Customer's Opinions about guide from Santiago, Chile

Thank you for your service. Hector was 100%% a fantastic driver. He waited for 1.5 HOURS due to our cruise shipo being late!!!! He met us at designated area and drive us promptly to Santiago hotel with very good driving habits!

Hector and his associates are top notch! I contacted him last minute.... like the day before, last minute..... to give my family of 6 a full day tour of Santiago. Hector was prompt in responding, his English is great, and was very accommodating! Literally minutes before we boarded the plane I requested a change (for us to be picked up at the airport, not the hotel). We were met promptly and the van was in pristine condition! We spent the entire day trekking all over Santiago! You wont be disappointed!

HecTour Services is the only guide you need during your stay in Santiago. Our guide was always on time, friendly and very knowledgeable about the area. I highly recommend.

My wife and I had one day in Santiago en route to Patagonia, and we are so glad we connected with HecTour Service to provide us with a private tour of the city! The guide picked us up from the airport upon our arrival in the morning in a beautiful Mercedes Sprinter van and showed us all around Santiago before dropping us off at our hotel. Highlights included visiting Santa Lucia Hill (Hector drove us right up to the entrance!), Constitution Park, Plaza de Armas, and a walk through downtown Santiago. My wife and I love trying local foods, so the guide from HecTour Service made a point of building in a food tour of Santiago classics (Domino hot dog, Pap, cafe haiti coffee, mote con huesillo, empanadas, and a visit to La Vega Central Market). The guide was knowledgeable, friendly, and committed to making sure our one day in Santiago was memorable! We are so grateful we spent the day with HecTour Service and will recommend it to all our friends!

Absolutely magnificent guide! Full of knowledge and energy. Provided us with a magnificent three day excursion through Santiago, Valparaiso and the Andes. Hector is VERY KNOWLEDGABLE! Great sense of humor and very kind man. He made our three day trip a trip of a lifetime!!

Very flexible, helpful, professional! He organized my private trip very much last minute, and he was patient as well. Thanks a lot!

Great one day tour of Valparaiso, starting and back from Santiago airport.
Hector as a native of the city knows all the places and adapts the tour to the people of the day.
Highly recommended

We had a one day layover in Santiago and decided to use HecTour.

My expectations were exceeded as our tour leader allowed us to dictate the itinerary and brought us to every site we requested as well as adding a few himself.

He was historically knowledgeable and very friendly.

I would highly recommend.

Hector was very friendly and engaging which made the tour even more enjoyable. He effortlessly connected with the group, bringing humor and liveliness to the experience. We felt comfortable and entertained throughout.

What stood out was his flexibility. He tailored the tour to our interests, adjusting the pace and accommodating requests. It felt personalized and left us thoroughly satisfied.

Our guide took care of every detail, from transportation to wine tastings, ensuring a seamless experience.

We made a last minute decision to do a private tour of Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar. Our guide, Anneliese and driver, Fernando were excellent! We enjoyed a wonderful day, and experienced these locations on a deeper level thanks to the knowledge and professionalism of Anneliese. We never would have been able to see the locations or understand the history the same way if we had done this excursion on our own. The customer service and friendliness will always be a foundation of our memory of this day. Thank you HecTour Services!

My wife and I did a private tour to Vina Del Mar and Val Paraiso with Hector. Great tour and guide. Highly recommended. Thank you, Hector!

A tour with HectorTourService is the ONLY way to do a tour of Valparaiso! Our guide was an outstanding tour guide with so much knowledge about Valparaiso (it’s his home town), Santiago and Chile. We had a great day trip picked up from Santiago in a very nice van. Given his amazing local knowledge, our guide walked us around all the most significant places and best photo stops - not only is he a great tour guide but also a talented photographer! Highly recommend HectorTourService when you visit Santiago and Valparaiso.

A tour with HectorTourService is the ONLY way to do a tour of Valparaiso! Our guide was an outstanding tour guide with so much knowledge about Valparaiso (it’s his home town), Santiago and Chile. We had a great day trip picked up from Santiago in a very nice van. Given his amazing local knowledge, our guide walked us around all the most significant places and best photo stops - not only is he a great tour guide but also a talented photographer! Highly recommend HectorTourService when you visit Santiago and Valparaiso.

Hector saved the day- literally. We booked originally with another company for a group tour and the never showed in the morning since we only had a few days that were already completely booked we were in a panic to reschedule our Valpariso tour for this same morning. At 8am I sent an email and shortly after received communication from Hector who made our trip happen same day. Since he grew up in Valpariso area we had a special insight and he knew how to navigate all the streets and avoid traffic. All the better in the very comfortable cold AC of the Mercedes van. We hit all the amazing sights and more, he shared with us so many interesting stories and information that you don’t usually get on a group tour. When it came time to eat we had the challenge of my seafood allergy he found us the perfect spot “portofino” that offered delicious options with an amazing view and was able to get us a last minute reservation on the terrace. He took the best photos of us and went at the perfect pace. Absolutely book with Hector if you want a seamless day and an experience you won’t forget! Thank you for saving our day Hector!

This tour was spectacular. The guide from HecTourService added a mix of history, attractions and traveler insight with a personal touch was just what we needed when we landed in Chile for a 5 week adventure. Don’t miss out on the locals market with the lunch stop, almost an underground type experience. Between advice on currency exchange and location of the US Embassy while touring the street vendors and plaza de armas, we were engaged the whole tour. If you take the city tour, don’t forget Santiago’s founders name because you will get quizzed you later -Valdivia. The guide from HecTourService effortlessly adjusted the tour to show us dining areas near our hotel and explain the nature of that section of the city. I would highly recommend HecTourService and will sign up next time we visit the wonderful country of Chile. The tour far exceeded our expectations. Thank you HecTourService! -Brad

This private service provided us with excellent communication and flexibility allowing us to preplan a Maipo Valley wine tour, see photos, and a tour of Santiago, Chile prior our arrival. HecTour Service was also able to assist us on very short notice. Due to an unexpected last minute flight cancellation we chose to fill the additional day with touring and HecTours Service was able to accommodate our requests and suggest activities that satisfied everyone.
Our bilingual guides also helped us place our orders at restaurants by answering our questions about the menu items and then communicating to the wait staff our questions and dietary restrictions.
HecTours Service will not disappoint; they offer flexibility, are prompt and polite, private, and work hard to be sure you have a wonderful experience. Also easy to work with by email.

HecTours is the most amazing, professional and all around most perfect tour service one could ever imagine. We arrived in Santiago to spend 3 days touring the city prior to our fly-fishing adventure in Patagonia. Although we had flight delays, lost luggage and late arrivals, our driver met us with a big smile and genuine concern for our travel misfortunes. On the way to our hotel he gave us an orientation of the city, directed us to walkable restaurants for dinner and encouraged us to rest and recover. On Day 2 our guide listened to our interests and took us on a wonderful tour of local markets, historical sites and city highlights. He also arranged dinner for us at a gourmet restaurant later that evening. On day 3 we toured the Wine Country including an amazing lunch at a Chilean Bar-B-Que restaurant . HecTours was able to accommodate 3 more of our friends on this excursion with no problems. Day 4 HecTours was prompt and ready to transfer all 5 of us to the airport with tips on how to navigate STG. We said our good-byes.....but that was NOT the end of our story. Within the next 48 hours, we discovered we had left behind a pair of Rx Sunglasses. No problems, HecTours promptly had our glasses express mailed to us in Patagonia within 2 days! BUT there's more....while in a regional airport returning to the USA, our flight was cancelled which necessitated us spending an extra 36 hours in Santiago. We made a call in the late evening and HecTours assured us that they could take all 6 of us on another tour of Santiago. Again, a perfect tour of new and interesting places followed by a wonderful late lunch prior to us returning to the airport for our final destination in the USA. What an adventure we had....and HecTours turned all of our problems into smiles with their compassion, professionalism and genuine human connection. Without a doubt HecTours can not be beat. We have made life long friends and look forward to our return to Santiago and HecTours.

