How to choose a Tambopata tour and lodge

How to choose a lodge and an excursion in Tambopata. When planning a trip to Tambopata, you will notice that all the available lodges also offer excursions managed by the lodge itself. That means that each lodge will have its own boats to take you to your lodge, its own guides who will accompany you throughout the activities you plan to do, and so on. In other words, they take care of everything: from the time they pick you up at the airport until you return home. In the following article we are going to focus on giving you all the information you need to choose the best accommodation and the best excursion when visiting the wonderful Amazonian destination of Tambopata.

Here are some recommendations about the characteristics you should look for when selecting a lodge for your stay in Tambopata:

1. How do you know if the lodge is good?
2. Is it clean?
3. Is the food good?
4. Do the trucks and boats arrive on time?
5. Is the staff friendly?

Don’t get carried away by everything you see in advertising and better look for reviews from visitors who have previously stayed at the place to help you get a more objective view of what a lodge looks and feels like with their own experiences. The best platform focused on gathering feedback on the actual service offered at the lodge is TripAdvisor, the best bet when looking for a recommendation.

You probably already know this if you’re a fan of traveling around the world, but TripAdvisor is the biggest travel review site of them all. First find the destination you want to visit and check out the top-rated hotels, then look at the reviews from the guests themselves as well as observations that will be of vital importance to you when opting for one accommodation or another. Before you start, you should know a few things about destinations and TripAdvisor’s hotel ratings:

1. Destinations on Trip Advisor are defined by users, not by an expert.
   Therefore, you should be very observant and thorough when searching for a destination, as it may have two different names. For example, lodges around the Tambopata National Reserve can be found in the “Puerto Maldonado” destination section and also in the “Tambopata” section.
2. The type of accommodation can be confusing
   The only types of profiles you will find on the platform are categorized as (1) Hotels, (2) Bed and breakfasts, or (3) Specialized accommodations. Again, profiles land in one of the three categories often because a user classified it as such. In Tambopata you will find that every type of lodge has been rated within all 3 categories, so this is not a factor you should be swayed by when making your decision.
3. Tripadvisor ratings are straightforward, but rankings are not What makes a property #1, #2 and #3 in a destination is part of TripAdvisor’s algorithm, which means there really isn’t a reason that we know of, but it clearly has to do with the number of stars in the rating. It is very likely that the algorithm also takes into account the number of reviews that are made per accommodation (100 reviews are more reliable than just 1) and how current or proximate the reviews were (3 bad reviews from last month can outweigh 10 good reviews from last year). Who knows what other factors it takes into account for its decision?
   
   On the other hand, ratings are simple: people give an accommodation operator from one to five stars, so you should be more guided by the reviews and the ratings that are linked to them, knowing the particular experience of each visitor you can create a more realistic idea of how is the service offered by union or other accommodation.
   
   Hopefully this article has been helpful if you are planning a trip to the Tambopata region, do not forget to take into account our recommendations when choosing one or another lodge, finally that choice will depend on the experience you will have in this wonderful Amazon region. We look forward to your visit.