Santini Tours & Air Consolidators

Talked with Joe for about an hour about cruise packages and Ideas. He is very helpful and knowledgeable. He knew that I wasn’t going to spend money that day, but still was eager to help with every leg of my hypothetical trip. He never rushed me or assumed anything and had great ideas to get the most for my money. The fact is– you can book all your travel stuff yourself, but to get the most of it you want someone who has experience and Santini Tours does. I should have done more research to start and saved him some time, but after talking with him I am excited to dive into all the details. I look forward to booking the trip.

Review of our trip to South Africa (Kruger National Park): Joseph’s suggestion that we stay at Gold Reef City Theme Park for our first night was brilliant. Seeing Jo’Burg from the freeway was quite enough exposure to that city; having a little cocoon welcoming us the first day in Africa was just what we needed. The rides were fun, the gold mine tour interesting, and the food was excellent. We were also able to go to the Apartheid Museum, which was worth seeing (and only $ 5 admission.) We were so tired from our two long flights that we barely noticed that we were all three sleeping in the same room.
We spent our first week taking day trips from Hazyview (Sudwala Caves, Blyde River Canyon, Moholoholo Rehab Centre, Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre, Africa Silks Silk Farm, Shangana dinner, Sabie Sands night safari). We stayed at the Kruger Park Lodge in Hazyview that week (timeshare). It was really nice, although a little «manicured» with its golf course and landscaping. But easy access to grocery shopping.
We spent the second week at Protea Kruger Gate, and we liked that place more. It is 90% hotel, with only 7 self-​catering timeshare chalets at the edge of the property. I really recommend it. It is across the river from the Kruger Gate. That convenient location meant that the game drive vehicle came right to our reception area to pick us up. We did two game drives with the SANPark guides. Really wonderful. The rest of the time we just drove around on our own every day (with a Wild Card pass) and saw everything except cheetahs, wild dogs, and wildebeest.
I can’t tell you how glad I am that I changed to an automatic transmission car despite the extra cost. Driving there was much more difficult than I had expected, not because it was on the left side, but because of all the traffic: pedestrians on the side of the road, animals, slow trucks, taxis, people trying to pass me, wildfires along the side of the road — it was very challenging on some roads! I bought a $ 25 cellphone over there and had AAA road service insurance (honored by SA) just in case something went wrong, but fortunately nothing did.
The costs were unbelievably low. Of course, our lodging was nearly free (timeshare) and we did eat in a lot (including barbecued impala steaks!) But it is certainly an achievable destination for Americans, and I would really recommend it as a country worth visiting.
Thanks for setting it all up and for all the good advice!

Santini’s is Amazing!
The owner is really nice. He has been working with our family vacationing needs for years now, and we always get the best rates.

After being aware of Santini in our neighborhood over many years at their two different locations, we decided to go to Brazil and Buenos Aires, and support a local, bricks-​and-​mortar business besides. We were encouraged several of the the employees and owner were from Brazil (the owner has a bed-​and-​breakfast in Salvador) and spoke Portuguese. Working with 2 different agents, our trip evolved from a simple fly into one city, fly out of another trip to several flights within Brazil and from Iguacu Falls to Buenos Aires. Altho we asked for the breakdown, we were never told the costs of the additional individual flights, after being quoted a low, reasonable amount for the simple trip, but by then we’d already paid for the tickets…
Once we had paid, they apparently considered themselves out of the picture. As we learned on our trip, however, they had overlooked a few important details. The first involved not identifying the airport we were to use in Belo Horizonte, their second omission was nearly fatal to our trip. Between the time we paid for our tickets (Dec.) and our trip (Feb.-March), Argentine imposed a «reprocity fee» upon Americans, required to be paid in advance on the internet by credit card and verified by a printed out receipt, prior to any border crossing, where the receipt would be scanned. This was the ONLY method allowed. We were never shared this information by Santini (and our guidebooks did not contain this new development), about a task we could have accomplished quickly while still in America. As it was, we missed the Argentinian side of Iguacu Falls (rudely taken off the bus at the border) and nearly missed our flight the next day from the airport on the other side of the border. As it was, we had to scramble by taxi from tourist information to the Argentinan embassy (no help from either) to a local travel agency that intervened on our behalf.
«Cheap Tickets» might not have alerted us, either, but we expected more of Santini. Foolishly, in retrospect.
An e-​mail sent describing our problems has not been answered by Santini. No surprise there, either, but hopefully other travelers will not have the same problems as we did, by assuming more help and knowledge from Santini than is likely.

Santini is just…
The Bestttttttttttttttt.
.They have been my travel agency for 15 years and i was never disappointed.

I was looking for a travel agent who had experience booking flights within Argentina and Santini Tours came to the rescue. I was helped by Roberto and we spoke several times over the phone discussing the different travel options and came up with a plan that would allow us to visit several regions within the country without spending half our time in transit. Much appreciated!

The crew here is the best. I have planned two very big trips through them and they have done their best to make everything work perfectly. One of the trips was for 6 people, 3 different itineraries and four airpasses. My wife and my flight were canceled and the agent planned for our new flight and rescheduled our flight once we arrived in Brazil. Our last trip was two Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, with 5 flights and entering Brazil and leaving from Chile. Everything was planned perfectly and worked to perfection. If you need help for a trip to South America, this is the place to go.