HecTour Service
Let me start by saying that I am guilty of NEVER writing reviews. But here I am, the day after our 3 week cruise, wanting to get my review on HecTour Service out as soon as possible because it was such a fabulous experience. We were on a cruise and the last stop was Valparaiso, Chile. The week earlier I realized we were going to disembark the ship at 9:00am and our flight home was not until 11:00pm. Through a tour guide we had in Puerto Montt, I was given HecTour Service as a contact for Valparaiso/Santiago. My husband reached out and Hector responded to us quickly. He told us he would be able to take care of us when we arrived in Valparaiso a few days later. Hector saved the day!! He picked us up at the cruise terminal at 9:00am in his Mercedes van. He asked us what we wanted to do, and we told him that we were flexible until 6:00pm when we needed to be dropped off at the Santiago airport for our flight. We suggested touring Santiago. We had done a bus excursion of Valparaiso the day before and thought we had seen everything there – but, boy, were we wrong! Hector told us that before we headed to Santiago he would like to show us some places around Valparaiso where our huge bus of 50 people could not go. This meant driving up steep and narrow cobblestone streets and experiencing many areas of the city not possible in a bus. The highlight was learning all about Valparaiso’s character from someone who grew up there. And Hector even got us into the trendiest restaurant – Portofino – with a table overlooking the water. He is by far one of the most knowledgeable, personable, interesting and enjoyable people we have ever met. His English is exceptional and he’s a great photographer. I could go on and on, but let me end by saying that we decided not to tour the city of Santiago. We were enjoying the colorful city of Valparaiso too much! That is the benefit of spending the day with Hector – the day is completely flexible. It turns out we spent over 6 hours in Valparaiso and the surrounding areas, and still wished we had more time with Hector. He drove us to the Santiago airport and I have to say that the day was one of the highlights of our 3 ½ week cruise around South America.

This tour was everything we hoped for and more!

The Guide from HecTourService provided an exceptional experience for us. We were in complete comfort on this private, personalized tour of Valparaiso and Viña Del Mar, visiting a diversity of sites tailored to our interests, no more no less, what’s not to love?!

I highly recommend this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

We were an international family group of 8 (aged 1-83) and our HecTour guide looked after us beautifully for 5 days. Each morning he arrived punctually in an immaculate van with his fabulous driver and we were shown around Santiago, the coast (Valparaiso etc) and up into the mountains. The tour was entirely flexible and our guide was very patient (we realised he sometimes waited for us to be ready to finish doing something when we were in fact waiting for him to tell us when was time to move on!!) All in all we all saw a lot and had a very happy trip which would have been so much harder without such a wonderful guide.

Je recommande Hector qui nous a fait visiter Valparaiso
Nous avons pu découvrir des endroits insolites grâce à sa parfaite connaissance de la ville en dehors des circuits touristiques de masse.
Nous avons adoré la visite très complète de Valparaiso et je vous recommande vivement ce guide.
Il vient vous chercher à l'hôtel à Santiago et vous emmène à Valparaiso en vous faisant également visiter la vallée de Casablanca ainsi que Vina del mar.
Guide à l'écoute et qui s'adapte à vos demandes
De superbes souvenirs

My wife and I were coming to Santiago to start a cruise from San Antonio port. Instead of taking an uneventful transfer from Santiago to nothing-to-do and nothing-to-see San Antonio port we decided to go for a two-day custom tour. A guide from HecTour company picked us from the airport and drove us through picturesque landscape roads to Viña del Mar, and next, to Valparaiso. Our guide took us on a walking tour through artsy Valparaiso streets. We stopped to chat with local artists as our guide seemed to know everybody around. The guide took us to a great local restaurant, off the beaten tourist track, where they served delicious local seafood and excellent local wines. Next day was even more attractive as we traveled along the coast passing through Las Dichas, Algarrobo, Isla Negra (to visit Pablo Neruda’s beach house), Las Cruces and Cartagena. When traveling through country roads we stopped at a local rodeo. We appreciated HecTour company professionalism and reliability so we could relax and enjoy all the flexibility of our custom tour. Thanks to HecTour our exciting vacation started a moment we meet our guide at Santiago airport.

My wife and I were coming to Santiago to start a cruise from San Antonio port. Instead of taking an uneventful transfer from Santiago to nothing-to-do and nothing-to-see San Antonio port we decided to go for a two-day custom tour. A guide from HecTour company picked us from the airport and drove us through picturesque landscape roads to Viña del Mar, and next, to Valparaiso. Our guide took us on a walking tour through artsy Valparaiso streets. We stopped to chat with local artists as our guide seemed to know everybody around. The guide took us to a great local restaurant, off the beaten tourist track, where they served delicious local seafood and excellent local wines. Next day was even more attractive as we traveled along the coast passing through Las Dichas, Algarrobo, Isla Negra (to visit Pablo Neruda’s beach house), Las Cruces and Cartagena. When traveling through country roads we stopped at a local rodeo. We appreciated HecTour company professionalism and reliability so we could relax and enjoy all the flexibility of our custom tour. Thanks to HecTour our exciting vacation started a moment we meet our guide at Santiago airport.

Best Tour - Best Prepared - Best Guide
We didn't know what to do in Santiago, Chile; we had one day there before boarding our cruise ship in San Antonio, Chile a 90 mile trip. I checked some tour possibilities with Trip Adviser. HecTour Service was highly rated. I sent an email to them letting them know of our itinerary and what we thought we'd like to see in the city. Well, our guide was right on time, he was well prepared with a list of what I had selected and insisted on a couple of other very interesting things to see. Perfect English for us, as our Spanish lacks a lot!

I found out that they could have accommodated getting us to our ship the next day. We could have booked our own room (saving hundreds of dollars) and then had them take us to our port of San Antonio. We could have gone directly to the port or toured the area on our way there. The cruise company really ripped us off.

In the future, if our travels take us back to South America I will check to see if HecTour Service can show us around.

Victoria

Trip to Santiago November 2019
We visited Santiago at the end of November 2019 for 10 days. At that time there was still a lot of
civil unrest in Chile, and Santiago in particular, some protests were turning violent and at times
police were using teargas and water cannons to break up demonstrations. We would normally
travel independently using public transport wherever possible; however, some metro stations had
been vandalised in the civil unrest and some services were limited. Given this situation we elected to
engage Hector Medina of HecTourService to provide Airport/Cruise Ship transfers and four days of tours.
Hector met us personally at the Airport. Enroute to our hotel he gave us an impromptu and very
interesting guided tour of the local market and our very first and best Empanada experience.
Our first tour with Hec Tour Guide took us on a hiking trip to the Lower & Upper Maipo Canyon at the base of
the Chilean Andes Mountains. Due to a national strike by Government workers, we were unable to
access the national park, however Hector was able to come up with a plan B and we were still able
to hike and see the stunning Andes Mountain scenery and the Volcano.
Tour 2 took us to Vina del Mar and Velparaiso. What a great day, Velparaiso was one of the
highlights of our time in Chile and we could not have had a better guide. With Velparaiso being
Hector’s hometown, we had a thoroughly knowledgeable guide, who had us up back streets and
down alley’s showing us all sorts of interesting buildings and artworks. Our Guide from Hec Tour's was always obliging
taking some great photos of us, in some great locations. He recommended an excellent seafood
restaurant with stunning views for our lunch. At no time did we feel pressured for time, it was all
done at a friendly and relaxed pace.
Tour 3 took us to the Northwest coast, visiting Monticello, Cachagua and Zapallar. This was another
thoroughly enjoyable full day tour, and again another highlight of our trip, taking us away from the
city and out to the coast. This tour combined driving and sightseeing with a coastal walk. Hector
dropped us at one location, leaving us to walk the path in our own time, taking in the scenery, the
beautiful beach houses and the wildlife. This included some Humboldt Penguins on an island out
from the walkway and Pelican birds at Zapallar beach. We enjoyed a wonderful relaxed lunch at a
seaside restaurant at Zapallar.
Tour 4 was a city highlights tour in Santiago. On Hector’s advice we did this tour on a Saturday when
there was less traffic in the city. This was great advice and allowed us to see such a lot of the city in
a more relaxed way and with less time pressures. Hector took us to all of the main sights and gave
us advice on how to go back to some of the museums etc. on our own independently during the
week. This tour gave us some wonderful background knowledge to the city and we would
thoroughly recommend doing this tour of Santiago.
Hector arranged for one of his colleagues to do our transfer from Santiago to the port at San
Antonio.
We highly recommend HecTourService and company. We found both his English and his local
knowledge to be excellent. He is very reliable, his vehicle was extremely comfortable and his driving was very good. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with HecTourGuide, he was flexible, accommodating and amiable throughout all of our tours. Given all that was occurring in
Santiago at that time, we always felt safe in the areas that The Guide was taking us into. We feel we
gained a better insight into Chile and Santiago through our time with HecTourGuide and that he answered
all of our questions with regard to his country with a genuine frankness and honesty. We cannot
speak highly enough of HecTourService and take this opportunity again to thank HecTourService for making our time in Santiago so enjoyable.

