Costa Rica Family Adventure

Welcome to San Jose!

After arriving in San Jose, a local representative will meet you at the airport and transfer you to your accommodation. The rest of the day at leisure.

Recommended activities

• Take a stroll through Mercado Central (Central Market), featuring over 200 shops, food stalls, and sodas (traditional restaurants).
• Visit the Catedral Metropolitana (Metropolitan Cathedral), whose interior combines Greek Orthodox, Neoclassical, and Baroque styles, and features wood carvings and stained-glass windows.
• Learn about the pre-Columbian culture, in one of the two museums in the city that display artifacts of the time: Museo del Oro Precolumbino (Pre-Columbian Gold Museum), and Museo del Jade the world's largest collection of pre-Columbian jade artifacts.
• Delve into Barrio Amon, a historic neighbourhood where coffee moguls built their mansions in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of these historic buildings have been converted into hotels, restaurants, and galleries, making Amon a popular bohemian district.
• When it is time for dinner, look for a restaurant in the hills of Escazú. This elevated region on the western edge of the city offers panoramic views of the valley below. That said, San Jose is filled with great restaurants serving everything from traditional to forward-thinking fusion cuisine.

Braulio Carrillo National Park

In the morning and after breakfast, a private transfer will pick you up to take you to the Braulio Carrillo National Park. Much less touristy than Arenal, Braulio Carrillo is Costa Rica's largest national park with over 100,000 acres of rolling hills and dark green vegetation, though much of this land is inaccessible and preserved for protection. The uncrowded hiking trails, both short and long, ranging from easy to difficult, are undoubtedly the highlight. One of the unique opportunities for walking in Braulio Carrillo is the possibility of seeing different species of flora and fauna at different heights. The rainforest feels very wild, with exotic birds and more than 150 mammals such as white-faced monkeys, jaguars, deer, tapirs, raccoons, armadillos, and anteaters.

Consider taking the rainforest aerial tram, located on the eastern flank of the park. This is an open gondola that takes you on a tour of the rainforest canopy; it can fit up to four passengers and a guide.

After the park, we will continue driving east towards Rio Pacuare, where you will stay for the next two nights. Check in at your hotel and relax by the pool.

Pacuare River

Today, you can take a guided rafting trip along the Pacuare River, organized through your lodge. Located along the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica, the Pacuare River Gorge is considered one of the best rivers for rafting in the world with warm water and a stunning green landscape. Pacuare is divided into 16 sections with whitewater for beginners, intermediate and advanced, depending on your level of experience.

This is a great way to experience Costa Rica's natural beauty as you paddle down roaring rivers as you twist, twist, soak, and surround yourself with rare species of flora and fauna.

Travel to Puerto Viejo

After breakfast, we will take a two-hour transfer to Puerto Viejo, located on the southern coast of the Caribbean. This surf town has an excellent variety of guesthouses for all budgets, which together with residents of Afro-Caribbean and indigenous descent, gives it a different vibe than other beach towns in Costa Rica. You will see colourful buildings, hear reggae beats, and experience a friendly, laid-back attitude.

After checking into your accommodation, we will continue traveling south to Cahuita National Park for rainforest hikes and swimming in pristine beaches. Here you can see various species of exotic birds, sloths, white-faced and howler monkeys, anteaters, armadillos, blue morpho butterflies, tropical plants, and trees, not to mention the park's coral reef for marine life.

Return to your hotel and enjoy the night in Puerto Viejo.

Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge

Today we will take you to the Jaguar Rescue Centre, an animal rescue centre that rehabilitates orphaned and injured animals to return them to nature. You may even be invited to a one-on-one encounter with a monkey or a baby sloth.

We will continue traveling south along the coast and pause for lunch at a local restaurant before taking the highway to Manzanillo, where the road ends.

Explore the sandy beach trail, rent a kayak, or simply relax on the beach before heading back to Puerto Viejo for a Caribbean dinner.

Travel to San José

Spend the morning strolling through the original shops and colourful streets of Puerto Viejo. If the surf is rising, have your kids watch the surfers at Salsa Brava, the most famous surf spot in the Caribbean.

In the early afternoon, the journey back to San José begins. We will travel around 4.5 hours. Check into your hotel for your last night. If you did not have the opportunity to visit some of the attractions of the city, this is your moment not to miss it or simply taste the local cuisine by dining in some of the many restaurants that San José has to offer.

Goodbye San José

Say goodbye to Costa Rica after breakfast and fly out of the San José airport. Transportation to the airport is included.