A Different Costa Rica

Day 1: Arrival

Upon arrival into Costa Rica, you’ll be met at the airport by your driver at Juan Santamaría International Airport. You’ll be driven to San Jose to begin your Costa Rican adventure.

Day 2: Poas Volcano, Doka Coffee Tour and La Paz Waterfall Gardens

Drive by the city of Alajuela passing by the Agriculture Monument, the Monument to Juan Santamaria, and the famous Mango Park. The first stop on today’s tour will be in Doka, a third-generation coffee plantation to learn how coffee is picked, milled, ground, and roasted. Continuing towards the Poás Volcano, you’ll notice the change in temperature and vegetation. See coffee plantations, ferns, flower farms, and strawberry farms along the way, creating a colorful landscape.

The Poás Volcano is one of the most spectacular volcanoes in the country, with its enormous crater measuring one kilometer in diameter and 314 meters deep. The crystal blue sulfur pools will amaze you along with the steam rising from the various volcanic vents. You’ll also hike to the beautiful Botos Lagoon.

Next, you’ll discover La Paz Waterfall Gardens, a natural park where we will walk through some spectacular trails leading to the White Magic Waterfall. You’ll also visit the butterfly observatory, the hummingbird gallery, the serpentarium, the old house, the birdhouse, and the frogs’ exhibit. After lunch, head back to San José.

Day 3: San Jose to Tortuguero

Journey through Braulio Carrillo National Park, marveling at Costa Rica’s biodiversity and the views of pineapple and banana plantations. Arrive at Caño Blanco pier and board a comfortable boat to traverse the Tortuguero canals, savoring a refreshing cocktail and lunch upon reaching your lodge.

Tortuguero is a picturesque community originally founded by carpenters, fishermen, and marine turtle hunters. Nowadays these same residents defend and protect the turtles and other animals. This tiny town has charming samples of Caribbean architecture, with quaint and colorful wooden buildings. Here you can find a few businesses, such as small grocery stores and mini-markets.

If you’re traveling between July and September, you can take an optional night tour to observe turtles nesting – a truly bucket-list experience.

Day 4: Tortuguero

After breakfast, enjoy a guided walking tour through the trails. In the afternoon, you’ll visit Tortuguero National Park, exploring the canals in small, open boats to allow for better visibility.

Tortuguero is a network of navigable lakes, rivers, and canals that are used for transportation, providing a great place for observing local wildlife such as birds, monkeys, two and three-toed sloths, American crocodiles, and caimans. The park also provides shelter to endangered animals such as manatees, tapirs, and jaguars.

Day 5: Tortuguero to Turrialba

After breakfast, you’ll board a boat back to the pier, where the trip will continue by bus to Naranjo. From here, you’ll continue your trip to the beautiful Turrialba Valley, either with a private driver or by driving yourself in a rental car.

Situated 40 miles east of the city of San Jose, the beautiful Turrialba Valley is irrigated by the wild waters of the Reventazon River, which turned these lands into a rich agricultural area over a hundred years ago. Rains throughout the year create a green collage of primary forests, biological corridors, reforested areas, and extensive plantations of coffee, macadamia, and sugar cane.

Day 6: Turrialba

After breakfast, you can choose between one of the following optional tours.

The first is white water rafting down the Pacuare River, ranked as one of the best five rivers in the world for white water rafting. After a safety talk from your friendly guides, you’ll be ready to start the adventure down the river. Halfway through the tour, you’ll stop at a camp located on a hillside for lunch, with an awesome view of the Pacuare River and the surrounding mountains. Then, continue your rafting adventure, finding more rapids and discovering new surroundings. The tour finishes when the bridge in Siquirres town is reached.

You can also choose a canyoning and canopy tour. This activity involves rappeling and descending cliffs and waterfalls within the canyon. This canyoning site is located in Calle Chirraca, a small, modest, yet lush private reserve near the town of Turrialba. Your guides will ensure you know all the protocols to have a safe and fun experience. After this, the fun starts. Participants will rappel down four waterfalls, zip-line five canopy cables, descend two tall trees, and walk across a 132-foot hanging bridge, for an adrenaline rush you’ll never gorget.

Day 7: Turrialba to San Gerardo de Dota

San Gerardo de Dota is located near the Cerro de la Muerte, one of Costa Rica’s highest peaks. The drive from San José takes approximately two hours and features some marvelous views of green rolling hills and fruit plantations. An amazingly stunning habitat for a plethora of bird and flora species, this region is most well known for being the primary habitat for the famous resplendent Quetzal.

The unequaled beauty of the highland scenery provides a unique opportunity to experience the sounds and secrets of the tropical cloud forest. San Gerardo de Dota is within the largest extension of protected areas of the country, an area made up of 13 different units which together total 95,000 hectares and is highly recommended for nature lovers.

Day 8: San Gerardo de Dota

Choose between two optional tours to enjoy.

The first is a waterfall tour. This hike will take participants along a trail leading to the dramatic Savegre River waterfalls. Charming views and colorful birds surround visitors as they walk along the river bank. It takes about an hour to reach the bridge where the first waterfall is found. After crossing it, the “cave” is reached, a huge rock carefully placed by nature’s hand thousands of years ago. The hike continues to a second waterfall with its imposing 30-meter falls.

The second is a bird-watching tour. Morning birdsong heralds the start of an unforgettable experience in the cloud forest. The bird list in San Gerardo de Dota has more than 170 species, with some unique to the area. Along the trails, participants will be able to find the most elusive and hard-to-spot species, real trophies for bird spotters.

Day 9: San Gerardo de Dota to Dominical

Head to Dominical where you’ll spend three nights relaxing – one of the favorite destinations for surfers. The beach extends for more than 4km and is surrounded by exuberant vegetation typical of the Pacific coast. This is not a massive tourism area, which makes it perfect for relaxing and enjoying nature.

Dominical is very close to the Marino Ballena National Marine Park, a spectacular place, which plays an important role in protecting several marine species such as the migrating humpback whales, the olive ridley sea turtle, and the hawksbill turtle. You can choose to include an optional whale and dolphin-watching tour in this stunning area.

The small village of Uvita de Osa is located between Dominical and Ojochal, known for its exquisite culinary tradition. Here, the mountains of the rainforest loom over the sea, sheltering the stunning pristine beaches of Uvita, Ballena, Arco, Piñuela, Ventanas, and Tortuga.

For day trips, the area is close to Manuel Antonio and Corcovado National Park.

Day 12: Departure

After breakfast you’ll take a private transfer to Juan Santamaría International airport for your onward journey.