Itinerary

Saturday                    
Most flights from the US arrive around 10pm at San Jose Airport in Costa Rica.  Meet your traveling companions in baggage claim.  Our driver will meet us outside the airport and transport us to our lush and luxurious hotel.  Should you arrive earlier in the day you’ll need to take a taxi to our hotel and will be provided with instructions.

Sunday
Sleep-in!  Breakfast at hotel and wander the beautiful gardens. Depart at 11am and travel by van to a nature-lovers resort two hours north of San Jose.  Located right next to the San Rafael river you can relax in the pool or hot tub while lunch is prepared.  In the afternoon we’ll take a nature hike with our biologist guide. She introduces us to the amazing biological diversity that is Costa Rica.  We hike to wonderful waterfalls and swim and in the adjacent pools.  Blue morpho butterflies and bright birds fly nearby, and monkeys chatter from high perches in this private rain forest reserve. Maybe you’ll enjoy a hot tub prior to dinner?  Our spacious rooms have huge hot water showers and private decks to enjoy an umbrella drink and soak up the sounds of the rain forest at dusk.

Monday
Breakfast at our relaxing resort and perhaps enjoy another swim before our 10am departure.  We pass through coffee plantations and peaceful country towns on our drive to Arenal. Check into our beautiful resort located just in front of the 5300’ volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. This afternoon we’ll ride a Sky Tram high in the forest to a platform giving us wonderful views of Lake Arenal and the volcano.  Guides will stop the tram for bird and monkey sightings along the way.  At the top we’ll put on our equipment and get a safety briefing for our zip line canopy trip back down to the base.  We’ll zip-line down 1.7 miles on eight cables above the treetops.  This is great fun and totally safe with braking controlled by operators.  The zip distances vary from 100’ to 2400’.  Experts rate this the best zip line in the world!  After dinner at our resort we’ll go to the best natural hot springs in the world and soak.  There’s nothing quite like being doused by a hot waterfall!  We may hear the booming of the nearby volcano.  Later, back at our resort, especially chosen for its volcano views, you’ll be able to sit on your private terrace and hopefully see the lava erupting.  Pray for a cloud-free night!

Tuesday
Enjoy another lazy breakfast before our 9.30am departure for Puntarenas.  This beachside community is on the Gulf of Nicoya, on the Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica.  After a picnic lunch we’ll board our eight-seat outrigger kayaks at Jaco.  We’ll paddle our outrigger across the calm and beautiful turquoise water of two bays to a secluded white sand beach.  A beautiful coral reef sits just off this beach and we’ll have plenty of time to snorkel the reef and explore the brain coral and abundant and very colorful fishes.  Enjoy fresh fruit and drinks on the sand before an easy paddle back.  Transfer to our quaint hotel in downtown San Jose.  The hotel has the most comprehensive gift shop in the country so it’s a perfect chance to pick up handicrafts.  We’ll dine at a local restaurant.

Wednesday
It’s an early start today where we travel by bus to the Pacuare River for one of the finest white-water rafting days in the world.  We’ll breakfast at a hilltop restaurant en route with great views of the local farms. The Pacuare is a pool-drop river meaning that it is a constant series of rapids followed by calm water so there’s plenty of time between rafting the class III – IV rapids to enjoy the scenery. The rainforest is pristine and waterfalls tumble down lush banks.  A generous lunch is prepared for us riverside. We float through a skinny gorge and drench ourselves under the falls.  Often we see the smoke from the fires of indigenous villages.  Off the river by 3pm our van will take us to the Caribbean Coast for our two-night stay at a luxurious cabana resort. Dinner will be at our resort - delicious local Caribbean fare with many seafood choices.

Thursday
This morning we’ll saddle up for a marvelous horse ride!  It’s a thrill to ride along the beach and marvel at the crashing surf and stunning views. We cross a couple of small rivers and the trail meanders in and out of the jungle and we often see sloths and monkeys.  We’ll lunch at a small soda (restaurant) in Puerto Veijo and the rest of the afternoon is free – to shop in town or relax back at our resort.  We are adjacent to the white sand of Playa Cocles and the resort is centered around a luxurious pool and the ever-present fabulous tropical garden.  Your hardwood bungalow has a hammock with your name on it!  If relaxing this afternoon is a challenge for you can visit a sloth sanctuary, enjoy a canopy trip or visit an indigenous Indian reserve. We’ll dine at a seafood restaurant in a nearby town.

Friday                               
This morning we’ll transfer to the port at Moen and board a boat for a three-hour cruise north along the canals of Tortuguero National Park.  Our guide will stop along the way to view crocodiles, monkeys, sloths, otters and flamingos. We’ll lunch at our resort inside the park and relax in the pool.  Caimans and Jesus Christ lizards can often be seen in the nearby smaller channels. Later we’ll boat across the canal to the beach side and walk to the nearby ocean to see the baby turtles hatching and racing for the sea.  It’s fascinating and heart wrenching to watch their struggle in this up-close version of Mother Nature in action.  Tonight we’ll celebrate our journey through Costa Rica with a farewell dinner at our lodge. You’ll sleep soundly despite the eerie sounds of the howler monkeys in the surrounding rainforest.

Saturday      
An early breakfast is available to us before boating across the canal to the small Tortuguero airstrip.  Our flight back to San Jose assures fabulous views of the park and beautiful countryside outside San Jose.  Upon arrival at a regional airport we transfer to the best zoo in the country.  It has the largest bird collection in Central America and is also a wildlife rehabilitation center.  Macaws fly free and we’ll see the famous Resplendent Quetzal.  We’ll also see the hard-to-see Costa Rican mammals like the peccary and puma. Transfer to the international airport at 11am where the trip ends.  Check in for our flights to the US - departure tax is $26.

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