Costa Rica Tours, Ltd.

COSTA RICA VARIETY TOUR
January 17-23, 2011

Combine with Panama with Canal Transit Tour

 Contact Us for a Private Tour on Dates of Your Choice

Tour Highlights:

• Small group size (average 15 passengers) makes possible the best nature experience 
• Full-time Costa Rican Naturalist Guide and U.S. Tour Escort
• Tour Espiritu Santo Coffee Farm
• Nature walk at El Silencio Cloud Forest
• Guided nature walk at Arenal Hanging Bridges
•  Tabacon Hot Springs & Spa in Arenal
• Optional activities: canopy/zipline, horseback tour to La Fortuna waterfall & spa treatments
• Las Pumas Refuge in Guanacaste           
• Two nights at a first-class Pacific beach resort in Tamarindo
• Optional activities: Guided mangrove tour by boat through Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge, fishing, golf, & surfing lessons
• Evening Turtle Nesting Tour (if National Park is open)
• Craft shopping and demonstration at Guaitil pottery village and Sarchi, Costa Rica's "crafts capital"

Daily Itinerary:

Day 1: You arrive in the San Jose airport and are transferred to your hotel, a short drive away.  Enjoy the magnificent hotel garden, considered one of the best in Costa Rica. Later join the group for a welcome cocktail, orientation session, and dinner.

Day 2:  Your day begins with a transfer 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.  

Day 3: Free Morning or you may choose to begin your day with an optional activity such as: the canopy/zipline line tour where you transverse the canopy of the rainforest by zipline from platform to platform; or, you can take an optional Horseback Riding Tour to La Fortuna Waterfalls; or enjoy spa treatments.  After lunch you join your naturalist guide on a rainforest hike at Arenal Hanging Bridges. You will cross the rainforest on trails and suspension bridges. The late afternoon/evening is spent enjoying the thermal waters and dinner at Tabacon Hot Springs, a virtual garden of Eden where you may be able to catch the sight of the lava coming down from Arenal Volcano.

Day 4: Today you will transfer to your beach resort on the Pacific Ocean. On the way we stop at Las Pumas Refuge where they care for orphaned or injured jaguars, pumas, ocelots, monkeys and birds. 

Day 5:  Today is your free day to relax and enjoy your beautiful Pacific beach resort or join in optional activities such as a guided nature tour by boat through the Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge, where you will see a variety of waterfowl, birds, crocodiles and perhaps howler monkeys. Other activities include fishing, surfing lessons, or golf at the nearby championship 18-hole course designed by Robert Trent Jones, II. We will have an exciting evening on our Turtle Nesting tour If Las Baulas National Park is open (determined by the number of arriving turtles the previous week).

Day 6: On your return to San Jose, you will stop in Guaitil, where the artisans will demonstrate how they make their distinctive pottery, just like their Chorotega ancestors made 1,000 years ago. You will also visit Sarchi, the crafts capital of Costa Rica where you can buy painted ox carts (the national symbol of CR) in all sizes and leather rocking chairs. They can be packed to take on the plane with you! On our last evening we will enjoy a gourmet meal as our farewell dinner at our beautiful art lodge outside San Jose.

Day 7: You are transferred to the San Jose airport for your departure and return home. COMMENTS FROM OUR COSTA RICA VARIETY TOUR PASSENGERS

"You took the best of everything from Costa Rica. It really was a great experience and I'm glad I went.  Thanks again for all you did to make it a great experience." Linda R. (IL)  

"We had a wonderful time on your Costa Rica tour. The itinerary was full and enjoyable. The staff and guides were fantastic. From the Rainforests to the craft shops they shared with us the beauty and wonder of that magnificent country. Still, I think one of our favorite activities was relaxing at the end of the day in a steamy mountain spa or in one of the gorgeous hotels by a volcano or beach.  Thanks for a fantastic week." John and Marcy Q, (NC)

Cost for Land Tour:  $1895 per person in double occupancy ($2335 in single occupancy).  Price includes 6 nights in best-quality hotels in each location, 12 meals, two airport transfers and airport baggage handling, ground transportation by air-conditioned motor coach, all activities in the itinerary, a full-time Costa Rican naturalist guide, driver, and U.S. Tour Escort.