www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Any suggestions on one day sightseeing trips? I am looking into Canopy Tours but need information for a couple of other day trips. A trip which will pick you up at the hotel at 8 am and return by 4 pm. I am reserving my night hours for other activities.

Thanks

Herb,

If you're looking for a bit more of a workout, I did a fantastic 1-day river rafting trip with Coast to Coast Adventures for $95. URL is:

http://www.ctocadventures.com/justafewdays.html

Picked me up in San Jose at 5:45am, then about a 2-hour drive out to the Pejibaye river, with breakfast on the way. The river had plenty of action, and the sightseeing was absolutely breathtaking. Had a nice lunch afterwards, and then back into town by 5pm - just in time for a nice "recovery" session at Oasis.

Thanks GetRhythm,

Sounds great to me. I will be in CR from 3/21 - 3/25. I can do the Canopy Tour on Tuesday (day 2) and the River Rafting on day 3. I really don't want to come all the way to CR and just see the Gultch. Yeah I will be passing up some time at the MP, but that really doesn't matter. It still leaves my evenings free. My intentions are not to set a marathon record, just relax and enjoy myself. Possibly on day 4 I will go to Mercado Central? and a few places just browsing and doing a little shopping. Finish up with a wild tour of the MPs and day 5 is a 8am flight out.

Thanks again,,,,,,,,,,

Herbf,
There are all kind of day trips available in San Jose from volcanoes, butterfly farms, coffee plantations, white water rafting, bungee jumping, zip lines to who knows. Check with the tour desk at your hotel. whatever you are seeking it most likely available.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Should I wait until I arrive or try to book online in advance?

Herbf wrote:


Wait to you arrive. Before you book any day tours attend happy hour at the BM, grab some chicken parmigiana at Costa Del Sol for diner, go back to the BM for awhile then check out Key Largo, next day if you still want to go see the butterfly farm then book it

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Actually Ding Dong a butterfly farm does not interest me. I would enjoy the Canopy Tour and some White Water Rafting. Actually I also love to go deep sea fishing. I honestly do not intend to spend 24/7 chasing p*ussy. I have heard it is a beautiful country and I would love to see some of it.

I still have great memories of visiting Plato's Retreat some 20 years ago, so I don't think I will see anything in CR that I have not seen or done before. The only difference I expect will be the abundance and the relatively cheap prices.

BTW what is a butterfly farm. Have you been there?

Actually have been to the butterfly farm it is a short trip from the gulch near Alejuela. I enjoyed the experience. Give it a try.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Don't knock the butterfly farm. It actually is quite interesting. You can also book it as a pretty decent package tour mixed with a visit to Cafe Britt's coffee farm.

Besides the Canopy Tours and Raft Trips, the day trip that seems to be the most popular (and rightly so in my experience) is the 4-in-1 day tour, which includes Poas Volcano, a Coffee Farm, La Paz Waterfall Park and Sarapiqui Boat Trip. It will probably get back a little later than your ideal, (6-ish) but is especially good for those like yourself who are in CR for just a short time as it covers a lot of the basics.

I don't see the Mercado Central as a "day-trip". It is somewhat interesting but nowhere near as colorful as central markets in other countries. And if shopping is your thing, keep in mind that CR isn't really known for native crafts (very few indigenous peoples). For gifts, I usually just load up on coffee, which if time is short can be picked upat the airport on the way out and which always seems to go over very well with friends and family. Incidentally, there is another pretty good crafts/souvenir market right near the National Museum which would probably make a better destination if you want to spend a day in SJ sightseeing.

I disagree with DD on one point. You can certainly wait to arrive to book most of your trips but if you plan to get in fairly late in the day I'd at least book your day trip for day 2 ahead of time. Since you already know at least 1 or 2 of the trips you want to take, why not get booking it out the way now so you don't have to bother with it your first night. You're probably going to want to hit the ground running. Why worry about taking care of things if you don't have to? After you've broken your CR cherry, and gotten that out of the way, you can book trips at your leisure, or if you change your mind leave a day or two open for time just whoring around. Personally, I'm like you and put a heavy emphasis on non-gulch stuff.

I wasn't knocking the butterfly farm. I have searched the net and either I missed it or it just didn't show up. I have only been reading here a few weeks and the way you guys seem to like to bust balls I thought you were trying one me.

I do thank everyone for their advice. Not only this post, but several others I posted and the enormous amount of info I received from just reading prior posts.

This will be my first trip to CR. The information I have learned so far would be the same as spending 2 days in CR gathering up information. The $39 membership was money well spent. You could buy a cien worth of travel books and not get half the information. Sorry for using the word cien. Rule #1 is no cien, I did not mean to violate that rule LOL.

Thanks again to everyone,

Hope to see someone at the BM Happy Hour 3/21-3/25.