E & B Tours

This place is definitely doing something illegal, and they know it.
We had signed up for the full day tour to see the rainforest waterfalls, beach, and bio bay. The whole day tour cost us $ 150, which seemed fair. If you pay cash, they don’t charge you tax. But if you pay with a card, they do (ends up being about $ 17 more).
The whole day wasn’t great because it had been raining a lot so some of the trails we wanted to go on were closed and we had to huddle under an umbrella at the beach to stay out of the rain. Not great, but it wasn’t their fault, and our tour guide for the rainforest and the beach was Rocky, and he’s hilarious.
After the beach Rocky tells us another guy, Manny, is going to come and take some of us to the bio bay tour, then the others are going home. Everybody paid the same amount ($ 150) for the whole day tour, whether they were doing the bio bay tour or not, which struck us as odd (if I didn’t do the bio bay tour I’d be pissed to find out I paid more for less stuff).
We get to the bay and Manny instructs us to go sign up at this table for the tour. The bio bay tour was being led by this company, Peniel Access Eco Tours, a supposed disabled access tour. They informed us that in order to go on the tour we had to sign a release form saying either us or someone in our group was disabled. We clearly were not, as we had been hiking in the rainforest down to a waterfall just a few hours earlier. We come to find out that E&B sends customers to this «access tour» (which is FREE), and gives them a kickback of the $ 150 we paid for the whole day tour. Peniel in turn submits these release forms to the government & their insurance company in order to receive funding for running this type of a tour. That is most certainly is not legal.
When we tried to contact Eva, the woman in charge of E&B to ask her what the heck is going on, she starts yelling at all of us, telling her if we think it’s so wrong we can sue her. The fact that her first reaction is that tells me that this is not a good business and they are fully aware they are doing immoral and illegal things.
This company is a slimy, shaddy, money-​grubbing scam. Do not give them any of your money.

A rip off and a half!!! $ 150 for a tour and they take you on a hike that you do on your own, take you to a restaurant where you get to eat on your own, take you to a public beach where you are again on your own and then send you on a kayak tour with another company where again you are on your own. They didn’t even provide water for the people on the tour. Complete waste of money!

When traveling, especially to more exotic sites, the first thing I do is to hop on a tour bus in order to get orientated and learn a little something about the area. As tour busing goes, the most important thing is the tour guide. It’s his or her knowledge and expertise that you’re really paying for. With Carlos of E & B Tours, I really lucked out. He was one of the best, most charming, friendly and knowledgeable tour guides ever, and a darn good tour van driver to boot.
I took the E & B Tour of the El Yunque Rainforest located in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, and couldn’t have been more delighted. I’ve visited plenty of rainforests and have even lived in one outside of Manaus, Brazil, for about 6 months and know that though they are all called rainforests, there are no two alike. Carlos seemed to have a knowledge of everything about El Yunque, the name and type of every plant, flower, animal, bird and even the medicinal, food uses or habitats of each. If on my own, even with my extensive knowledge of rainforests, I would have pretty much missed out on everything of importance and wouldn’t have had a clue of what I was looking at.
So, as far as tours go, E & B Tours, especially with Carlos as a tour guide is a definite Five Stars; as good as it gets.

We took the Rain Forrest tour and had the best guide, Carlos. He knew all about the plants and floral not to mention the history of the island. The Yunque tour was worth every penny. However there was an emergency on the tour, one lady had a broken ankle, another a sprain and then a tour guide went down. Was it super man tour the recuse, no it was Super Carlos, running down to help.. The company offers six different tours and when I go back I plan to use them again. Thank you Carlos for a great tour. Muchas gracias para todo.

Just returned from an amazing tour of the Yunque rainforest tour through E and B. Our guide Joey was the perfect combination of friendly, funny, knowledgable and chill. The forest was crowded and I could not help but notice how many guides on other tours would have annoyed me with their gimmicky shtick. Joey was like the buddy you have in PR that’s showing you around– not some cheesy guide. Though the Park was quite crowded, the rain forest is indeed a magical place that is thankfully protected due to Teddy Roosevelt’s prescient preservation mandate. The air is cool and moist– the foliage is lush– and the waterfalls are heavenly.

Manny was an amazing tour guide of El Yunque; he brought so much energy for our group of 10, narrating the entire trip– a mix of historical fact, present-​day anecdotes, some dry wit, a little folklore & bits from his own life as a long-​time local. It’s clear he’s passionate about his homeland, PR, as well as enjoys spending time with new people. As icing on the cake, he brought us all mangoes freshly-​picked from his own backyard. Thanks, Manny, for a memorable trip! Beuna Suerte!

