Natural Wonders of Costa Rica Vacation: Exotic Wildlife & Pristine Nature

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!

Our trip to Costa Rica was wonderful in large part due to the excellent planning and follow-through by this travel company.  Their representatives helped us create a very personalized itinerary, were always responsive to our needs and accessible even after we arrived.  On the trip itself, our drivers were on time, knowledgeable and friendly.  We learned so much from them about the people of Costa Rica and their love and respect for their amazing country. We stopped along our routes and were treated to sites of mountains, waterways and animals we might have missed. We found a tree full of macaws and crocs under a bridge for us to see. What wonderful photo shoots! 

Although we had some spots in mind, our travel company set up the tours in each area and arranged for the hotels as we traveled from San Jose to Tortuguero to Arenal to Monteverde to Manuel Antonio to Dominical.  It all went so smoothly, and we loved being in so many different environments. In Tortuguero we stayed at a lovely lodge (What a setting!), toured the canals and saw the Green Turtles nesting. From there we went to Arenal, stayed at a beautiful hilltop villa (great staff, food and views), visited the national park and the hot springs, and then on to Monteverde with a 20 degree drop in temperature  (best  Frutti de Mar EVER in the hotel restaurant), then on to a fun time at the hotel in Manuel Antonio - monkeys galore plus time to relax and enjoy one of the many pools (Yummy mojitos too!). Last, but certainly not least, we traveled to Dominical, the absolutely perfect way to end our visit to Costa Rica. We canot say enough about the natural and most beautiful design of the stone and wood lodges overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the amazing gourmet food and most of all about the remarkable staff and the feeling of friendliness, peace and well-being they conveyed to us throughout our too-brief stay. Add in a visit to the Boruca Indigenous People and the enduring pride of our hosts and others, in their culture, art and spritiuality and you have a perfect finale to an amazing trip.  Thank you to our agent and others at at this company. We will be in touch for our trip back!

This travel agency did an excellent job planning the vacation of lifetime for my family.  I was traveling with my husband and our 14 and 12 year old children.  We visited the Arenal Volcano area and stayed at an upscale hotel where we were comfortable in two adjoining rooms.  It had natural hot springs, lovely onsite dining options, swimming pools, and truly first class rooms.  While in Arenal we went on the Hanging Bridges Tour through the rainforest.  We had a private guide through Eco Terra.  They picked us up from our hotel right on time and did a great job on the tour.  We also did a river float tour on the Penas Blancas River.  Our guide for this tour was fabulous and pointed out every single animal advertised in the brochure.  We especially loved the coffee stop at a 100 year old farm along the river.  We also went a night hike searching for different species of frogs and insects.  It was at a local family's home and garden.  Our driver drove us from Arenal to Manuel Antonio for the second half of our trip.  Along the way we stopped for a horseback ride to a waterfall.  My kids loved this adventure.  The drive from Arenal to Manuel Antonio, with the stop, took all day.  We were thrilled to arrive at our amazing hotel in Manuel Antonio.  Here we had a suite, with two bathrooms.  It was an ideal set-up for my family.  We especially loved our private balcony with a hot tub.  The beach at the hotel is unbelievable.  The water was at least 90 degrees.  The lounges and towel service and restaurant on the beach were all just perfect.  Onsite we saw multiple sloths, white faced monkeys, squirrel monkeys, many iguanas, and the most amazing crab migration that only happens once a year.  We toured Manuel Antonio National Park with a guide , we went on a zip line tour, and went on a sunset snorkel catamaran.  Our travel agency arranged all of our tours, provided us with exact times for pick ups at our hotel, and provided us with vouchers for all of these activities.  Our driver picked us up on our final morning to drive us back to San Jose for our return trip to the US.  Everything was so easy for us.  We had the perfect balance every day of activity and leisure.  Our biggest concern was that the land travel around Costa Rica takes especially long.  Keep in mind that it can take 3-4 hours to go 100 miles.

We could not have asked for a better experience with Zicasso's travel agency. From start to finish, they did not disappoint. Our travel agent listened, made excellent suggestions, answered all of my questions, and was available once we were in Costa Rica if we needed them. We had an overview of the accommodations and tours we selected, but had no idea just how excellent everything would be.

From the drivers to the tour guides to the tours themselves, we could not have been more pleased. The drivers and guides were friendly, knowledgeable, and so proud of their country.

We experienced nature at night through a walk in the jungle, followed by a traditional Costa Rican dinner with a lovely family in a beautiful setting; the rainforest during the day, complete with hanging bridges through the treetops (the views were amazing); a coffee/chocolate plantation with a very entertaining guide; and warm mineral waters at the base of a volcano that left us relaxed and refreshed. The adult beverages were a nice touch, as was the buffet afterward. The food was delicious.

The hotel near Arenal Volcano had spectacular views and the accommodations and amenities were perfect. Our balcony overlooking the tropical gardens and the volcano couldn’t have been more beautiful.

Moving from the jungle to the beach provided us with a wonderful drive through the mountains, where we really could experience Costa Rican life.

The villa at Manuel Antonio was the ultimate in luxury, complete with its own pool/jacuzzi, spectacular views of the Pacific, and a Mother Nature experience like no other. The macaws, toucans, and monkeys (especially the howler monkeys) did not disappoint. We experienced a nature walk on the property with our guide, walked the beach, enjoyed the help and suggestions of the private concierge, and could not have been more pleased with this experience.

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. 

The trip was wonderful and the company was great. They planned the trip we wanted and the itinerary was excellent.  Overall, the guides and drivers were friendly, knowledgeable and courteous.  Their warmth in welcoming us to their country, let us know from the beginning we were in great hands. The had us in mind from hotels to activities to excellent food recommendations.  We stayed at El Faro Beach Hotel near Manuel Antonio and Los Lagos Hotel by Arenal volcano. Both hotels were within our budget, we really received the best treatment wherever we went on this trip. I can't wait to plan my next trip with this travel company!