My experience with Tourradar
Having been an experienced traveler I never really saw myself doing a days long guided tour. To be honest I was a bit worried it would be a waste of money since I really didn’t see myself enjoying being under tour package.
However, tourradar had a sale that I couldn’t say no to. $350 for 5 days and 4 nights in Palawan Philippines! At that price I figured what the heck! This is my tourradar review.
What is tourradar?
Tourradar is an Austrian online tour broker founded by two brothers that connects people with tours worldwide. The company was founded in 2015 and specializes in multi-day package tours .
They have agreements with hundreds of operators and as a result are able to negotiate special discounts that you may not get by just going to the operator’s website.
What my tour included
My Palawan tour included:
- Accommodation at a hotel
- English speaking guide
- El Nido & Honda Bay Island Hoping Tours
- Underground River Tour
- Meals
- Full transportation
- Entrance fees
I recommend that you check to see if the offerings are still the same.
Flight not included!
Oh and the flight wasn’t included. I had to pay for the flight from Manila to Palawan myself but I used Kiwi.com and only paid $200 round trip for two people.
How was the booking process?
The booking process was relatively easy. One just need to book online. One thing I discovered was that the prices were for a minimum of two people.
Meaning that the $400 was per person with a minimum of two people not for both. Probably should’ve known that but I had never booked a group tour before!
If I had booked a tour for one but I would’ve had to pay an extra $260. I just said screw it and took my partner and paid the $800. Tourradar doesn’t charge any booking fees or anything like that which is nice.
They also allow you to pay in installments with an initial payment of 30% so long as its 2 months before the trip.
You must have a credit or debit card with a visa, mastercard, or American express symbol to use tourradar.
My Palawan tour
Day 1
Tourradar set me up with Bamba Tours, a local Philippine tour company, and they took care of everything. They picked us up from the Puerto Princesa airport and took us immediately to El Nido. That was an 8 hour van ride by the way!
Luckily–for Mike–he was tired and slept. I however, can’t sleep in a moving vehicle so I just got to watch the driver going too fast on a two lane highway passing other vehicles
side note:In developing countries they all go to fast on less than perfect roads. You get used to it after awhile
We finally reached El Nido and went to our hotel. We got to the hotel room threw our bags on the ground got something to eat at some hole in the wall restaurant. It was actually pretty good but I don’t remember the name.
Day 2
Day 2 was island hoping. That was a lot of fun! We went to several island and big and small lagoons. They fed us lunch and we met these awesome girls from eastern Europe. They told us how they just graduated from nursing school and will go to Britain to practice work as midwives
Our group in the big lagoon
Day 3
We were transferred back to Puerto Princesa which meant another 8 hours in the van. Honestly I don’t get why they didn’t just have us do the Puerto Princesa stuff first and then go to El Nido but I’m sure there’s a reason and most likely it has to do with money.
Day 4
We had an option to do Honda Bay or the Underground River tour. Since Honda Bay wasn’t that special compared to El Nido we chose the Underground River tour and we’re so glad we did as the underground river is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the new 7 wonders of the natural world .
The Underground River truly is a river underground in a cave with all kinds of different bat, salamander, and other unique species only found inside the cave.
Day 5
Okay so the tour was supposed to end on day 4. However, I knew Palawan had some history and being a history buff I stayed behind while Mike returned to Manila since he had to work the next morning. I took a city tour of Puerto Princesa and Iwahig Prison.
Tourradar vs. Doing it myself
The tourradar portion of my trip cost me about $1100 for two people when it was all said and done. That’s including non-included meals, souvenirs, the flight and other incidentals all this during the high season.
If I had done it alone I would paid:
| Flight | $206 |
| Hotels | $40 x 4 Nights=$160 |
| Transportation | $500 |
| Underground River Tour | $55 x 2 people=$110 |
| Island Hoping Tour | $75 x 2 people=$150 |
| Food | $300 |
| Total | $1,420 |
Also the peace of mind of having someone else take care of everything instead of having to plan myself.
My wife and I went to Palawan and we used tourradar. My wife is FIlipina and hadn’t heard of them but we were both very happy with the tour company they hooked is up with.
I used tourradar when we went to Laos. No complaints
Tourradar is the best! They got me the best rates. I’ve been using them for years. One time one of our tours was cancelled but they quickly got me on another one. If you don’t like to spend hours and hours planning a trip I highly recommend tourradar.