We absolutely loved La Fortuna and Monteverd...

Costa Rica | Jun 18 - Jun 24, 2023

We absolutely loved La Fortuna and Monteverde. We especially likes the tour guides with Desafio Tour company in La Fortuna. They were always on time, professional, very personable, friendly, accommodating, safety conscious, and best of all knowledgeable about the flora and fauna and really caring about the environment and climate change. Some of the awesome tour guides from Desafio were Samantha, Arturo, Ronnie, Hosea, and so many others. Loved the lunches, too. We extremely loved all the hikes, water fall, and canyoning!
The hotel was great, with a good breakfast, and convenient to all the restaurants and amenities in town. They were also very accommodating by creating a boxed breakfast for us because we had an early excursion one day.
We also loved Monteverde and and the beautiful country lodge. We has an awesome night hike with our knowledgeable guide, Brandon, who tried his best to find night life in the pouring rain. We loved the 2 mile jungle hike by a river. We felt like we really in deep rain forest. The El Trapiche Tour was awesome and beautiful. It was so much fun to taste all the stuff. I can't remember our guide's name but she was wonderful, knowledgeable, talked about how they try their best fairly pay and treat seasonal migrant workers, and the environment. She was also made the tour interesting and fun to listen to! We also were really impressed by our zip liners, Mauricio or Marco ?and his partner (forgot his name), who were very safe, patient, professional, helpful, and fun. We wished we would have brought more cash with us to buy the pictures. We were a bit disappointed That we didn't have enough cash to purchase any. Oh well, next time. Pura Vida!
Overall, the whole trip was well planned, organized, perfect to our liking ! Our drivers were also awesome and brought us to the perfect places to eat breakfast or lunch with good food and a place to walk, stretch, view the scenery, or shop around. Our drivers were all very professional ans excellent and safe drivers, but for some reason i can't remember all their names, except for our driver from La Fortuna to Monteverde, Rolando. I think the first driver from San Jose to La Fortuna was Mauricio ? Anyway, they were all wonderful! We had a memorable trip of a lifetime ! Thank you so much!
Warm regards,
Emelyn and Bob Judge

Hotel Reviews

La Fortuna Downtown Boutique Hotel

La Fortuna San Carlos

We really enjoyed that there was breakfast every morning. They also made a box breakfast for us one morning since we had an early excursion. The pool was nice and cool to go to after a long day. We had a nice view of the park, church, and side view of the Arenal Volcano. The place was a bit noisy at night but very convenient and walking distance to restaurants, and cafes. We really enjoyed our stay there. The staff were very accommodating and helpful.

Authenticity & Character

Yes! A lot of character and nice lobby star with local arts and crafts.

Location

Great place to be if you want to be in downtown. Very convenient and walking distanceto restaurants, church, post office, pretty park with fountain, and stores.

Staff

I can't remember their names but the two ladies were helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bed was comfortable. Nice window view. Bathroom needed a bit updating or remodeling. But still useful and the housekeepers did a great job keeping our room and the hotel clean and tidy.

Monteverde Country Lodge

Monteverde

Love the location and environmentally beautiful place, land scaping, and great breakfast every morning. Very accommodating and friendly staff. The housekeeping people were great!

Authenticity & Character

The Place blends in well with the environment. Beautiful and peaceful and relaxing to be in.

Location

Love the location and environmentally beautiful place, land scaping, and great breakfast every morning.

Staff

Very friendly, professional, caring and accommodating.

Cleanliness & Comfort

The room was great, with a nice window and porch, and view! The bed was comfortable and bathroom very nice. Great housekeepers !

Activity Reviews

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve Guided Hike

Monteverde

Loved this hike! Carlos, our tour guide for the Monteverde Cloud Forest , was excellent, knowledgeable, and very interesting to listen to, and cared about climate change! I recommend this to everyone! You will learn a lot!

Quality of Experience

I also like the souvenir shop that supports the cloud forest and indigenous people.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hanging Bridges, La Fortuna Waterfall & Arenal Volcano Hike

Arenal/La Fortuna

Loved our guide, Samantha! So knowledgeable, environmentally aware of climate change, and wild life viewing land really watched out for all of us. Loved that we were able to view sloths, and other flora and fauna. Love the beautiful Volcano hike, wished we could have hiked more. Also, the falls was very refreshing and just the right amount of time. Really enjoyed the snacks of fresh fruits and authentic lunch!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Coffee, Chocolate and Sugar Cane Experience

Monteverde

Awesome and informative tour about Costa Rican coffee, chocolate, and sugar. Excellent knowledgeable and interesting guide. Beautiful farm, plantation, and views. Great info on Sustainable and ethical practices.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport