Machu Picchu Guided Tour with Professional Local Guide

We did not have a good experience with the agency. The communication was awful, they waited days before answering my questions. I even had to contact Viator help. Until the day before I wasn’t even sure that they understood what I told them and if the tour was actually going to happen. They sent a man to our hotel the night before (they didn’t gave me a number or a name), we had a appointment but he did not came, the hotel had to call him for us. And then we he arrived and wanted us the change the hour of our tour, although we specifically asked for the 6 a.m one. Fortunately, our guide Luis was excellent, we even booked him for other tours, but that as nothing to do with Quente. I do not recommend this agency, we were lucky to have a amazing guide but he worked free-lance.

We just returned from hiking the Inca Trail with Qente. The trip was great, but here are my thoughts. First of all, apparently, Qente (or Q'ente) and Colibri are now the same company. Second, our hike went exactly to plan and they provided everything that they said they would. The tents were clean, spacious (as tents go) and leak-proof (a concern as it was the rainy season), The food was plentiful and quite good (dare I say, delicious!). Our guide was patient when we slowed down occasionally, and unfailingly enthusiastic. Now, having said all that, it is very hard to know if our experience was any different from any of the other companies providing services on the trail. When we were hiking, we saw Peru Tours, View Peru, G Adventures, Llama Path and a couple others. Everyone uses the same itinerary, same campsites and mostly the same toilet facilities. As far as the hike is concerned, it is the same no matter which company you use. Curious about this very question, whenever I fell in step with hikers from other tour companies, I wanted to ask them about their experience with their tour operator, but it was hard to do that with so many guides around. Some groups were much larger than others, so that is a distinguishing factor. Some had more camaraderie, but that is probably the nature of the group, not the company. We chose Qente (Q'ente) based on a good reputation, responsiveness to our questions and a reasonable price. All in all, we were happy. Also, in our acclimatizing day in Cusco, we hired Qente (Q'ente) for a one one day tour of the Sacred Valley. They were very accommodating in adding a couple sites for us for an additional charge (Maras salt center and Moray Incan agricultural site). The drivers and guides were punctual. The minivan was immaculate and our guide for the Sacred Valley Tour (Alex) was very knowledgeable and spoke English beautifully.