Spring 2024 Tours & Vacation Packages Costa Rica

• Explorer
• Active
• Family
• Sport
• Christmas & New Year
• +2

The Costa Rican people were very friendly and gave exceptional service everywhere we went. All the excursion tours exceeded our expectations. We were a family of 5 and our kids were 31 to 28 years old. We were all hard pressed to pick a favorite excursion. I will say all the excursions were bigger and better than we had done anywhere else. The white-water rafting was a nonstop action ride, the zip lining was the longest and scariest, the repelling was great fun, and the horseback riding was a two-hour ride of hills, valleys, and rivers. The surfing was great, and everyone was able to get up and surf on the first try. My only knock on the trip was that Green World could have picked better accommodation. Country Inn and Suites by Radisson was nice but, a 20 plus minute cab ride from downtown. The hotel rooms at Fortuna Downtown Boutique Hotel and Bellavista Suites by Villas Verdes were tiny. There was not enough room to pass each other going around the bed. Monteverde Villa Lodge had giant rooms but had no view of the mountains and was slightly out of the way. San Jose Autentico Hotel was the nicest hotel but unfortunately, we could not take advantage of the location because we arrive so late from the long drive we went right to bed. You might want to consider upgrading lodging if that is important to you. Also, Green World’s itinerary could have used a lot more detail. They only included the pickup times with minimal additional information. Would have been nice to know the length of excursion, lockers at location, change of clothes needed, expected time to return to the hotel or links to vendor web sites. And there was no mention of the length of the drives. Getting to Mounteverde and out of Mounteverde was challenging. I highly recommend bringing motion sickness pills. The four-hour drive in and out is like being in a washing machine. Also, there is a five hour drive the last day from Samara beach to San Jose. Overall the trip was excellent, except for the two points above I would have given the trip five stars.

Destinations

San Jose, Arenal Volcano National Park, Monteverde, Samara+3 more

Age Range

12 to 65 year olds

Country Region

Monteverde

Operated in

English, Spanish

Operator

Green World Adventures This operator has the highest review ratings and fastest responses to enquiries

• Explorer
• Family
• Christmas & New Year
• +1

Beautiful country. We enjoyed being able to see things from coast-to-coast. We were picked up by large bus for the first part of the trip and then had transporation that was either shared or just for us. I generally like to know a little bit more about what to expect before taking a trip, so add this information for others. The local tourism company that we were connected with helped us schedule scuba diving when we were in Guanacaste. I recommend this trip.

Destinations

San Jose, Tortuguero, Arenal, Guanacaste National Park+2 more

Age Range

3 to 95 year olds

Operated in

English, Spanish

Operator

Receptivo Aborigen Tours This operator has good review ratings and responds to all enquiries

• Active
• Sport
• Explorer
• Christmas & New Year
• +1

Great trip - well set up and organized. Transfers went smooth, plenty of activities, and overall great value. It exceeded my expectations and I really enjoyed it.

Destinations

San Jose, Arenal Volcano National Park, Monteverde+2 more

Age Range

12 to 65 year olds

Country Region

Monteverde, Northern Lowlands Costa Rica+1 more

Operated in

English, Spanish

Operator

Green World Adventures This operator has the highest review ratings and fastest responses to enquiries

• Explorer
• Family
• Christmas & New Year
• +1

Eine wunderschöne Tour wo man wirklich die schönsten Ecken von Costa Rica erleben kann. Unser Guide Manfred in Tortuguero war der Wahnsinn! Der beste Guide ever!

Destinations

San Jose, Tortuguero National Park, Arenal Volcano National Park, Monteverde+3 more

Age Range

3 to 95 year olds

Country Region

Monteverde

Operated in

English, Spanish

Operator

Receptivo Aborigen Tours This operator has good review ratings and responds to all enquiries

• Active
• Family

Juan Carlos was amazing. Such a great trip!

Destinations

San Jose, Tortuguero National Park, Guapiles, La Fortuna, La Guaria (La Fortuna), Arenal Volcano National Park, Monteverde, Jaco+7 more

Age Range

1 to 99 year olds

Regions

Monteverde, Costa Rica Caribbean Coast, Costa Rica Pacific Coast, Central Pacific Costa Rica, Jaco, Tortuguero National Park+5 more

Operated in

English

Operator

Wingbuddy This operator has high review ratings and responds promptly to enquiries

• In-depth Cultural
• Explorer
• Christmas & New Year
• +1

Oldemar was extremely responsive and able to plan our trip for us at the last minute. I highly recommend this tour as it is one of the few that takes you to Corcovado National Park in the south. Our 3 days in that region were our absolute favorite!