Angela Walker
New Zealand
November 2019

I am 72 years old. I have used Hec Tour Service 8 times in the last 30 months. Many of these contacts with Hec Tour Service involved multiple days of service. I am a very critical individual and rarely give an experience a 5 star rating. However Hec Tour Service is truly exceptional.

Hec Tour Service goes way out of their way to make sure that the client gets the absolute top of the line service to meet their individual needs.

Their vehicles are large and extremely comfortable. The tour guides design the tour experience to satisfy the client’s every wish. I loved this service and definitely plan to use them in the future. They take the client to places that no other company would go. The client has the ultimate travel experience that is very memorable.

This service is family friendly. This service is handicap friendly. This service is even pet friendly. I took my Yorkshire with me on the private tours. It is also very appropriate for an individual traveler, as well as, for couples.

I highly recommended Hec Tour Service.

Jocelyn Fuller
Chilean Expat, formally from Arizona

Hector Medina is one of the best guides we have had in our many travels around the globe. His knowledge about everything "Chile" was phenomenal: History, Geography, Politics, wine, restaurants, and on and on. His English is outstanding since he lived in USA for many years. He was punctual, accommodating and attentive to our every need or request.

Hector was our guide for 7 hours in Santiago and he was excellent. My husbands back was hurting so he adapted the tour to cut down on walking but still seeing and learning about Santiago and Chile. He was very knowledgeable about past and current history of Santiago and Chile. We enjoyed many wonderful hours exploring and observing life in the city. Hector took us to an excellent fish restaurant where we learned about local food. In addition, we went to very good art and craft markets which we enjoy.
Without any reservation we would recommend Hector. We hope to return one day and hope Hector could be our guide.

AMAZING TOUR WITH AN INCREDIBLE GUIDE!!

I can not recommend Hectour Services and Hector as a guide highly enough.
I would even say he is without a doubt probably the best guide I have ever met in my many years of travels.

I came across HecTours after searching the internet for days trying to find any small group or private tours that would drive from Santiago Chile all the way to Cusco in Peru via Bolivia.
Most tours would not do the itinerary we wanted to do and most would not allow small tour vans or car hire across most of the borders.
After contacting Hector to see if it was possible, he was the first to reply with a yes 'anything is possible' was his words! He constantly replied straight away to my emails, we even added each other on whatsapp to keep communication also, we created an itinerary and he worked out all the logistics and came up with a price we were happy to agree upon.

Our tour was 26 days driving in a 12 seater van with a private driver + Hector as our personal guide, eight of us in total travelling from Chile via Argentina, back to Chile then up through Bolivia to then finish off in Peru. Seeing all the tourist attractions along the way, major highlights like Valparaíso, El Leoncito National Park, Parque Nacional Talampaya, Cafayate, Tilcara and the rainbow mountain, San Pedro de Atacama, Uyuni, La Paz, Lake Titicaca, Colca Canyon and Cusco.

It was amazing!! Actually incredible!! There was 6 of us (My family) And he took care of us as if we were apart of his own family, giving extra attention to my parents also, this I loved as it meant us children had someone else to make sure they were always ok. Hector is now apart of our family, he has been adopted as a second son by my parents and we have told him  that when he comes to Australia he will always have a place to stay with us.

Just for reference, some of the exceptional things he did to go above and beyond was help us with border crossing (this is no joke and very hard to do) He helped us with translating at all hotels, restaurants and with other local tours and guides that we had to book in local areas. He gave expert knowledge on all things he knew in each area we went to, and told us about the history and stories of his country and others that he had been to that we were to visit. When anything went wrong (small hiccups along the way) he came up with solutions straight away so our holiday was not affected and we did not miss out on anything that was on our itinerary. He just made the whole experience seamless and enjoyable the entire way. After spending 26 days with a crazy Australian family he was always professional, polite and put us and all our wants and needs first, I can't thank him enough!! The other members of my family including my father have also put up reviews for him if you would like to read those too.

All in all, I can say with certainty that HecTour Services will provide you with exceptional service at a fair and reasonable price for what they provide.
You can not go wrong and Hector and his team will always go out of their way to make sure you have a wonderful time and enjoy your holiday.

Thanks again Hector for everything, we hope to see you again in the future soon!
Mike and I will be in touch when we are able to come back to Chile again.

AMAZING TOUR WITH AN INCREDIBLE GUIDE!!

I can not recommend Hectour Services and Hector as a guide highly enough.
I would even say he is without a doubt probably the best guide I have ever met in my many years of travels.

I came across HecTours after searching the internet for days trying to find any small group or private tours that would drive from Santiago Chile all the way to Cusco in Peru via Bolivia.
Most tours would not do the itinerary we wanted to do and most would not allow small tour vans or car hire across most of the borders.
After contacting Hector to see if it was possible, he was the first to reply with a yes 'anything is possible' was his words! He constantly replied straight away to my emails, we even added each other on whatsapp to keep communication also, we created an itinerary and he worked out all the logistics and came up with a price we were happy to agree upon.

Our tour was 26 days driving in a 12 seater van with a private driver + Hector as our personal guide, eight of us in total travelling from Chile via Argentina, back to Chile then up through Bolivia to then finish off in Peru. Seeing all the tourist attractions along the way, major highlights like Valparaíso, El Leoncito National Park, Parque Nacional Talampaya, Cafayate, Tilcara and the rainbow mountain, San Pedro de Atacama, Uyuni, La Paz, Lake Titicaca, Colca Canyon and Cusco.

It was amazing!! Actually incredible!! There was 6 of us (My family) And he took care of us as if we were apart of his own family, giving extra attention to my parents also, this I loved as it meant us children had someone else to make sure they were always ok. Hector is now apart of our family, he has been adopted as a second son by my parents and we have told him  that when he comes to Australia he will always have a place to stay with us.

Just for reference, some of the exceptional things he did to go above and beyond was help us with border crossing (this is no joke and very hard to do) He helped us with translating at all hotels, restaurants and with other local tours and guides that we had to book in local areas. He gave expert knowledge on all things he knew in each area we went to, and told us about the history and stories of his country and others that he had been to that we were to visit. When anything went wrong (small hiccups along the way) he came up with solutions straight away so our holiday was not affected and we did not miss out on anything that was on our itinerary. He just made the whole experience seamless and enjoyable the entire way. After spending 26 days with a crazy Australian family he was always professional, polite and put us and all our wants and needs first, I can't thank him enough!! The other members of my family including my father have also put up reviews for him if you would like to read those too.

All in all, I can say with certainty that HecTour Services will provide you with exceptional service at a fair and reasonable price for what they provide.
You can not go wrong and Hector and his team will always go out of their way to make sure you have a wonderful time and enjoy your holiday.

Thanks again Hector for everything, we hope to see you again in the future soon!
Mike and I will be in touch when we are able to come back to Chile again.

