in Mexico City, this is a tour I would recommend.

I was incredibly disappointed in this tour. It should have been called Hint of Pyramids tour, since we barely had more than an hour to enjoy the vast pyramids, at the very END of the day. The tour guide and driver were nice but not capable of leading a tight tour. Nothing was kept to schedule and there were a lot of random stops that didn't make sense. At the beginning of the tour, we stopped at some archaeological site in the middle of the city, next to some giant wall mural. We stood in the hot sun, staring at this random site, struggling to figure out what it was and why we were there. And that's all we did: stare at it. We then wandered to a big mural, where we listened to a really long and rambling explanation. No idea why we were looking at it, as it just seemed to be a big mural and have zero historical significance. The guide was completely incapable of keeping people moving along or providing a succinct explanation for anything. At one point, a bunch of people went rogue and wandered off to find a bathroom. She joined them while the rest of the group JUST STOOD AROUND for what seemed like forever. We then spent a ridiculous amount of time in a horrible silver store that smacked of a giant tourist trap, where everyone was forced to try on a big fake necklace modeled after the one in Titanic. I was hounded by sales people to buy something. We were there SO LONG and it was just awful. Again, everyone was bored and went rogue, wandering down the street to get food. Not once did the guide Anna ever express any sense of urgency. The tour of the Shrine was interesting, but again, way too long and so disorganized. We finally made it to our lunch stop. The food was delicious but the restaurant and guides were so inept at handling the crowd. No one seemed to know what was going on. Meanwhile, we all stared through the window at the pyramids, while muttering to ourselves Are we EVER going to get there? But before we could leave, we were subjected to a hard sell of the restaurant's tequila offerings. By the time we finally made it to the pyramids, we were told to be back by 5pm, sharp. I looked at my watch and said out loud: You mean we have BARELY more than an hour to explore this giant area? I was told, Yes, sorry. So I took off like a shot and did my best but I was crushed that I spent my hard-earned money and my one free day in Mexico City on a pyramid tour that only provided me a hint of the pyramids. I felt pressured to give a good rating when they passed out the survey forms, based on what they were saying and the fact there was zero anonymity. When I reconnected with my colleague that evening, and told him the amount of time we had at they pyramids, he was shocked. He'd taken an Uber the last time he visited and spent more than half a day exploring the entire area. I completely regret not doing that. After this tour, I was so nervous about the all-day I'd signed up for in London Stonehenge inner-circle tour. But that tour turned out to be everything the one in Mexico City should have been. It was well-run, well-narrated, kept on time and worth every penny. This pyramid tour was none of those things. It was just a hard sell of touristy items buy silver! buy tequila!, that smacked of the guides getting a kickback, with a hint of actual sightseeing. I wished I'd asked for my money back.

Wonderful guided tour of the pyramids with a nice stop at a silversmith's shop and and obsidion shop. Following our stop at the pyramids, and a wonderful lunch, a visit to the Basilica of Guadaloupe. Full, but TERRIFIC day!!