If you have found this post, it is most likely because you are doing research into how best to travel around Peru, and quite possibly Bolivia too. Peru Hop and its sister company Bolivia Hop are perhaps one of the most popular ways of exploring these countries. But are they worthy of the hype?
The appeal of Peru Hop/Bolivia Hop is easily apparent. You can choose the route that best suits your plans. You can ‘hop’ on and ‘hop’ off whenever you like, tailoring your stay to your desired timeframe. You can even skip stops if you want. And all this while having a local Spanish and English speaking guide on board making sure things run smoothly. It appears to be the most straightforward and optimal solution. With Peru’s roads having a dangerous reputation it is also looked on as one of the safer companies to travel with.
The aim of my blog is to share the genuine experience we had and provide a review of what you can expect when taking this service. There’s a real mixed bag on review sites so I hope this blog will help you make an informed decision.
Our Route
Unlike most Peruvian coach services, which generally offer standalone tickets from one city to another, Peru Hop/Bolivia Hop offers pre-set packages which cover a series of destinations. These can be found here.
As we were already arriving in the capital, we opted for the Lima to La Paz to Cusco route. This meant that we would be able to see as much of Peru as possible, while also dipping our toes into Bolivia. We’d end our journey in Cusco, where we could make the most of our time in one of Peru’s most famous historic cities before heading off to Machu Picchu.
The full itinerary included stops at Paracas, Huacachina, Nazca, Arequipa, Puno, Copacabana, La Paz and Cusco. The cost would be £269 per person.
The Pros
Peru Hop/Bolivia Hop markets itself more as a package holiday than a simple coach service. Each bus has its own tour guide on board. You can book all of your accommodation and activities at each stop while traveling and there’s easy access to customer service via email and social media.
The main benefit (and the reason we found most people took the service over local coaches) is that it lessens the complexity of planning an itinerary and makes getting from A to B (and then onto C, D E etc) far easier. For those booked into Bolivia, it also makes crossing the border super easy and straightforward, something that can be a daunting prospect for those not used to crossing borders by land.
The service is ideal for new travellers young and old alike, those looking to build friendships with other adventurers, and those more experienced travellers who are looking for less hassle getting around the country.
We loved that we met lots of like-minded people of all ages on our journeys. Because Peru Hop/Bolivia Hop is solely used by travellers, it made chatting with people and finding commonality really easy – we all shared tips and recommendations and even met some of our fellow travellers again in other parts of Peru and wider South America.
As earlier mentioned Peru Hop/Bolivia Hop provides the option of booking tours at each destination along your route. If you want your tours/excursions booked for you and don’t want to do your own research into what to explore and see in whatever town/city you hop off at, Peru Hop makes it super easy.
Tours are usually pretty cheap but are a little bit like a conveyor belt in terms of traveller turnover – some people literally arrive in a town, do a quick tour and then hop back on the bus to the next stop. It can be a pain free experience however for those that like to have everything booked in advance.
Booking pickups and dropoffs is done online and is extremely simple to do. You can change your mind up to 24 hours before you travel. Most of the major tourist spots across central and southern Peru are covered in the itinerary.
Guides, Drivers & Coaches
A stand out tick in the pros column for Peru/Bolivia Hop is for the drivers and guides.
The drivers drove safely and considerately for those on board across every leg. On longer journeys (especially those over night) there were two drivers who would swap over when one got tired. When a breakdown occurred they were quick to get stuck into the problem and ensure we were back up and running (or had a replacement bus) in good time.
The guides were awesome too. These guys work hard! They kept track of every individual on the bus, ensured their itinerary was correct and were available 24/7 to answer any questions – even in the middle of the night!
All of our guides were fluent in Spanish and English. Some spoke additional languages. They were all personable and had a good sense of humour, which always makes a long-ass bus journey more enjoyable.
On the whole the coaches were good, while there was no single configuration – some had two toilets, others one, some were two-floored, others one etc. – the seats were ok for the journey and there was plenty of legroom. The temperature was good and changed regularly by the driver depending on what we wanted. Although you do not pre-book your seating, we had no problem sitting together on any of the journeys.
While Peruvian roads are often unpredictable and sometimes downright scary, we never felt in danger. With everyone on board being a fellow tourist there was also less threat of theft onboard.
The Cons
For many travellers spontaneity is key to an enjoyable adventure. When taking public transport you never quite know what will happen. You’ll also be mixed in with the locals which makes everything feel just that bit more exciting.
