Serendipity Adventures

Again, working with KimKim was a fun and rewarding experience. Planning the trip went well as great help was provided in selecting hotels and an itinerary. The hotels we stayed in were beautiful with excellent service and beautiful unique environments. We planned a number of day trips. In each case, the guides were friendly, knowledgeable and excellent. This includes a river trip, nature walk and snorkeling trip. Each guide was great, making each trip fun and memorable. We also received daily interactions with KimKim overseeing that everything went well.

Hotel Reviews

Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs

Fortuna

We had a room with an unobstructed view of the volcano. Very cool. Everyone we interacted with was very friendly and knowledgeable. Food was good.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to restaurants and events.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

W Costa Rica - Reserva Conchal

Guanacaste

Cool hotel. Great vibe. Areas for adults only. Great view of bay. Relaxing room geared for a fun time. Food was very good

Authenticity & Character

Location

Somewhat of a pain driving in and out of the area. But close to treat restaurants and beaches.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Coffee & Chocolate Tour

Costa Rica

Very informative and fun. Better than I expected. Great guide. Funny and energetic.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guanacaste Snorkel Adventure

Costa Rica

Great guides. Very focused on our comfort and safety.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Safari Float on the Peñas Blancas River

Arenal/La Fortuna

Fun morning floating down river. Nice snacks. Great guide. Amazon big how they can Find animals and birds

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Nature Walk at Ecological Park & Butterfly Garden Danaus

Arenal/La Fortuna

Very interesting. Great knowledgeable guide

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We are so greatful to have had the help of Holden, Wilman and Nancy from Serendipity Adventures in planning our dream trip to Costa Rica. From the start of planning our trip, to the last day of our trip, the Serendipity team were amazing communicators and facilitators of our adventures. From keeping us organized to anticipating any potential problems (there were none), we are so greateful to have had their help.

Hotel Reviews

Pacuare Lodge

Pacuare

One of the most fun and beautiful loding experiences of our lives. The activites and the rafting adventure were amazing.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Belmar

Monteverde

Great location with amazing food and views!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Grano de Oro Hotel

San José

Great location to kick off our trip in CR. Food and staff were amazing!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Nayara Tented Camp

Fortuna

One of the must stunning and well-amenitied properties I have stayed at in my life.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Andaz Costa Rica Resort at Peninsula Papagayo – A concept by Hyatt

Guanacaste

Beautiful location with incredible service and views of Papagayo!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Private: Arenal Volcano Hike & La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

This was the least "authentic" activity we had the entire trip and I would not recommend spending over half a day on these canned excursions.

Quality of Experience

Food

food at the local Soda was decent, but felt forced having to spend more time with our guide.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

guide was not our favoriate. just a bad vibe/fit

Transport

The best idea I had was letting Serendipity plan my first trip to this beautiful country of Costa Rica. We just told the team we wanted an off-the-beaten track nature trip with hiking, animals and beaches. And boy did they deliver!! Whether it was a coffee tour, the kayak trip down the forested stream watching birds, chasing quetzals or spotting sloths and iguanas, we were in the best place and in the most gorgeous places, thanks to Serendipity. I fully recommend them!!

Activity Review

Kayak Adventure & Rainforest Hike in Punta Uva

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca

Amazing trip in the most beautiful place with the best guide: Ricardo was Fantastic and such a naturalist!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

All of our drivers were amazing. Thank you Cristian, Alex, Mario, and Jorge for driving us safely around Costa Rica and telling us all about your beautiful country. The highlight was the night hike at Sukia Park with Juan and the guided hike through Manuel Antonio with Sosio.

Hotel Review

Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs

Fortuna

The food was tremendous and the people so friendly. The ground and pools were amazing!

Authenticity & Character

The hot springs, food, and great service.

Location

Beautiful hot springs

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Lookout Tram, Ziplines, & Hanging Bridges Combination Adventure

Arenal/La Fortuna

Guides, Drivers and Staff

So friendly, safe drivers, and shared tons of info about the country.

