The Chepe Express is a great trip with staggering vistas and amazing viewpoints, with excellent side trips and experiences. It is not a luxury cruise. It is not a new, high speed train. It ambles along with a shimmy and shake through beautiful scenery over remarkable terrain. Side trips are in rural areas with rough, often dirt, roads. We appreciated the small, rather rugged, touring vans. That being said it is worth every shake and bump. CBX is a GREAT crossing. (I recommend staying in San Diego rather than Otay Mesa as there are very limited services, like restaurants, available.) TIJ is a beautiful, modern, efficient airport. LMM is also a fine airport and the guide(s) had us on our way in no time. The guide and drivers were knowledgeable, personable and professional. Full of details and history each excursion was a delight. Helpful and concerned, our guide followed up and worked through a medical emergency in the group. It was not a foodie experience. The included meals were adequate though uninteresting for the most part. We enjoyed the whole experience. read more

This is not a review of the canyon, hotels, restaurants or train. Only Copper Canyon Mexico Specialists. The trip is amazing and should be on everyone's bucket list. Just don't use CCMS. Below is my description by email to CCMS after the trip. Their response was I should have read the fine print which gives them the right to change anything on the trip. I want to clarify that a phone call was made 3 days before the trip and were assured that the travel days would be in a luxury tour bus with a restroom. I also want to clarify that every person on this trip complained about the van from day 1 until the end. From my email: The description of the trip clearly states that we will be traveling on a deluxe coach bus for the duration of our trip (except for train travel days). Instead of a deluxe coach bus we were traveling in a small Sprinter van with 15 people on the tour, a tour guide and a driver. It was crowded and very uncomfortable. Some of the seats didn't even have access to a window so these people were not even able to see the scenery. My husband, who is 6'3", couldn't fit his legs between his seat and the seat in front of us. He had to sit sideways with his legs in the aisle sometimes for 8 hours at a time. The Sprinter was also a very rough ride. All of the people who wore step trackers were "tracking" thousands of steps while sitting in the van due to the bouncing and rough ride. My personal best was 17,000 steps while never actually walking. Also, being in a small van versus a deluxe coach bus meant we didn't have access to a restroom. Of course, this was uncomfortable and stressful since we never knew when we would be stopping for a restroom break. Our guide was not proactive in planning stops. We normally had to ask and then it could be an hour or more before the stop was feasible. My husband and I had been planning this trip for years and were very excited. The travel in the Sprinter van basically ruined this trip for us. We were uncomfortable in the seats. Uncomfortable not having access to a restroom. Disappointed in the false advertising for the trip transportation descriptions. The group complained about the van from the very beginning of the trip. We were told the night before we were to leave that we would not have a bus but would be in this small van instead. As you can imagine, everyone was upset and was asking for answers to why this change had been made. We never received an answer but were given some vague promises of a deluxe coach bus being delivered to us somewhere along the route. Guess when this happened? On the very last day after we crossed the border. So we were on a bus (which was wonderful) for about 3-4 hours. I estimate we spent 40-50 hours in the van. Our tour guide also suggested that we "switch around seats" after stops. Why would this help? All the seats were horrible. All were uncomfortable. Every other tour group we crossed paths with had a deluxe tour bus including another CCMS tour group. It became a joke to stand beside other tour groups buses and talk about how wonderful their trip must be compared to ours. read more

I have nothing but the best compliments for our tour from Creel to El Fuerte and back. The hotels were splendid, the food excellent, the train ride beautiful. All was just perfecto! All was organized quickly and efficiently - you can tell that this company knows what they are doing - very professional. I am very grateful. It was an outstanding experience and I would recommend them to anyone and everyone. Thank you so much. Robert Walker, Florida, USA read more

The Copper Canyon Tour I took in April 2024 was outstanding. It was well organize and had everything the itinerary had proposed. The train, guides and hotels were outstanding. I especially liked the detail information regarding your itinerary. The other point is that someone was always available to answer your questions. Erica was outstanding along with her office personnel. I would highly recommend this Company. Bill World traveler read more

