The Best Latin America Tour Companies
The votes are in and Travel+Leisure readers have once again chosen their top picks for hotels, resorts, and destinations around the world. They’ve also asked readers to pick the top companies running tours. We’ve got the scoop on the best Latin America tour companies, the ones that operate in the region we cover.
The world’s best tour operators are quite subjective depending on your style of travel and there’s a limit to how many tour companies even the wealthiest travelers have tried. Plus we know from all those “Please vote for us!” solicitations we receive from the operators and their PR companies that there’s a lot of ballot stuffing going on.
But thousands of readers can’t be too off the mark can they? So we thought we would break down the operators on the T + L list that offer excursions in our part of the world—Latin America—and see how they compare one to another. Here are the tour companies in South America, Central America, and Mexico getting the highest ratings.
TCS World Travel
This company moved from #6 up to the #1 slot in 2026 after hosting one of T&L’s writers on their South America tour by private jet, but hey, these “readers choice” awards are always a fishy opaque mystery anyway. But TCS does offer exclusive experiences that are aimed at true high-end travelers, high touch and high service.
Their specialty is travel by private jet, either with a group or in a custom private tour, and most pre-organized tours last 10 days or more. While traveling by private jet might be one of the most carbon-intensive ways to travel, TCS claims to calculate its carbon footprint and purchase carbon offsets to make up for its output.
The company only has two or three tours that stay strictly within the Americas, with most of the Latin America destinations part of a larger Around the World itinerary. Check out packages and prices here.
Metropolitan Touring
We were happy to see this company show up at #2 because they’re based in Ecuador and are active in many regions of Latin America. I actually traveled with them last decade and you can read more about my experience in this feature story: From the Cloudforest to the Devil’s Nose in Ecuador.
Besides running great land tours, Metropolitan also takes guests through the Galapagos Islands and they’re involved with two luxury hotels we’ve featured as our top picks in Ecuador: Mashpi Lodge and Hotel Casa Gangotena in Quito pictured above.
Butterfield and Robinson
It’s been a long time since one of our writers traveled with Canadian company Butterfield and Robinson, but we do have a feature story on a trip with them in Peru, a walking tour in the Sacred Valley and the Lares Trail.
The company leads small group, high-end tours that take care of every detail for you and they make sure you’re staying at interesting luxury hotels. Many of them are walking and biking trips, though they do offer some boat excursions in the mix as well. They operate in six countries that we cover; see the B&R tours here.
Artisans of Leisure
Artisans of Leisure arranges ultra-deluxe private tours that are personalized to individual clients and their wants and needs. The sheer volume of the tours they offer is overwhelming but that’s because these aren’t set tours, but suggested itineraries that travelers can choose from or use to make their own unique trip plan. In Latin America Artisans of Leisure offer tours in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and the Galapagos, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. See more info here.
Each includes high-end lodging at each destination, ground transportation and transfers, private guides and drivers, and what they tout as exclusive access to events, tastings, and experiences. The cost of the tours varies but most will run you upwards of $15,000 (based on double occupancy). This company was also tagged in Conde Nast Traveler’s similar list in 2026.
Duvine Cycling and Adventure
Duvine is a smaller luxury biking and adventure tour operator currently active in just two countries in Latin America: Chile and Uruguay. The Chile tour takes you through Chile’s Lake district.
On the Uruguay tour, you start in Colonia del Sacramento, visit Montevideo and vineyards, and ride along the coast near Punta de Este.
The trips are upwards of $7,000 and that price includes almost all related costs, including accommodation, bike gear, guides, wine tastings, and gourmet meals throughout. The only extra amount to pay is for airfare to the pick-up spot. In 2022, DuVine became the first 100% carbon-neutral bike tour operator.
Wilderness Travel
Wilderness Travel hits almost all of the most popular spots in Latin America, as well as a few extras that aren’t on every tour operator’s list like Tierra del Fuego and the Pantanal of Brazil, the world’s largest tropical wetland. They also have some unusual offerings in each destination that go beyond the norm.
The tours are super luxe, so envision luxury safari camps and exclusive boutique hotels, as well as a lot of pampering. These tours have set days that they are scheduled for, with group sizes up to 10 or 12, with a wide range of prices from $5K to $20K per person double occupancy — the latter for Antarctica and South Georgia Island.
Black Tomato
For a luxury tour operator in Latin America that goes a little out of the normal lux locations, try Black Tomato. The company has trips in 15 countries in Latin America, including some that are shunned by most tour operators like Bolivia and Nicaragua. There are various sample itineraries that they offer in each country and these tend to start at $8K per person and can top $25K for some of the longer options. You can expect lots of exclusive experiences and they tend to stay at the top jungle lodges and luxury hotels in the region.
