1 Day Nature Tours

Carara Biological Reserve
Duration: 12 Hours
Location: Puntarenas
The OLD SPANISH ROUTE OF 16O6 that you will take from the Central Valley to the Pacific Ocean is one of the most scenic drives in all of Costa Rica. But the stunning geography and colorful agricultural landscape is just a percursor to the beauty you will find at the CARARA Biological Reserve. Covering nearly 47OO ha., located in a climatological zone of transition between North and South America, CARARA is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. Species of wildlife from both hemispheres overlap and are found here in abundance. The area's incredible variety of birds (Scarlet macaws, amazon parrots, parakeets, guans, toucans, ant birds, trogons, tinamous, hummingbirds, woodcreepers, flycatchers, tanagers, shorebirds and many species of birds of prey) make CARARA one of the best areas to birdwatch in Costa Rica. On your remarkably easy trek through this lush rain forest with a knowledgeable nature guide, you are also likely to see many types of monkeys, including capuchins, howlers, agoutis and coatimundis;as well as other animals such as peccaries and sloths. The strikingly beautiful blue morphos butterflies highlight the area's rich variety of insects. The diversity of plant life is also an asset that makes CARARA one of the most scientifically important areas in the world. Average old growth canopy is about 100 feet. Giant trees stand out beyond the top of the forest.
Two non-strenuous walks of about two hours explore the different areas of the forest and offer a very enjoyable way to become acquainted with this incredible area. A visit to the beach adds a refreshing finish to the day. Breakfast and lunch are included in this tour.

Braulio Carrillo National Park
Duration: 12 Hours
Location: Heredia.
One of the least explored regions in Central America, BRAULIO CARRILLO NATIONAL PARK offers more than 100,000 acres of densly forested plateaus with a lush lowland rain forest below. An abundance of beautiful waterfalls precipitate from the cliffs only to disappear again into the vast sea of vegetation. Preserved for years from Man's encroachment by rugged terrain and extremely rainy conditions, the park is now accessible through the recently built Guapiles highway. Braulio Carrillo is one of the most richly diverse areas in the world. The mammal, reptile, bird and plant life is a must see for nature lovers. Species of birds include the Snowcap, Crowned Woodnymph and Magnificent Hummingbird. Poison arrow frogs and passion flowers make their home here as well. Bromeliads, orchids, ferns, philodendrons, mosses and lichens grow in the trunks and branches of the many trees. This lush and diverse park offers a humbling and enjoyable visit to a quintessential Central American rain forest. The walk in this pristine forest takes about two and a half hours. A beautiful pool in a stream allows for a refreshing dip, so be sure to bring a swimsuit. This tour begins a 7:30 am and lunch is included.

Rain Forest Aerial Tram
Duration: 5 Hours
Location: Braulio Carrillo National Park.
The Rain Forest Aerial Tram is a unique ecotourism and research facility which opened in October of 1994. The Tram takes visitors on a fascinating excursion through the rain forest canopy and its hanging gardens of plants and animals hidden at the tops of tall tropical trees.
Home to two-thirds of all rain forest species, the rain forest canopy is a little-known world of tremendous beauty and extraordinary biological diversity. The site, adjacent to the northern border of Braulio Carrillo National Park, possesses one of the richest canopy communities in the world.

Tortuguero National Park
Duration: 12 Hours
Location: Tortuguero, Limón.
We'll initiate our trip very early morning, having breakfast on the way to our point of embarkation. Here we'll board the boats. designed especially to navigate through theTortuguero canals, where you will enjoy nature in every way, watching its rich flora and fauna in this region. Our boat journey has a duration of approximately 3 hours. We'll arrive to our lodge for lunch, having time later, to choose either to visit some of the wonderful natural attractions in the area, walk through our trail, or just relax yourself in a comfortable hammock, before we're ready to start our trip back to our point of embarkation where the bus will be waiting to take us back to San José.

The Resplendent Quetzal Tour
Duration: 12 Hours
Location: San Gerardo de Dota.
Just a 1 and 1/2 hour drive from San José, stands Costa Rica's tallest mountain range, The Talamanca. Within these mountains is San Gerardo De Dota, a long highland valley which the scientific community has recently discovered contains the most dense population of quetzals in the world. Sacred to the Mayans and Aztecs, the quetzal is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful birds in the world. Because the complete migratory range is contained within this valley, these magnificent birds can be seen here year round. In addition to the quetzal, San Gerardo's numerous other species of birds makes bird watching the focus of this tour. Much time is devoted to exploring the valley. The views from these mountains are breathtaking. For lunch we will have rainbow trout fresh from the high mountain streams. This tour leaves the Central Valley at 7:30 a. m. Breakfast and lunch are included.

