Family-Friendly Costa Rica Eco Tour: Living in the Jungle

Our 10-day adventure to Costa Rica in April was amazing. We spent time in La Fortuna, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio. Each area offered so much to do and see, and we took advantage of every minute.

We did a number of tours: hanging bridges in Arenal, a sloth hike, canyoning/rafting, a night walk with Costa Rican dinner, a coffee and chocolate tour, hike in the cloud forest, zipline, catamaran sailing, and a private guided tour in Manuel Antonio National Park. We had private drivers taking us from each location.

Zicasso’s travel company was very attentive to all our requests and put together a great itinerary. Having them to correspond with through WhatsApp during our trip was wonderful. I would highly recommend them for your trip planning. Thank you to the staff who were always there when needed. They are a five-star travel agency.

I cannot say enough good things about the team at Zicasso’s travel partner. It's not just that they arranged an amazing Costa Rican adventure for me and my family, but it's the service they provided that really made everything so seamless.

The amazing service began during the planning stages, when the team worked with us to build a travel itinerary that fit our timing and budget (not easy, given it was the Christmas holiday season and we got a late start in planning). Based on our interests, they provided a menu of options in each region of the country. When we had questions about excursions, they were quick to respond and happy to provide recommendations based on their intimate knowledge of the activities and providers. In the week leading up to the trip, they provided a detailed itinerary, as well as instructions on what to expect when we landed in San Jose.

The incredible service continued once we were on the ground in Costa Rica. Our travel agent and his daughter met us at the airport with a welcome gift of local chocolates. He introduced our driver and went over the itinerary with us. We exchanged WhatsApp information and he encouraged me to text/call at any time with any questions, issues, or feedback.

From the airport, we made our way to Manuel Antonio, with a stop for lunch and fresh fruit. We checked into the hotel and a lovely room with panoramic views of the ocean and a magnificent sunset. It was my birthday, and the travel team arranged for a lovely fresh fruit tray to be sent to the room, as well as restaurant reservations that evening.

After three days in Manuel Antonio, we were driven to La Fortuna/Arenal (a long drive) and checked into a large resort with excellent facilities and incredibly responsive service (we called to ask for a roll-away bed, and within two minutes three people showed up with the bed and sheets). While we were in Arenal, we messaged the travel team with questions about potential changes to the itinerary (including changing the time of a couple of activities, as well as adding an activity), and they responded within minutes, making all the changes!

After three days in La Fortuna/Arenal, we headed to Monteverde for a couple of days at a resort, a lovely property in a great location. We enjoyed a couple of days in Monteverde before heading back to San Jose for our flight back to the States. On the drive back, our travel agent called to thank us for entrusting our trip to them, but I had to stop him, as it was really us who needed to thank him for making the trip so enjoyable (and so seamless)!

My adult son and I had a fantastic time in Costa Rica with the travel company. It began with our travel agent in Boston. I explained to him the type of trip I wanted and he was able to come up with a 12 day itinerary for us. He sent us a detailed description of what we were to experience and he was able to accommodate some extra things that I wanted to do. Two days before the trip, I was sent an app so I could check my daily schedule on my phone. When we arrived at the airport in Costa Rica, someone was waiting for us and took us directly through our hotel. The entire trip felt very well scheduled. We went with a group of people to Tortuguero for three days and had a fantastic experience. All tours and food were included there. From there on, we had a private driver and he was very knowledgeable and flexible throughout our trip. We loved having a private driver. We then went to the Arenal Volcano area and had a wonderful time. The hotel was fantastic with an amazing view of the volcano from our room. We enjoyed this hotel! Every guest had a private casita and the grounds were quite beautiful. From then we traveled to Monteverde and had an exciting time in Selvatura which is a nature park with suspension bridges and ziplining. From there, we went to the Pacific coast and visited Manual Antonio National Park. We saw tons of animals and at the end of the tour, we went to one of the beaches in the park. From there we went ATV riding, catamaran, night hikes, etc.... Our contact was very welcoming to us and she was always available by phone if I had any questions. This is a great tour company and they took care of us very well.  I would love to go again!

We had a wonderful time in Costa Rica and spent our time in La Fortuna and Manuel Antonio.

We were welcomed at the airport by a driver and tour guide, and transferred to La Paz, where we had a great tour of the gardens, waterfall, and wonderful wildlife (including sloths), then continued our drive to the resort near La Fortuna. The hotel was beautiful, with magnificent rooms, volcano views, and a spectacular, expansive buffet each morning with an omelet station, fresh fruits, and an extended selection of local, delicious foods, including a smoothie station. The hotel staff were friendly and provided great service. On the first night, we ate at a restaurant at the hotel which had a limited menu for our family.

