Costa Rica Reviews

A good guide is essential - Having a good guide in Costa Rica with natural history knowledge and a keen eye are essential or you can miss so much. I am a university educator and teach a number of field courses. Our Wildland Adventures guide, Leo Chavez, left an impressive mark in my memory. I really don't know how he spotted the Laughing Falcon, the Bat Falcons, or the numerous sloths. Our family had the [...]

Rafting, Scuba, Ziplining and Fording Rivers Through Costa Rica Our first day in Costa Rica we were met early in the morning to go river rafting on the Pacuare River, which flows through the eastern part of the country towards the Caribbean Sea. Prior to arriving at the Pacuare River, we stopped along the way for a traditional Costa Rican breakfast (rice, beans, eggs and a tortilla). This river is one of [...]

Girlfriends' Wild Trip to Costa Rica The six of us who had joined the Costa Rica Rainforest Rejuvenation Retreat were staying at the beautiful and remote Hotel Lapa Rios located on the Osa peninsula on the south west coast of Costa Rica. We had flown in to the small town of Puerto Jimenez and then ridden on the benches in the back of a small truck to the lodge in the Lapa Rios Private Rain Forest Reserve. [...]

We took a wonderful trip to Costa Rica through Wildland and absolutely loved it. I could write pages about everything that my family loved. But I will summarize some of the highlights. Our guide Onik was wonderful! Our girls (9 and 6) instantly attached themselves to her. She was phenomenally knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and simply great to hang around. We definitely credit Onik for our new-found [...]

A Costa Rica Trip to Remember My seven-year old son and I have just returned from the Family Vacation Tour of Costa Rica, and we are still on a high from our amazing trip. Despite the fact that the trip was initially threatened by a severe flight delay, the folks at Wildland worked to accommodate us and make sure we caught up to our traveling companions. From the moment we touched down in Costa Rica, the [...]

Touched by the kindness of Wildland PURA VIDA!! Wildland was AMAZING!! Every aspect of this trip, from beginning to end, exceeded our expectations. Our guide, Leo Chavez, is beyond exceptional and we are grateful to him for sharing Costa Rica with us. Having a fantastic Wildland guide, driver and program director made all the difference in our experience. What a trip! Watching army ants invade as [...]

What a trip! What a trip! The Wildland staff, and especially Grettel were just excellent throughout the process. Our guide Alex Arias is just beyond any expectation we had for a guide. He not only has all the skills for a guide, but is also thoughtful, funny and wonderful with kids. He was especially wonderful with the two 9-year olds in the group, teaching them to make monkey calls, toothpick puzzles at [...]

The trip of our lives!!! Children say: ''Better than Disney!'' We are not the 'sit on the beach' vacation types. We wanted to see and do...this is exactly what our trip did for us. The degree of professionalism and efficiency during the planning and operation of our trip was unmatched. I am a hard person to amaze and even harder person to impress, but I found my self amazed and impressed so many times on [...]

El Silencio Lodge and Spa As a native Costa Rica travel agent based in San Jose, Costa Rica, I have the opportunity to travel frequently, even on the weekends, to virtually any area of my small and diverse country. It's important and fun for me to explore new nature reserves, local Costa Rica eco tours, nature lodges, and of course our eco-spas! Last week I took Friday off and headed to El Silencio Lodge [...]

From Coast to Coast in Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio National Park One of the advantages of arranging Wildland Adventures nature tours of Costa Rica, from my office in Costa Rica, is that I can venture out on long weekends to check out all the places I send our guests. In May, I took extra time off to make an inspection of two regions: The Southern Pacific Coast (Part I), and the Southern Caribbean [...]

I left the city behind to enjoy my own Costa Rica vacation at the pristine beaches of Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean before heading inland to experience a Costa Rica eco tour in the lowland rain forest close to Cerro Mochila. It usually takes about 3 hours to get to Puerto Viejo but on this day there was a strike and roadblock by local farm workers from Pocora. They were protesting the use of [...]