The Highlights Tour
Duration: 12 Hours
Location: Central Valley.
On your Way to the Poás Volcano travel past country town, dairy farms and fern and flower plantation, stopping for a break at a private coffee farm, nestled in the heart of some of the most fertile farmlands in Central America.
On the cool summit of the Poás Volcano at 2,700 mts. walk through an exuberant primeval cloud forest, laden with epyphites, moss, giant leaves, tree ferns, elfin forests, hummingbirds and colorful blossom. After a short walk through the forest, witness one of the largest most spectacular active craters in the world with its awesome variety of colors, surrounded by lush vegetation and treasuring a steaming, sulfur lagoon at its center.

Continue on a lovely route past volcanic edifices, down and around the volcano, though deep canyons, jungles and streams stopping eventually at the beautiful La Paz and San Fernando Waterfalls which flow out of the Rainforest and plunge hundreds of feet into sparkling pools of crystalline water.
On the Caribbean experience an entirely different world of warm tropical weather and vegetation, driving past cacao and banana plantations, pineapple fields and Bhrama bull ranches, taking plenty of time to enjoy the scenery along the way .
Stop for a delicious buffet lunch at one of the most beautiful jungle lodges in Costa Rica, surrounded by jungles and colorful gardens, where you ll also have a chance to enjoy a pleasant walk through the rainforest trails or to relax and spend some time on your own.
Later, board a comfortable covered boat and gently float down the beautiful Sarapiquí River on the lookout for iguanas, monkeys, crocodiles, sloths, turtles, and colorful birds while intimately experiencing the impressing biologically diversity of the rainforest that thrives along the banks of the river.
During the 1 1/2 hr. jungle cruise, also get a glimpse at the way of life of the Costa Ricans in this remote area near Nicaragua as you drift past picturesque jungle homes, canoes, and native fishing along the banks.

Return to San José throughout the heart of Braulio Carrillo National Park, a protected area of almost 500 square kms. of towering mountains and virgin tropical forests, traveling along one of the most spectacular jungle roads of Costa Rica.

Palo Verde National Park
Duration: 10 Hours
Location: Guanacaste.
Leave your hotel around 8:30 am, for a visit to Palo Verde National Park, located between Bebedero and Tempisque River. A three hour ride on the Bebedero River will show you this National Park, composed of Tropical Dry Forest. You will have the opportunity to admire a lot of Tropical Birds, such as: Roseate Spoonbill, White Ibis, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Motmot, Bare Throated Tiger Heron, among others. Here between 12 and 15 habitats have been identified. These habitats include salt and fresh water lakes and swamps, grassslands with black mangroves, mangrove swamps, pastures, etc.
A delightfull lunch will be served at La Pacífica Hotel and Ecological Center, where you will have the opportunity to enjoy the Tropical Dry Forest as well as observe some animals from the area.
Also there will be a swimming pool for you to fresh up.
What to bring?: Bathing suit, sun tan lotion, hat, sunglasses, towel.

Barra Honda National Park
Duration: 9 Hoursv
Location: Guanacaste.
This time you will be heading to Barra Honda National Park. This Park shelters a Dry Tropical Forest with a transition to upper type. Here you will have the opportunity to walk the trails and look for unknown flora and fauna yet. The trail will guides us to look out point from where you will view part of the Gulf of Nicoya and Chira Island. Barra Honda National Park also shelters a complex system caves, 19 of which have been explored to date. The dephts of the Caves vary greatly, the most noteworthy being the Santa Ana Cave, which reaches 240 meters. The most ornate are the Terciopelo, Trampa and Santa Ana Caves, with a profusion of stalagmites, pillars, cave pearls, helictites, popcorn, mushrooms, shark's teeth, chalk flowers and needles, and other formations. The visit to the caves is optional and it can be arranged once you are at the park. The fauna is fairly varied with species such as the White-faced monkey, Coyote, Common long-nosed Armadillo, White tailed deer, raccoon and White nosed coati being the most commonly spotted. Lunch will be served in a open-wall restaurant, featuring authentic food, surrunded by forest at the entrance of the park.

The tour includes also a visit to Guaitil Pottery Center, a place where you will have the opportunity to buy and observe the ancestral way of making this beautiful pottery.
What to Bring?: Hat, light clothing, sun tan lotion, sun glasses, camera, binoculars.

Santa Rosa National Park
Duration: 9 Hours
Location: Guanacaste.
Leave your hotel around 08:00 a.m. for a scenic drive to Santa Rosa National Park. Visit "La Casona", the ranch house that dates from colonial times, is the place of the victorious battle fought against a group of northamerican corsairs led by William Walker, whose pretensions were to conquer Costa Rica. This big old house has been converted into a Museum which contains photos and written sequence of the history of those days of yore.
The Santa Rosa National Park is comprised of dry forest that shelters ten habitats, including savannas, consisting of jaragua grassland and various trees such as leave oak, shoemakes'tree and rough-leaf tree, among others. This park contains 240 species of trees and shrubs, among them Costa Rica's National Tree, the Guanacaste or Ear Tree; 140 species of mammals, more than half of which are bats; 300 species of birds, 100 species of amphibians and reptiles, 5000 species of butterflies and moths.
After visiting "La Casona", at short walk is the heroes monument look out point, from where you can see the park as a whole. Then a hike through the dry forest for about one hour will transport you to a very different type of forest where you can search for the rich life on the trees. Lunch will be served in restaurant next to the Tempisquito River with natural pools for a refreshing dip.
What to bring?: Bathing suite, towel, walking shoes, light clothing, hat, insect repelent, camera.

