Hello Cheryl!

I’m happy to answer your question for you! 🙂

To begin, and just to clarify, are you referring to the various Tenorio River Rafting Tour options that we have available on our website? Or to the various Tenorio River Rafting Tour options that are sold around the country (by various tour operators, travel agencies, tourism companies, etc.)?

If you’re solely talking about the Tenorio River Rafting Tour options we list on our website (which can be seen on this page: https://puravidaeh.ca/?s=tenorio+river+rafting+tour&search_id=1&post_type=product), fortunately, each tour is run by the same tour operator, so the rafting tour experience is the exact same. The only difference between each tour (and the reason why we have several listings for the Tenorio River Rafting Tour discount on our website) are the pick-up and drop-off locations. For example, one tour offers round-trip transportation to/from Papagayo, one tour offers round-trip transportation to/from Tamarindo, one tour offers round-trip transportation to/from Playas del Coco, and so on. If you’re planning to request a discount for the Tenorio River Rafting Tour via our website, simply choose the tour that includes round-trip transportation to/from the destination you plan to stay at. Regardless of which Tenorio River Rafting Tour discount you select on our website, the rafting tour experience itself will be the same. 🙂

If your question was more general (i.e., if it was aimed at any and all Tenorio River Rafting Tours run in Costa Rica, beyond those we offer discounts for), there may be several differences across the various tour operators, from their reputation and level of service to the duration of their tour and tour inclusions (such as meals and/or transport). The majority of most companies’ tours cover the same stretch of the Tenorio River (roughly an 8-mile stretch), but there are usually differences in put-in and take-out sites (i.e., the exact places where you enter and exit the river) due to company permissions to access private land nearby.

I’m not familiar with all of the companies that operate Tenorio River Rafting Tours in Costa Rica (I usually only recommend one or two), so not all companies may offer the following, but if you’re researching various tour options, you may want to keep this criteria in mind:

-The tour should provide approximately 2-2.5 hours of rafting. Though it’s impossible to predict the exact tour duration (several factors influence this), 2-2.5 hours is a good estimate. On top of the 2-2.5 hours of rafting, additional time will be spent getting to and from the river put-in and take-out sites and the rafting tour operator’s operations center/hub (where tours begin and end). How much time you’ll need for transport depends on which rafting tour operator you reserve with and where their operations center/hub is located in relation to the river put-in/take-out sites. With the Tenorio River Rafting Tour we offer a discount for via our website, you’ll have an approximate 45-minute drive to get from the operations center/hub to the river put-in, and an approximate 35-minute drive to get from the river take-out to the operations center/hub after the rafting tour is complete. Another Tenorio River Rafting Tour I’m familiar with requires a 30-minute drive from the tour operator’s operations center/hub to the river put-in and a 55-minute drive from the river take-out back to the operations center. Transportation to/from the river and the operations center/hub is included with the tour in both cases.

-The tour should cover about 20 rapids. A company that offers a rafting tour experience with significantly fewer rapids may run shorter tours or tours on different sections of the river. With the Tenorio River Rafting Tour we offer a discount for via our website, the rafting tour experience ends with a run over a 12-foot waterfall drop. The other Tenorio River Rafting Tour I’m familiar with also includes a run over the same waterfall.

-The tour should explicitly state that it’s a Tenorio River Rafting Tour, not a Tenorio River Safari Float Tour. Safari float tours are run on a slower section of the river and do not provide a “white-water rafting” experience. If a tour you’re considering is advertised as a Tenorio River tour, be sure to confirm whether it is a white-water rafting tour or a safari float tour. Since safari float tours are run in inflatable rafts (similar to rafts used for white-water rafting tours), tour description wording can sometimes be confusing, so it’s best to clarify which exact experience you’ll receive.

Pura vida! 🙂

Hello Cheryl!

Hmmmm… good question! I’m not sure about other Tenorio River Rafting Tour companies, but the one we offer the discount for does allow a maximum of 6 people (not 4 people) per raft. This being said, several factors affect how many people can ride in each raft, including the water level on the rafting day and the weight of the tour participants, so I don’t believe putting all 5 people in your group in one raft would be something that a tour operator can guarantee in advance. 🙁 Of course, special requests can certainly be made for that arrangement in advance, so the rafting tour operator knows of your preference to run the river together in one raft if at all possible.

As for a discount for the Tenorio River Rafting Tour without transportation (i.e., the tour to/from Canas, the closest city to where the rafting tour is run), we do! You can find our discount for that rafting tour experience here: https://puravidaeh.ca/discounts/tenorio-river-rafting-tour-adult-from-canas-operated-by-desafio-adventure-company/

Pura vida! 🙂

Hi Annie!

Absolutely! 🙂 The tour operator does offer this option, though the price is slightly more expensive than the tour that picks up and drops off in Papagayo. From La Fortuna to Papagayo, the original price of the Tenorio River Rafting Tour is $154/person and our discounted rate—as of today’s date—is $123.20/person (rates are subject to change at any time, so it’s best to secure our discounts as soon as you decide which you’d like for your trip).

If the option from La Fortuna to Papagayo is the tour you’d like, this would be the discount to request through our website: https://puravidaeh.ca/discounts/tenorio-river-rafting-tour-adult-from-papagayo-operated-by-desafio-adventure-company/ Though the link is for the rafting tour to/from Papagayo, if you mention in the “Extra Info – Order Notes” section on the Checkout page that you’d like the tour to start from La Fortuna, we can adjust the order on our end to reflect the correct locations and pricing.

Of course and as always, if you have any other questions don’t hesitate to ask. 🙂

Pura vida!

Hello Annie!

I apologize for the delay in getting back to you! Desafio Adventure Company (the tour operator) changed the minimum age limit for their Tenorio River Rafting Tour to 13 years, so I wanted to wait to respond until after this change had been confirmed so I could update you on it as well. Desafio responded to us today, so I can now respond to you! 🙂 (Note that Desafio’s website doesn’t yet reflect the change; it still reads as if the minimum age limit for the tour is 8 years.)

To answer your question about the Tenorio River Rafting Tour, the same link would be used for everyone in your family group. There isn’t a child discount for this specific tour because the minimum age prevents children 0-12 years from participating. The tour operator charges older children (age 13-17) as adults, so our adult discount would apply to them as well.

I’m not sure of the ages of the children in your travel group, but if you have children under the age of 13 who aren’t able to experience the rafting tour, your group could experience the Tenorio River Safari Float Tour instead, if that option interests you at all. Like the Tenorio River Rafting Tour, the cost of the Tenorio River Safari Float Tour is slightly more expensive when the tour is taken from La Fortuna to Papagayo, but it is an option if you want to experience a tour in between the two destinations.

Pura vida! 🙂