Joey gave us a great tour of the Yunque forest visitor center, tower and Mina Trail, which was a scenic moderate difficulty hike through some beautiful waterfalls and natural beauty. He was incredibly knowledgeable about the ecosystem and also gave us some overall info on Puerto Rico. It was really convenient to get picked up from and dropped off at our hotel. We had a nice lunch (own cost) on the way down. The slow season apparently is June-​September, and we found the weather in mid July to be great. It was a lot cooler under the tree canopy, a welcomed change from San Juan! I’d recommend sneakers or hiking boots because the trail can be hilly and uneven at times, though it is paved. Don’t recommend waterfall swimming because the rocks can be slippery, and if you have an accident (as he told us has happened), it will take a while for medics to come.

Don’t book this company. They merely is a taxi service and sent us to the kayak site which the actual tour is operated by another company. The thing is, they only only charge almost double price, but also spending 2 hours picking up guests from everywhere. I’d book directly with the kayak company or other tour companies which is more reliable and cheaper!

Then run a scam on you — Try to charge you more when you are 1:40 mins from your hotel.
So, I was in Puerto Rico for business and to keep my Wife and home life happy, I flew my Wife down at the end of my stay and we stayed over the weekend. One of the things she and I really wanted to do was the Bioluminescent bay.
We arranged our tour through the hotel we were staying. I normally don’t do this, but it seemed the easiest way to arrange the tour. Boy, that was a mistake! My primary concern and the reason I am writing this was to tell you about the underhanded way they make more money.
First, The flier given to me at the hotel said the trip would cost 90 per person. A bit higher than other travel groups, but only by 5 dollars per person so not that big a deal. The receipt I was given showed my total to be 180.00.
So we got into the van and drove 1:40 mins to the site (traffic). The van was pretty packed and since we were the last two to get picked up, my Wife and I were not able to sit together in the van on the ride out, or back.
When we got to the site, they informed me that I had to pay an additional fee of 12.60 since I did not pay in cash. I told them that no one had informed me of this fee, their brochure did not mention any fees unless you pay in cash, and the receipt I had mentioned no additional fees and showed my total being was 180.00.
They told me that I had two options:
1. Pay the fee and go on the trip
2. Wait the two hours and then be driven back to the Hotel
I mentioned this was a strong arm tactic. they said my two options were the above. And if I did not agree then I could complain on Unilocal,FB, Trip Advisor… etc.
Any guess what I did? Well, I paid their extortion and went on the trip. I paid so my Wife would not have to waste a day in PR and sit around a van for two hours.
So when I got home, I tried to contact this company. I reached out on FaceBook and they gave me a number to call. I tried to call (939) 401‑2324 on Monday at 4:15PM and at 4:59PM and got an answering machine that would not let me leave a message, but instead hung up on me. I called again on Tuesday at 12:09PM and 12:10PM and got the same response.
Now, 12.60 is not the worst I have had someone try to scam me. And it cost me more to take time out of my day to write this than 12.60. But it is the principal of the thing. They waited till we were over an hour away from the pick up to hit us with this fee. Then the customer service person was blunt and said I could either pay it, or wait out the tour and not go and the only thing I could do to complain was to fill out reviews… Challenge accepted!
The customer service person should have just skipped the 12.60. They should of given me a number that I could actually reach someone, they should of reached out to me on FaceBook… In the end, my credit card company credited me back the charge (20+ year customer, great credit rating).
So all that is left is to tell my story in the hopes that no one makes the same mistake as I did. I have documentation to prove my claims.
Now the biobay tour was nice. Check my other reviews for the company that actually ran the tour, they did a great job, but this booking agent is running a scam.
My suggestion? Contact «The Kayak Rental» in Fajardo, Puerto Rico and book through them directly. Rent a car to get there.

Alberto who coordinated my tour was awesome! Could not have asked for a better experience. The bioluminescent bay is magical! Think «The Little Mermaid» :) Thanks Alberto!!! –Shawna

Well, long story… It was the worse excursion that I have ever had thus far. The el yunque itself is a great place to visit (if you have ever been to other rainforests of Latin America such as those of Costa Rica, this rainforest is disappointing and kinda not worth the efforts to visit…).
Anyway, my partner and I signed up for the whole day trip (el yunque, beach in farjada, and biolumiscent at night.) we like the biolumiscent trip the best as it was amazing to kayaking at night!) it was definitely the only highlight of the day.
Now onto the real business. The trip was organized terribly. First of all, the van was overly packed… We were literally shipped like sardines to each destination. We could barely move while sitting in the tiny van for over 4hours! Secondly, we were not given the schedule for the day… We had no idea when/​where/​how long we would spend in each location; thirdly, the tour guy dropped us at a lunch place and let us pay the lunch 1.5 hours before we got to eat our meals. The food was horrible. Fourthly, the tour guy appeared fatigued and bored throughout the trip. He was ill prepared for his job (such as explaining to us the history/​stories of each location and entertaining guests).
Anyway, I would suggest fellow travelers avoid this company at any cost. Try something else, please. If there is a place for zero star, I would definitely nominate this company!