Turtles Under the Moonlight
Duration: 5 Hours
Location: Guanacaste.
Giant Leatherback Turtle Nesting Safari (Nov-Mar)
Departure time: in accordance with the tides.
This is a nocturnal adventure into the Baula National Park to witness on of the few remaining natural nesting grounds fro the Giant Leatherback Sea Turtle. This is approximately a two hour walking tour with a bilingual guide to watch the world's largest reptile lay her eggs and return to the sea.

Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge
Duration: 5 Hours
Location: Guanacaste.
The Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge and the Rio Frio are biological humid areas considered to be one of the one of the richest on biological diversity in Costa Rica, there you can find a great variety of endemic and migratory birds plus three different species of monkeys, also, Iguanas, Sloths, Turtles, Caymans and different kinds of fish. The tour starts at 7:30 am when we pick-up all the Nature Lovers from the hotel in a very comfortable transportation for about one hour and a half transfer to Los Chiles, a cultural mixed village at only 4 kms from the Nicaraguan border, there, our boat awaits you for the river adventure, at that time we begins our 4 hours floating safari through the Tropical Rainforest and pastures until arriving at the marsh.
Along the river we can see howler monkeys, spider monkeys, white-faced monkeys, also, the Two Toes Sloth and some reptiles like caimans and turtles.


Venado Caves Duration: 8 Hours
Location: Guanacaste.
The caves belongs to the Miocene period, 15 or 20 millions years ago, for many years they were under the sea and due to tectonic movements they came out to the surface. The caves were discovered by the Guatuzos aborigines, most of the caves are formed by limestone rocks, stalactites, stalagmites and corals, also the whimsical stone formations because of the undergound river.
The lengh of the tour into the caves is 1½ hours, during this time we will find marine fossils, also bats, spiders and crickets.
Because we will have to walk in the river and its falls water from the upper part of the cave, we highly recommend to our customers to take with them light clothes, hiking shoes and extra clothes to change when they finish the exploration in the caves.

Manuel Antonio National Park
Duration: 5 Hours
Location: Quepos, Puntarenas.
Have an experienced nature guide take you on an informative hike through Manuel Antonio National Park. Our guides are very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of Costa Rica, and provide an excellent day exploring the trails that wind through the park. This is a two-hour walk that includes a continental breakfast, entrance fee, bi-lingual guides, and transportation to and from your hotel. Guests are welcome to remain in park after tour.
Required: Ability to walk for two hours approx. (Easy hike)

Jungle Sunset Cruise
Duration: 9 Hours
Location: Gulf of Nicoya, Puntarenas.
sunset.JPG (11260 bytes) On board this luxurious yacht, just sit back and relax as you cruise over the waters of the Pacific in the Gulf of Nicoya. For several hours you will cruise where the warm breezes take you, heading into the afternoon sunset. Often you will be greeted by lepaing dolphins and manta rays.
The friendly crew will go out of their way to serve you with cool drinks and snack. Crocodile Jungle Safari
Duration: 7 Hours
Location: Tarcoles, Puntarenas. This fascinating tour will take you along the Tarcoles River by boat to enter into the habitat of the enormous crocodiles. Witness close up the remaining species that some call "the last of the living dinosaurs". The area also offers incredible bird watching opportunities due to the number of species that make their home there, as well as the variety of migratory species. The boat cruises downriver into the estuary through the complex eco-sytem of mangroves.


Mangrove Tour Isla Damas
Duration: 7 Hours
Location: Quepos, Puntarenas.
Don't miss Isla Damas just because you don't want kayak. Treat yourself to a launch tour of the estuary with a guide. There is great birding and wonderful vistas on this mangrove lagoon. Then enjoy a restaurant lunch or dinner overlooking the mangrove canal. Excellent to watch animals and birds.
Requirements: Casual dress, good for every age.


Monteverde Cloud Forest
Duration: 11 Hours
Location: Santa Elena, Puntarenas.
Early start 7:00 am from hotel, 4 hours drive to the beautiful Monteverde area, on the way we have a hearty Costarrican breakfast. Visit to the Monteverde Private Reserve to spot bird and enjoy the beautiful cloudforest vegetation also in the reserve we have a delicious lunch box. We will start our way back to San José to arrive back at your hotel approximately 6:00 pm.
Tour includes: Breakfast, lunch, entrance fees, transportation and guide service.