Costa Rica Family Vacations

Despite our family-of-6 booking late for peak spring break week, Holden and Kimkim organized a very memorable first visit to Costa Rica. Our itinerary showed Holden's impressive local knowledge and experience, balancing destinations suiting our wishes for a beach with a walkable town, together with forest, nature and family hiking, with minimal transport connections.
The whole family loved the amazing ancient rainforest with waterfalls, hot springs, volcanoes etc, and wildlife such as monkeys, sloths and parrots. The hotels, tours and guides exceeded all our expectations, and our transportation was all on-time.
Our first time with Kimkim, it proved a great way to enjoy a new, more exotic destination without limiting ourselves to a large resort.

We had such a great trip with Serendipity Adventures. We were well taken care of by Elena and Wilman.

The drive from the airport to our first hotel in Monteverde was wonderfully relaxing as Fernando from RideCR took us to the Cloud Forest Lodge.

Cloud Forest Lodge was everything we could have hoped for in Monteverde accommodations. Nestled in the Cloud Forest the grounds were beautiful. The room was large and clean. I loved the bed and especially the pillows!

We had a fantastic Bird Watching hike in the Curi-Cancha Reserve with Andy from Forest Alive. Andy was so knowledgeable and we got so much out of it. Andy stopped at a local bird watching site early in the morning to point out all of the early riser birds. Then we had a great stop at the Monteverde Coffee Center, where we treated to the Costa Rican method of brewing coffee called Vandola. It is an elaborate method and the coffee was superb. After a rest we proceeded to the Curi-Cancha. I like the Curi-Cancha reserve because it is quieter than the Monteverde Cloud Forest and while different many of the sam birds are at both places.

In the afternoon, we had a Coffee & Chocolate Tour at the Don Juan Monteverde center. The tour was great and very informative. Chocolate and Coffee as well as Sugar Cane were demonstrated with the process for each. These are such important commodities for Costa Rica, that I think you can't really go to Costa Rica without such a tour.

The next day had us up bright and early for another bird watching tour in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. We got to see the Resplendent Quetzal as well as a lot of other birds on our hike.

After an afternoon nap, we were ready for a night walk in the Children's Cloud Forest. We did not see as much as I would have liked, but you can't predict what may be out after dark.

Sadly, it was time to leave Monteverde and travel to La Fortuna. We had a private transfer over the mountain and down to Arenal Lake for a ride across the lake to La Fortuna. Glad we were not driving! The drivers do such a good job of navigating narrow and difficult roads. Loved the boat ride. Our boat captain found a Howler monkey on the way, very exciting.

We arrived at our lodging the Arenal Hotsprings Resport and Spa. It is an amazing place with beautiful grounds. Our suite was perfect. The beds comfortable and the pillows good (not as good as the Cloud Forest Lodge, but I would not complain about them.) We had a great view of the Arenal Volcano from our room.

The next day again started early with Mariano from Serendipity Adventures. We did an early morning hike at the Arenal Volcano and then a hike at Hanging Bridges before visiting the La Fortuna Waterfall. It was an amazing day. We saw so much and Mariano was just a wonderful guide.

The next day we did a canal tour of the Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge with Canoa Aventura. Our guide, Joda (I think that's right, we called him Jo), did a great job showing us what the Rio Frio had to offer as far as wildlife. Would not have missed this tour for anything.

The next day we transferred to Tortuguero with a private driver. It turned out that Mariano was our driver for the day. He was so much fun and we had a very pleasant trip to the "boat dock" for the boat that would take us to Tortuguero.

The river crossing is a little difficult in March as Costa Rica has not had much rain by then and the river is down making the boat captain really earn his pay to successfully navigate the shallow waters. But Ronny handled the trip superbly. Our hotel, Manatus Hotel, provided the boat, the driver, and our guide for the trip Lilly. It was a great introduction to Tortuguero.

I can't say enough wonderful things about Tortuguero. I just love floating down the canals looking for birds, monkeys, lizards, caman, crocodiles and anything else we run across. It is so beautiful and so peaceful. I don't think I would ever get tired of it. We did early morning canal trips and afternoon canal trips looking for beautiful birds and amazing wildlife. Our guides, Ronny, Bony and Lilly were all so great.

