Full-day Tour To The San Ignacio Mission Ruins And Wanda Mines

There was no way to get in contact with the company. In the end: They didn't answer, they didn't pick me up and the money is also gone. I never had something like this before!!

We booked via Viator with local tour operator Gray Line Tours. Were looking forward to it but received a cancellation notice from Gray Line Tours the night before. Thankfully I was able to find an alternate provider with the ‘Get Your Guide’ App. Thankfully Viator confirmed I’d get a refund in a few days!

Despite TripAdvisor noting that this tour would be in English, it was NOT. Nor did any of the guides speak English. Not on the bus. Not at the mine. Not at the Mission. Thankfully, my dad and I speak and understand enough Spanish to catch the highlights. That said, even if the tour had been in English, it would not have been worth it. The mines are only quartz and it is basically a gift shop stop. The lunch stop had disgusting bathrooms, no English menu and mediocre food. The museum at the Mission was 1 room and to get close enough to read the poorly- translated English signs, you have to stand in front of guests trying to read the Spanish signs. A late departure, a late return and 6 hours of travel time on the bus made for a HUGE WASTE of a day.

My family of 5 was stuck on this all-day tour in Spanish. We purchased the English tour! My receipt/voucher says "Language: English". The guide's nametag had the British flag on it, but he said he did NOT speak English. And he did NOT! The only part of this tour in English was the tour at Wanda Mines and only because someone working there spoke English. Otherwise, the tour guide narrated in Spanish on the bus. The Mission tour was in Spanish (no English guide available). The American movie on the bus was dubbed over in Spanish. The tour guide made no efforts to make sure we knew when to return to the bus or any other logistics. I found myself chasing him down at every stop as he would walk away from the bus as soon as it stopped. This was a full-size charter bus that held 50+ passengers. I reached out to the company after the tour for a partial refund and they refused. Terrible customer service!

Long story short, they left me behind. On the booking voucher it says you need to call the company or send an email to reconfirm the pickup location. I did both. I sent an email to the address provided, and also called them and the representative said the pickup time is 7:35 in the morning, however, on the voucher the pickup time was 8:00. Anyway, I was ready at 7:30 waiting for the bus, A cab showed up at 8:00 and I was OK, since they at least kept the promise for 8:00. He took me to another hotel!!! and told me to wait there. I thought maybe they collect people from everywhere and the bus would pick us up there. It is now 9:15 and nobody is there. I asked the front desk about the situation and they had no clue. The guy called 6-7 numbers and told me they would get back to him in 15 minutes. After 15 minutes another cab showed up and said I had been left behind and drove 35 minutes to take me to the first stop of the tour. It turned out that the tour had left the second hotel before I was picked up at my pickup location!!! The tour was already done with the mines and I had missed that part. The tour driver said I had five minutes to see the mines and I did. Then we had a two and half hours to San Ignacio. It was a cool place to visit. But, you probably don,t want being in a van for 8 hours total for a 2 hour visit.After all, I don't recommend this tour and this company to anyone. The tour driver was very nice and friendly, though.

<p>People should be warned that protests on the highway may lead to hours of delay in reaching the sites. Our guide at the mines was great and the guide at the Mission Ruins were both excellent. The issue was the two guides on the buses that we took. Because the bus was over 30 minutes late picking us up we were the last two on the bus. We were squeezed in sideways into the back row of 4 seats and neither of us could sit straight down. At the mines stop we asked the guide Greylines Viator arranged to please let us switch with someone else. He refused. He told us if we wanted to change seats we needed to ask the bus at large to switch with us. Then at the mines he asked us to switch to a larger bus with many empty seats. We agreed to do so, only when we were told we could definitely sit together. When we got on the larger bus, after an additional half hour delay, we were told to sit in the only two seats which were together. We protested and were told to get off the bus if we didn't want to sit apart. At no time were we rude or unpleasant but were treated with absolute disdain. This guide Miguel? Michael? told us all the others were couples and should remain seated together. I HEARD people introducing themselves to their seatmates. It would have been easy for the guide to ask for someone to change seats but he refused. There was an empty seat up front next to my son which remained empty for all but about 20 minutes of the long long rides but the guide told us it was HIS seat and neither of us could sit in it to be together. Since I only get to see my son about once or twice a year, not being able to share the time many hours sitting together and chatting was a terrible disappointment to both of us, and was totally unnecessary. We never were rude to the guide but he was unnecssarily uncaring and unkind and nothing makes up for the fact that we were LIED TO by both guides. We were on the tour on the morning of 1/11/2017. I would certainly not book with this company again. <br/> The ruins of the missions are sort of a theme park with very little history of why they were abandoned, etc. I think it would have been better to go into Paraguay and see some of the ruins that have not been sanitized for tourist visits.</p>

<p>This was interesting and a good change of pace while at the falls. Had a good guide and small group at both the mine and the mission. Some confusion on how to pay the admission fees to both areas</p>

<p>The tour to the mine was good fun but the trip to the Jesuit settlement was a wonderful complete surprise and worth the long drive. Very well organised and good value for money</p>

<p>The mine was more interesting ghN we thought it would be. The mission was great, it's just a long drive. We recommend it.</p>

<p>This is a good option if you want to visit the San Ignacio Mission from Puerto Iguazu but only have a day to do it - and no access to a car. If you have more flexibility, I would recommend either spending one night there or just do the road by car to get more time there. Still, this tour was exactly what it advertised: a lot of bus, a nice visit of the Wanda mines and a visit of the San Ignacio Mission ruins (which I would have liked to be longer). Fortunately the bus ride was improved by the tour guide commenting on the activities and culture in the region (although there is absolutely no "bilingualism" for this part - the whole thing is in Spanish).</p>

