Central America:Costa Rica
Undiscovered Costa Rica
Tour Highlights:
- Discover Guayabo Archeological Site, a 3,000-year-old monument considered the most important archaeological site in Costa Rica.
- Experience the Hacienda Baru National Wildlife Refuge’s Flight of the Toucan Canopy Tour. This exhilarating zipline tour imitates the flight of a toucan as it leaps off a branch, swoops down through the forest and then up to another tree.
- Kayak in Pacific Ocean at Bahia Ballena National Park, where it is possible to have encounters with dolphins and whales.
- Meet local coffee producers at Los Santos Coffee Cooperative, a co-op of 760 producers that affects the socio-economic well-being of more than 3,500 local residents.
- Hike the Savegre Reserve where bird watching is excellent, and Quetzal Education and Research Center, a living research laboratory supported and used by scientific institutions worldwide.
Day 1: Arrive San Jose, Costa Rica
Arrive in sunny San Jose, Costa Rica where you are met by a Big Five Representative, assisted with your luggage, and transferred to the hotel. Grano de Oro, Deluxe Room
Day 2: Irazu Volcano / Turrialba
After breakfast, head east to Turrialba, an important region for supplying drinking water and generating hydroelectric power. The valley is also home to more than 550 species of birds, 150 different mammals and more than 130 species of amphibians and reptiles. Travel through Cartago town, visiting the BasÃlica de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles, and on to Irazu Volcano National Park, Lankester Gardens and Orosi Valley. Casa Turire Hotel, Junior Suite (B, L)
Day 3: CATIE Agricultural Center / Guayabo Archaeological Site
This morning’s focus is a visit to CATIE, the 1000-hectare Tropical Agricultural Research and Education Centre. Central America’s oldest and most respected research facility, it coves over 450 acres of agriculture and an administrative center that includes housing, schools, laboratory, pool, library, and more. Here, you can sample unusual seasonal fruits and crops from the fields. You learn about planting techniques and shade-grown coffee. This afternoon, explore the pre-Columbian indigenous settlement remains at Guayabo Archaeological Site. This 3,000-year-old monument is considered the most important archaeological site in Costa Rica. The site includes a network of causeways, aqueducts, cisterns, stairways, petroglyphs, monoliths, tombs, and sculptures of an advanced pre-Columbian city, which was inhabited between 1000 B.C. and 1400 A.D. Casa Turire Hotel, Junior Suite (B, L)
Day 4: San Gerardo de Dota
This morning, venture south following a road through the Paramo forest at Cerro de la Muerte, Mountain of Death. En route, detour to visit Coope Dota Coffee Cooperative in the town of Santamaria de Dota in Los Santos region. Your lodge rests on the banks of the Savegre River in San Gerardo de Dota. The area is known for its Cloud Forest with elevations between about 4,000 and 8,400 feet above sea level. Savegre Mountain Hotel, Junior Suite (B,L,D)
Day 5: Explore Savegre Reserve
This morning, enjoy a morning hike to the Savegre Reserve and Valley (7,200 ft) with its famous oak forest and epiphyte vegetation. You may spot the famed Resplendent Quetzal along with other rare endemic species. After lunch, visit QERC, Quetzal Education and Research Center. Savegre Reserve is used as a living research laboratory by institutions from around the world such as the Institute of Systematic Botany (New York) and the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago). Savegre Mountain Hotel, Junior Suite (B,L,D)
Day 6: Bahia Ballena
This morning, set out to the southeast, pausing en route at Hacienda Baru National Wildlife Refuge to experience the Flight of the Toucan Canopy Tour. This zipline tour imitates the flight of the chestnut-mandibled toucan as it leaps off a branch, swoops down through the forest and then up to another tree. On this tour, eight separate cable rides take you from one ridge top to another, across valleys and streams. Two guides accompany you on this fabulously fun learning experience. Continue to your hotel in Bahia Ballena on the Pacific coast. Cuna del Angel Hotel (B, L,)
Day 7: Marino Ballena National Park
This morning, you discover Marino Ballena National Park in a kayak. The park was created to protect coastal marine habitats and the endangered species such as the Pacific hawksbill turtles that live and nest there. Humpback whales visit the area from both Northern and Southern hemispheres. Take a dip in the ocean along on a pristine and secluded Pacific Beach. Your afternoon is at leisure.
Cuna del Angel Hotel (B)
Day 8: Quepos / Manual Antonio / San Jose
Early this morning, depart for Manuel Antonio National Park, followed by lunch and an afternoon flight to San Jose. Your luggage will be transported overland and be delivered later in the evening. Grano de Oro (B,L)
Day 9: Depart San Jose
After breakfast, you transfer to the Santa Maria International Airport for your flight home. (B)
Rates/Departures:
Please call one of our destination experts to get all the details.