Well all good things come to an end and it was time for the trip back to San Jose for the journey home. The Hotel Manatus provided transportation back to San Jose in a comfortable bus. It was a good trip with our guide providing fascinating information about banana production and information about Costa Rica.

We spent the night in the Hilton Garden Inn, at La Sabana. After our amazing trip, this was a good hotel to relax in before our flight the next morning.

We had a private transfer with Fernando again of RideCR. Can't say enough about have private transfers in Costa Rica. You can drive, but I have seen the roads and the other drivers and just do not think it is a good idea.

We totally loved our trip and can't wait to do it again.

Activity Reviews

Private: Half-day Birdwatching Hike in Curi-Cancha Reserve

Monteverde

Our guide Andy, made this a very special trip. He was so fun and easy to be with. He really knows his birds and helped us find and identify many that we would not have seen without him. I do like the Curi-Cancha Reserve. It is so beautiful with lots of opportunities for seeing special birds.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve Guided Hike

Monteverde

Monteverde Cloud Forest is just awesome. You can do the walk without a guide, but you get so much more out of it, if you have one.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Tortuguero Village Visit

Tortuguero

Great little walk around the village. You do not realize how close you are to the Carabean Sea until you walk through the village. A nice fruit milkshake just hit the spot on a hot day.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Coffee & Chocolate Tour

Costa Rica

This was fun and informative tour. Chocolate and coffee are so important to the history and economics of Costa Rica. It was great to learn about the growing and the processes for making coffee and chocolate. Definitely glad I did this tour.

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Night Walk in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Monteverde

The history of how the Children's Cloud Forest was created is amazing. European children were moved to conduct bake sales and other fund raisers to help preserve what is now known as the Children's Cloud Forest in honor of their efforts.

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Guided Boat Excursion Through the Tortuguero Canals

Tortuguero

Love, love, love touring through the Toruguero Canals. You see something different all of the time. Our guides were great: Ronny, Bony and Lilly did an excellent job!

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Hanging Bridges, La Fortuna Waterfall, and Arenal Volcano

Arenal/La Fortuna

Awesome tour with Mariano! He was just great. So informative. He had a great sense of humor and was just so fun!

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Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Guided Boat Excursion Through the Tortuguero Canals -Private

Tortuguero

I told you I can't say enough good things about Tortuguero and cruising around the canals looking for wildlife.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Boating in Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge

Arenal/La Fortuna

This was a fantastic tour. You just see so much more from the vantage point of being on the water. Great tour!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Bryan and Nancy did a great job managing the trip. Their local partner Serendipity Adventures and our local rep Wilman were fantastic. Checking in every day with helpful tips, summaries, suggestions and just making sure everything was going well. I would 100% recommend and would definitely use again.

Hotel Reviews

Baldi Hot Springs Resort, Hotel & Spa

Fortuna

My kids loved the water park. Food was ok but everything else was great.

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cloud Forest Lodge

Monteverde

hilltop location was great. food in the restaurant was outstanding.

Authenticity & Character

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Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Río Balsa Whitewater Rafting Adventure

Arenal/La Fortuna

We had a great time and the rafting was better than expected.

Quality of Experience

Food

provided a fruit snack which was good.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arenal Volcano & 1968 Reserve Hike

Arenal/La Fortuna

Hike was nice but a little short. would have liked to hike longer. maybe took an hour or slightly more.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Night Excursion in Rainforest and Wild Frog Sanctuary

Arenal/La Fortuna

It was good, but there were a lot of people there with us. saw some cool frogs other things but not a lot else. it was worth doing.

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Coffee, Chocolate & Sugar Cane Experience (English Tour)

Monteverde

Great experience. i would highly recommend. Got to see chocolate making, sugar cane and coffee all on the same trip. Well done and our guide was great.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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All Day Adventure at Selvatura, including Zipline, Hanging Bridges, and Fauna Exhibitions

Costa Rica

This was a highlight. great experience overall. Probably the best zip lining i've done anywhere. Really a high quality experience. I would strongly recommend.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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