Can't RAVE enough about HecTour Service company!!! My husband and I started our vacation in Puerto Varas where our guide Carlos gave us a tour of the lake, waterfalls and volcano. He was knowledgable, fun and genuinely wanted us to have the very best experience while getting a feel for how the locals live. We finished the day at an amazing restaurant called Las Buenas Brasas with incredible seafood and friendly staff. Next we toured for 2 days with our guide Francisco in Valparaiso, Vina del Mar and stopped at 2 wineries in the Casablanca Valley. Our favorite was Emiliana organic winery but both were good. HecTour's vehicle was a new Mercedes van so it was super comfortable with big windows for viewing the gorgeous countryside. Faransico lives in Valparaiso so he's the perfect guide to point out those hidden gems easily missed when you're on your own. We stopped for homemade empanadas which were delicious and ate lunch in Casablanca at a fantastic restaurant called Macerado. We are already planning a return trip!

Our guide from HecTourService picked 6 of us up from our hotel in Santiago and drove us to Valparaiso. The van was immaculate and we felt in very good hands with our guide/driver. On the way to Valparaiso our guide asked us if we would like to make a stop to try his favorite place for empanadas. This "place" was a private home of a woman who supplies empanadas for many of the restaurants in the surrounding area. They were the best empanadas we had on our 7 week adventure in South America, we really appreciated this personal touch.

Valparaiso is a colorful and quaint port town with unique and embracing street art, and an interesting history. Our guide was very engaging, knowledgeable and knew where all the points of interest were. He directed us to a restaurant where we had a delicious lunch with gorgeous views. Not once during the tour did he look at his watch or hurry us along, his priority was to make sure we were enjoying ourselves.

Without our guide we would have burned a lot of time trying to find the different points of interest, likely missing many. Maybe more importantly he maneuvered us through the very hilly and windy street, that were wide enough to comfortable fit one car at a time, but allowed two.

I highly recommend HecTour Service and would use them again if ever in the area in the future.

Excellente visite à santiago et Valparaiso.
Guide ponctuel, parlant le français.
Lieux touristiques, plus lieux insolites, petits restos ..
je recommande

We used the services of Hec Tour for our private tour of Santiago and it couldn't have been any better. We were picked up at our hotel. Our very professional and knowledgeable guide drove us all over town in his air conditioned vehicle. Half way through the day he took us to an open air market and took us to a little two table restaurant for home made empanadas that were delicious. All the highlights of town were covered. We found out on the tour that they also have 3 apartments that they rent out as well. Unfortunately we weren't aware of this beforehand or we would certainly have booked one of them. I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to use this fabulous company. They also offer transfers to or from the airport or the cruise port.

HecTour Service was absolutely delightful in every way. We loved them so much we actually booked for a third day. The guide communicated with me via numerous emails to make sure I got our ideal itineraries, communicating with sites beforehand, able to accommodate my specific requests as well as make insightful suggestions. I speak Spanish and knew what I wanted to do and was considering renting a car and doing it ourselves, but am so very glad we got HecTour Service instead! We couldn't have had nearly as great a time, and would have been infinitely more stressed. On the first day, the guide met us (complete with a sign) from our cruise ship, and we never had another worry until we left Chile! Our guide with HecTour Service took us on an amazing tour wine-tasting and site-seeing through San Antonio and Valparaiso. The second day, he took us wine-tasting from Santiago. Finally, a guide came for us at 3 in the morning on the third day! Si, por la mañana. I'm not 100% sure I'd do that for my best friend! They arranged wonderful restaurants for us, and as part of the company motto goes, were "personalized and flexible" when we asked to get groceries at a supermarket, needed to drop my parents at the airport, wanted to vary slightly even within our own group, etc.

Hector Medina of Hectours arranged for Carlos to provide a private tour from the cruise port in Puerto Montt, Chile on New Year’s Day. Carlos was waiting for us at the port. Six of us had a fun packed day viewing the sites as well as going to a local restaurant for lunch. Carlos was fun, fluent in English, and flexible regarding what we wanted to see. He provided interesting information about the area. Carlos got us back to the ship at the time we requested. Would definitely recommend booking with Carlos!!

HecTours in Santiago were great. well organized, informative. We learned a lot about the city. Second day was an excellent excursion to a winery in Casablanca and a delightful tour in car and on foot in Valparaiso.
highly recommended

We had a great day out with our guide from Hec Tour Service, up to Los Andes and Portillo following the old Transandine railway that used to connect Chile with Argentina. We made plenty of photo stops along the way, and even managed to see a train carrying minerals at the Salto de Soldado. Our guide showed us some great spots, including the Laguna del Inca at Portillo. On our way back to Santiago we had a huge meal at "La Runa" in San Felipe. An unforgettable experience with a professional, friendly, accommodating guide who took us places we just wouldn't have been able to get to if we had tried to do it ourselves. Highly recommended!

Our guide provided an excellent tour of the areas of Valparaiso, Vina Del Mar & Zapallar over a two day period. He went out of his way to make our time productive, interesting and enjoyable. We felt the price was reasonable for the quality of the services offered and highly recommend this company.

Had an amazing time visiting Chile! My daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed our experience. HecTour service has excellent guides who made our trip so much fun and informative. I highly recommend them to anyone traveling to Chile! They made our trip a wonderful adventure!

Thank you HecTour Service. It was an amazing trip to the wonderful cities of Santiago, Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. The tour guides were friendly, fun and full of information about the sites we visited. Highly recommend them to anyone traveling in Chile!

There aren’t enough stars to rate hectour services. After reading all of the good reviews on tripadvisor I decided to contact them and from that moment on I was nothing but pleased with the service. Francisco my tour guide for the trip was amazinggg! Very professional, always making sure I felt comfortable, speaks perfect english a wonderful storyteller! and knows the region very well, he was a wealth of information! I learned so much history! He spoke with Passion about his country. Francisco was always on time, always smiling always caring. I ate at the most delicious restaurants I am definitely returning to this beautiful country and I will not take any other tour guide than Francisco at Hectour services!

My wife and I recently visited Chile.
Family found a website for Hec Tour Service who advertised tours suitable for disabled persons.
My wife who owns a Travel Agency in Taradale, New Zealand, is wheelchair bound so we decided to contact Hec Tour Service to ascertain if they could provide us with a suitable tour that would also cater for my wife’s needs.
I mailed Hec Tour Service through their trip advisor link late on the Thursday evening and received a very prompt reply. After further communications Hec Tour Service confirmed a private tour on the Friday at 1100 am. They collected us from our accommodation promptly on time at 1100 am with an English-speaking tour guide.
The guide was wonderful – very polite and beautifully spoken. We were transported in an excellent modern car and taken on a wonderful tour through several of Valparaiso’s delightful and charming cerro’s (hills).
We stopped for lunch at a very Chilean restaurant which our guide had told us had the best empanadas in Valpo. We were not disappointed – they were excellent, washed down by a pleasant cold Chilean cerveza.
We were then taken through Vina del Mar and onto Concón.
In summary we saw 3 greatly different locations during the tour – the eclectic beauty of Valparaiso, the modern of Vina del Mar, and the sandhills and awesome scenery of Concón.
We were then returned to our hotel at the end of a wonderful day’s touring.
The following day Hec Tours provided us with transportation within Valparaiso, again with the wonderful prompt and attentive service of the English-speaking guide.
Hec Tour Service provided us with an experience way above our expectations and we will be delighted to recommend this company to any of my wife’s clients, or our friends, visiting Chile.
Muchas gracias Hec Tour Service – a 5-star plus operation!

I took a trip to Santiago with my best man. 30 years ago he was with me when I met my spouse and he has been a great friend for decades. We wanted to take a private tour and I found HecTour on this website. Our guide took us to the lower Maipo Valley and we saw mountains, agricultural areas, snow, small towns and the best part was we were able to ask hours of questions so we could really find out about Chile and her people. When I mentioned that I liked buying honey for my mother when I traveled because honey is different in every place because of the flowers being unique, he said he knew just where to take us and we visited a honey store where that was all they sold. Local honey canned at different times of the year or from different areas - all with unique tastes and free samples. Our guide made the day so special I cannot wait to bring my spouse to Santiago and take another tour with HecTour!

