Hey Tom!

I hope you had a great weekend! 🙂

Thank you so much for your interest in our work and for reaching out.

Unfortunately, we don’t do traditional vacation planning anymore; the various Costa Rica-related projects that we manage require most of our time. 🙁 But several of these projects can help you with various aspects of your trip!

To start, I am the author of the Moon Costa Rica guidebook (out now) and the Moon Best of Costa Rica guidebook (out in December) through Moon Travel Guides, so if you like using books to plan trips, please consider picking up mine. You can find the guides on Amazon, as well as in bookstores around the world.

If you prefer researching online, you can find hundreds of helpful trip-planning articles on our free Costa Rica Travel Blog here.

Alternatively, you can purchase access ($5.99) to our membership website, DIY Costa Rica, where you’ll find all of our private Costa Rica-related content, including our Costa Rica recommendations, our Costa Rica recommendations map, and our awesome Costa Rica Destination Tool, which you can use to figure out (in a matter of seconds) where you should go in Costa Rica according to nearly 70 unique criteria. Simply tick the boxes of the experiences you’re after, and the tool will tell you exactly where you should go. It’s super handy, and, several of the experiences you noted an interest in (e.g., volcanoes, rafting, waterfalls, cultural immersion, rainforest exploration, cloud forest exploration, etc.) are criteria that you can select. DIY Costa Rica also has a private forum where you can ask trip-planning questions. You can learn more about DIY Costa Rica here.

Once you’ve decided which experiences you’d like to have during your trip, be sure to come back to this website that you’re currently on (our Pura Vida! eh? website) to browse our Discount Database; it contains hundreds of discounts for Costa Rica day tours. You can learn more about accessing those discounts, which will translate to hundreds of dollars of savings for your group of 14 people, on this page.

Pura vida! 🙂

Hi Olivia! 🙂

There are a few reasons this could be. One is that the prices you looked at elsewhere already include tax (13%). The discounted rates noted on our website do not yet include tax. Another reason may be the time of year you plan to visit. If you plan to travel during a period that Club Rio considers to be part of the 2023 season, their tour rates might be higher. The discounted rates noted on our website are for the current 2022 season. On which date do you intend to visit Club Rio?

Pura vida!

Hi Kate!

Great question! Unfortunately, we don’t currently have a discount for the combined canopy tour (through Arenal Mundo Aventura) and rafting tour (through Wave Expeditions). Our discount offerings change often, though, so if you won’t be traveling for a while, feel free to check back at a later date to see if a discount becomes available.

Pura vida! 🙂

Hi Paul!

This quick message is simply to confirm that I just sent you an email containing the custom quote and other information. 🙂

Pura vida!

Hi Jodi!

Thanks so much for your interest, and for checking in about this! Yes, a guide is included! There is an option to not include a guide, if you’d prefer to explore the hanging bridges on your own, but currently, the discount on our website for the Sky Walk Hanging Bridges Tour is for the tour option that includes a tour guide.

Pura vida! 🙂

Hi Julie!

Manoa is considered a La Fortuna hotel, despite it sitting a 10-minute drive northwest of downtown La Fortuna. For rafting tours to/from La Fortuna, there are three main options: the Pacuare River, the Sarapiqui River, and the Balsa River.

The Pacuare River is the furthest from La Fortuna (approximately 2-2.5 hours) but it’s widely regarded as the best rafting experience in the country. 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 this distance) and trips down Pacuare include breakfast and lunch (most other rafting tours include lunch only). To learn more about the Pacuare River Rafting Tour, you may be interested in reading our related blog post:

The Pacuare River Rafting Tour: https://costaricatravelblog.com/pacuare-river-rafting-tour/

Besides the Pacuare River, the next furthest river from La Fortuna is the Sarapiqui River (approximately 1.5 hours), followed by the Balsa River (approximately 40 minutes). It’s worth noting that, of the tours we offer discounts for, the Pacuare River and one section of the Sarapiqui River are class III/IV rivers (rapid classification). The Balsa River and one section of the Sarapiqui River, which we also offer discounts for, are class II/III rivers and provides less intense rafting experiences.

If you have additional questions about rafting in Costa Rica, you may find our related blog post helpful:

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

Lastly, here are some quick links to our discounts for the Costa Rica rafting tours:

Pacuare River Rafting Tour: https://puravidaeh.ca/discounts/pacuare-river-rafting-tour-adult-la-fortuna-exploradores-outdors/

Sarapiqui River Rafting Tour (class III/IV section): https://puravidaeh.ca/discounts/sarapiqui-river-rafting-tour-adult-la-fortuna-desafio-adventure-company/

Sarapiqui River Rafting Tour (class II/III section): https://puravidaeh.ca/discounts/sarapiqui-river-rafting-tour-class-2-3-adult-la-fortuna-desafio-adventure-company/

Balsa River Rafting Tour: https://puravidaeh.ca/discounts/balsa-river-rafting-tour-adult-la-fortuna-desafio-adventure-company/

Pura vida! 🙂

Hi NornIron!

Unfortunately, the Heliconias Nature Lodge is considered a Chachagua-area hotel, not a La Fortuna-area hotel. This means that most tour operators that provide complimentary transportation to/from La Fortuna hotels with their tours will not provide complimentary transportation to/from the Heliconias Nature Lodge and other Chachagua-area hotels. This being said, some tour operators can provide pick-ups and drop-offs at properties in Chachagua for an extra fee. Unfortunately, Sky Adventures, the operator of the Sky Trek, Sky Walk, and Sky Tram activities, doesn’t offer this service; their transportation service is a shuttle service that runs on a set route and schedule, and they don’t deviate from it to provide transportation at farther-flung properties. 🙁 In this case, if you don’t plan to rent a car, your best option to get between Chachagua and El Castillo (where Sky Adventures’s has its adventure park) is to take a taxi.

Let me know if you have any other questions! 🙂