Destinations

San Jose, Corcovado National Park, Arenal Volcano National Park, Monteverde+3 more

Age Range

up to 95 year olds

Country Region

Monteverde

Operated in

English, Spanish

Operator

Destiny Travel Costa Rica

• Active
• Explorer
• Christmas & New Year
• +1

This was a great tour. It was well organized. We were disappointed in our stay in Tortuguero though. We even upgraded our lodging to the boula lodge which was a more expensive hotel option. It was dirty, overpriced, and had horrible food. The staff was also not very helpful at all. It wasn’t worth the long transport to go there, and we were overjoyed that we only spent one day there. I’d highly recommend only doing one day in tortuguero and then go to San Jose. We stayed at la puesta del sol in Monteverde, and it was lovely and clean. Highly recommend adding on the bird watching and Don Juan coffee tour here. Also eat at Taco Taco! One of our favorites ever! Then la Regina hotel in la Fortuna was great too with great staff. Consider adding the morning hike for Arenal. Eat at pollo fortuneno. I can’t emphasize enough how bad our time at the lodging at la baula was in tortuguero!! It’s the only reason I’m not giving this 5 stars! Consider adding on some time in guanacaste if you’re doing a longer trip. Overall we felt like this was an adequate amount of time spent to see a lot of Costa Rica.

Destinations

San Jose, Monteverde, La Fortuna, Arenal Volcano National Park, Tortuguero National Park+3 more

Age Range

15 to 80 year olds

Physical Rating

Active

Country Region

Northern Lowlands Costa Rica

Operated in

English, Spanish

Operator

Marvelus Travel This operator has good review ratings and responds to all enquiries

• Active
• Family
• Explorer
• Hiking & Trekking
• Christmas & New Year
• +2

Every hotel we stayed in was fantastic. The tour guides were all very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. The itinerary was very good, as it left us free time to explore the different areas every day, while and the transportation was always right on time for every pick up. The only thing that wasn't fantastic was the boat ride across the lake. The itinerary stated we would travel with an informed guide that would talk to us about the area, but it was just a taxi ride in a boat across the lake. The professionals in the boat never said a word to us once.

Destinations

San Jose, Arenal Volcano National Park, Monteverde+2 more

Age Range

up to 75 year olds

Country Region

Monteverde, Northern Lowlands Costa Rica+1 more

Operated in

English, Spanish

Operator

Green World Adventures This operator has the highest review ratings and fastest responses to enquiries

• Explorer
• Beach
• Family
• Christmas & New Year
• +1

We enjoyed our brief trip to Costa Rica, though we were disapppointed by hte number of people on the tour since the website had said "No more than 16 travelers" and we had at least 26, if not more, for most activities. That was a particular problem when it came to guided nature walks on single-file paths, where the people at the end of the line had almost no chance of hearing the guide--who was extremely knowledgeable. That said, we were especially impressed with the Toruguero National Park and the amazing array of flora and fauna we saw there. We also really liked the Pachira Lodge where we stayed for 2 nights near the park. We felt we were well taken care of in terms of transportation and transfers, and all of our drivers were excellent and courteous. Costa Rica is a wonderful place to visit!

Destinations

San Jose, Tortuguero National Park, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca+2 more

Age Range

up to 75 year olds

Country Region

Costa Rica Caribbean Coast

Operated in

English, Spanish

Operator

Green World Adventures This operator has the highest review ratings and fastest responses to enquiries

• Explorer
• Family
• Christmas & New Year
• +1

The tour was well co-ordinated and travel connections were very good. Most hotels were of a good standard, but a couple were away from the main centres of town. The trip provides a good insight into different aspects of Costa Rica nature and environment and the organisers were flexible to offer extensions in a couple of locations to allow me more time to explore. They kept contact through out my trip via whatsapp and were very responsive. The tour is really good, but bear in mind it is an active holiday and the weather doesn't always co-operate.