My husband and I enjoyed Chile a lot after hiring for 2 days the professional and friendly services of the staff of Hec Tour service. We are from Brazil and the communication happened in English, Portuguese and a Spanish.
They know a lot about the Chilean history, they are are punctual, friendly and very good drivers. The car was very comfy and they also provided us with bottles of mineral water and a very informative chat along the ways. We enjoyed different places (half day city tour in Santiago, the mountains of Farellones and Valle Nevado). Everything was perfect. We recommend their services for the families, couples, groups and individuals. You´ll be safe and in good hands.

Hector made all the arrangements for our tour/transfer from San Antonio to Santiago, via Valparaiso.

Everything was handled very efficiently, we were met at the cruise port promptly and our guide for the day, Georgie was excellent.

We would not hesitate to recommend Hector Medina. Excellent service. Thank you so much.

We hired this company several weeks in advance because of the great reviews that other people have given this tour company. They were so right. We spent 3 weeks in South America and our two days with HecTour Service were what we enjoyed the most.

We first of all hired HecTour for a personalized tour of 3 wineries on the way from Santiago to Valparaiso. The wineries selected were each unique, giving us a a wider appreciation for the wines of Chile, and every wine we tasted was excellent. That in itself was unusual. We were then escorted to a local place for a true family-owned, high quality lunch.

To make the trip even more special. our guide could not have been more personal and charming, as well as so very well informed and professional. In fact, we liked him so so much we kept teasing him that we would like to have as our son-in-law ... but we meant it.

When we got to Valparaiso, I had booked a hotel online in advance, but as soon as we arrived, our hearts sank. It was a very poor looking place in an unsafe and unattractive part of town.

Our guide could sense our apprehension. He was kind enough to get out of our booked hotel, without any penalties, questioned us to what we would like for a hotel, asked our price range, and then suggested some places. When we chose a place, he called and let me speak to the hotel who invited us to look at the rooms to see if we would be happy. We were delighted with the new hotel.

We don't what we would have done without our Spanish speaking guide. As he said, even though our tour was over for the day, his job was not done until we were happy and safe. Now that's going the extra mile!!

We were so delighted with our day with the guide that we decided at dinner that very night to hire HecTour for the very next day if he had an opening. He did. And we had another great day visiting Valparaiso, Vina del mar, and another winery.

Now that our trip is over in South America, the 4 of us that have been discussing our best memories and best experience on our entire trip and all of us agree the BEST part was our two days with HecTours. We loved it.

Thanks so much to HecTours.

Dr. Alan Zimmerman

My family of three and two friends visited Chile in December. I had been in touch with HecTour a couple of months before to set things up, and decided to use the services of its guides in Santiago and Puerto Varas during our stay, including pickup from the airport on arrival from a very long flight from Sydney. He was slightly late picking up my family and I, and even later when picking up my two friends on their arrival (two separate flights), but otherwise, our time with the guide in Santiago went well. He was knowledgeable, and fairly humorous throughout our three days with him, walking around Santiago, then going to Valparaiso and the Maipo canyon area. In Puerto Varas, the guide from HecTour was good, and punctual, and he knew his weather -- which determined the time we started our travel each day! He took us on a backroad in Chiloe island, which enabled us to see different things, and was always there to answer our questions. Both guides from HecTour were careful drivers, relaxed and overall, gave us a good perspective and experience of Chile.

Had a wonderful day in Santiago. Our guide, Felipe was knowledgeable and courteous. Showed us the City and surrounding wineries. Highly recommend him and private guides

We had a great 1/2 day tour of Santiago! We were asked what we wanted to see and were provided the opportunity to see an authentic market where we ate lunch at a great empanada place. We also toured Cerro Santa Lucia, Plaza de Armas and the Metropolitan Cathedral. Everything was great and totally customizable. Our guide arrived way before our pickup time to get us. Would definately recommend and would book again the next time in Chile!

A day to remember.
We spent a full day touring San Antonio, Isla Negra, San Alfonso del Mar in Algarroba, Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, Chile, in mid October 2017. The tour was run by HecTourService. The company had designed this tour especially for us based on what we like and wanted to see. In fact, they looked after all aspects of our visit to Chile, including transfers from and to the airport, inner city accommodation, information on Santiago and Chile and recommendations on where to shop and what to see. Our guide from HecTourService was professional, informative, knowledgeable, friendly, funny and extremely helpful. The tour started at our accommodation and a short tour of Santiago to help us get some local currency. We then drove to San Antonio and Isla Negra where we stopped at the Pablo Neruda museum. Our next stop was the world’s largest swimming pool at San Alfonso del Mar in Algarroba – the pool is big enough for sailboats. We stopped for a great seafood lunch in Valparaiso and tried a local wine made from Carmenere grapes – very nice! After lunch, our guide demonstrated his fantastic knowledge of the area. We spent hours sightseeing Valparaiso. We walked up and down the narrow and steep streets stopping for fantastic views, photo opportunities, local art and craft shops and cafes. The town is full of marvellous street art and colourful buildings. Valparaiso was fantastic, it exceeded our expectations. Our final stop was Viña del Mar - a resort town next to Valparaiso. The day ended with a superb sunset throwing a fantastic light on the snow-capped Andes as we drove back to Santiago. Our guide gave us several ideas of how we can organise our next visit to Chile to get most of what the country has to offer. We will definitely contact HecTourService when we return to Chile and Santiago.

The guide from HecTour was truly amazing for my family of four (me, my wife, and 2 boys ages 14 and 11, from Boise, ID, USA). He made our trip wonderful. The company put together a highly customized itinerary that perfectly met my family's desires. The guide's English was outstanding, he had a wonderful demeanor (he was especially good with the kids), and he had in-depth understanding of the history and culture of the different places we visited in Chile.
The trip to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar were especially outstanding - I highly recommend visiting these two placed with Hector - they are can't miss.
The service was incredibly flexible - we went to Chile as part of a sports event for my 14 yr old son. The first four days we spent as a family with Hec tour, and on the 5th day we planned to do another trip. It turned out my son's sports team didn't have anything to do that day, so we changed plans and Hec tour took the entire team and all the kids' parents on a tour of Santiago. It was highly customized to the kids and the guide did an outstanding job with this very large group. I highly recommend Hec tour - it will turn a great trip to Chile into an amazing trip - money well spent!

I was traveling in Chile for a skiing trip. The snow was terrible so I spent some time in Santiago. The Marriot set our group up with Hector. AMAZING GUIDE! He was beyond knowledgeable with the history of Chile and made each excursion fun. We booked him for two full days and it made the trip. Thank you Hector!

Realmente hemos tenido una experiencia maravillosa con la empresa Hectour Services y nuestro guia fue excepcional. Realizamos tour para 4 personas con van recorriendo Santiago y en otra jornada Valparaiso, Viña y Viñedos. Mezcla de cultura, arte, historia y claves para conocer en pocos dias estas ciudades de una manera agil y divertida. Nuestro guia excepcional confiable 100% lo recomiendo, mas de lo que esperabamos y totalmente satisfechos.

HecTour Service:

We (a party of four seventy year olds) recently took a cruise that terminated in Valparaiso, Chile. We elected to stay an additional night which allowed us two full days to tour Valparaiso and Santiago. We also needed transportation from Valparaiso to our hotel in Santiago and from Santiago to the airport. Besides the desire to tour these areas, we wanted to be certain that our luggage and personal items were safe.

I read numerous reviews and decided to contact HecTour Service. After an exchange of emails, we settled on an itinerary and a price. And booked our tour.

HecTour Services exceed our expectations. Our guide was not only familiar with the two venues but lived in both. He explained what we were looking at and why it was significant. As the tour progressed, he engaged us to learn what our interests were and modified the itinerary accordingly.

Our two additional days with HecTour were among the best of our vacation.

Five star service.

Spent one full day touring Valparaiso and environs. The tour guide gave us first class service all the way. Continued with a great ride from ValPo to Santiago with stops at the vineyards along the way. Next day, another full day exploring by car and walking a completely guided adventure through this beautiful city. Our tour guide customized the entire stay with sites that we wanted to see and his suggestions for meals etc were beyond perfect....I cannot say enough good things about the entire experience.