<p>Long day but worth seeing. Limited English translation.</p>

<p>The stops at the mines and mission were interesting and definitely worth it if you haven't seen either before. Our guide at the mission gave us an excellent tour. Note that entry/tour fees at both locations are not included.<br/> On the way back to Iguazu, we stopped at a Yerba Mate (tea) factory and it felt a bit as a tourist trap: a video was shown and a tour around the factory was given, both in Spanish only. At the end of the tour we could buy some of the tea and other products.</p>

<p>For the price of this tour, it was completely not worth it. I still had to pay for entry into Wanda Mines and the San Ignacio Mission. So in effect, I was paying $96 just for the bus. It would have been a tonne cheaper if I booked this tour in Puerto Iguazu. I find it hard to believe that the bus would cost me THAT much, considering I had caught a bus from Buenos Aires to Iguazu (18 hr bus ride) for roughly that same cost.</p> <p>The English guide at Wanda Mines had very poor English speaking skills. We did not understand 95% of what he was saying. Because he had trouble speaking English, our tour of the mines were very quick. We then had to wait 45 minutes for the Spanish tour to finish so that we could leave.</p> <p>The tour of the San Ignacio Mission was interesting. The guide spoke good English which was great.</p>

The program was full for the distance. A nice day but the time really too short for the visit of the mission. That’s the main goal of this 500 km. And less than 2 hours is racing. Remove the stop at the mate shop and let us enjoy this wonderful site. PS I had specified in English as round. No words or indications in English. For the visit of the mission only at the end we were told a QR code

Het was de verschrikkelijkste Tour die ik ooit heb gedaan. Ik heb zelf achter het ophaaluur moeten vragen omdat dit me nooit gezegd werd. Vervolgens kwam ik terecht in een minibus met allemaal Spaanstalige mensen en werd er totaal geen rekening gehouden met het feit dat ik Engelstalig ben. Ik heb de rondleiding op San Ignacio en de plantage niet in het Engels kunnen volgen en bij die van de kristallen heb ik zelf moeten aandringen voor een Engelstalige gids. DOE DIT NIET! Het is het geld echt niet waard

We booked the tour on short notice and it went perfectly. Schedules were met, very good Driver and Guide Service, excellent local guides, nondescript sites. It was worth it,

Muy buen tour, excelente guia, tanto el que tuvimos en el bus como el que nos hizo el recorrido en las ruinas de San Ignacio. Altamente recomendable

We took the excursion from Foz de Iguazu. By the time we traveled (July) there were a lot of people, so the wait at customs was 11⁄2 hours. Before reaching the ruins, you stop at the Wanda mines and then continue the journey for two hours. We arrived in San Ignacio at 3 in the afternoon, had lunch in a bar on the ruins front and at 4 in the afternoon we started the guided tour. The guide to the ruins makes a difference, beyond their eccentricities. The one-hour visit is very enjoyable, but in some cases more accurate information is missing. On the way back, the Enterprise makes a stop at a weedy cooperative where they pass an institutional video, make a tasting and sell the products. This stop causes a delay of more than an hour in the return. We arrived at our hotel at 10 o'clock at night, very tired, past the closing time of the dining room (we had dinner paid). I consider this delay unnecessary, as it was caused by the visit to the weed garden, not included in the excursion.

A nice place with history but little care...it could be better as many tourists come to know it and it is not completely marked and care...

historic place, very well preserved, it is worth visiting and the mines are beautiful the stones that you get dazzle you, bargain prices in the street or consult in several businesses for the prices of the stones

From Puerto Iguazú it is 3 hours drive to the Ruins of San Ignacio, before stopping in Wanda, which is just over half an hour. Both rides are entertaining and the guides make the long trip worthwhile. It is important to carry enough cash because tickets are paid in $. There are very good bus services that meet you at the hotel and take you to both places.

They were punctual when they came looking for us. The driver was super friendly, and during the outbound trip he was telling us things about the region. The tour guides also very well,

The bus guide spoke-spoke-spoke-spoke-spoke-spoke-spoke-spoke...! For love...! Long journey, of monotonous landscape, and speaking guide without stopping. Nobody deserves it! "Wanda Mines." People: It's a tiny, manual mining machine, coupled to a highway station. The walk inside of them is on foot and the guide has NO QUESTION TO PRESENT. "Ah, here is the stone, which symbolizes love and lust." "Look, there's a manioc foot." Manioc foot I see for free in my town, ora! The tour of the "mines" ends in half an hour. The guide throws you inside a questionable taste craft shop. At the highway inside there's a snack bar. I went to get some coffee. "Would you like a glass here or for a trip?" I thought, "I don't know what time the bus leaves, so give me a drink for the trip." Answer? "Oh, you don't... You need to drink coffee here." Then why the hell did you offer what you don't have? Knowing that it is forced point of tourism, how do you have no stock of such a glass? San Ignacio is interesting. Once again the guide talked-talked-talked...in a place where the ruins themselves speak for themselves. It has totens spread with sounds explaining in several languages. The entrance to the archaeological site is shameful! The region rains 2000 millimeters per year and has no pedestrian! There is power cable for everything (for lighting, sound system, video projection) but the entrance is in the middle of the mud.

<p>Creo que la película de La Misión deberían ponerla a la ida del viaje, no a la vuelta. A la vuelta agregaría algunas galletitas o algún tentempie.</p>