Destinations

San Jose, Tortuguero National Park, Arenal Volcano National Park, Monteverde, Manuel Antonio National Park+4 more

Age Range

3 to 95 year olds

Operated in

English, Spanish

Operator

Receptivo Aborigen Tours This operator has good review ratings and responds to all enquiries

• In-depth Cultural
• Active
• Beach
• Family
• Explorer
• Christmas & New Year
• +4

The same driver picked us up at the airport in Liberia and drove us to the Hacienda Guachipelin, and then picked us up and drove us to Tamarindo Beach, and then picked us up and drove us back to the airport. So, that was nice. He gave each of us a water bottle. We didn’t use them but it was a nice touch. I loved Hacienda Gauchipelin. It was very pretty. The rooms were large (the first night we had one room, the second two nights we had another room), the bathrooms were large and there was a nice veranda in front of each room. The buffet breakfast in one of the open-air dining rooms was very nice and for lunch and dinner there was a choice of buffet or à la carte. I loved the walking tour into Pailas National Park, K. didn’t love it because – unbeknownst to me – she has difficulty walking on inclines and steps. But the tour guide was able to adapt the tour to take us on the easiest part of the trail first, rather than last as he usually does, and then she went back to the trailhead where there was a little café and waiting area. The rest of the walking tour was like a mini Yellowstone, because the park is volcanic, so we saw steam holes that made noise (I’m sure there’s a name for them), mud pots, some wild monkeys and interesting vegetation, and then a visit to a pretty waterfall. The following day we did the zip line tour. Safety was a priority for the staff so they did a good job fitting us and a family of 5 with helmets, gloves and harnesses. On the first part of the zip line one of the staff went with K. to make sure that she could do it. In the afternoon we took the Hacienda bus over to the hot springs. It was not my cup of tea, but worth seeing once. I didn’t love Tamarindo Beach, but that’s mostly because it is a typical beach town that you can see anywhere. Think Galveston with a trucks thundering down the main street. There was a glitch at the hotel, the Diria, which was really K.’s fault for not having indicated that she can’t climb stairs. The hotel occupies the beach side and a larger space across the street from the beach. Initially they put us in a room that required climbing a short flight and then a longer flight of stairs. When I called to request a room with no stairs for access (assuming that they had an elevator building) initially they wanted to put us somewhere further up hill, but when I rejected it and the bellman came over and met K. to assess the problem, then they gave us the handicap accessible room the beach side. It was very nice; they tried to be accommodating. The buffet breakfast was nice. The grounds were nice with plenty of places to sit in the sun or the shade, several swimming pools and easy beach access. There was no plan for the next day and I don’t like shopping, so I went to the tour desk for the hotel and arranged a tour to a waterfall and an animal sanctuary. That was very nice, but apparently whoever booked this tour either in Canada or the local outfitter just dropped the ball and expected us to sit around for 2.5 days. The real problem was the next day, when we were scheduled for the Catamaran Sunset Tour cruise for snorkeling and watching the sunset. The instructions said only that we had to get there on our own, with no information about where the meeting place was. The link on the itinerary didn’t work. So, I went to the Concierge desk and someone called the local number for the cruise company. That person texted me a link to a location that was only a 5 minute walk away, but wasn’t the meeting place, either. Finally, after some discussion, the owner of the business gave us a ride to the meeting location about a mile away on the beach, and then asked his skipper to assist K. into the dinghy and then into the catamaran. When we got back there was a cab driver waiting for us, at no charge. They were very nice and kind. There was an open bar but the bar tended kept an eye on who was drinking how much, and provided some extra pineapple slices for me and the people I was talking to to munch when he heard us exclaiming about it. They provided a buffet lunch. They had two groups of visitors who were repeat customers. The swimming cove was nice. I didn’t snorkel but we had a nice time sitting on the side of the boat and dangling our legs. They were so kind that I left a nice review on TripAdvisor. I wouldn’t advise sending someone to the beach again, but I would do the national park again.

Destinations

Liberia, Rincon de la Vieja Volcano National Park, Playa Tamarindo+2 more

Age Range

up to 75 year olds

Country Region

Guanacaste

Operated in

English, Spanish

Operator

Green World Adventures This operator has the highest review ratings and fastest responses to enquiries