Costa Rica Travel Agents

Our experience with KimKim and specifically the local specialist team, Serendipity Adventures, was great. Elena and the rest of the Serendipity Adventures team, Nancy, and Adrian, and others, helped plan, organize, and manage my trip. They also worked diligently during our trip to make sure everything ran smoothly for my family.

Based on my responses to the KimKim survey, Elena planned a great vacation including all the activities we wanted to see/do while in Costa Rica. What I really appreciated was that Elena used her expertise/experience to not let me plan too busy of a trip :) I wanted to go to 3 locations but Elena very nicely suggested that, based on the length of our trip, we only do 2 locations so that we were not rushed and could really experience each location more fully. That was the right call!

The hotels Elena/team picked were amazing. The guided tours they set up had the best guides! The guide we had for our private tour of Manuel Antonio National Park was AMAZING. 23 years of experience.

What I want to note is that I feel the true test of a team's customer service and support is when things don't go quite right. I am happy to say that the Serendipity Adventures local team was very available to help when there were occasional small problems or I had a question. An example was the pick up time for our tour of Manuel Antonio park changed from 7:10 am to 11am. However, the driver still arrived at 7am. So, I messaged Adrian via WhatsApp at 7:20 in the morning when I got the call from the front desk of the hotel letting me know the driver was there and Adrian immediately responded to my message and sorted it all.

My husband and I visited Costa Rica 14 years ago and loved it. I had told Elena that we wanted to show the beautifulness of Costa Rica to our almost 13 year old daughter. Elena understood and delivered a trip we will always remember. Thank you!

Hotel Reviews

Hampton by Hilton San José Airport

Alajuela

We stayed here for 1 night at the beginning of the trip. It was a nice hotel. I will have to say though there was a bit of a problem the morning of our check out. Our driver asked the front desk if we had checked in the night before and was told we hadn't! So, that caused a bit of confusion...but it got sorted.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel La Mariposa

Manuel Antonio

In general, the hotel is beautiful and really showcased the beauty that is Costa Rica. One time when we were in the beautiful pool, a whole troop of Spider Monkeys moved through the trees right next to the pool! Probably 40 or so. We saw up close all the mommy's with their babies jumping from branch to branch! it was so cool. A few little things - one of the front desk team members really wasn't very friendly. I was surprised. And, the other thing that sticks out was on our last day, we had not checked out yet, a maintenance man just sorta came into our room - no knock or anything. It was really odd. But, other than that, really wonderful hotel with amazing views.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Most of the staff were great. One of the front desk helpers was not very welcoming/engaging. Also, on our last day, a maintenance man just opened our door to our room before we had checked out. It was odd.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Baldi Hot Springs Resort, Hotel & Spa

Fortuna

Such a cool hotel. Very neat to get to stay right there with the hot springs. Couple of notes: - There are 4 water slides - 2 of them are really pretty aggressive. - You are going to laugh but, bring ear plugs for sleeping! There was either frogs or crickets that cricked all night! I mean, so much fun but also pretty loud at night. ha ha.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

One of the servers we had in the main restaurant was just not very good with regard to customer service. Forgot to bring us things we ordered, didn't check in. That was a bit frustrating..but other than that, the staff was great and very friendly and helpful.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Arenal Volcano Hike & La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

Well, the weather did not cooperate for us on this. It was very cloud/overcast and VERY rainy. But, we made the best of it. It was a bit interesting, the tour guide picked us up in a van from our hotel. Turns out the battery on the van decided to stop working that morning and he didn't have time to fix it. So, the two times we had to start the van to go to the next stop, we had to push it so it rolled and then could jump it bc it was a manual. lol. So, that added some unexpected excitement to our day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Manuel Antonio National Park Guided Hike

Costa Rica

So amazing! Our guide was fantastic. 23 years of experience. He saw SO many animals...and he knew how to use our iPhone cameras expertly so we got amazing pictures that he took with our phone :)

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sky Tram, Sky Trek & Sky Walk

Arenal/La Fortuna

It was all very nice. The zip line part was very legit. The tour was nice - the bridges were cool and our tour guide was very knowledgeable and nice. The guest area was nice also - you can get lunch and see the amazing view.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Catamaran Tour with Meal

