Costa Rica active: raft the Pacuare, hike Arenal, kayak and bike

Arrive in San José

Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) to your hotel in San José

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : San José
• Environ 30 min de route

Soir

Fly into Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO), about 20 km west of the city centre, in time for the evening briefing: plan to land by about 3 pm (the latest workable arrival is confirmed with your final itinerary). A driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the half-hour drive into San José, the capital, which sits in the Central Valley at about 1,150 m, so evenings are mild. If you arrive early, the Museo Nacional is a short walk from many central hotels, in the old Bellavista barracks. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group to talk through the week: what to wear on the river, how the bike ride works, and the easy and active choice on each day. Then we walk to dinner together at a local restaurant. Tomorrow is the earliest start of the trip, so it is not a late night.

Compris

• Pick-up at Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner

Rafting the Pacuare River

San José to the Pacuare River put-in, by raft to the Siquirres take-out, then to Sarapiquí

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Sarapiquí
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Matin

Pick-up is about 6:30 am, the earliest start of the trip, because the rafting outfitters run the river in the morning; the only other early gates, 7 am at Monteverde and Manuel Antonio, are set by the parks' opening times. We drive about two hours east past Cartago and Turrialba to the put-in, with breakfast at the outfitter's base on the way. After a safety briefing and paddle practice, you raft the lower Pacuare, about 28 km of class III and IV rapids through a deep, forested gorge with waterfalls running down its walls. Each raft has its own certified river guide, and no experience is needed.

Après-midi

Lunch is on the riverbank halfway down. You come off the water near Siquirres in the early afternoon, change into dry clothes, and our own vehicle takes us about an hour and a half north through banana country to Sarapiquí.

Soir

We reach the riverside lodge at about 5 pm, with the evening free; we never go back through San José.

Compris

• Full-day Pacuare River rafting with a certified river guide in each raft (class III to IV)
• Breakfast at the outfitter's base and lunch on the riverbank
• Drive from the take-out to Sarapiquí in our own vehicle

Over to Arenal and the 1968 lava flows

Sarapiquí to La Fortuna, then the Arenal 1968 trails

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : La Fortuna
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

Wake early if you like for a bird walk in the lodge grounds with a local guide; the lowland forest of Sarapiquí is good for toucans, parrots and herons at first light. After breakfast we drive about two hours west across the northern plains to La Fortuna, the town below Arenal Volcano, where we stay three nights.

Après-midi

Lunch is your choice in town. In the afternoon we walk the Arenal 1968 trails, on the private reserve west of the volcano, crossing the lava flows of the eruption that began in July 1968, when Arenal woke after centuries of quiet and buried the villages of Tabacón and Pueblo Nuevo. It stayed active until 2010 and now rests. The trails end at a viewpoint over the lake and the cone, about 1,630 m high, which often clears in the late afternoon.

Soir

The evening is free: most people go to the hot springs.

Compris

• Early bird walk in Sarapiquí with a local guide
• Drive from Sarapiquí to La Fortuna
• Arenal 1968 lava trails with your guide, entry included

Activités en option

• Hot springs in La Fortuna in the evening

Kayak Lake Arenal, then ride the farm roads

La Fortuna to Lake Arenal, then by bike back towards La Fortuna

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : La Fortuna
• Environ 1 h de route

Après-midi

Lake Arenal is usually calm early and windy by the afternoon, so we are on the water at about 7:30 am. A local outfitter launches sit-on-top kayaks near the dam end of the lake, the largest in Costa Rica, and on a clear morning the volcano stands straight across the water. After about two hours of paddling we swap to bikes for a guided ride of about 25 km on quiet rural roads between the lake and La Fortuna, past cattle farms, small villages and patches of forest, with our van following behind for water, snacks and anyone who wants a rest. The roads roll rather than climb hard, and the guide sets the pace for the group. We stop for a sit-down lunch at a soda, a small family restaurant, on the way back into town. The afternoon is free: the hot springs, a nap or a coffee tour.

