www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I am coming to CR for the CRT 2nd anniversary party on Thursday Sept. 1st through Sept. 5th.

I will not be able to take a non gulch tour on Thursday as i get in the afternoon, but was wondering about friday, saturday, and possibly a half day tour on sunday before the feista of all feistas starts.

Based on your experience, which full day tours would you recommend for Friday and Saturday and possibly a half day tour on Sunday.

Is it worthwhile going on a coffee tour? My brother and I are thinking about going white river rafting one day and a trip of the rainforests and wildlife on another day trip?

Any responses or ideas would be greatly appreciated?

I am staying at the DR and was wondering if their travel desk is fair and sufficient to deal with?

See you all soon in dreamland.
JakeFla

The coffee tour to Britt is great and fun. Lunch is included.

They do it right. Book a morning tour if two are offered and you should be home mid afternoon.

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PacoLoco: "You pay for it one way or another."
Ace: "Rent everything, do not buy in Costa Rica"

The answer is yes to all your questions. The coffee tours, raft trips and rainforest/wildlife all make excellent trips and the DR travel desk does a good job helping you arrange them.

Here are a few other options you didn't mention.

1) The All-in-one or the 4-in-1 tour (its been called by various names) is a great option for someone in for just a quick trip for the first time. It covers Poas Volcano, a coffee farm, La Paz Waterfall Park (with its rainforest trails, hummingbird gallery and butterfly garden), Sarapiqui River boat trip and a late return through Braulio Carillo National Park. Warning, it is a fast paced and very long day.

2) Canopy tours are another highly popular option. Be forewarned though: they're really much more of an adrenaline rush than a real ecotour and the airtime itself only lasts for an hour or two.

3) A driving tour of the eastern valley is yet another good option which includes Irazu volcano and Cartago (half day) or adds Lankester Gardens and/or Orosi Valley for the full day version.

4) A lot of guys rave about the Tortuga Catamaran Tour which involves a drive down to the coast and a sail cruise out to an island in the gulf of Nicoya.

5) I've down a mountain bike tour (mostly downhill) includes an utterly thrilling flight down one of the volcanos, but its definitely not for the faint of heart.

This covers most of the better tours. There are others like the Butterfly Farm, Aerial Tram, City Tour (not recommended), Western Villages (Saarchi, Grecia, Alajuela) and I'm sure a few I've forgotten or failed to mention. And those are just the ones that are conveniently done from SJ. If you came back to CR later, there are even more to be taken that are further afield from SJ. Do a search on those listed above to find out more info.

Still hopelessly confused? Don't worry, you'll probably want to come back to CR and you can always see what ever you miss on later trips. That is part of the beauty of CR that it has so much repeat value. Going with your initial picks are probably the best way to go unless you opt for the all-in one which combines the coffee tour and wildlife allowing you to select one additional tour. All-in-1 Friday, Raft Saturday (or vice versa), and an easy half day Irazu/Cartago Sunday that gets you back in time for an afternoon MP and the evening Party sounds like the best recipe to me. If thats too busy, do Cafe Britt instead of the all-in-1, you'll get back early enough for a daytime session and will get wildlife during your raft trip and your volcano on Sunday.

another thing i would advise, is that you have to pay the day before for a tour, and if you party in the bar's,key largo till late and then back at the hotel with your lady,are you gonna enjoy riding in a bus at 7a.m.......so,plan your tour's and easy on the booze,you'll see nature at it's finest.....

I would suggest the 4 in 1 tour to anyone on their first trip.

For the price, you can't beat all the different areas you go through.

Breakfast and lunch are included.

After you do this tour, you might have a better idea of where you are and where you may want to go.

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Tunaman

I highly recommend a white water raft tour. I booked one thru the DR last year at this time with my son, and we loved it. Lots of excitement and beautiful scenery. We went on the Paquari (sp)

Dont forget the new 1/2 day ATV Tours.. I'll be checking it out of the Party weekend.
https://costaricaticas.com/news.php?id=206

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Thank you for supporting CRT!

I did the ATV tour and I will do it again, next time. Cynthya over at Paraiso Adventures, tells me they will be offereing trips through the mountains to Jaco, a 6 hour ride, stay the night in Jaco and return the next day. She says possiblly it will be up and running by summer (Dec, Jan).

Toadtamer

Good deal on the discount Admin1! Hope to take advantage of it if I can drag any amigos out of the gulch for a few hrs.

Toadtamer could you post a few more details? Did you go in the AM or PM, hotel pickup included etc...?

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Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

Thanks to everybody who posted their suggestions thus far. The La Paz park alone is worth a half day, and it's close enough to San Jose to be easily reached.

Another tour not yet mentioned, and this is one you will not be able to book through the HDR's travel desk is the Sexy Bitches Tour - I'm Too Sexy for these Clubs, which will happen on Saturday evening. Contact Ruffnutz for details.

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Pura Vulva! Wandering through the dark, I am El Ciego.

It was suggested to me to go AM. Cinthya (Tica), the owners wife, picked my bud (jailbird) and me up at the SL 10 minutes before scheduled time (7:30am). 40 minutes to the Mountain. ATV's are kept at a gas station. Since we were the only ones (need at least 2 to go) we stayed out till about 1pm. Soon as we get back it starts comming down in buckets.
The guide speaks broken english but is a cool dude. He carries sodas and a fresh fruit cup for everyone. He makes plenty of picture stops and encourages action shots of yourself while riding. You will get muddy.
2 steep, muddy inclines,we had to be towed up by the guides 4 wheeler.
We had Honda 2 wheel drive ATV's. This is definitely a do over tour when i come back!!

Toadtamer

Thanks for all the help! See you Thursday afternoon... I cannot believe its this close to actually becoming reality:)

I recently returned from CR. As one choice among many for a day trip, I'm plugging rafting on the Rio Pacuare.

Once on the raft, the Pacuare River was touted by one of our guides as one of the 5 most scenic rivers in the world. Having been there I have no reason to doubt him. River conditions vary based upon the previous day's rainfall, season, etc, but:

Waterfalls stream down into the river, where you are, throughout the 18 miles. Lot's of those bright metallic blue butterflies floating about. From your bus seat you also see some Pueblos (towns) on the bus trip to where you "put in," apparently yet unspoiled by too many gringo types like your's truly.

The rapids were closely spaced meaning minimal paddling between rapids.

The Aventuras Naturales guides were good--many of them reportedly also guide rafts on the American River in the Sierras above Sacramento, CA during our Summer, the low season in CR.

Have fun.

Ringo

Those guides get paid very little so tip them accordingly. But could you imagine being lucky enough to have a job like that where you could go rafting every day?

BTW, those were Morphos Butterflies.

yesterday i did the saripiqui canopy tour and got stuck half-way across due to braking too soon,heading to the first platform a "keystone cop moment" after that i never braked once and my imprint is in all the platform's this tour is good value,your picked up at around 9.30 a.m and back in sjo at 6p.m......lovely day,no rain a little hot/humid in peurto viejo saripiqui.......