Beware of Some Overnight Nature Tours
By Eric Robinson
I have lived in Costa Rica for eleven years, and have owned two hotels in the process. I have helped thousands of people get the most out of their vacation. Part of your Costa Rican experience should take place before you arrive. There are several excellent books in your library or bookstore to about this unique little country. Feel your excitement grow as you and your family or travel companions learn what is available within Costa Rica (not just the beaches) and make plans to customize your vacation suited you your needs and wants.
You can move around to experience Costa Rica in several ways, depending upon energy level, time allotment and budget.
The cheapest and most environmentally friendly is as a backpacker or a traveller using public transportation. Almost all successful tourist destinations had their earliest beginnings with backpackers. As the tourists arrive, and drive up prices, the backpackers search out new desinations.
As a tourist there are convenient hotel to hotel private buses to and from anywhere in Costa Rica. From most hotels there are some excellent same-day tours, but generally speaking, the original best quality tours are nearest to the Central Valley, such as the Pacuare and Reventazon Rivers whitewater rafting, the massive Poas Volcano, and explosive Arenal Volcano is relatively close, Waterfall Garden Park, breathtaking Orosi Valley, the amazing butterfly farms, the informative coffee tours, and the largest canopy zip-line tour on the planet. As years went on, beach hotels on both coasts added their own mini-versions of same day tours, but they tend to be weaker in quality and professionalism.
Another way to experience Costa Rica is to rent a vehicle and use a good guide book and map. If time is your major limiting factor, I suggest part of your vacation be done this way. Stop to take pictures of the amazing landscape, or eat Tico-style in some out of the way places, and relax by a waterfall or beach, when and where you want, search out locations you would like to spend the night, practise your Spanish a bit, and generally, armed with some cash and a credit card, create your own Costa Rican adventure.
Another not so expensive alternative for those who just want to stay in one deep exotic place that is difficult to drive to (especially in the rainy season) and kick back for your whole vacation, are the two domestic airlines leaving San Jose daily. Places like Drake Bay’s Delfin Amor Ecolodge offer some great tours both on land and in the sea. From whale and dolphin watching, swimming with the sharks, and night tours through the rainforest with a flashlight, Delfin Amor is a great place to see nature in its most natural form. Also, because Tortuguero has no roads, flying is one of two ways to reach it, the other is a bus then canal boat combo.
But the purpose of this blog is to make everyone aware of some of the overnight tours, that wack you on the additional cost of accommodations and meals. I feel these unexciting, programmed, very expensive all-inclusive travel packages offered by most on-line tour agencies take complete advantage of your lack of knowledge of Costa Rica. The tours involve travelling around in an artificial bubble bus through the most touristy places with your nose pressed against the tour bus window, and a bi-lingual guide trying to respond to your questions with patented answers. You don’t come close to experiencing the real smells, feel, sights and culture of the Ticos, or this beautiful country. Your meals are included, and therefore your selection is limited to what they want to serve you. If you have limited strength or mobility challenged, and really need someone to look after you through your vacation, or you just don’t have the adventurous spirit and wherewithall to make your own plans, and money is no major object, then perhaps you would consider using one of these overpriced tour companies.
For example, one such company is presently offering a ’special’ package that you can take which includes one night’s rustic accommodations. First the tour takes you to INBiopark, an interesting little twenty acre nature-education center right in San Jose, like you couldn’t find it on your own with a taxi! Then it includes a mindless ride on the aerial tram through the rainforest where they pretend you are going to see all sorts of wildlife in the canopy. All wildlife was scared away years ago during the construction phase, and the constant noise of tourists straining their necks in frustration to see anything move. My sons and I took the aerial tram once and saw a six inch snake that didn’t move in an hour, maybe it was rubber, and a couple of grey birds flying overhead. Then you are shuttled to Centro Neotrópico SarapiquíS, a built-for-tourism museum complex that says they do all sorts of rainforest research, and you spend a quiet night. The next day after their scrambled eggs, rice and beans and rubbery bacon buffet breakfast, they drive you to the Waterfall Garden Park where you go through an interesting butterfly enclosure, a hummingbird station, a mock Costa Rican village and nature museum, and climb down a spectacular series of waterfalls. If you are unable to walk, you are out of luck. The last place you go is Poas Volcano, where you peer into the expansive volcano. Often the volcano is clouded over in the afternoon by the time you arrive, so you can’t see a thing. For this one-night package you pay $387 per person double occupancy, or $774 per couple! If you are a single it will run you $433! And these are the low season rates!
On the other hand, the Highlights 4 in 1 Tropical Rainforest tour that we sell from Adventure Inn does the same thing only better, and you do it all in one day. Both a brunch and early supper are included, though admittedly, the meals are no better than the above tour. First, you climb the ornamental flower and coffee laden interior mountains in the glow of the morning sun to arrive at Poas Volcano when you have the best chance to see right to the bottom of the volcano crater before the afternoon clouds move in. Then you go to the Waterfall Garden Park as mentioned above, same same, then down through the villages and farmland of sugarcane, pineapples, bananas, tropical fruits and oil palms. You arrive in the northern village of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui where a wonderful covered boat ride takes you for a couple of hours along the winding Sarapiqui River where you will see several species of monkeys, iguanas, sloths, cayman and crocodiles, and all sorts of amazing birds, all in the wild, not in cages like the above mentioned tour. Last you climb over a mile in your tour bus through Braulio Carillo National Park (by-passing the over-rated, boring aerial tram), and return to Adventure Inn for supper. Total cost is $82 per person, $61.50 per child, quite a difference. Add the cost of a nights accommodation at Adventure Inn, say $70, and in total, you spend about a third of what this tour company charges you, for a better tour.
Another example is the overnight Pacuare Whitewater Rafting tour that costs $269 to $289 per person. You go down the same stretch of the Pacuare River as the same day tour that costs $95, except they take two days to do it. Rustic cabin or tent accommodations are provided, and a dinner and a couple of walks through the jungle for the extra $348 or $388 you pay double occupancy. These is just two examples, but many tours are the same, believe me. Save your money and take a real jungle experience where you are guaranteed to see lots of wildlife, a gigantic volvano crater, and a waterfall garden park, like on the Highlights 4 in 1 Tour, or go canopy zip-lining the second day and save considerable money. A better option is the overnight whitewater rafting tour that we sell for $250 per person that includes running the full Reventazon River the first day, overnight hotel in Turrialba with pool, meals, and TV, then run the full Pacuare River the second day. I want you to enjoy the wonders of Costa Rica, but not get ripped off while doing it. I also recommend the over-night Tortuguero tours and the overnight Arenal Volcano/Monteverde combo tour as neither of these can be properly done in one day. We have a large selection of same day and overnight tours (that you don’t get ripped off on) at http://www.adventure-inn.com/tours
I could list the worst tour companies but there are dozens that charge away too much for what you get, and in particular on many of the guided overnight tours. Our goal at Adventure Inn is to offer you the best tours available at the most reasonable prices. All of the tour companies we recommend work hard for their money, we guarantee it.
July 26th, 2008 at 4:18 am
Thanks for useful tour information in Costa Rica.