Panama with Canal Transit Tour
January 2011
(6D/5N)
Panama is the
new “hot destination” for tourists, retirees and investors. Do
you know you can transit the Panama Canal without having to take
a ten-day cruise? You will take a full, ocean-to-ocean transit
(8 hours) on a 280-passenger
ship. You will also cross the Isthmus on the historic Panama
Canal Railway viewing the canal and rainforests along the way. On your Panama City Tour,
you visit the ruins of Old Panama; the gold altar of the
San Jose Church in colonial Casco Viejo; Miraflores Locks &
Visitor Center in the former U.S. Canal Zone, and enjoy a
typical dinner and folk dance show. On the January tour you can
choose a day tour to an an Embera
Village along the banks of the Chagres River or a day tour of El
Valle de Anton. The Embera village is like a
scene from National Geographic as the villagers show you
their traditional dances, medicines from local plants and their
hand-made crafts. El Valle de Anton is a town in
a volcanic crater where you enjoy the Sunday crafts market, zoo
and rainforest. You can extend your Janaury or February tour with a stay at a
five-star resort on the Pacific Coast or in the rainforest.
Costa Rica
Variety Tour (7D/6N)
January 2011
Explore the
tropical beauty of Costa Rica and some of its most popular
attractions. You arrive in San Jose and
overnight at a hotel with one of the most beautiful gardens in
Costa Rica. Then, it's off to the Arenal Volcano area.
Along the way you will stop at the Espiritu Santo Coffee
farm for a tour and lunch. You will see every step of the
coffee production from planting through roasting to packaging.
After lunch we will stop at a typical town market in San Ramon
and end the afternoon at El Silencio de los Angeles cloud forest
where you will be introduced to the wonders of this unique
ecosystem. You end your day in Arenal, where you may view the
lava flow from Arenal Volcano. Relax at Tabacon Hot
Springs & Spa, take a walk over multiple suspension bridges in
the rainforest, and enjoy free time for optional spa treatments
or sport activities, such as horseback riding to La Fortuna
Waterfall or a canopy/zipline tour. On your transit to the
coast, you will visit Las Pumas Refuge where you will see
injured jaguars, monkeys and birds being cared for. Enjoy the beautiful beach of Tamarindo,
only feet from your hotel room, and your optional boat trip
through Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge. In Las Baulas National
Park you will have the awesome experience of witnessing the
nesting of the great leatherback turtles. On your transfer to San Jose, visit Guaytil where the villagers
make pottery like their Chorotega ancestors made 1000 years ago.
Also, you will have time to shop in Sarchi, the
crafts capital of Costa Rica. Your farewell dinner is a
gourmet treat at your art lodge near San Jose.
See
streaming videos
Panama with Canal Transit, Costa Rica
Variety, Tropical Cooking School & Tour, Student Adventure
and Costa Rica Garden Tours
These videos work best with Broadband access (DSL or
Cable). They are on the Photodex Corporation's website. You
will be asked to download the Photodex Presenter which takes
about 10 seconds. After the program loads, you
click on the Costa Rica or Panama icon to start
the show.
Costa Rica
Garden Tour
(8D/7N)
March 11-18, 2010
This unique tour is
specially designed for Master Gardeners and aficionados of
gardening, plants, flowers and nature. Our tour takes you at the best time of
year to the best garden locations during the peak blooming
season. You will see many of Costa Rica's 10,000 plants,
including 1,000 orchid varieties
at the Annual National Orchid Show in San Jose and at Lankester Gardens
in Cartago. In Turrialba, you will visit CATIE (Tropical
Agriculture Research & Education Center) to see their
renowned fruit tree collection. At your beautiful mountain
lodge in the evening, the owner will demonstrate how chocolate
is made from the seeds of the cacao fruit. At Tayutic Hacienda you
will see how coffee, sugar
cane, and macadamia nuts were processed in the traditional ways
from colonial times to recent years.
