Trinidad Island Sightseeing Tour: Pitch See und Chaguanas

I booked a private tour to visit the Pitch Lake and the sanctuary to see the scarlet ibises, and I was extremely pleased with the experience. My guide picked me up directly from the airport, which made everything seamless and stress-free. Khaleel was professional, knowledgeable, and incredibly well-informed about the history, culture, and wildlife of Trinidad. He has a sophisticated manner and a very pleasant demeanor that made the entire day enjoyable. I felt very well taken care of throughout the tour, and as an added bonus, he introduced me to some of his favorite local places to eat, which made the experience feel even more authentic and special. I highly recommend Khaleel to anyone looking for a personalized and memorable tour experience in Trinidad.

Khaleel was so knowledgeable. He was able to give us a lot of informations about every site we went to. The place we stopped to eat at was also amazing and prices were fair. The combination of Khaleel and Natsal as our guides was perfect. They were lively, caring and generous aswell. We will definitely recommend them to anyone visiting the island.

Khaleel was a wonderful guide, he shared a ton of interesting facts and cultural tidbits to make the day fly by. The market was a cool glimpse into daily island life and Pitch Lake was a fascinating natural phenomenon but definitely being an umbrella to protect from the beating sun. The Hindu temples were beautiful and roti and doubles were fantastic, I would highly recommend this tour to anyone looking for an easy day trip.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Khaleel from Island Experiences was fantastic! Professional, super knowledgeable, and engaging from start to finish. He made the tour fun, informative, and truly memorable. If you want your trip to be unforgettable, Khaleel is the guide you need! Kim & Kasia

Our guide Denton was good, but as he first told us "this tour is about me." The places we went were typically places where he lives and worked. Some of it was interesting, and his local knowledge was good. We enjoyed the Chaguanas market -- interesting and picturesque. The driving distance between there, Pitch Lake, Temple in the Sea and the Hindu Temple seemed to take forever and ever. Denton often took "alternate routes" (for variety, he said) but it just seemed to make the day too long. And the a/c in his car couldn't keep up. The Hindu Temple was beautiful, and we saw it in about 15 minutes of leisurely wandering. The Temple in the Sea wasn't really worth the diversion. Pitch Lake was interesting, but we ended up having to wait almost an hour for a guide Denton was tied into for some reason. Waste of time for us. And Pitch Lake toilet facilities are the worst public bathrooms I have seen in years. Our stop for roti was at a place that had nowhere to sit and eat. Standing in the sun to eat a stuffed, drippy roti was not good. We ended up just throwing most of it away. So, overall we enjoyed most of our tour -- but wish it had been more like 5-6 hours.

Great day out showing some of the aspects of Trinidad via the market and temples. Khaleel, our guide, was very knowledgeable and really made the tour very informative and entertaining.

I signed up for this Trinidad island tour expecting a deeper exploration of Central Trinidad, including visits to a bright pink Hindu temple, a lively bazaar in Chaguanas, and most importantly, a stop at Pitch Lake, the world’s largest natural asphalt deposit. Unfortunately, the experience fell short in several key areas. We began at the local market, which had vendors selling meat, fish, and produce. We then visited a couple of Indian temples, which were culturally interesting. However, it was extremely hot, and despite the tour listing bottled water as included, none was offered. That made walking around in the heat uncomfortable and poorly thought out. Most disappointing of all: there was no visit to Pitch Lake at all. After lunch, the driver simply took us back to the hotel without explanation, skipping what was supposed to be the main highlight of the tour. There was no communication, no apology, and no effort to adjust or compensate for the major omission. What was advertised as a full cultural experience turned out to be a brief and underwhelming excursion. I wouldn’t recommend this tour—you’re honestly not missing anything by skipping it.

We had an excellent guide khalil who was also a very safe driver. He took us to taste doubles at a vendor in Chaguanas and to lunch in an authentic roti shop lunch. The tour was well paced and khalil was able to give lots of background information. i can recommend this tour.

Island Experiences excels not only in making arrangements for complex itineraries, but also with matching tourists up with tour guides who understand very well how to provide both highlights and insights about the places being visited. Khalil was our guide for this tour and he was outstanding. He not only gave us the "sights and sounds" experience (a marketplace, temples and mosques, Pitch Lake, the ultimate Roti lunch by a busy highway), but also provided foundational information about Trinidad's demographics, history, cultural geography, economy, and politics. Wow, that was truly worth (and more) the money spent on the tour. Highly recommended!

We’d just had two fabulous tours with this company. The itinerary for this third tour is very good but it just didn’t have the same good vibe that we’d experienced. For starters, we were on our way to pick up the second group when our guide Clyde mentioned tipping. Honestly, this is a real turn off. Yes, we would have naturally offered a tip for good service, and we did anyway. But to hear this before we’ve even left town is really not good. Next, the guide’s voice was a bit too soft to understand. I did once ask him to speak up. I expect to hear a Trinidad accent force, but not looking at your guests and speaking softly meant that much information was sadly lost. Finally, my partner was disappointed not to be offered water as we had been on the Island Experiences tour the day before. We did bring water ourselves but would have appreciated more. We did get to buy some later, but more of that in a moment. Let’s talk about the itinerary, which I actually thought was well planned. The first stop was at a large covered market. This was very interesting- seeing many foods I didn’t even know existed. The vendors were all so happy to explain what they were selling in a kind and proud way. Nobody tried to force you to buy anything. It was all relaxed. A good stop. The second stop was at the Hindu temple in the sea, and also a burial site for the different styles of burial between muslims, Hindus and others. Quite fascinating, as was the explanation of small but beautiful Temple Of The Sea. A good stop. The third stop was at an inland temple, so ornately decorated and towered over by a huge statue of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. This is the second biggest in the world. We walked around the area and learned more about the history and customs. It was a good stop. The fourth stop was for a roadside sit down roti and drink. Bring cash for this stop as cards are not accepted. The fifth stop was at a shop near the pitch lake, where we were advised to buy flip-flop shoes and water. The largest flip flops were too small for me so I took the largest I could get. No worries at all. The sixth stop was at the pitch lake. It’s not a tar lake. Pitch is more solid. Our guide Vikki was one of a kind. Never a dull moment with Vikki. She explained all about the lake, surrounding nature, industry, everything. We walked right to the centre of the lake, which is mostly solid, leaving our flip flops to take their punishment. Vikki went out of her way to ensure we had the full experience and have some interesting demos. An interesting stop, and a very different experience. Tips - For the temples, ensure your shoulders and knees are covered. Island Experiences does explain this but one couple missed it. We had already departed their hotel and had to return shortly after to change. Perhaps the guide should have noticed earlier. - Take cash for the food stop - Take several bottles of water Tips for the pitch lake visit - Be prepared to paddle in water during parts of your visit. Don’t wear trousers or a dress too far below the knee. - If you have your own waterproof shoes, do wear them. Crocs would be ideal. One guest had his flip flops pull apart on several occasions and was understandably very frustrated by this. The pitch strangely does not stick to shoes, though some managed to stick to one of my heels and took a lot of scrubbing to remove. - Don’t follow too close to the person in front. One person, wearing very nice clothing, had pitch / sulphur water flicked over her very nice outfit. Alternatively, pack separate clothes for Hindu and lake visits. - The lake is said to offer a swimming possible. In practice, you would have to get changed before you enter the area as you would want to get changed while standing on the pitch. Clothes and towel would be ruined. Also, there are no showers in which to clean up afterwards. Finally, you’d be in a very small water channel, so swimming really isn’t an option.