Costa Rica Family Vacations

We had an absolutely amazing trip to Costa Rica. Holden was great from the start and listened to all of our desires and built us a dream trip. This was my second trip with KimKim and I would highly recommend them. They are an outstanding travel partner and saved me so much time in researching, booking and confirming our adventures! I will use them again for future adventures. Thank You, Holden. I appreciate all your hard work and organization.

The only part of this trip I didn't like was not being in Costa Rica longer! What a beautiful country and the wildlife lives up to all the hype without question!
Randall was extremely helpful and responsive in planning this trip for us and all of our guides were fantastic, especially Alan at Manuel Antonio. Our accomodations were beautiful and we saw just about all the animals we had hoped to, including 2 momma sloths with their babies- talk about cuteness overload! Besides the animals, the landscape is epic and Baldi hot springs was hands down the most incredible facility of that type I imagine there is in the world! Definitely will be returning and hopefully will have even more time for my next trip. Big thanks to all our drivers, guides and to Randall for the wonderful experience! Pura vida 😊

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Arenal Montechiari

La Fortuna

This hotel was absolutely beautiful! The landscaping and all the birds and sloths on the property were so incredibly captivating and the food for breakfast was delicious as well. Highly recommend staying here 100%

Authenticity & Character

Adorable wood cabins with some of the most beautiful tropical landscaping on the grounds I have ever seen!

Location

Walking distance to the town plaza yet removed enough to be able to see a ton of wildlife all around the grounds of the property

Staff

Very kind and personable

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Costa Verde

Manuel Antonio

This facility is very large with many different parts to it. It was perfectly inlaid in to the jungle and seeing all the converted planes was surreal feeling. We also wound up seeing just as much if not more wildlife on the property than we did at any of the parks we visited, which was amazing! The food was great, rooms were clean and beds were comfy. The views from the pool and restaurants can't be beat either- definitely a great place to stay!

Authenticity & Character

I mean, all the converted planes... If that doesn't scream unique/character I don't know what does!

Location

Very close to Manuel Antonio park with stunning views and tons of wildlife everywhere you look

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hiking Waterfalls & River Swimming in La Fortuna

Arenal/La Fortuna

This was the rainiest day of our trip so the waterfall was a little chilly BUT so worth it! Not only was it extremely beautiful but our guide was amazing at pointing out things the entire time (I was so impressed he even saw some things like the toucans in a tree on the drive there when he suddenly told the driver to pull over).

Quality of Experience

It was about as much activity as you could possibly ask for in a relatively short excursion and every bit of it was enjoyable!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Both our driver and guide were very kind and our guide was very knowledgeable and fantastic at spotting and pointing things out to us from the moment we met him until the moment we parted ways.

Transport

Relatively short drive with no issues and a kind, safe driver.

Arenal Volcano Hike & Baldi Hot Springs & Dinner

Arenal/La Fortuna

I absolutely loved this experience and it was quite the full day! The volcano was beautiful and the hot springs were absolutely epic!!

Quality of Experience

The nature of Costa Rica alone makes any experience like this amazing but add on friendly, knowledgeable guides and good, safe drives = perfection!

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very kind and amazing qt providing information and pointing things out to us.

Transport

Our driver was very nice and I felt comfortable and safe

Manuel Antonio National Park Guided Hike

Manuel Antonio

I loved our experience in the park! The park is incredibly beautiful with a wide range of different views/animals/flora & fauna. Our guide was not only kind and knowledgeable but also had a great sense of humor + tried his best to give us space from other groups so that we could see more wildlife. The only feedback/suggestion I have (which may really be the park's policy so I'm not sure if anything can be done) is that it seems silly and not ideal having all of the guided group tours arriving at the same time i the morning as it makes a big line to get in and then it is harder to experience the park without being surrounded by a large crowd (though again, kudos to our guide Alan for doing his best in mitigating this for us).

Quality of Experience

The animals and location are unbeatable

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our drive was not very long and our guide was very nice, funny and not only pointed things out we never would have seen on our own but also was a great advocate for the wildlife (he had to scold some people that were getting too close to some animals and intimidating them)

Transport

Manuel Antonio - Jungle Night Walk

Manuel Antonio

This was a small group and we saw quite a variety of animals in a relatively short time span. It was really neat as we all took turns finding then sharing with the others in our group the animals we discovered.