Costa Rica

A lot of fun. We met/talked to a ton of the other guests which was a lot of fun. The dinner was soo good. Swimming was very nice and the sunset was amazing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had an amazing experience planning our Costa Rica trip with KimKim, and the trip itself was absolutely amazing! As far as planning, KimKim responded promptly to any questions and did an amazing job planning our destinations and trip activities based on what we were looking for. All transports to our hotels and planned activities went extremely smoothly, without any hiccups. We traveled to 3 different locations in Costa Rica: San Jose, La Fortuna, and Monteverde. Our favorite destination was La Fortuna. We spend the most time there (3 nights), and I'm so glad we did! The Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs resort was STUNNING and an amazing place to stay- I would definitely stay there again. We had a beautiful view of the Arenal volcano outside of our room, and the resort itself was beautiful- lots of amazing plants and wildlife. We sat outside very morning and enjoyed watching all the birds (the first morning a Toucan visited us!). A sloth also lived in a tree next door to our accommodation. The resort has two pools and several hot springs. It never felt crowded- it was very peaceful and relaxing when we had some down time. All of the activites we did on our trip were amazing. My personal favorite was the Coffee with a Sloth tour we did at the Toucan Rescue Center in San Jose. We had a private tour, got to meet 7 sloths, and we helped make their lunches and got to watch them eat! It was a once-in-a-lifetme, incredible experience we will never forget. Part of our travel from La Fortuna to Monteverde included a boat ride on the lake (I can't remember the name of the lake). This might have been my favorite part of the trip. The views were surreal- it was absolutely beautiful. Another memorable excursion was a hike to the La Fortuna Waterfall, where we hiked down to the waterful and swam at the fall. The hanging bridges tour in La Fortuna was also amazing- we spent a couple hours hiking through the lush rainforest and the guide was very knowledgeable and spotted some cool wildlife. We also did a river safari float near La Fortuna- we booked this one on our own sort of last-minute, but I highly recommend this experience. We saw a crocodile and a lot of howler monkeys. We had a short time in Monteverde, and this was the end of our trip so we were quite exhausted. We did a hike in the Santa Elena cloud forest, which was beautiful. The town of Santa Elana was very cute, with lots of shops and restaurants. The only thing I would have changed, is I honestly could have stayed in La Fortuna for the entire 2nd half of the trip- mainly because we loved the resort, and there are plenty of activities in that area. Overall, the trip was amazing, and we will defiitely be contacting KimKim for our next adventure.

Hotel Reviews

Grano de Oro Hotel

San José

The hotel was very nice, quaint and small. They had really good food at their restaurant. Giving 4 stars only because we wished they had a pool. Overall great experience here. Great location- walking distance to downtown and close to many restaurants and shops.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs

Fortuna

Absolutely stunning hotel. The grounds are lush and beautiful- so many plants and wildlife in the resort. Stunning views of the Arenal volcano. It never felt crowded. The pools and hot springs were fantastic, and the wait staff extremely friendly. Was also very clean. Wished we could have stayed longer!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Not close to downtown or any of the activities we did, but it was easy to get a taxi.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel & Spa Poco a Poco

Monteverde

Authenticity & Character

Location

Very close to all the shops and restaurants

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Arenal Hanging Bridges Walk

Arenal/La Fortuna

Stunning scenery, saw and learned a lot about the wildlife. Highly recommend!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve Guided Hike

Monteverde

The cloud forest was beautiful. We spent a lot of time waiting for Quetzal birds in a couple different spots, and when we were hiking, we moved a little fast. Would have liked to see a little more wildlife- our guide was very focused on finding the Quetzal birds. Still a beautiful hike with stunning scenery.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Coffee with a Sloth at Toucan Rescue Center

San José

We had a private tour, and we got to meet the 7 sloths that live at the sanctuary. We also got to help make them lunch and watched them all eat. It was an incredible experience I will never forget!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Self-Guided Hike to La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

The waterfall was beautiful... just be prepared to walk up and down a LOT of stairs. Definitely worth it.

Quality of Experience