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Costa Rica-what activities & what tour companies...
should i look into? Trying to get an iternary together and activities booked this weekend for our trip in April. Thanks for any advice!!!
Re: Costa Rica-what activities & what tour companies...
We did our activities through Desafio ( http://www.desafiocostarica.com/ ) - we had a GREAT time.
When we went, we stayed exclusively in the Arenal area. DH and I are action vacation type people, and let me think...
Day 1 - We flew in, and since our flight left early, we were TIRED when we got into our resort. We spent that afternoon hanging by the pool bar, and then used our spa credit that evening.
Day 2 - In the morning we went and did a hanging bridge tour. That was basically an easy walk but the hanging bridges are fun, if you're quiet you can see some wildlife and the foilage is amazing. Then we went ziplining in the rainforest. They call it the Canopy Zipline tour and it was a TON of fun.
Day 3 - Canyoneering. If you are really afraid of heights, this probably isn't for you. Basically we had strapped on some cables and jumped down the sides of waterfalls. The last one wasn't even a waterfall. We just free-fell about 300 feet into some water. We finished that day by going to the Tabacon hot springs.
Day 4 - More hiking. I think we spent ALL day hiking.
We stayed at the Lost Iguana eco-resort, and we were REALLY happy with it. It's small, but by the end of the second day, they were calling us by our first names, and knew the way we wanted our coffee, and where we liked to sit.
But in a nutshell, Desafio. Can't go wrong. We've had other friends go with them as well and they were happy too.
Where are you going?
We did these activities in Arenal...
Sky Trek ziplining was fantastic and a must-do if you like adrenaline rushes. They have the highest, longest, and fastest lines in the country.
We did the Arenal Hanging Bridges tour which was great. We saw a bunch of wildlife and got some great pics. In my opinion, it's a must-do also because the views up high are wonderful, the tour guide was very informative, and being in rainforest was just a really neat experience.
Arenal volcano hike (the old lava trail) was ok. We enjoyed it because it provided some nice and quiet views of the volcano as well as some history on the eruption of 1968, but I wouldn't say it's a must-do.
We hiked to and swam in La Fortuna waterfall. It was beautiful and I highly recommend it.
Tabacon hot springs was "meh" for us. It was nice to relax for a couple of hours in the evening, but it was very touristy and nothing great. I'm glad we only went for a few hours. The buffet was mediocre and overpriced.
We booked all of these excursions through Pura Vida Tours in downtown La Fortuna right across from the central park and church. We compared prices with other tour companies and Pura Vida was one of the cheapest. Our guide Javier was a young biology teacher who was humorous and very knowledgeable. We learned so much from him and had a great time.
We heard great things about the white water rafting and waterfall rappelling but we didn't have time to fit those 2 activities in.
We also went to Manuel Antonio for part of our trip which was beautiful but mostly relaxed and took a guided tour of the MA National Park one day.
Hope that helps!
ETA: Also, make sure you visit the active side of the volcano at night! It depends on the weather and activity of the volcano, but seeing the red lava at night was amazing.
We also booked with Desafio. I looked online for reviews etc and they got the best, hands down. That said, apparently it is a common practice to "outsource" the tours to other companies for some tours. Although we booked through Desafio, we had two other companies that came to pick us up/run our tours. They were both fine though.
We even had to cancel one since MH and I got ridiculously ill and they were fine with it. Of course since it was the day of, we didn't get a refund and we completely accepted that.
Like the PP we were in the Arenal area. We stayed at the Arenal Nayara and all our tours picked up/dropped off at the hotel.
We went on the Rio Celeste hiking tour. It said that it was an "easy" hike, but if you're not used to it then it can be challenging. Or maybe it was because we were staring to get sick. It was still fun and I'd recommend it since it's through the rain forest and the river is gorgeous as well as being able to see the waterfall. I don't think it's a very popular "tour" choice since the group was just MH and I and a random lone French man. But that made it nice at the same time. We did see other groups of people there, but not a lot.
We also did the Hanging Bridges tour. I am afraid of heights but it was perfectly fine. It's definitely is an easy walk on paths and the bridges. We had a larger group for this tour and definitely saw many other tour groups there as well.
Enjoy your trip!
ETA: We booked our tours about a week or two before we left for the trip and were fine, but we were there in February.
I concur with this. After canyoneering, Tabacon was a nice way to finish the day, but we skipped the buffet and ate at our resort. Definitely touristy, but if you're tired, it is a nice way to relax for a few hours.
My favorite activities in Costa Rica were hiking through the Sta. Helena rain forest, white water rafting (we left from La Fortuna), and enjoying the Tabacon hot springs. I went back in 2002 though so any tour company recs I might have had are probably useless.
Tabacon was lovely back then and not nearly as touristy as what I see people describe today. I know there are several other hot springs options in the country though. Personally, I wouldn't miss a chance to relax in at least one of them.
We heard reports that it was touristy before we went so we decided to go to a smaller hot spring called EcoTermales. The setting was lovely and they limit the number of people so it isn't so crowded. We had a nice time but a few hours was plenty for us. The food was great. One of the best meals we had in Costa Rica. Highly recommend!
We had 4 days in Arenal and randomly decided to do a Cano Negro tour one day. It was great! Long day but completely worth it. Our tour was very good but I wouldn't recommend our tour operator. We got extremely lucky...we had a huge boat for 4 people plus the guide and the driver but we saw other boats from the same company that were completely full. It wouldn't have been nearly so great on a big boat. Being able to move all around to see better and talk to the guide easily was really important.
In Manuel Antonio, we did 2 tours with Juan Brenes. He's extremely popular on the TripAdvisor boards. If you google his name, you'll get contact info and his reviews on TA. We did the Mangrove/Damas Island Estuary tour (BEST tour we've ever done) and the Manuel Antonio National Park tour with him. Both were great and Juan was an outstanding guide. The park tour is the popular one but, honestly, we were able to really see so much more on the estuary tour. He has his own boat. It's smaller which is perfect for going around the estuary and he doesn't cram it full. You can tell he's a very motivated entepreneuer but he's also passionate about his country.
One thing I really liked about CR is that they have strict licensing for their guides. To be a certified guide with a uniform, they have to complete a minimum of 2 years of schooling to guide and pass a test. If they want to be able to guide anywhere within the country, not just one specific region, they are in school for 4 years. I found all the guides we encountered to be informative and highly knowledgeable. I think this is why most people end up being really happy with their tours in CR.
I had been reading messages for several months on this board before I made plans for our belated HM in CR over thanksgiving 2011. We went to Arenal and stayed at Tabacon. We could avoid some of the crows by going early or late in the day to the springs. We had a buffet breakfast at the hotel but otherwise did not eat there. We loved the rafting trip on Rio Toro (clss II - IV). The tour company was Desafio but we booked through Pura vida eh! (discounts with various tour companies). We also did a hanging bridges combo tour through anywhere coast rica which included hanging bridges (as pp height did not bother me but was worried it would), hike to La Fortuna waterfall (we did not elect to swim), Arenal National Park hike. Unfortunately in the 4 days we were there we never saw much of the volcano due to low clouds and rainy (green) season.
For transportation from San Jose to Arenal, Arenal to Montezuma and Montezuma back to San Jose we used anywhere costa rica. We mainly needed private transportation due to our flight schedule but were able to maximize our time at the destinations and not have to spend time in San Jose. I recommend all these companies. Even the resort at Tabacon but it was expensive and get this our shower had no hot water most of the mornings.
At Montezuma we stayed at Ylang-Ylang beach resort. Most people go to Manuel Antonio. We wanted a more secluded/isolated place with a bungalow on the beach.