Worst tour ever. Doesn't worth your money
I was considering if to write a review or not, because normaly I write when I have something postive to say. This is not the case, and hope to be a lesson for the organiser, and to be seen by other tourists like us which would have considered the visit.
The guide was polite, so this is not a personal review. It's dedicated to the tour which is doesn't worth the money.
1. It supposed to be 4 houses, but we seen only 3 with no explanation.
2. All the houses are publicly open and located in the old area of the city; you can visit them during the daily schedule.
3. The young girl who was our guide, as nice she was, she was not prepared for this job. Nothing about the history of the houses. We learned more from the museums curators (because YES, these houses are museums). We didn't feel that we have somenone specialized with us, with whome to talk. This is what we wanted.
As a background, because perhaps you will identify some common aspects: we are a couple in our early 40s used to travel by ourselves around the world. When we take a tour, we choose something that we couldn't see by ourselves alone. We always want to understand the local people, their history and culture. The grow wiser from each experience.
We are not rich, so paying this amount of money for 3h felt disapppointing to the level of a scam:(. I really didn't want to leave this review, but hopefully someone else will see it and she/he will not take the same decision like us.
Operator response
Hello Simona, and thank you again for your sincere feedback and time. First of all sorry you felt "to the level of a scam" I really feel that word is very dissapointing for us and we feel very bad 😵💫😞 because we have designed and organized this, and promote these routes with all our hearts and profesionalism. I talked with Leidy, your guide about this. I must say before I continue, that this tour was booked one day ahead, which leaves us with very little time to look for best guides as best guides are always booked well in advance. Besides it was Fathers day which made my search even more difficult. :( Leidy as you said, she is good, but maybe it was not at the level you would have liked in this specific tour. I will go point by point. About money... you pay US$60pp. The vehicle charges US$33. The guide US$48. Entrance to Casa Aliaga US$10 per person. Entrance to Casa Fernandini $5, minus bank costs and commissions. Leaving us basicallly no profit at all. We offer this route because we belief the houses are interesting and nobody promotes as we do, and some day more travellers can value this route. I have checked again the website of Viator and it is offered like this: Tour details
*Total Duration: 3 - 30 minutes
Casa de Aliaga, Jiron de la Union 224, Lima 15001 Peru, 30 minutes
House of Osambela, Jiron Conde de Superunda 298, Lima Peru, 30 minutes
Avenida Federico Fernandini, Av. Federico Fernandini, Callao, Peru, 30 minutes
RESTAURANTE CORDANO, Jr. Áncash 202, Lima 15001, Peru, 30 minutes.*
It details.. 3.30 minutes.. not 4 hours.. It details Casa Osambela, but instead of Casa Osambela, we enter now to Casa OHiggins as Osambela is now closed. We must change it should say Casa Fernandini (not Federico Fernandini). It says Restauratne Cordano for coffee, but now we taste Pisco in a colonial house near the Government Palace. I must apologize for this as we need to update this replacements in the app of Viator.
Only Casa Ohiggins is publicly open. Casa Fernandini, i must coordinate with the housekeeper, Moises, who I understand guided the house. Casa Aliaga, I also coordinated with the worker there in charge of the security. These two we must coordinate in advance. Casa Aliaga doesnt allow any traveller to enter without an official guide. An official guide charges minimum $48 hours per a minimum tour of 3 hours. Leidy confessed me that she had never visited Casa Fernandini I and said to her, that no problem, as Moises usually guides the house. Leidy confirmed the tour after I asked other 8 guides but all of the rest were busy or were not able to confirm...
The idea of us to work all this is to facilitate the traveller and makes things easier for them. Coordinate a safe and trustful vehicle/driver. Have a guide that is professional (guides are plenty, but with the official certifications and good background... not all of them...) take you to places that maybe can take you longer to look. Maybe the stop to have pisco, you would not have noticed easily... or the coordinations with each house, etc. our job as tour operators is to make it easier and trustful for the travelers, making things easier and relaxed. Maybe we didnt do profit of money now, but we are learning and I appreciate your feedback. Leidy is also sending her appreciation and she is also learning and we will focus more on giving the right information and correct. I will correct now in Viator the details of Fernandini and the pisco spot. We wish all good travels for you. If you are still in Peru, just let me know if I can be of help for anything, I have visited all Peru and keep visiting all the time areas and know a lot. It is my passion to give the best to travellers. All the best,