julio verne travel day tours

my husband and I had a fantastic day tour on the Hidden Valley bike ride. our guide Luiswas wonderful . he speaks perfect English which is very helpful for my poor Spanish.we rode down from Chimborazo volcano. then rode 42 km to Ambato. luis was kind enough to drive us to our accommodation in Ambato, saving us the effort of trying to find the house. also, many thanks to the wonderful Popkje who went out of her way to return the bag I left on the bus.a wonderful company.

A complete holiday provided by Julio Verne. Everything was arranged perfectly. Never feld unsafe! Popkje listened very well to our wishes. We booked our trip a few months before from home. Didn't doubt a minute of Julio Verne's trustfull reputation! We will higly recommend Julio Verne travel agency to our friends or other people. We had one guide during a tour we were not completely satisfied about and Popkje took our commends very seriously. Thank you Julio Verne for a unforgetable experience!! Beautiful country and very friendly people!Did downhill biking the Chimbarazo and the Vicuña Trek. Very nice!!

My wife and I climbed Carihuairazo with Eloy as the guide and the lovely Moises as driver. Everything went smoothly, Eloy was a top guide, he has years of experience and it showed. We succesfully summited and the whole experience was fantastic. We also did the Hidden Valleys bike ride with Alejandro, again an excellent guide, and one of my favourite people in all South America, Moises, the driver. It was a wonderful day, We started at Chimbarazo and walked up to a small lagoon at 5070m, then cycled the 8km down to the park entrance with amazingly dramatic scenery and a thrilling but bumpy ride. We then jumped in the car and went to the old road to Ambato, then cycled the 47km down hill through wonderful scenery and changing climate. The vistas were fantastic, the road is very quiet as there is a new road to Ambato. Moises and Alejandro followed in the car so we had no need to carry anything. I would highly recommend this agency and both tours.A special thank you as well as they catered very well for me and my gluten free diet.

We visited Ecuador & Galapagos from 6 to 24 in January with our friends. We wished to see as much Ecuador as possible during this quite short time and Popkje put together very good plan which gave us good idea about the beauty of this country. We spent time in rain forest, Andes, on Galapagos and also visited some towns. All the guides and drivers we had were very professional and spoke good English. Everything worked, all the promises were fulfilled. So if you want problem free and satisfying trip for reasonable prices then without hesitation Julio Verne Travel is the company to choose.Tõnu&Ly from Estonia

We booked a Carihuairazo acclimatization climb and a Chimborazo climb through the Julio Verne agency and were very happy with our pick. Not only was the planning meticulous and the pricing moderate, also when we needed to delay the whole trip for a day and add some pieces of equipment at short notice, this was no problem and did not incur any extra charge. When one of our group suffered from altitude sickness, the agency was very supportive. The rental equipment is generally good, you may only consider bringing your own jacket and thermal layers. Highly recommended.

My husband and I were very happy with Julio Verne Travel's services in helping us to plan our trip to Ecuador. Popkje had some excellent recommendations for places to visit and hotels/haciendas to stay in. She took note of what we wanted to do and modified her suggestions according to the type of travelling that we preferred. (We prefer to discover and learn on our own time..don't want a guide with us all day.) We spent time in Otavalo, Quito, Cuenca, Mindo cloud forest (great bird watching at the lodge that Popkje recommended) and a spectacular week in the Galapagos Islands. We're looking forward to returning to Ecuador with our adult sons and would definitely contact Popkje to arrange any future travels.Olivia

We did the Hidden Valley bike tour and saw amazing scenery all the way down the 40+km of quiet road. This is one of our equatorian highlights after Galapagos even if we had rain half the way down.We were very impressed with this agency. They are very professional, have excellent bikes, are safety conscious, and have friendly staff. We highly recommend.

We did the Hidden Valley trip... bit of hiking on Chimborazo and then downhill biking for the rest of the day... all the way to Ambato. Our guide was Dmitri and the whole day was great. Great soup lunch on Chimborazo and well earnt snacks at the end of our ride. We are fit and active people but you wouldn't even need to be that fit to do this day... mostly downhill on the bikes.Most importantly the gear was great... bikes were great with good gearing and brakes. They also have spare bikes on the safety van in case of malfunction. The safety van made this trip super safe and easy plus it was mainly on quiet roads. While it wasn't a cheap day out for a budget traveller it demonstrated great value for money and was an excellent way to see Chimborazo if you have no intention on climbing the summit :-)Impressed by the tour company and their commitment to safety.

We went on the Hidden Valley tour which involves driving up to the first refuge in Chimborazo, from here you hike to the laguna (approx 5040 metres) and then back to the refuge where you collect your mountain bike (together with helmet and safety padding) and cycle down the dirt road and through the valley until you get to Ambato. It is a full day of hiking and cycling, so you need to have a reasonable level of fitness. When we booked our tour with Popkje (the Dutch partner of the agency), she was very helpful and provided us with a detailed description of the tour. Both of our guides, Alajandro and Mario were really nice, friendly knowledgeable and enthusastic! We thoroughly enjoyed our day. We also received a video of our day by email from Popjke - a nice little souvenir to have. We visited and did business with other agencies in Riobamba and found Julio Verne to be by far the most professional. Would highly recommend this agency for their knowledge and professionalism.