Compris

• Guided kayak on Lake Arenal, about 2 hours
• Guided bike ride of about 25 km with a support van, bike and helmet included
• Sit-down lunch at a local soda

Activités en option

• Hot springs in the evening

Cerro Chato and La Fortuna Waterfall

La Fortuna to Cerro Chato, then La Fortuna Waterfall

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : La Fortuna
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

Its public trails were closed in 2017, so we hike it only on a legal guided route through private land that we confirm before your departure; if none is open, the morning is the Arenal hanging bridges or the Arenal Observatory trails instead. On the hike we start at about 7:30 am, before the heat, on a steep forest trail of roots and mud to the crater rim and down to the water, about three to four hours there and back, with views back to Arenal near the top when the cloud allows.

Après-midi

After a sit-down lunch we go to La Fortuna Waterfall, which drops about 70 m into a pool below the forest, about 500 steps down from the entrance. When the water level allows and park staff open it, you can swim in the river below the falls. If you skip the hike, you walk the hanging bridges and meet the group for lunch.

Soir

The late afternoon and evening are free.

Compris

• Guided hike up Cerro Chato to its crater lagoon (or the Arenal hanging bridges or Observatory trails if no legal route is open)
• Sit-down lunch
• La Fortuna Waterfall, entry included, with a swim when the park allows it

Activités en option

• Canyoning (waterfall rappelling) with a local outfitter in the afternoon instead of the waterfall

Across the lake to Monteverde

La Fortuna to the Lake Arenal dam, by boat to Río Chiquito, then up to Monteverde

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Monteverde
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

A slower morning, then we drive half an hour to the dam at the east end of Lake Arenal and cross by boat, about 25 minutes, with the volcano behind us on a clear day. Our driver takes the luggage round the lake by road, so you travel light. On the far shore a van takes us up through pasture and wind-bent forest to Monteverde, in the Tilarán mountains at about 1,400 m, so it is noticeably cooler.

Après-midi

We arrive for a late lunch of your choice in Santa Elena, the village at the centre of the area, and our hotel is within walking distance of it. The afternoon is free to rest after three busy days.

Soir

At dusk a local naturalist guide takes us on a night walk in the forest with torches, looking for sleeping birds, tarantulas, stick insects, tree frogs and, with luck, a sloth or a kinkajou.

Compris

• Boat across Lake Arenal
• Transfer up to Monteverde
• Guided night walk in the cloud forest with a local naturalist

Monteverde cloud forest and the zip line

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, then a canopy tour

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Monteverde
• Environ 30 min de route

Après-midi

After a sit-down lunch in Santa Elena, the afternoon is a zip line canopy tour over and through the forest, with the outfitter's safety briefing first. If zip lines are not for you, walk a hanging bridges trail instead and see the canopy at your own pace.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve at opening with a local naturalist guide, entry included
• Sit-down lunch in Santa Elena
• Zip line canopy tour

Activités en option

• Coffee and chocolate farm tour in the late afternoon

Down to the Pacific and the Damas mangroves

Monteverde to Tárcoles, then down the coast to Manuel Antonio

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Manuel Antonio
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Après-midi

We leave Monteverde at about 8 am for the longest drive of the trip, about 190 km and 4 to 4.5 hours of driving with the mountain descent, broken by a stop and lunch so no stretch is more than about two and a half hours. First we wind down out of the mountains to the coast highway and stop at the bridge over the Tárcoles River, where large American crocodiles bask on the sandbanks below. Then we follow the Pacific south, with a sit-down lunch on the way, and reach Manuel Antonio in the early afternoon. Later, when the tide is right, we paddle kayaks through the mangrove channels of the Damas Island estuary near Quepos with a local guide, on flat, sheltered water, looking for herons, kingfishers, crabs and sometimes white-faced capuchin monkeys in the branches.

Soir

In the evening the group sits down to a farewell dinner, with the sunset over the Pacific if the sky is clear.

Compris

• Stop at the Tárcoles River bridge for the crocodiles
• Sit-down lunch on the way
• Guided mangrove kayak in the Damas Island estuary
• Farewell dinner

Manuel Antonio at opening, then home

Manuel Antonio National Park, then to Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Après-midi

We are out by about 10 am for the drive of about three and a half hours back up the coast and over the mountains to Juan Santamaría International Airport, with a lunch stop on the way (lunch at your own cost). The park closes on Tuesdays, so we set departures to avoid a Tuesday day 9; where that cannot be done, the visit moves to the day 8 afternoon. Book a flight leaving after about 4 pm. Your guide sees you to the terminal and checks your flight before saying goodbye.

Compris

• Manuel Antonio National Park at opening with a naturalist guide, entry included
• Drop-off at Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)