Transport

This is my second trip through KIMKIM and everything ran perfectly. Not one snag in the whole week we spent in Costa Rica. Big shout out to Serendipity Adventures for handling everything locally. Our guides Alex and Mauricio were friendly, knowledgeable and fantastic company. We even managed to do everything we planned in between the many rain drops.

From beginning to end, the team at KIMKIM was on top of every question and worked with me to make whatever changes we needed to. I highly recommend working with them. I know I will again wherever I wander around the world.

Activity Reviews

Morning Sailing and Snorkeling Adventure

Costa Rica

Wonderful day sail to a secluded beach. The Captain and his crew were fun and friendly. The other guests were lovely and it was a relaxing day at sea.

Quality of Experience

Only lost a star due to weather. The rains and churned up the seas and the snorkeling was not good. No one's fault, except mother nature.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunset Cruise with Wine & Cheese on Lake Arenal

Arenal/La Fortuna

Even though the weather was very threatening, we had a wonderful time. We had the whole boat to ourselves and our guide even serenaded us. He had a beautiful voice. And luckily, the rains didn't begin until we stepped off the boat.

Quality of Experience

Lost one star due to weather - not the service.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

This was another amazing trip with the kimkim team! They use the most professional local guides and drivers and made everything effortless for us. All of our planned activities were exactly what we were looking for and the hotels were exceptional. We will only use kimkim for our international travel because of the customization to what we want and quality of everyone involved!

Aft 87 years of age I experienced my goal of zip lining. It was wonderful and the guides exceptional. When we were unable to visit Manuel Antonio Park due to weather agents at Serendipity were quickly able to Schedual a wonderful cooking class.

Hotel Reviews

Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs

Fortuna

A beautiful relaxing casita. With total privacy. Wonder accommodations, hot springs and buffet.

Authenticity & Character

Tucked inside the jungle as one would expect in Costa Rica.

Location

Convenient to many activities.

Staff

Responsiveness to requests and always upbeat and friendly.

Cleanliness & Comfort

La Mariposa Hotel

Manuel Antonio

Hotel appeared a bit tired and could use slime upgrading.

Location

Activity Reviews

Sunset Sailing Cruise on the Brisa Elegante

Manuel Antonio

Nice to be able to have this final relaxing event.

Quality of Experience

Food

Night Excursion in Rainforest and Wild Frog Sanctuary

Arenal/La Fortuna

Very authentic and informative. Saw much nightlife I would not have seen on my own.

Sky Tram, Ziplines & Sky Walk Adventure

Arenal/La Fortuna

In my life bucket list. Done at 87 years of age.

The KimKim team helped make planning our Costa Rica honeymoon amazing! We gave them our budget and what all we wanted to do and they made it happen! It was so easy and so nice to have every detail planned out for you. It was so helpful to have a point of contact during our trip as well. Will be using KimKim for all our trips from here on out!

Our driver Alex, from Serendipity was fantastic. His knowledge of culture, the land, and food was vast. His personality was an ease and delight to be around.
Our hotel in Arenal/La Fortuna, Hotel Arenal Kioro was gorgeous. The view from your bed is a beautiful volcano.
The food and hospitality, exceptional.
Our excursions from Serendipity were so much fun with truly knowledgeable guides. Zip lining, national park tours, a nite walk, visiting waterfalls, kayaking through the Mangroves, a boat ride crossing a lake, who could ask for more.
The weather was rainy but the people who we encountered were all sunny and bright. I can't forget to mention the animals we were able to get up close and personal with. ( sloths, white faced monkeys, spider monkeys, Howler monkeys, tucans, other birds( we saw a rare sighting of the Resplendant Quetzal, thanks to our guide Andy ), snakes, and so many more.
We visited Arenal/La fortuna, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio. I believe we encompassed all the fun and beautiful zones in Costa Rica, thanks to Kim Kim's recommendations.
Thank you Kim Kim and Serendipity for a lifetime of beautiful memories.

