Diego was an excellent tour guide. He was knowledgeable and kind. Each place that we visited treated us as guests. It was an honor to learn so much about the skills of the local craftspeople. Lunch was great too!

Expert guide. Very good sites. The meal was excellent also. The guitar maker and all the artisans were great.

My friends and I took a tour with Diego. He was an extremely knowledgeable guide that told us a lot about Ecuadorian life and culture. I purchased an exquisite nylon string guitar from a local craftsman in San Bartolome. The trip was fascinating and engaging. Diego's English was exceptional, and he was very well informed.

The drive to and through San Bartolomé, Chordeleg, & Gualaceo from Cuenca were absolutely stunning!! Diego was an incredible host to the culture and history amidst each artisanal expression & community. I would highly recommend!!

Our guide Diego took us to all these delightful places that is pure Ecuadorian charm, where at each one respectively we saw how jewellery, guitars, clay objects and clothing was made. The pure talent in Ecuador is incredible, with virtually everything made by hand, no machinery. The clothing section was shown to us by a man who is the sixth generation of his family doing this! The detail, the talent, the Ecuadorian secrets and history that go into making these is incredible. Diego knows just as much of these trades which he shared with us as well as stories and interesting information about Ecuador and he was very funny and entertaining as well, he made the tour so much more enjoyable. We also got to enjoy a nice traditional Ecuadorian meal together. I would definitely recommend this tour, you can then do the archaeological tour and others separately and see plenty of the beauty Cuenca has to offer.

The experience that I had with Polylepis tours was excellent. Wilson the tour guide was very knowledgeable, respectful and friendly. Best tour

This was our first time taking a tour like this, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect. It was a fun day! I enjoyed the beautiful scenery and learning about everything. It's a good idea to bring some small bills/coins with you for a tip/tea & snack/entrance fee to the different places, some that we didn't know about. There are many opportunities to buy great quality, handmade items. Plenty of photo opportunities as well. The tour was organized and went very smoothly. We both left happy.

The best way to describe this trip is that the tour is a look at the some incredible master craftsmen and women using traditional techniques to create great guitars, ceramics, filigree jewelry, and woven clothes and accessories. Some of the artisans come from multi generational artisan families and others have university degrees in design who seek to protect the traditional crafts but apply new designs to the traditional techniques. The countryside and mountains make a nice background, but the tour is really about traditional crafts and arts. The guide Eddie knew his stuff and was a five star guide. (Actually, most Ecuadorean guides leading tours are very competent because Ecuador licenses the guides who have completed at least two years of advanced schooling and some guides, seeking national guide licenses and tour agency licenses take five years of training. I have yet to take a tour in Ecuador through a tour agency where the guide did not rate at least 4.5 of 5 stars. This is why you rarely see a bad review of guide arranged through a tour company.)

Wilson took us to a few small towns outside of Cuenca. He was so wonderful in translating between the natives and us travelers. I loved the artisans specifically the guitar and textile shops.

Wow wow wow! What a great way to spend a day! I was Solo traveling from Hawaii and needed a day away from Cuenca and couldn’t have been happier with my decision. My tour guide was awesome, super knowledgeable, and was able to help me with my poor gringo Spanish, although he spoke English I tried My best to go all Spanish. The history, the sights, the souvenirs, the culture, the people, and just an overall grand time. Highly recommend this trip, the stops I made and people I chatted With we’re well worth it.

Great tour and Eddie was so knowledgeable about the area and its history…definitely recommend. Inwould have liked to have seen more about shoes and the makers but maybe another time

Outstanding experience meeting premier local artisans who demonstrated their crafts ranging from guitar making to pottery figurines to silver filagree jewelry to weaving! 3 charming towns, wonderful lunch and lots of great information. Diego is superb guide providing lots of additional information about the plants, history, and culture plus he's an excellent driver.

I had a wonderful day exploring these villages near Cuenca with Diego. He took me to workshops to see guitar making, ceramics, filigree and ikat dyeing/weaving. I learned a lot from Diego and the craftspeople and enjoyed wandering through the villages, seeing the locals also enjoying their day. A lovely way to spend the day.

Diego was the best! He had great knowledge not only about artisan crafts but the land and how people live in the area as well.

We enjoyed a wonderful day trip through three of the villages near Cuenca. Our goal was to see multiple villages, artisans, and areas in a short space of time. We could have tried to do the same thing on our own with buses and cabs and GPS, and we have done that in other places. But we decided that a guided tour would be cost-effective for us and save time. We knew we could always take a bus and go back on our own later once we had an idea of the directions and how to get around the area. We made our reservations online and were immediately contacted to confirm a pickup time and location. The trip started the next morning with an on-time pickup by the tour director, Edison. He immediately put us at ease about the trip and the locations we would see and what we should expect. Our Spanish is poor (we're working on it!) so it was great to have a guide who could translate not just the speech but the local culture. We learned a lot before we even reached the first stop in San Bartolemé. You should definitely ask for Edison if possible! You can read online about San Bartolemé, Chordeleg, and Gualaceo. The thing to know is that these are all different places of different sizes, and that it will give you a good overview of Ecuadorian towns, villages, and cities. You will do some riding through the beautiful mountains, and you will do some walking at each stop. You will see beautiful architecture, guitars, jewelry, ceramics, and textiles. And you will meet beautiful people as well. These type of tours to artisanal communities are important for the economy. The artists are happy to show and explain their crafts to you. You don't have to buy anything, but be appreciative of their time and be prepared to leave a tip for the time they are giving to you. We enjoyed all of our trip and highly recommend the tour leader and tour company based on our experience. These tours are especially good if it is your first trip to Ecuador and you don't have much time. But even if you have visited Ecuador in the past like us, a guide can really help you understand what it is that you are seeing.

We really enjoyed this trip. The guide was knowledgeable about each of the areas. We saw some artisans at work, shopped a little and ate some wonderful food. Highly recommend the tour to anyone who wants to learn more about the cultures and countryside surrounding Cuenca.

What a lovely day to visit the towns of Gualaceo and Chordeleg. Quaint towns rich in history and traditions. We visited several artisans and learned a great deal about the techniques and watched the artisans at work. We visited an orchid growing facility and saw hundreds of orchids and other plants.

I was invited by a friend to accompany her on this tour - I went even though I had taken the craft villages tour with another company several years ago. Wilson offered a really full day - we visited a family’s home where they plucked a variety of plants from the garden and made us a lovely horchata tea - and got to see their cuy pens (which really excited my dog who got to come along for the tour). We visited many of the usual places: the guitar workshop of Jose Omero Uyaguari, the miniature clay figurine workshop of Fernando Loja and his wife Rosita, got a peak of the filigree jewelry process at a jeweler’s store in Chordeleg plus some time to stroll around on our own to window shop, a quick almuerzo, a visit to the marcana weaving workshop of José Jiménez, and as a bonus, we were able to stop off at Ecuagenera and tour the orchid greenhouses. Throughout it all, Wilson was a charming, knowledgeable, accommodating guide and a good driver.

Great experience, the tour was incredible, a lot of history and great places to visit like San Bartolomeo and Gualaceo. You'll find beautifil local handicraft

Excellent! We got to watch artisans making guitars, jewelry, and ikat fabrics. Guide was very knowledgeable and even had "show and tell" items to explain during the drive. Lots of good shopping too, at great prices.