My husband and I enjoyed this trip so much! Our guide explained the history of each area and gave us helpful tips to enhance our trip. The hotels were comfortable, clean, and the staff were all so friendly and helpful. And the food was excellent!! Our train journey through the Copper Canyon was breathtaking, again we experienced friendly and helpful staff! Definitely 5 stars! read more

Our trip was November 2023 and it was amazing. Very well organized, food and accommodations were great. I enjoyed getting to know the folks on the tour - many live in our community. Copper Canyon is spectacular and it was wonderful leaning about the Tarahumara's. Carlos, Erica and Randy outdid themselves and all had their own expertise that they shared with us. All the drivers and transportation were great and always right on time. Fantastic trip! read more

In April 2023 we toured the Copper Canyon and surrounding area with CCMS and greatly enjoyed our trip and people we met along the way. In general the trip was very well organized and conducted. The accommodations, food, and service was generally quite good, especially considering the relative remoteness of some of the areas visited. The train ride through the Cooper Canyon was spectacular and very interesting. The tour was made especially enjoyable by tour guide Camilo Doria! We found Camilo very interesting, knowledgeable, well spoken, and helpful! He was instrumental in making this a 5-star trip! We also found all of the drivers very competent and helpful, especially Juan! read more

Our travel group worked through Copper Canyon Specialists and Erica Soto to create a Cultural Mexico City Tour which included Puebla and Taxco. Every detail was completely attended to with excellent accommodations, most meals, and transportation by bus and van. We were guided by 3 employees of Copper Canyon Specialists; our primary educational guide, Mildred, had a huge amount of knowledge to share with us and effectively guided us through the highlights of museums, artists' homes, churches, and locales. Manuel made sure every hotel and restaurant was prepared to serve us and met the high standard that Copper Canyon Specialists expected for us. He even checked restrooms at stops to make sure they were clean! (Restrooms at different places were definitely part of the adventure!). Both Mildred and Manuel were contract employees but were definitely well vetted to provide excellence. Adrian was an employee of Copper Canyon Specialists to supervise and solve problems along the way. Overall, it was a superb experience! Put on your walking shoes and learn about Mexico! read more

We planned our Copper Canyon train trip with the help of Sahira at Copper Canyon Mexico Specialists. She was helpful in every way, and our trip turned out great. It was very difficult get a good picture of what we were putting together and on this end of the trip I wish we had not moved hotels every night, however, I am not sure exactly what I would have done differently, because we ended up seeing the canyon several different ways and that was great. If you do a Copper Canyon trip definitely make sure you have at least one long day in the Express train, and book first class for the best views and experience. We did not, but we did enjoy eating lunch in the dining car with dome windows! Very nice and food was excellent--beautiful and delicious. read more

Copper Canyon Mexico Specialists - El Chepe Express train comin' around the mountain! - Travel Services Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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My wife and I wanted to explore Copper Canyon without the annoyances of large tour groups. We tried to arrange the trip on our own but found it overwhelmingly difficult so we searched carefully for a reputable tour company. After reviewing several, we chose Mexico's Specialists. From the start, Erica worked patiently with us to provide us with tons of information and to make sure all of our questions were answered. We don't care for large tour groups and preferred to have the flexibility to move about on our own or join smaller tour groups when desired. Getting top notch accommodations was also very important to us. From start to finish, Erica remained in touch with us as though we were good friends. Every step of our journey was better than expected. We were never confused, never disappointed, and never left waiting for anything. Tour and hotel representatives were punctual, professional and delightful. The accommodations through the Balderrama Hotel chain was absolutely outstanding all along the way. They went to great pains to make sure we were very well cared for. And the food was always plentiful and delicious. So, if you want a fantastic trip to Copper Canyon with confidence that you will have everyone looking out for you in ways you can't even understand before the trip, then by all means go through Mexico's Specialists based in Arizona. We're sure glad we did. read more