You will also see some of the most spectacular scenery in the
country. Next, you will travel to the Heredia Highlands
with a a stop at La Paz Waterfall & Gardens where you can
hike to five waterfalls, visit the largest Butterfly Observatory
in the world, and an aviary, hummingbird garden and reptile
exhibition. In Arenal you will enjoy Tabacon Hot Springs
and Arenal Hanging Bridges, and take optional spa treatments or
a Canopy/zipline sport tour. On your return to San Jose, you
will visit the topiary in Zarcero, the Else Kientzler Gardens, and shop in Sarchi, the crafts
capital of Costa Rica. Your last night will be at a
colonial-style villa outside of San Jose.
Costa
Rica Nature Tour: Southern Caribbean & Turrialba (7D/6N)
April 24- 30, 2010
While in Turrialba, your guide will lead a rainforest hike to
Guayabo National Monument,
Costa Rica’s foremost excavated indigenous village dating back 3,000 years. At
Tayutic Hacienda you will see how sugarcane, coffee and macadamia nuts are
processed using traditional and present-day methods. You visit the world-famous
fruit tree collection at CATIE (Center for Tropical Agricultural Research and
Higher Education) and enjoy bird watching at the lake with mist nets that are
used in their research projects. On the Southern Caribbean coast you will visit
Aviarios del Caribe, the only sloth refuge and rehabilitation center in the
world; and go on a leatherback turtle nesting tour and learn about the project to
protect the turtle eggs and re-establish a viable population of sea turtles.
There will be an opportunity to tour Cahuita National Park, best known
for the coral reefs close to shore. At Selva Bananito Eco-lodge, one of the top
10 eco-lodges worldwide, you have a guided nature walk through the rainforest and optional
activities such as canopy / zipline, introductory tree climbing, and horseback
riding. On your transfer back to San Jose you visit Costa Flores, once the
largest flower exporter in the world. On your last evening you will enjoy a
farewell dinner and folk dance show. You can continue
on our Panama with Canal & San Blas Islands Tour.
Panama
with Canal & San Blas Islands
(6D/5N)
Available on your dates!
See the highlights that
make Panama the new "hot destination." You will spend two nights
on the San Blas Islands where the Kuna Indians will show you
their authentic culture and beautiful mola textiles.
Relax on the pristine beaches and enjoy a once-of-a-lifetime
visit to paradise. Back on the mainland, you will have a history
tour of Panama City; a partial transit of the Panama Canal; and
a typical Panamanian dinner and folk dance show. Can be combined
with Costa Rica Nature Tour on April 18-24.
Black Heritage
Tour in Costa Rica (7D/6N)
August 27-September 2, 2010
Costa
Rica Tours, Ltd. is the only tour operator that offers a
black heritage tour in Costa Rica. Enjoy the annual Black
Culture Day celebration in Puerto Limon on the Caribbean coast.
We have arranged exclusively for our group a presentation on
Costa Rica's African-Caribbean history and the influence of
Marcus Garvey, the founder of UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement
Association); a dinner/party with local civic
organizations; and the group's participation in the annual UNIA
community breakfast and parade. During your two-night stay
in at a
mountain lodge near Turrialba, you have a guided hike in the
rainforest to the ruins of an indigenous civilization that dates
to 1,000 BC. You will also visit a coffee farm and enjoy
lunch and a hands-on tortilla-making demonstration at a
restaurant with some of the most beautiful
scenery in the country.
While on the Southern
Caribbean coast, you will visit the only Sloth Refuge in
the world, and have your Saturday evening on your own for
dinner, shopping and music clubs in Puerto Viejo, the hotspot in
this resort area. You will have time to enjoy the hotel
pool and snorkeling in the coral reefs of Cahuita National Park.
You can choose to take an optional Canopy / zipline tour through the rainforest. Your tour concludes in San Jose with shopping for crafts
to take home and a farewell dinner at a restaurant in El Pueblo Center.
YEAR-ROUND
PRIVATE TOURS
ON YOUR PREFERRED DATES
Tropical Cooking
School & Tour (6D/5N)
This is a private tour for students and alumni of
culinary schools. Students get acquainted with the Tropics, the Ticos (Costa
Ricans), and their Way of Life while they are immersed in the Costa
Rican way of cooking. They learn unique techniques and exciting traditional recipes
that have been passed on from generation to generation. In addition to the hands-on classes at Guayabo Lodge, off-site activities introduce students to the culture and
history of Costa Rica and traditional methods of crop cultivation
and processing. You will also visit archaeological ruins,
rainforests, a butterfliy exhibition and have the opportunuty to
cross the rainforest canopy on a zipline. If you are
not affiliated with a culinary school,
contact us about our Cooking
& Adventure Tour which offers a
flexible itinerary of tours and cooking lessons for culinary enthusiasts.