I don’t have a lot to say about this tour, because there wasn’t a lot to the tour. JK. Well… not completely kidding. We did the El Yunque Rainforest, which led to La Coco Falls, then we went to Luquillo Beach.
This is literally step-​by-​step how the tour went:
1. Got picked up from our hotel super early, then picked up other people from their hotels.
2. Drove forever to El Portal Visitor Center. Nothing was really done here, except bathroom breaks. We stood by a map and went over where we would be going.
3. Stopped by a mini waterfall, then headed to order food at some restaurant. The food was overpriced and sub-​par, at the very least. VERY clear that the company gets a cut from our orders. I would suggest packing food and holding out until you get to the beach. There’s $ 1 enpanadas, $ 2 cut pineapples, $ 2 fresh coconut waters, $ 2.50 ice cream bars
4. We went to a lookout at a tower, 98 steps, but not very strenuous at all. Our guide, Carlos, does NOT accompany you on any part of this. We were dropped off at the bottom of the tower and told some random facts. Then we climbed the tower ourselves, looked around, then came back down. This took literally maybe 15 minutes tops.
5. Then we headed over to the rainforest. The rainforest hike was pretty. Note: you also do this completely on your own. It was a very casual stroll, until you get to the end, which is about 10 minutes of a slight incline. There is a waterfall here that you can get into, but it’s very cold. And be careful of the current, it’s pretty strong. Two girls in my group fell over from it and scraped themselves on the sharp rocks underneath. I could have done without going in the water and just taken photos around it.
6. After the hike, Carlos met us at the end of the hike and drove us back down to pick up the food we ordered. Then afterwards, we’re driven to the beach.
7. They do not leave a lot of time here at the beach. The beach is also pretty dirty, with lots of cigarette butts and stuff. But cheap and yummy food.
8. We are told to meet and go into another van to take us to the bio-​luminescent bays. You can read my review of that company here:
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WRAP UP — If I could re-​do this day, I would rent a car and do the rainforest hike and beach on our own. Then go do the bio-​bay tour with The Kayak Rental! We just felt the whole tour was extremely overpriced for essentially nothing. And it really wasn’t entirely Carlos’ fault either, there really just isn’t much material to work with. HOWEVER, he would have been more personable and accompanied us more to create more of a relationship. We felt like we were dumped at each location by a cab driver.

We really had a mixed experience with E&B tours.
The first day we took a tour to the rain forest. Joey was our guide and he was fantastic. He is a local with tremendous knowledge of the Island and the sites you want to visit. I would recommend a tour with him anytime.
The second day was a COMPLETE BUST. Although we confirmed our second day tour they never showed! They never called and when we contacted them a number of times they kept saying that the driver was on the way. They even told the Concierge from the hotel that they were on the way but he told us that they have a reputation of canceling tours and not letting customers know.
This tour company is kind of sketchy but if you take them see if you can get Joey as your tour guide.
Our best recommendation is to confirm, confirm, confirm and have a plan B if they don’t show.

Heard many fantastic stories about the BioBay in Puerto Rico and decided to book with this company from our hotel. Everything went well until the actual tour. The guides were terrible at getting the group to the bay in the small passages. They kept stopping or slowing down and everyone was hitting trees or each other. When we got to the actual bay we had no time to experience the bay or kayak around compared to other groups who kayaked around the entire bay. For what we paid there should have been a lot more time. They basically try to do as many tours as possible in order to make the most money off people.
We also tried to book Yunque rainforest after one company cancelled on us and they told us they would be able to take us along with another couple staying in our hotel. About 10 min before the time they were suppose to get us they call the hotel saying they have no more room in the bus. How do you confirm a trip and then cancel 10 min before pickup? The other couple, after waiting over 30 min for pickup, was called and told they «forgot» to pick them up. I don’t understand how you can forget your customers. Overall, I was very disappointed with this company and will not recommend it to anyone traveling to Puerto Rico. You’re better off having a private driver to take you to some places.

Alicia and Carlos are great people. They did a great job with the tour and put up with a lot of the crazy Americans. Excellent excitement and a lot of fun. Highly recommended.

My husband and I took their tour to Fajardo for the bioluminescent tour. It was fantastic! The guides were entertaining and informative. We started off with a basic intro to kayaking – we’ve kayaked before so it was sufficient for us, but there were a couple people who struggled with the turns in the passageway leading into the lagoon. But, there was a guide in the front and in the back to assist (and yell out instructions). The guides were funny and informational and we had a great time.
We went on their first tour of the day, so there was still light when we paddled into the lagoon. That gave us the opportunity to look for wildlife and at the beautiful mangroves forming the passageway. On the (dark) way out, just paddle slowly and listen to the guides!