I booked 2 tours with HecTour Service: 1 halfday tour showing around the city of Santiago de Chile, 1 fullday tour through the vinelands of Casablanca, coming around in Valparaiso and driving on the coast line to Viña del Mar.
My guide Miguel Angel drove me savely with his comfortable car to all the sights in Santiago, he informed me in all details about the history of the city and Chile. I was very excited about the tour, the city and the informations I got from him.
On day 2 I wanted to visit a small vinery in the vinelands of Casablance .. and HecTour made it happen .. I got a personal tour around the Boutique Vinery, Kingston Family Vineyards .. amazing.
In Valparaiso I got a perfect impression of this busy and cute but big city. Along the coast line to Viña del Mar we stopped at a local restaurant with perfect food and super friendly service.
Those 1.5 days with HecTour resp. Miguel Angel were a perfect investment .. it was worth every Peso. I highly recommend HecTour Service.
Also the communication and advices upfront of my trip were fast and helpful .. easy, friendly .. just excellent.
If you only have a few days in Santiago de Chile, this is a perfect way to see as much as you can.

We hired this guide for a private tour of Valparaiso. The tour was very interesting and informative. Highly recommended.

We had Jorge as our Guide and he was great, very knowledgeable and accommodating. Took us to see the sites we had heard of and some we had not. Made sure we got to see all we wanted to. We also wanted to go to a winery, which he reccommended one that was fantastic!
Cristian was our driver and he was also very good, we felt safe and taken care of.

My husband and I spent one night in Santiago after arriving from Easter Island. We had 8 hours the next day between hotel checkout and airport arrival. I had arranged a customized tour with Hec Tours. We visited the city's major sites, along with tours of different neighborhoods. There was no problem keeping us occupied for 8 hours. Hector was prompt, courteous, personable, interesting, and very knowledgeable. He even provided us with umbrellas, since it was raining when the tour started. I highly recommend Hec Tours!

HecTour is the ultimate tour company. I highly recommend this company and had an outstanding experience with them. The tour was custom, the vehicle was nice and clean, the guide didn't smoke, was extremely knowledgeable and spoke great English. We went to many places that a tour bus couldn't go and only places that the guide knew we would love. This was a full day in Santiago and Valparaiso and lasted as long as we desired. This far exceeded all of our expectations.

HecTours gave us an unforgettable day in Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. The personalized, professional service was unparalleled. Our guide did an outstanding job giving us an authentic experience in these two fantastic towns. We enjoyed a superb lunch at a classy restaurant. We were given a rich lesson in the history and culture of Chile while winding the roads of Valparaiso. The walking tour of the city was breathtaking. This was, hands-down, the best tour I have ever taken in my life. I would highly recommend HecTours to all. In fact, the tour was so great, we booked another day with this company while in Chile.

HecTours gave us a second incredible day at Pomaire, Isla Negra, and Algarrobo. The guide provided outstanding service at every level. All of our needs were met and our enjoyment was his top priority. He shared his love for his country with us, along with his great knowledge of the history and culture of Chile. We had a wonderful time shopping in Pomaire. We ate our favorite meal of our entire trip at El Sauce. The pork ribs are world class! We enjoyed touring the home of Pablo Neruda in the town of Isla Negra. And, we finished the day watching the sunset on the beach of Algarrobo. By all standards, it was an absolutely perfect day. We highly recommend HecTours for all adventures in Chile. This is a top-notch company with people of integrity. Thank you, HecTours!

We booked the Valparaiso and Pomaire excursions with HecTours. Our guide was a great teacher of Chilean history with knowledge and understanding for the uneducated. He was kind and passionate about his profession. The personal service came from a guide who cares for his passengers. HecTours made our time in Chile better than we could have imagined. He took us to an outstanding restaurant each day and allowed us to experience the authentic country of Chile.

Fabulous and very professional. We had a great time, they were incredibly fun, knowledgable, and great to work with.
We received a first class tour, with very helpful suggestions of what to see/where to go.
They were a pleasure to work with. We saw places in Vina del Mar, Valparaiso, and Santiago, that I would have never known to visit on my own.
I HIGHLY recommend!!!

The reservation process for our tours with HecTourService was efficient and positive. I wanted some specific elements in our tours and all was provided. We used two different tour guides during our visit to Valparaiso and Santiago. Both guides would be highly recommended.

Our first guide met us at the Valparaiso port. We had four large bags, so the company had arranged for a larger vehicle for our accommodations. What was especially good was that the guide met us at the terminal exit, assisted with our bags, and led us through a mini-protest that was occurring, due to an event associated with our cruise line. Safely in the car, we proceeded with the Valparaiso tour. It was apparent that he knew his history and area details. We enjoyed the colorful Valpo houses and streeets, passed the flower clock (too many tourists) at Vina del Mar, and stopped to admire the Easter Island head at the Museo Fonck. We enjoyed hearing and seeing the city, and then moved on to higer elevations in Valpo for great overlooks of the bay. Our interest was to visit a vineyard enroute to Santiago. Our guide had arranged a private tour with the sommelier of Loma Larga.

Loma Larga is a vineyard in Casablanca which should not be missed. A wonderful tour of the grounds (very knowledgeable sommelier Alejandra at the vineyard) and a tasting topped the visit. We ended up buying a case to be delivered to our US home (free shipping). We then proceeded to our hotel in Santiago.

Our Valparaiso guide was knowledgeable, courteous and a safe driver. On top of this, he had injured his right hand the previous day which made driving a challenge and his comfort level very questionable. But he persevered and proved that he could provide great service even under difficult and obvious pain. We thank him much!

The following day we enjoyed the company of a different tour guide. This guide clearly knew the city and surrounding area. His history perspective was expansive in detail and content. We had indicated during initial set up that we wished to visit Viña Concha y Toro. But on recommendations from the Loma Larga sommelier, we asked whether we could visit a much smaller vineyard in Maipo valley, a place named Antiyal. Our guide coordinated with the vineyard for an afternoon visit and tasting. This required a bit of rearrangement in our route, but our guide managed the time and content wonderfully. After a visit to Santa Lucía Hill, and a tour through the various city center areas of Santiago, we ventured to a produce market.

We were thrilled that our guide was able to accommodate our interest in local culture by taking us to the Vega Central de Santiago market. The market was colorful, lively, and a great place to see local people and their lives! The displays of fruits and vegetables were a photographer's dream. We were very happy that our guide was able to get us a sample of "tuna" (a local cactus fruit that was in season) to taste. Wonderful! They will do every to meet your interests!

After watching people, produce and commotion at the market, we moved on to our planned lunch and vineyard visit. Again, the knowledge of our guide made the drive enjoyable and educational. Chilean politics and history was interspersed with geography and culture. Before arriving at the vineyard, we enjoyed Chilean steaks on the veranda of El Manso Toro. Our drive ended at a small dirt entry to Antiyal vineyard.

This was truly a visit worth enjoying. Pablo at Antiyal was great at educating us about the varieties that are grown at Antiyal, and their organic and biodynamic approach to viniculture. We walked the vineyard, enjoying the landscape. We sampled Antiyal’s specialty wines, listening to the stories about the grapes, wines and naming conventions. Great weather, landscape and wine – could not ask for more.

Our guide then managed to get us to the international airport on time and safely.

Days after the tour, I had need to tract down information regarding a purchase made in Chile. Although this was not required, our second-day guide from HecTourService provided service which was well above expectations. Through his efforts, my problem was resolved. Again, this guide comes highly recommended.

We were provided with an EXCELLENT tour of Valparaiso, had a nice lunch, saw Vino del Mar, and then Santiago before going to airport. Tour was educational, interesting & never short on sites to see or things to do. Guide was very knowledgeable about history and geography.

We recently took a cruise around the horn of South America. We arranged several private tours with this company and can not say enough. Our tours with this company are the highlights of our trip. I only wish I would have booked more ports with this company. They went above and beyond in every way.
High recommend.