We had a wonderful guide on day two who brought us to the Arenal rainforest, with hanging bridges, an aerial tramway, and a zipline which was beyond a spectacular, adventurous experience that we will not forget. We enjoyed the hotel’s thermal pools and excellent dinner in La Fortuna (varied menu and open to substitutions).

On day three, we had another day of adventure on the Balsa River for whitewater rafting. Our family of six had a spectacular guide who kept us exhilarated and safe! It was a blast and perhaps the best family activity! We enjoyed dinner at a restaurant in La Fortuna (good food, but pricey).

We had another great guide for our hike in the Arenal Volcano National Park on our fourth day and dinner at a local place with a very limited atmosphere, but a spectacular meal brought out on grills to continue the cooking of steak, chicken, shrimp, and fresh fish, with delicious sauces on the side. It was plentiful, wonderfully displayed, and delicious.

Day five was supposed to be a five-hour transfer to Manuel Antonio to include a crocodile encounter and lunch. Due to the Easter holiday week, it took 10 hours, but our driver was kind and patient, and we enjoyed our time together. We learned a good deal of Spanish on the way. We arrived where rainforest and beach meet at the hotel. The hotel was beautiful, but rustic, overlooking the water, and we had dinner. The staff were all great and helpful, getting our luggage handled at 5am and transportation as needed for restaurants.

On day six, we enjoyed the morning at the adult pool. There were monkeys all around us in the canopies and trees. It was exciting to watch and take photos! We had lunch at the hotel and then the guide picked us up on time and took us for a fun adventure on Damas Island: an estuary and mangrove kayaking tour. We enjoyed the dinner provided with the kayak tour, then had a late-night BBQ at the hotel!

Day seven was action-packed, with a transfer and spectacular, passionate tour guide for our outing to Manual Antonio National Park. We had lunch at the hotel and then another very exciting ATV adventure! We had a fabulous dinner at a café with a beautiful atmosphere.

On our last day, we were transferred very early to the airport and said goodbye to an amazing, adventurous family vacation.

We want to thank Zicasso’s travel agents for all their help in planning this vacation. They were patient, attentive, and accommodating of our relentless changes to the plans and restaurants. They were with us all the way from planning to arrival, and always available for any questions or guidance. All the plans were executed seamlessly and on time, with quality recommendations and team support. Thank you for all the great moments and memories!

I would highly recommend booking your Costa Rica vacation with this travel company for a stress-free holiday.  We used Zicasso before for a Peruvian trip last year and we were very pleased with the US agent (we are Canadian) who linked us up with the Peru tour company for our trip.  This time, this company and one other Costa Rican agent quickly got back to us with great itineraries.  In the end, we ended up going with this company, eventhough they were slightly more expensive (might not have been an apples to apples comparison- it was difficult to assess) because we were impressed that they called us in Canada very soon after writing us back.  We also noticed other traveller good reviews and we would agree!   One of the owners, President and CEO, met us at the airport at 1:30am when we arrived, along with the driver and another lady from the agency.  That was reassuring in a new country!  We had also accidentally overpaid our trip and the owner had our money in cash, as they had promised!  They presented us with a day-by-day itinerary, which they had also sent us by email a few days prior.  Everything was very organized and they gave us a nice little welcome gift!

We were travelling with our 14 year old daughter and we all really enjoyed the trip.  Each day of our 10 day trip we did one activity, which typically lasted 1 1/2hours to half a day- which was perfect!  We did quite a few hike/walking tours, sea kayaking, catamaran, zip lining, and a coffee/sugar cane/chocolate tour.  We travelled the 3 main areas, spending a few days at each, Arenal (the volcano), Monteverde (cloud forest) and Manuel Antonio park area (Pacific ocean and beach).  I would recommend all three areas if you can fit them in.  Our best experience of the trip was a night walk in Monteverde, where we saw 3 moving sloths (we were quite lucky with this many sightings!), viper snake, sleeping parrots, leaf cutter ants, scorpion and other local creatures.  So great and exciting- would highly recommend!  The hotel we stayed at in Manuel Antonio was fantastic - high-end but totally worth it with gorgeous pools, monkey trial on premises, monkeys and a sloth (some people we ran into on excursions hadn't see ANY sloths whereas we had our own at the hotel!) and access to a private beach.