My family just got back from a vacation in Puerto Rico. We were there from June 29 to July 5. In the 5 full days I was in Puerto Rico we took 4 tour offered by E and B Tours. I can say that the tour guides (Alicia, Mari, Manny, Joey) were all awesome, helpful, and ready to provide information about Puerto Rico. On the first day, we took the El Yunque Rainforest Tour, which was amazing. My brothers jumped into the waterfall and had a great time. On the second day, we took the Old San Juan/​Bacardi Distillery Tour. On the way to one of the forts in Old San Juan, we saw Carmelo Anthony’s custom made basketball court in the neighborhood his mom grew up in. The fort was awesome, in that you could feel the heaviness of history from the battles the Spanish waged there. The Bacardi Tour was fun. You get free drinks, and you get to learn about how the company started in Cuba, but had to relocate to Puerto Rico after the Cuban Revolution. The third day, we went on the Bio Bay Tour. The kayaking was a bit brutal, but it was an overall good experience. The water in the lagoon did light up, but not as bright as some pictures show. If you want to see the Bio Bay, I would suggest using the electric boat tour option, unless you want to kayak for 3+ miles roundtrip. On our last full day, we took the Ponce/​Thermal Bath Tour. Ponce is the second largest city in Puerto Rico, and my brothers and I had a running joke that Ponce is really Casterly Rock from Game of Thrones because the city has a «castle» overlooking the city, there are lions statues all over the city, and the official colors of the city are red and black. Also, the city has produced at least 4 governors for Puerto Rico. The Thermal Bath Spring is said to be the place where the legend of the Fountain of Youth started. Apparently the native people told Ponce De Leon that the thermal waters had healing properties for people with muscular ailments, and called it «The Fountain of Youth» not because it made people younger, but that it made people feel better. From there you can guess how the story changed and was embellished once someone returned to Spain and said Ponce De Leon found a Fountain of Youth. My family really enjoyed our stay in Puerto Rico because of E and B Tours.
In regard to the pricing — E and B Tours is very reasonable. The least expensive tours are the one where E and B does the majority of transportation/​tour guiding. The Bio Bay Tour is more expensive because E and B partners with a Bio Bay kayaking group. As an example, the Bio Bay Tour through E and B is $ 90, but you could schedule your tour directly with a kayaking group for $ 50. The advantage with E and B, is that they provide transportation from and to your hotel. You won’t get lost because the tour driver knows the area. We were happy to pay for the E and B Tour because it gave us piece of mind, knowing that we wouldn’t get lost, and that we would have ground transportation.
My family does plan on returning to Puerto Rico at some point, and when we do we will use E and B Tours again, and take underground cave tour that we didn’t have time to take on our first trip.

LOVED!
My girlfriend and I booked a tour of El Yunque through our hotel,(La Concha, also great place).
I am so glad we did!
Our tour guide was Alicia, and I feel so blessed to have gotten her on our tour! She was so good! Very knowledgeable, happy, fun girl.
I would highly recommend that you book a tour with them, and ask for her!

We booked three tours: El Yunque Rainforest/​Luquillo Beach, Rio de Camuy Caves/​Arecibo Observatory, and the Bioluminescent Bay Kayak on three consecutive days.
If you take the rainforest/​beach and/​or the cave/​observatory tour, you can’t go wrong if Alicia is your guide. She is outstanding and goes out of her way to meet your needs. Both tours were fun, but be prepared for some walking on rough trails and up a steep hill to see the observatory. The beach was a nice wrap up to the rainforest walking. Fun fact: Alicia has some fine van driving skills that will amaze you!
For the bioluminescent bay kayak tour, expect the van driver to just get you there. Once you get to the site (about 40 minutes from San Juan), the tour guides will briefly go through kayaking basics which are really easy. To really experience the plankton’s bioluminescence, it needs to be as dark as possible. What a fun experience paddling through the mangroves in the dark to reach the lagoon. It’s amazing to see the sparkles as you cup your hand into the water and bring it up.
Puerto Rican hospitality and adventure at its best.

We went on two tours – one to the El Yunque rainforest/​Luquillo beach and the other to the Ruy Camuy caves/​Arecibo Observatory. Both tour guides were friendly and informative and got us where we needed to go.
One person mentioned that their tour guide didn’t do the rainforest hike with them. Ours didn’t either, but that didn’t bother me… Believe me, that path is crowded enough already!
Be warned – both days we didn’t eat lunch until around 2:30. Might want to bring along a few snacks!
Both tours were well worth it. I was glad we didn’t rent a car to get El Yunque when I saw how narrow the roads were. I’d recommend E&B without reservations!