With Peru Hop acting more like tour service, and everyone on board being a fellow traveller, there is a risk that you’ll lose some of the magic of crossing Peru. We were also quite surprised that the itinerary often recommended just one or two nights in a destination. With late arrival times this often meant people who followed the standard itinerary only had a few hours in each new location. We often stayed in places three, four, even five or more nights without running out of things to do. Our fellow travellers were long gone by then!
I also think that their routes could be simplified, as in I think they offer so many variations that it hinders the smooth running of their service. On our buses we had multiple people taking such a variation of routes that the guides had to keep track of who was going where and when and it just felt unnecessarily confusing. Often we would be waiting around at one of the pickup points for various different buses and groups to arrive. If one bus was delayed it meant a whole stream of other journeys and routes were then impacted, which slows everything down.
One of the benefits of Peru Hop/Bolivia Hop was the collection and drop off from the door of your hotel/hostel via mini bus. While this looked great on paper, in reality it didn’t work very well. Due to the geography of some of the towns this door to door service didn’t happen in some places like Paracas, Cusco and Copacabana. Many travellers told us of nightmare stories where they simply didn’t get picked up and missed their coach. And often, if the bus was running late we were ushered into taxis instead. While we didn’t have an issue with this, some of the people were uneasy not having the guide around for support. Personally we’d have had no issue with having to pick the coach up at a central location/bus stop in each destination.
Lastly, I think some of the mid journey stop-offs we made were somewhat… unnecessary. From Lima to Paracas, for example, we stopped off for breakfast at a ranch and spent a little too much time participating in various activities. Another stopover in a winery was also lengthy. The food was often overly expensive and not great. Most travellers we spoke to deemed the stops unnecessary and would have prefered to have just pushed on through to the next destination.
The Mishaps
Our buses broke down… quite a lot.
Out of 8 buses taken, 3 of them had severe issues. Two broke down mid journey and one was delayed so much (after breaking down on a prior trip before reaching us for pick up) that we nearly missed our border crossing between Copacabana and La Paz. We were also missed off the rota for one leg of our journey which meant we had to take a local coach instead (which was great!).
We expected delays and issues on South American road trips and a slight delay is no problem. However these were pretty significant issues. Bits of the bus literally fell off! The late crossing between Copacabana and La Paz resulted in 28 people (including our skeptical-looking guide) having to cross the lake in the dark, at night without life jackets on a tiny little boat.
Because the boat was quite obviously being overloaded with passengers, a bunch of people were told to crawl into the underneath storage area. The weight of people standing, sitting and squatting on the boat weighed the whole thing down. The water was so near to the lip of the boat as the engine was switched on and we left the shore that we all said a little prayer and hoped it wouldn’t sink. It was one of the most dangerous moments in our entire South American trip.
We lived to tell the tale, obviously, but you could hear a pin drop on that boat as we all collectively held our breath and counted down the minutes until we were safely disembarking on the other side.
Generally speaking however when an issue did arise, there was another bus to pick us up pretty quickly. The company also paid for our public bus and arranged everything for us which was great. We always felt that they had a plan B in place should anything go wrong.
My Peru Hop Overview
As with any review I do, I end by reflecting on whether I would recommend the place or service etc. to someone else. Overall, despite the few mishaps I definitely would recommend Peru/Bolivia Hop. Especially for newer travellers.
Ultimately Peru Hop makes getting around Peru as easy as possible. It’s very safe, good fun and on the most part reliable. When issues arise they sort out the problem, something less likely when taking the public option.
Whether you’re travelling for two weeks or 6 months, there will be an itinerary for you. Yes, it’s more expensive than the local options, but for that extra money you get the peace of mind that you’ll be safely looked after. Being able to book each leg of your trip online is really straight forward and having an experienced guide on board to provide recommendations is really helpful.
The sense of community with Peru Hop is also a bonus. We had a lot of laughs with fellow travellers, even when our bus broke down!
So there you have it, folks! I really hope this post went some way to answer questions and give an honest insight into what travelling with Peru Hop/Bolia Hop is like.
Our time in Peru and Bolivia was so fun and memorable – I wouldn’t change our experience for the world. If you have any other questions about Peru Hop feel free to drop me a comment and I will get back to you asap.
Wishing you all safe and happy travels!
Until next time,
Lica xoxo
