Hi Lluvia!

Great question, and, thanks so much for asking it to us! Ricky (co-owner of Pura Vida! eh? Inc.) used to be a Costa Rica white-water rafting guide. Between the two of us, we’ve rafted in Costa Rica more than 2,000 times.

On to your question…

This is a bit tricky to answer. It’s important to note off the bat that mid-March is nearing the end of Costa Rica’s summer/dry season, which roughly runs between January and April. Rivers countrywide tend to be their lowest at that time of year due to below-average rainfall amounts. This can affect the quality of your rafting experience if what you’re looking for is a wild ride. 🙂

Most Costa Rican rivers that permit public rafting tours are categorized as either class II/III or class III/IV rivers. You’ll definitely want to stick to a class III/IV river to increase your chances of hitting the biggest rapids possible during a mid-March visit. Examples of rivers that offer class III/IV sections include the Pacuare River, the Sarapiqui River, the Tenorio River, and the Naranjo River. Across these 4 rivers, if your priority is rafting the best rapids possible during the summer/dry season, I’d recommend going with the Naranjo River and rafting its section called “El Chorro”. Rafting trips are accessible to and from the Manuel Antonio area. The “El Chorro” section offers a wilder trip than rafting tours run on the regular, non-El Chorro section of the Naranjo River. For this reason, most tour operators only run rafting tours on the Naranjo River’s “El Chorro” section between January and April. During other months, when rainfall amounts and river levels are higher, the section can be dangerous to raft.

For a visit mid-March, in terms of rapid quality, there isn’t much difference between the other rivers with class III/IV sections (i.e., the Pacuare River, the Sarapiqui River, the Tenorio River, and the Naranjo River–non-El Chorro section).

Rapid quality aside, our recommendation would be the Pacuare River. Its scenery is incomparable, and rafting tours provide great value. You’ll raft around 30 kilometers on the Pacuare River (most other rafting tours cover less than half this distance), and, depending on which rafting tour operator you choose, you’ll likely receive two meals (breakfast and lunch) with the tour’s cost, as opposed to only lunch or a snack. Trips down the Pacuare River are accessible from La Fortuna / Arenal (as well as San Jose, Cahuita, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, and Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui) but not Manuel Antonio. Some Pacuare River rafting tours are city-to-city transportation-inclusive tours, which means you can arrange them to include a pick-up in one city and a drop-off in another, saving you the cost of transportation between two destinations. If you’re interested, you can read more about city-to-city transportation-inclusive tours in Costa Rica in the following articles on our blog:

Costa Rica Transportation: 12 Ways To Get Around Costa Rica: https://costaricatravelblog.com/costa-rica-transportation/

Costa Rica Tour Transportation: How To Use Tours To Travel Between Destinations: https://costaricatravelblog.com/costa-rica-tour-transportation/

Feel free to add any new questions you may have to our forum as we’re happy to answer them for you. Alternatively, since it sounds like you’ll be rafting during your visit, you may be interested in reading the following article on our blog:

Your Costa Rica Rafting Tour Questions Answered: https://costaricatravelblog.com/costa-rica-rafting-tour-questions/

For quick access to all of the white-water rafting tour discounts we offer, please see our “white-water rafting” category here: https://puravidaeh.ca/product-category/activities/rafting/

Pura vida! 🙂

Nikki