Sports Adventure in Costa Rica
(7D/6N)
Select Your Dates
Looking for an active vacation
that is both invigorating and relaxing at the same time? This
tour includes a visit to Poas Volcano or a Coffee Plantation, and a guided rainforest
hike to five waterfalls and a Butterfly Garden at La Paz in the Heredia Highlands.
You can choose two
sport activities (choice of mountain biking, white water
rafting, canopy/zipline, rappelling, and horseback riding) at
Hacienda Pozo Azul in Sarapiqui. You also visit Tabacon Hot Springs & Spa and
choose one sport or a guided hike on Arenal Hanging Bridges in Arenal. On your return to San Jose, you can shop
for crafts in Sarchi.
Northern
Pacific Triangle Tour
(7D/6N)
This is the most popular region for tourism in Costa
Rica: in Monteverde, hike in the
rainforest
and take a Canopy/Zipline Tour (optional) across the top of the cloud
forest; in Arenal, relax at a hot springs at the foot of Arenal Volcano and choose a
sport activity (Horseback Riding to La Fortuna Waterfall, Rapelling, Canopy/Zipline, or Arenal Hanging Bridges). In Tamarindo, enjoy the beach where you
may be able to catch the nesting of the giant leatherback
turtles (in December and January only) or take optional fishing, snorkeling,
scuba diving or surfing lessons. We sugest you arrange your
flights to arrive and depart Liberia (Guanacaste)
International Airport. Note: You can choose to reduce the locations to only
two and spend more time in each.
Southern Pacific
(7D/6N)
This more remote region
has long been a favorite for the European traveler. Begin the tour
with a stay at a mountain resort nestled in the Savegre Valley, one of the
best locations for trout fishing and viewing the elusive quetzal, known as the most beautiful bird
in the world. Continue on to the
southern Pacific coast where you can choose to stay at a luxury hotel or at an award-winning
eco-resort. You can take optional day trips to Corcovado National Park in the Osa Peninsula,
and to Caño Island, known for excellent scuba diving and snorkeling.
Southern
Caribbean & Turrialba (7D/6N)
This tour combines a three-night stay on the Southern
Caribbean coast, two nights in a mountain lodge near Turrialba,
and one night in San Jose prior to departure. Upon arrival in the
afternoon, you are transferred to Turrialba, about half-way between San Jose
and the Caribbean coast. In the Turrialba region, you will have a
guided walk in the rainforest of Guayabo National Monument (Costa Rica's most important
archaeological site) and tour a coffee farm. You have a choice of a White Water Rafting tour on the Pejibaye or Pacuare
Rivers or a visit to Veragua Rainforest Park. On the Southern
Caribbean coast, you tour Aviarios del Caribe Sloth Refuge
(the only one in the world) and have a canoeing trip on the Estrella River. At your
hotel, you enjoy its pool and the nearby ocean beach. You
can enjoy optional
activities such as a canopy/zipline through the rainforest of the
nearby Gandoca-Manzanillo Reserve, snorkeling and bicylcing. Puerti
Viejo is the
area's hot spot for shopping, restaurants and clubs.
Panama With Canal Transit (5D/4N)
You have a full (8 hours) or partial (4 hours) transit of the Panama Canal
depending on the dates you select for your tour. Your package
includes a Panama City History Tour, a typical dinner & folk dance show, and a choice
of one of three day trips: 1) visit an Embera Indian village along the banks of the Chagres River;
2) visit El Valle de Anton to see El Nispero Zoo and the crafts market;
3) a
visit Portobelo to see the colonial forts, museum and church. You can extend
your visit with a stay at the 5-star Gamboa Rainforest Resort or at a luxurious all-inclusive resort on the Pacific Ocean.