They also have a regenerative travel focus that includes paying into carbon offsetting projects. Black Tomato owns Epic Tomato, which is an expedition and adventure part of their business, as well as a corporate travel side where they arrange trips for big groups.
Quasar Expeditions
Quasar is one of the few tour operators on this list that has stuck to a few singular locations and become top experts in those places. In this case, it’s the Galapagos Islands and Patagonia, where they have years of expertise and knowledge on how to craft perfect luxury vacations aboard small cruise ships. This Ecuador-based company offers some cool, novel options like a photography cruise and an Autism cruise and they have been Voted the #1 Small-Ship Ocean Cruise Line over and over again by Travel+Leisure.
Luxury Latin America writers have had several opportunities to travel with Quasar and always sing their praises. The link above goes to a Galapagos feature. Or check out our story on a puma tracking tour in Chile.
Ker & Downey
Ker & Downey is best known for its upscale African Safari trips, but they are quite active in Latin America too, running tours to 11 countries on the continent. This is more than most other operators because they are active in Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname. It’s not all rugged adventure though: they do wine tours in the Mendoza region and pampered trips in the Atacama Desert.
They also go everywhere except El Salvador in Central America and their Mexico offerings include a 9-day culinary tour, a family Baja adventure, and an art and culture tour. These are often suggestion frameworks that end up being tweaked: like most on this list, they often set up custom tours for small groups or extended families. See more about them here.
Jacada Travel
Jacada Travel’s footprint extends from Mexico down to Patagonia, hitting most of the highlights you’d expect — like adventures around Torres del Paine — and a few surprises as well. They’ve got 14 countries on their tour list, including some that few others serve, such as Bolivia and Uruguay.
They do a lot of customized trips for couples and small groups and offer experiences that go beyond the norm. They also tend to put guests in luxury hotels we’ve rated highly, such as Awasi Patagonia, Vina Vik Hotel Chile, and Matachica in Belize.
Natural Habitat Adventures
While most tour companies on this list are attempting to be everything to everybody (provided they have enough money), Natural Habitat Adventures specializes in places where you’re likely to see large wild animals. So in Latin America that means big cats, whales, sea lions, penguins, and giant iguanas. Their Central America tours hit wildlife-rich areas in Costa Rica and Panama, while in Mexico they go to Baja and the monarch butterfly reserves in Morelia.
Naturally this company explores the Galapagos Islands and the Antarctica region, while they also venture into the Pantanal in Brazil and cruise the Amazon River on one of Delfin’s nicest ships. They do more than most to stay carbon-neutral and publish an annual sustainability report.
Trek Travel
Bicycle tour company Trek Travel has been on and off this T+L list many times and they’re on it again in 2026. They’re far more active in Europe and the United States than they are south of the Rio Grande, which seems kind of ironic since I’ve met one of their staffers at an adventure travel conference in both Panama and Chile.
They currently run mountain biking tours in Chile’s lake and volcano district that’s seven days starting at $6,500 per person and Costa Rica from Monteverde to the coast for six days starting at $5,300. See more here.
Timbuktu Travel
Despite its name, Timbuktu Travel operates on several continents, including South America. They’re active in six countries there, from Colombia down to the bottom of Chile and Argentina, plus they also offer expeditions to Antarctica and tours in Costa Rica.
Their 10-night Highlights of Colombia trip includes the Coffee Triangle Region we’ve covered and their 18-night epic tour of Peru has time to go beyond the standards and see the Nazca Lines, the Colca Canyon, and Lake Titicaca starting at $12K per person double occupancy. See more on their tours here.
Boundless Journeys
Boundless Journeys is far more present in Europe, Africa, and Asia than it is in the Americas, with just five countries hosting tours: Argentina, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Boundless tends to offer more short add-on tours than the other companies listed here, such as a three-day Mendoza wine tour in Argentina (starting at $1,895 per person double) and a four-day Amazon Jungle tour based next to the Tambopata National Reserve.
See more about Boundless here.
These are not the only tour companies running high-end tours in Latin America, of course. so follow that link for lots of articles on others, including some you can book direct with that are based in the country you’re headed to. As I mentioned before, the companies rotate on and off this list according to who has done the best job of campaigning for votes that year. The 2025 list included Kensington Tours, AdventureWomen, Classic Journeys, Off the Beaten Path Tours, and Backroads. Perhaps some will return next year…