We arranged our entire two-week trip to Ecuador over the internet through Julio Verne. Popkje, the Dutch partner, contacted us through email and skype, talking through all the possibilities for our itinerary, making excellent suggestions and tailoring each day to our preferences. We said we wanted to stay in medium level hotels and she found us very convenient and comfortable hotels with excellent service. As a couple we had private transport right across the country in the firm's minivan safely and well driven by knowledgeable guides with a very good command of English. We couldn't say enough about Julio Verne's helpfulness and attention to detail. When I left my wrap at the Cloud Forest by mistake, Popkje kindly contacted them and then advanced the funds to pay for the courier dispatch of the wrap in time to catch us before we left the country.There are so many scare stories about people being scammed by firms over the internet, but you can't go wrong with Julio Verne and can rely on having an enjoyable, well planned and yet not financially exorbitant trip with them.

We had a spectacular day with Julio Verne walking and cycling around the Chimborazo volcano. The walk up the snow filled slopes of the volcano to the second refugio and lake was stunning, we were so lucky with the weather and had the most spectacular views ever. Coming down was mostly on our backsides (unintentionally!) but was hilarious. After a nice hearty soup it was time to cycle down which was even more spectacular but was over too quickly as was only 8km. Fortunately the tour we were on was the Hidden Valleys tour so we continued for a further 40km through more stunning scenery and local villages. Not being a frequent cyclist I was unsure when Julio Verne tried to persuade us to do the longer tour but so glad we did and was pretty easy and mostly downhill. The bikes and equipment were good and we had a lot of fun with our excellent guide Dimitri (thank-you so much!). The only error was that we underdid it on the sunblock - with the altitude, proximity to the equator and sun on full show that day, we got burnt to a crisp and didn't realise until that evening and suffered for a few days. Small price to pay for an amazing day!

We did the Vicuna Trek with Julio Verne as an acclimatisation for the Chimborazo Climb. Julio Verne provided us with an excelent service, all the equipment we were missing was provided for free (or included in the price). The equipment was of a very good quality and the guides - both for the trek and the climb were great - very experienced and attentive. Overall we had a great time with Julio Verne - highly recommended!

We did the one day excursion 'Hidden Valleys' with Julio Verne and we had a wonderful day.The guide William gave us on the way a lot of interesting information and the views on the Chimborazo were amazing. We received a delicious soup and good lunch, and also a sandwich after biking. The bikes and equipment were in a good state and we felt really safe, they stayed the whole way down after us with the car. A beautiful experience, starting at the Chimborazo and biking down through the green valleys and passing the local villages with indigenes. The organization was really good: In the morning they picked us up at the hotel and helped us after the excursion to go to our next destination.We really recommend this and the operator of Julio Verne!

To date, we have booked 5 trips with Julio Verne - all of them a "10". I can say without reservation, that this is the most accurate, helpful and interesting agency I have come across. I have been impressed time and again with the level of service that I receive. Popkje works hard to put together outstanding experiences. In fact, she doesn't stop until every detail is nailed down perfectly. Follow up and communication are timely. She is also very thoughtful, and carefully considers our desires and abilities. At each visit, the guides and other people I observed working at the agency seemed to really enjoy what they were doing, and enjoy one another. The whole place has a great and welcoming vibe. Equipment for each trip with tip-top. A sampling of our trips to date: Hidden Valley Bicycle - really fun ride near Chimborazo. Vicunas, geology, beautiful vistas, twisty country road along river and past several rural communities. Serious fun for my family! Galapagos - a lifelong dream beautifully fulfilled. Last-minute 8day/7night cruise on m/v Majestic. Family trip of a lifetime! El Alter & Cotopaxi - A beautiful hike up to the high country to acclimate for the Cotopaxi climb. Great fun and challenging experience for two fat gringos. It must also be said that each of the guides selected for the trips were likewise outstanding. I feel that Julio Verne represents great value for money spent and also provides some truly amazing experiences. I look forward to more trips with Julio Verne down the road. Erik Knudsen

We had our honeymoon trip around Ecuador with Julio Verne between January 25 and February 8.It should be noted that their professionalism starts at the stage of trip discussion. The agent named Popkje van der Ploeg was very helpful, patiently explaining everything and adjusting the route to our changing requirements.The itinerary looked like this: Quito - Cotopaxi -Tigua - Laguna Quilotoa - Baños - Waterfall Road -Amazon jungle - Riobamba - Devil's Nose - Ingapirca - Cuenca - Cajas National Park - Guayaquil - Puerto Lopez - Isla de la Plata - Guayaquil.The choice of sights, hotels and people in all these places was impeccable. Breakfasts everywhere were very good and the personnel was attentive, polite and helpful.We were especially happy with Pablo, who was our guide at the Quito - Laguna Quilotoa stage, and Carlos, with who we explored the jungle. The guys were very easy-going, helpful, reliable and informative.We were really lucky that everything worked perfectly: all the guides and drivers were punctual, all the hotels were well located, sometimes we had nice surprises, like a bottle of sparkling wine in the room or an upgrade to better conditions since we were honeymooning.We would like to thank Julio Verne once again for an amazing unforgettable trip. These guys really know what they do!