Quality of Experience

It was awesome seeing the different animals in the night time jungle!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide was very good and showed us a lot of things we would not have seen without him.

Transport

We fell in love with Costa Rica after joining a G Adventures tour in 2024. We wanted to return, but wanted to visit different areas, with the focus on wildlife, birds and experiencing the forests/jungles/wetlands/national parks. We did not want 5*, all inclusive or private travel where shared travel options were available.
Olman understood our requirements and crafted a wonderful 2 week itinerary for us, and we enjoyed every second of every day - wishing we had arranged a longer visit as our time to depart arrived all too soon.
Our pick up at the airport was perfect, and our overnight accommodation at the Park Inn Hotel was comfortable. Shared transport to Tortuguero was fine, and we thoroughly enjoyed our 2 nights at Pachira Lodge, including the wonderful early morning boat tour. (We would not have wanted to stay in Anhinga lodge, the sister to Pachira). The buffet breakfasts, lunch and dinner were all very tasty with plenty of choices. Lunches at El Ceibo were fine.
The transfer to Sarapiqui Rainforest Lodge was very comfortable, in shared transport (often we were the only 2 passengers when using shared transport). The Lodge was particularly beautiful with a very picturesque 'wild' pool. The location was perfect for our trip to La Selva Biological Station and, of all our drivers and transport, the lady who collected and drove us was absolutely wonderful. She was full of knowledge, information and very charming and so kind and helpful, she was the best, I am just sorry that I don't recall her name. La Selva is a fascinating place - we barely scratched the surface of all there is is to see and do there. Whilst staying at The Sarapiquis Rainforest Lodge we were able to walk to 'Dave and Dave's' to watch birdlife very close up in a perfect natural setting. Highlights included the hundreds of hummingbirds feeding on Heliconia flowers, within feet of us. Dave Jnr, the host is a fountain of knowledge and no more than 6 people can visit at a time (pre-booking essential) so a very individual experience. We would definitely revisit this place. We were also able to walk to the Tirimbina Biological reserve and enjoy a night frog hike which was another amazing experience, seeing night birds and so many frogs with our knowledgeable guide. We loved how accessible Sarapiquis Rainforest Lodge was to all these experiences - perfect for us.
Our transport to Hotel Lavas Tacotal in La Fortuna was excellent and we were blessed with good views of Arenal. Our stay here was fine - as we were out most of the time. Our day trip to Rio Celeste and Tenorio Volcano National Park was fabulous. En route we stopped to rescue a sloth that was trying to cross the busy highway - our guide picked it up and carried it to safety, placing it on a tree on the other side of the road. We ended up with a bonus visit to a chocolate/coffee farm and a sloth farm where we came across a tapir. We also came across 3 eyelash pit vipers - our guide was able to share the importance of safe distance.
The drive to Natural Canon Negro Lodge was private transport, and very comfortable. The lodge itself is in a lovely location and we ended up doing a second boat trip in the afternoon to a different section of the wetlands - what a treat. We would love to return to explore more of the wetlands at Cano Negro, as the map indicates the wetlands cover a very large area.
Our trip to Rincon, again private, took longer as the more direct road was impassable and we were advised to go via La Fortuna, making it a long drive. Buena Vista Lodge was excellent, and again the location of our room with unspoilt views over the valley was perfect. There were many trails we could walk ourselves and we thoroughly enjoyed with hot springs. Again birds, wildlife, sunrises and sunsets could not be beaten. The buffet breakfasts were excellent.
Our drive to Tamarindo was on time, and comfortable, as was the hotel. The Wyndham Hotel had wonderful sunrise and sunset views with a regular shuttle bus to and from town, though we discovered a dusty track through the dry forest down to town where we could enjoy the amazing bird life, monkeys and even a Grey Fox. We enjoyed a roof top meal in Tamorindo as the sun went down and another on the beach where we were treated to a fire show. The Sunset catamaran tour was great, though snorkelling was curtailed by our guide due to an excess of jelly fish in the sea at that time - however we enjoyed spectacular views of a jumping hump back whale and calf, on both the sail out and return. Quite unbelievable.
We were glad to have had an extra day in Tamarindo, and could have had 3 nights in all our locations (except La Fortuna)!
Our hotels were excellent and all transport was comfortable and reliable (one of our unfounded worries!).
The flight down from Tamarindo to San Jose was perfect, and an interesting experience.

Thank you Olman, we are already planning a return visit in March 2026!!