Do you know the way to Arenal?

January 2, 2012 7:48 AM

Can you recommend any specific tour operators in Guanacaste, Costa Rica?

Hi all,

Will be going to Costa Rica in February (!!!!). We're staying at the RIU Guanacaste. We know this is a somewhat isolated location, but we would like to plan 1 or 2 day trips into the interior. Destinations could include: Arenal, Monteverde, Palo Verde, Rincon de la Vieja, etc., etc. (And yes, we do know that a day trip to either Arenal or Monteverde from our location borders on the absurd; we're up for the absurd in this case because it seems that "not having enough time to do it well" is far outweighed by "when will we ever be in this country again?")

Okay, so the question is whether you can recommend any specific tour operators in the area who (ideally) pick us up at our hotel. I know that we can book a million things once there, but I've read that in some cases it's better to book ahead/forego the hotel options. (Advice on this general strategy is welcome.) I've read the other Costa Rica questions, but can't find many recommendations for specific tour companies.

I've read this thread about our hotel, and this Freddy Montero seems pretty popular! I wonder, however, if these recommendations are purely spontaneous outpourings of love for Freddy Montero or whether they are, um, "self-interested" posts on the part of Freddy Montero.

Any advice or suggestions welcome! Thanks!

posted by Mrs. Rattery to Travel & Transportation around Costa Rica (3 answers total)

Your desire to see some of the interior (e.g. Arenal) is not absurd and can/should be done. Costa Rica isn't a very large country and can be traversed by air easily. Contact Nature Air's travel agency. We did our entire trip to Costa Rica using them and flew four times on their little turboprop planes and it was cheap and painless and they did everything. They arranged hotels, air-ground transport, excellent tour packages, and were prompt and courteous and EFL-speaking via email. Our agent was Leanne.
posted by juniperesque at 8:00 AM on January 2, 2012

I just got back from Costa Rica a couple days ago. We visited Chilamate, Arenal, and Quepos. We only had one day in Arenal, and we did one tour from there - we used this company http://www.puretrek.com/ to go canyoning. The tour itself was AWESOME but they were somewhat disorganized, so I recommend the trip, but with reservations.

If you're interested in the activities we did elsewhere, please let me know!
posted by insectosaurus at 8:08 AM on January 2, 2012

We used Desafio Adventure Company in Arenal last year (they are also in Monteverde and Guanacaste apparently ). I think they were a little expensive compared to the competition but they were very well organized and are really well rated on tripadvisor.

We actually kind of winged it on all of our tours in Costa Rica and booked them day-of or one day in advance. All the touristy towns have a kajillion tour operators and booking through your hotel might not be the best deal (the hotels get kickbacks for booking you).
posted by ghharr at 8:54 AM on January 2, 2012