We were disappointed with our tour. Our guide Marco was a nice young man with good English language skills and showed us around Valparaiso, Vina Del Mar and then transported us to Santiago. We were not satisfied for the following reasons. Marco picked the 4 of us up in a smallish SUV. We were barely able to get all our luggage in,
and had keep some hand luggage inside the car which made things quite tight and a bit uncomfortable. For the high price we paid we expect to be comfortable. Marco was
also 15 minutes late. But most upsetting was the place he took us for lunch. Supposedly a typical Chilean restaurant.
The food was mediocre- frozen fish dried out and chewy in a restaurant next to the ocean. Really? $50 per couple for
lunch only a slight step above fast food. I am sure there are hundreds of better places to eat in upscale Vina del Mar. This was the only place that we did not enjoy our meals during our entire SA travels.

I used Hectortour service when I was in Chile Nov 2014. I dealt with Hector personally and just wanted to say he was very nice, personable and generally interested in making sure I had a great stay in Chile.

Hector was an excellent guide. He was enthusiastic and genuinely interested in what we wanted to do, not in his own agenda. Since he is from Valparaiso, our tour of that city was particularly good as he was able to show us the interesting back streets of his city.

Hector é sem dúvida uma pessoa única. Sempre responde prontamente suas dúvidas por e-mail, conhece Santiago em cada detalhe, sabe a história, a política, a cultura; enfim, qualquer aspecto que queira enfatizar no tour, basta conversar com ele. Fomos com nosso filho de 3 anos que às vezes ficava manhoso... até nesse aspecto ele ajudou bastante para podermos curtir as atrações que ele ia mostrando. Por fim, ele é um guia ideal até para quem (principalmente para quem) não planejou nada, pois ele dá sugestões ótimas de outros passeios, acomodações, enfim... Santiago é com ele!

Hector was wonderful! He picked us up at the ship terminal and we had an excellent tour of Valparaiso, Vina del Mar, and Concon.
I only wish we had stayed another day so he could have shown us Santiago as well.
I HIGHLY recommend his services!

We had a most enjoyable day in Santiago with Hector.He is extremely pleasant, easy to be with,and most knowledgable about his home city.He was very accommodating about changing our itinerary thru the day and showed us more the way of life of the Chilean people.Lovely day thanks very much again.

I highly recommend anyone going to Chile to use Hector Medina as a tour guide. He is extremely reliable and very friendly. His English is excellent. He knows exactly where to take you and very flexible. We had a group of 8 people from Sydney Australia that had varying needs and interests. Hector capably took care of all our airport and hotel transfers in addition to a variety of tours. Thank you SO MUCH Hector for making our time in Santiago wonderful. You provided us with outstanding service. The tours you took us on in both Santiago and Valparaiso were excellent. You have an excellent knowledge of Chile and your love of your country was contagious. It was very reassuring to know we were being looked after by you. I would DEFINITELY use Hector again!

Hector is an energetic, well informed, interesting guide. He gave us a great tour in the full day we had between our ship's arrival in Valparaiso and our arrival at the airport. We felt we saw as much as we could have seen in the time we had. He shared the "little things" about the area as well as the big things. He took very good care of us all day and delivered us in plenty of time to the Santiago airport. He asked us what we wanted for our tour and that is what we did. We can't say enough good things about this young man.

Hector is an excellent guide. He is courteous, punctual and respectful of his tourists. Because he was born and raised in Valparaiso, he knows the city like the back of his hand. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

We spent an afternoon with Hector in Santiago. He was an incredibly interesting guide. We walked and drove over quite a lot of the city and enjoyed every part of the afternoon. I would highly recommend Hector, I wish we had more time to spend with him.

We spent two wonderful days with Hector in Chile and it was the highlight of our time in South America. Hector picked us up in Santiago and we had a full day tour visiting a vineyard and then touring Valparaiso. Then we had another full day going to Isla Negra and other areas between Valparaiso and Santiago. I highly recommend Hector. He is very knowledgeable and educated us about Chile, about wine, about the economics of the country -- he told us about everything! His English is excellent. His Mercedes van is really nice and comfortable. Everything about our experience with Hector was perfect, and I would highly recommend him. He does many different types of tours and customizes to your particular tastes.

Fantastic tour. We toured with Hector in June. He provided a wonderful day for us. He is very knowledgable about Santiago. He has a nice comfortable van and he brings along water so you don't have to carry it with you. He safely navigated the frenzied traffic of Santiago. If you are only have a day to visit Santiago, Hector is your guide. We also scheduled airport transfers and I am so glad we did. His driver was there to meet us after customs and then drove us safely back to the airport in terrible fog with no delays. We could not have been happier with our services.

Hector was a great guide for our extended and complex visit to Santiago. He did 6 airport transfers and 2 all day tours for us and we were so very happy with all his services. His big new Mercedes van was very clean and comfortable, with bottled water and music if desired. He is a fountain of information about Chile, Santiago and Valpo/Vina and wine! His English is very good. He was always on time and was flexible to our needs. He would do what ever we wanted! Our Valpo/Vina tour was a bit foggy and cool but we had a great time feeding the sea lions anyway. Hector even got a bucket of fish trimmings to feed them, now that's customer service! Our winery tours were great and we had a wonderful patio lunch in a hidden spot. I don't know how he found his way around all those country roads. Our last winery was a magical stop as the sun was setting and we drove to the top of the vines to taste great wine "al fresco". I would highly recommend his tour services to anyone visiting Chile.

Hector é um guia mais que profissional. Atende bem, prestativo, fala inglês, português (Portugal e Brasil) e espanhol de forma clara. Recomendo à todos. Podem contratar sem medo de ser mal atendido.

Hector's guide service made our experience in Chile. He is knowledgeable & passionate about the history, vineyards, countryside, cities and good food and wine. His tours are suitable for families and individuals. He is accommodating and personalizes each trip based on how you want to spend your time. His enthusiasm for his country is limitless. For a true native experience, contact Hector. He knows all the back street places to visit and tailors your tour to your preferences. You will feel like you've spent your time as a resident, not a tourist.

I thought that Hector Medina was outstanding. He was our chief guide while we were in Santiago and both my wife and I enjoyed our time with him. We are from Vancouver Canada and we were in Santiago for 4 days on the way to a Princess cruise to Buenos Aeries. George Suart.

Hector's airport pick up, guide service and recommended apartments were first rate. Would highly reocommend.

“Great experience with guide who made Chile handicapped accessible”
Reviewed January 30, 2012
Arriving at Valparaiso at the end of a cruise, Hector met us as arranged. With the help of his assistant, my husband (limited walking ability; in a transport chair) and I had a thorough tour of Valparaiso; Hector was determined that John would see everything possible, and they carried him in his wheel chair up stairs to see a view, etc. Seeing that I loved the "graffitti" murals, he located several of the best for me to see and photograph. Then off to Val del Mer and Santiago where a festival closed some of the streets; undaunted, we saw a great deal of Santiago before going t the airport. Hector is fluent in English, knowledgeable, and great fun. We are returning to Chile this spring and look forward to another tour with him.

Julie Turner & John Turner

The tour was very informative & enjoyable. Hector's English was excellent.

The only negative was that since the price was not insignificant he should have accepted a credit card.

Hector - Thank you so very much for your kindness, generosity and fine tour guiding of our Worldly Women group while we were in South America. I must tell you that I fell in love with Chile. The images I have are strong and so very positive.

You are outstanding in so many ways. And you will do very well in your career because of your special kind of customer service and personalized service. Congratulations on doing it the best of anyone we met while on the trip. Our 3 trips with your company were all outstanding and your assistants were excellent as well. Jorge was, as I mentioned to you, a jewel among guides.

Whatever I can do to offer referrals... I do hope you will send them to me. I'll do whatever I can to spread the word about your company, I have contacted Port Trips and told them as well.

Thanks. Shirley Elliott, Manager, Worldly Women Journeys.

Our guide, Maria and our driver Victor were both wonderful. Maria was very knowlegable and gave us lots of good information about Valpriso and Santiago. We stopped for lunch at local spot, giving us a chance to sample some of the local favorites. Victor, drove safely and smoothly through the traffic and allowed us to see the usual places, and even took us to the race track in Santiago since we had expressed interest in horses. Hector called to see if all was going well, which it was.

Dear Mr.Medina,
We returned home earlier today,without a hitch.
We would like to take this opportunity to convey how much my wife and I enjoyed our two days in Chile.
Our guide was an expert facilitator to make this happen.We truly appreciate his professionalism,friendliness,punctuality and patience.He was very approachable and easy to interact with.We were very glad that he was thorough and never rushed us,and indeed he was always ready to go the extra step to make our trip more comfortable and informative. Santiago is a wonderful city and Valparaiso nestled in one of the most scenic settings in unique.We take back wonderful memories.
P.S. Please forward this email to our guide ( whose first name unfortunately escapes us at this point) and thank him on our behalf.
Sudhir and Prasanna Prabhu

We had Hector as a guide in the Santiago, Chile area. He was very easy to work with prior to our arrival. He gave us great touring and was always considerate of what we wanted to see and do. He is knowledgeable and very pleasant. Would definitely recommend him (and the people who work for him).

" HecTour Service is Wonderful !!! "
After scouring the internet to decide upon tours and places to visit, I was lucky enough to find Hector. I was in Chile for business and had limited time to see as much as I wanted to, and Hector helped me accomplish this. He is extremely organized, responds to requests immediately, and very professional. I thoroughly enjoyed the tours I had with HecTour Service, because he is incredibly well informed about various things, and he is fun to be with! HecTour's is the way to see Chile!!!

We cannot say enough about how much we enjoyed our tour of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar with Hector! He made our short stay in Chile so memorable, we had a blast and learned so much. He speaks impeccable English, is funny and charming. A wonderful guide!!The day ended much too quickly. We need to go back to Chile!

If you are looking for a custom tour with a guide extremely professional, courteous and knows very well all regions, Hector Medina is the ideal guide.
There are many tours available, however, making a custom tour, you know the city in a different way, with the vision of someone who lives there, and out of those classic tours.
I did a tour with Hector to Valparaiso and Vina de Mar in a great way !!!!!
You pay for a tour designed specifically for you, with flexible hours, knows the place he wants and not what was stipulated by the tour company!!

I recommend to everyone who wants one of the highest quality service and want to make the trip unforgettable !!!!!

We cannot say enough about Hector. Our family (2 adults, and children age 12, 7,5, and 3) spent 2 weeks in Chile during August, 2010. Hector was referred to us by an acquaintance of ours who is the Marketing Director at the Harras de Pirque Vineyard outside Santiago. Initally we contracted for Hector to provide transporation to and from the airport and to and from Portillo where we skied a week. The first night we asked him to arranged for us to attend a dinner show. We were so impressed with Hector, his knowledge, and his personality that we booked 3 more days with him. We toured Santiago, Harras de Pirque, and Valparaiso. We saw sights and ate at wonderful restaurants that we would have never found on our own. All the time he expertly engaged my wife and I and our children. I would fully recommend Hector to anyone looking for a personable and incredibly knowledgeable guide.

Hector is a very well informed, very friendly and relieable fellow, who guided us in february 2010 during our documentary film-production. He and Mitzi (a member of his crew, very friendly and competent too) supported us in great manner, to finish the production, in spite of the earthquake on 27th february. In the big chaos after the earthquake - it seemed that everyone was leaving santiago - he picked us up in our hotel (only 3/4 hour later than we arranged the evening before !) so we were able, to leave santiago and to continue our work in valparaiso. He is a great guy !! Many thanks to you, Hector!!

After a couple of negative experiences with private guides recommended by some Web sites, I hesitated to recommend a private guide to other travelers. A day touring with Hector Medina changed that!

First, a little background. Last week in Chile, we disembarked a 14-day cruise around Cape Horn from Buenos Aires. More on that cruise later! Our return flight home via Delta from Santiago International Airport (approximately 2 hours away from the port) was not scheduled until 10:30 p.m. We had over ten hours to kill once ousted from the ship. Celebrity Cruises shore excursions offered a day tour ending at the airport for $198 per person. Our group of four did not relish spending over $400 per couple to be crammed into a tour bus with 40+ tired passengers for over eight hours.

We were fortunate to discover Hector Medina while scouring the Web for alternatives. Hector Tour Service is a very personalized and private guide company. Hector is a delightful young man. He is personable, handsome, well-educated, speaks almost flawless English and is learning French. Hector loves his country and his city and it shows. His knowledge of area history is amazing. He senses what clients appreciate and enjoy most and is extremely flexible if you want a change of plans midway through a tour.

His vans are modern, safe, clean and comfortable. His driver competently and safely manuevered even the most challenging traffic back-ups throughout our day. To top it all off, Hector's charge for our two couples was over 50% less than the ship tour and payment in U.S. dollars was not requested until after the tour.

Get the idea we were "sold on Hector?" No doubt about it. Visit Hector Private Tours or contact Hector. And, please tell him his friends from Florida: Lynne and Hank and Denny and Karen sent you!

I wanted to write to let you know we had the absolute best tour with Fabian and the driver Jose. They were so warm and friendly and made the day perfect. The tour far exceeding our expectations because of these two nice men. Fabian spoke wonderful English and had a great personalityy that made us feel so comfortable and then Jose also had such a warm and funny personality and it was great to talk to him with the help of Fabian translating. We could not have asked for anything different for our day and felt we got our monies worth. We loved everything they showed us and the lunch stop was perfect. They truley were proud of their country and enjoyed showing it to us. The wineries closed at 5 but Jose was able to talk us in at 5:15 for a short stop and it was great. We appreciated the extra effort. We cant compare the rest of your staff but these two promote your business very well.
Thanks
Kelby and Wendy Moore

Hi Hector, We loved touring with Marlene and Jose Luis. He is an excellent driver. Marlene was very knowledgeable about Valparaiso and we felt that we really got to see the city. I would be happy to recommend your services to any of my friends or family. We had a wonderful experience.
Sincerely,
Alexa Lleigh-Germain

Hello Hector,
We enjoyed our time in Chile and were pleased with both of the guides, Victor and Mitzi, for our two tours. They both did a good job. One of our suggestions would be to spend more time in Valparaiso. This is a more interesting city in our opinion. The stop for coffee in Vina Del Mar was too long and in a place with nothing much to see or do (no shops). Mitzi was very accomodating on our second day in Santiago. We enjoyed her. We also enjoyed staying at the Meridiano. The staff there were especially helpful.
Thank you for providing good service. We will not hesitate to recommend you to others.
Best regards,
Eileen & Al Rotman

Hector Medina is an superb guide --- with flawless English, a good command of both history and area sites, and dedicated to making the tour memorable and enjoyable. He is most professional, flexible, and attentive and made the last day of our excursion one to happily remember.
Brenda Furlong
Mass & Wash, USA

Hector was a very good guide and provided a very nice tour. He was very informative as to he history of the area. He also provided a lot of interesting information about where we were and what we were going to see. He also kept our options opened as where we could go. We took his tour at the end of a cruise and his tour was much better than the cruise offered tours. It was also nice that our group of 4 were the only ones on the tour(private tour). I recommend his tour to anyone who want a good tour....

Hector was a wonderful guide. I'm not sure how often you use him, but he is perfect for people, like Phil and I, who are interested in exploring as much as they can but at an enjoyable pace that allows you to take everything in and not feel like you are racing around just to check things off the list. He was super knowledgeable about the vineyards, hot springs area and the cities Santiago and Vallparissio.

Hello during our cruise we made three stops in Puenta Arenas, Puerto Montt and Valaparaiso, Hector organised our excursions with french speaking guides and this was perfect. I recommend it because everything was very well organized and very competent guides that listened to all our desires. a French family Brigitte Tartasse

Hector was terrific! We can say with full confidence that he always delivered well beyond our expectations. Not only was the apartment he rented us well furnished, immaculately clean, and in a great upscale Santiago neighborhood, but Hector's service as a tour guide was outstanding. He was very personable, reliable, and highly knowledgeable, and knew a great many sights that were not overly touristed. He was easy to get a hold of, organized, and knows what he's doing, and when we wanted to deviate from the plan to seek out some unique sights he was flexible and did his utmost to locate them without objection. We really enjoyed Hector's very friendly and easygoing manner as a tour guide, and highly recommend both this and his accommodations as an exceptional value.