Hotel Review

Hotel Arenal Kioro Suites & Spa

Fortuna

Beautiful Hotel. From your bed you have a view of the volcano. Hospitality and food are exceptional. Outdoor natural hot spring, not as hot as I thought they would be but still beautiful and relaxing.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Each room has a view of the volcano

Staff

So nice and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

housekeeping did an amazing job

Activity Reviews

Lookout Tram, Ziplines, & Hanging Bridges Combination Adventure

Arenal/La Fortuna

Guides made the experience fun and exciting.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Coffee & Chocolate Tour

Costa Rica

We had so much fun learning about coffee and chocolate. Your guide takes you from picking a cocoa bean, roasting, grinding, adding vanilla and cane sugar, to eating. Coffee tour very informative.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cloud Forest Reserve Privately Guided Hike

Monteverde

our guide Andy was so knowledgeable !!! From animals to plants, what an experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Alex is an amazing driver! Long rides went fast due to his knowledge and experiences in life. Some other things need improvement though.

Accommodations were very good except at the Lapas Jungle Lodge. While the atmosphere was great, the rooms and meals were below average. Room had a hot water issue, hot tub was not hot and only 1 of 7 jets worked, ongoing construction, and staff morale seemed low. I would not use this hotel until the new ownership has finished refurbish.

Most excursions were awesome, but the descriptions could be better. Even their websites are pretty vague. The night walk was great but our guide was not engaging and seemed impatient. Same with the ATV guide. While nice people, it felt like they were just going through the motions.

The 2nd half of our itinerary was lacking in accurate (or at all) descriptions. We made it work, but wanted to bring it up for future guests.

Finally, Bryan's attention to detail needs improvement. He miscommunicated several times on, what I thought, were some pretty easy tasks. I'm sure it's a fast paced job, but this was the down season.

Overall we loved our trip but would not book through Serendipity again.

Hotel Reviews

Volcano Lodge, Hotel & Thermal Experience

San Carlos, Alajuela

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Villa Lapas Rainforest Eco-Resort

Tárcoles

They are in the middle of new ownership and they need to finish their construction before I would recommend. The grounds are great though!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Celeste Mountain Lodge

Bijagua

This is more like a B&B, but that is what's charming about it. Very clean and well maintained. The food is great, and an excellent value! We ate all but one of our meals there.

Authenticity & Character

Very relaxing atmosphere

Location

Don't miss out on their private hiking path, it was the highlight of our trip!

Staff

The staff seemed like family and all did a wonderful job.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Super clean and orderly. Quiet and relaxing, I recommend a fan if you are not used to an open air room without A/C, we did just fine with a 10" fan on the days without a breeze. And we slept really well enjoying the night sounds.

Activity Reviews

Safari Float on the Peñas Blancas River

Arenal/La Fortuna

Nice float and our raft guide was excellent.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arenal ATV Adventure

Arenal/La Fortuna

It was fun and we'd do it again with a different trail(s). We could have done without the "back 40" mud drive, it was not very big and not that interesting. Once in the mountains, the views were amazing, but not much of a chance to enjoy (eg slow down, pull over, etc. It was more about the ride than the scenery.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Staff was great, especially the young lady at reception, our guide was nice but could have been more attentive.

Transport

Driver was fun and engaging, in fact he was the one who noticed my phone/rain issue...well done!

Tapir Valley Nature Reserve Night Walk

Bijagua / Rio Celeste

Fantastic experience, the nature reserve has well maintained paths and structures.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide seemed overly focused on moving rather than enjoying. Not all tourists want to run at night, in a hot climate, to maybe see an animal. Many of us just want to be out there soaking up the atmosphere. Perhaps ask your group what they value.

Transport

Serendipity manager fumbled the transport. Many thanks to our hotel hosts for finding a alternate driver quickly. But this set off a chain reaction where our tour guide seemed annoyed and in a rush.

River Tubing, Río Celeste

Bijagua / Rio Celeste

Great guide, very patient and upbeat.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Fun guys, went out of their way to give extra time and effort. Well done, gentlemen!

Jungle Crocodile Safari

Costa Rica

We can't review because our Serendipity manager was not very attentive, he seemed disengaged and not too effective at his job.