Kimkim Trip Reviews for Costa Rica

We had a great time in Costa Rica. The zip lining/hanging bridges and the white water rafting were amazing activities. If you go, expect long drives to go anywhere on hard gravel roads, that part wasn't fun.

The Arenal Manoa hotel near at Arenal/ LaFortuna was a delightful hidden gem. The grounds and facilities were immaculate and we felt like we were in a tropical paradise. Nice breakfast selection with a variety of foods. The staff was very friendly and professional. We had a sloth in a tree behind our room, enjoyed toucans while soaking in the hot springs, enjoyed pizza at the pool, and our hike to Arenal in El Silencio was rewarding with numerous birds and a couple trees with white faced monkeys. Spotted 4 red Macaws as we were checking out of our room.

We also enjoyed the Sibu Boutique hotel in Monteverde. Great staff, conveniently located. Had access to the facilities at a sister hotel, Poco a Poco. Nice menu selection at the onsite restaurant. Cloud forest tour with Treetopia was great!

Favorite activity while in Tamarindo was the Panache Catamaran sunset cruise. Very friendly, personable and professional crew (especially Gabriel). Snacks and open bar drinks were an added bonus with a nice selection of foods.

Was pleased with all transfers and pickups at each location. Timely and professional!!

Hotel Reviews

Wyndham

Tamarindo

Enjoyed the location, staff very accommodating but the rooms could stand some upgrades. Transfers to downtown were good.

Authenticity & Character

Rooms need to be updated

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sibū Boutique Hotel

Puntarenas

Delightful room, conveniently located, super staff, nice setting with immaculately maintained grounds, and a very nice restaurant.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Access to everything in the area plus access to facilities at sister hotel Poco a Poco.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs

Fortuna

A true tropical paradise with immaculate grounds, hot springs, pool and restaurants. Super staff, great ambiance at La Saca Restaurant. Pizza by the pool was excellent. Will stay there again if we return to Arenal/LaFortuna!

Authenticity & Character

The tropical plants, trees, flowers, entire grounds

Location

Quiet with a great view of the volcano. Tropical paradise!

Staff

Friendly, professional and accommodating!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

TreeTram & Hanging Bridges Adventure

Monteverde

Great guide! Excellent English! Very knowledgeable!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sloth Trail Watching Tour

Arenal/La Fortuna

Felt a big suburban and too commercial

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

El Silencio Hike & Visit to Ecotermales Hot Springs

Arenal/La Fortuna

Guide very knowledgeable and used his scope to zoom in on birds and monkeys. He took pictures through his scope with our cell phones. Hike to the volcano was a little bit taxing in stretches but the guide and fellow hikers let us catch our breath and take our time

Quality of Experience

The guide was very good!

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Each step of our trip was flawless! While traveling in a foreign country, KimKim made sure that everything was in place for us, from transit to/from the airport, to the delivery and pickup of our auto rental, to the hotels and activities! I would recommend KimKim to friends and family.

Hotel Reviews

Crowne Plaza San Jose La Sabana by IHG

San José

Very helpful staff and good location for restaurants, park, and museums. Good ending for our trip.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Nammbú Beachfront Bungalows

Sámara

Authenticity & Character

Location

Just a quick 5-minute walk down to the beach. Glorious view of the ocean from the pool/bar area.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Eco Arenal

Fortuna

Great location and wonderful staff! One way to improve the room would be to provide indirect and/or lamp lighting. There was only overhead lighting.

Authenticity & Character

Location

The balcony opened up to a view of Arenal Volcano---very cool!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sleep Inn Hotel Paseo Las Damas

San José

Good place for us to start our trip. The restaurant made a good sandwich.

Activity Review

Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge Boat Safari

Arenal/La Fortuna

Lots of fun and very educational! Our guide, Jorge, was outstanding.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Jorge was wonderful!

Transport

Super communication.

Hotel Reviews

Nayara Springs - Adults Only

Fortuna

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

So available and friendly and helpful every minute of our stay.

Cleanliness & Comfort

One of the overall most amazing places I have ever stayed.

Hotel Belmar

Monteverde

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Gran Hotel Costa Rica, Curio Collection by Hilton

San José

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Arenal Hanging Bridges Walk

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

A little rushed by guide that day.

Transport

Mocha Tour: Chocolate & Coffee

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Transport

Private Safari Float on the Peñas Blancas River

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Cloud Forest Reserve Privately Guided Hike

Monteverde

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private San Jose Walking Tour

San José

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

All of our guides and drivers were on time and did a great job of driving in a very mountainous country with narrow roads. Our guide to our visit to the cloud forest was very informative. We booked an optional night tour through our hotel. It was also excellent. You might consider adding that to your itineraries.
Our guide through the rain forest seemed to be in a hurry. This was a once in a lifetime visit for us. I would have liked to hear more about the flora surrounding us. All of our other guides had a lot to say about what we were seeing.

Hotel Review

Gran Hotel Costa Rica, Curio Collection by Hilton

San José

Excellent accommodations centrally located. Good food but expensive.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Arenal Hanging Bridges Walk

Arenal/La Fortuna

Guide was in a hurry and really did not have much to say. I loved the rain forest walk. What a magical place.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mocha Tour: Chocolate & Coffee

Arenal/La Fortuna

Fun place. Caesar was a great presenter. He made it fun with his energy and command of the subject.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Safari Float on the Peñas Blancas River

Arenal/La Fortuna

We found this to be disappointing.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Driving and promptness was fine.

Transport

Rafts were uncomfortable for anyone with back issues.

Cloud Forest Reserve Privately Guided Hike

Monteverde

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Very informative.

Transport

Private San Jose Walking Tour

San José

The guide was very knowledgeable. We enjoyed the tour.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

It is with great pleasure that I am writing this review. The service we received from KimKim and from Elena in Costa Rica was superb. Our family went to Costa Rica to celebrate my husband’s birthday. Every place we went we were greeted with decorations and treats, organized I imagine by Elena. We were 11 people. Transportation was on time and comfortable. Freddie our driver who took us to and from Monteverde, was great. Our guides were informative. Andres, also known as “Sosio” in Manuel Antonio was patient kind and fun. We had an extraordinary time on the catamaran. I would greatly recommend doing that. Above all, I would say that every interaction with Elena was pleasant, helpful, productive and timely.
We wish all of you great success. You deserve it!

Hotel Reviews

Arenal Springs Resort

La Fortuna

Even in the rain, the hot spring pools were gorgeous.

Authenticity & Character

Vegetation and birds added to our experience.

Location

Staff

From porters to front desk to restaurant staff, all were attentive and pleasant, embodying “ours vida.”

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel La Mariposa

Manuel Antonio

The hotel was beautifully situated, designed and maintained!

Authenticity & Character

Location

It has panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean

Staff

Pleasant and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Everything.

Activity Reviews

Arenal Volcano Hike & La Fortuna Waterfall

Arenal/La Fortuna

We saw very little in the way of animals.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

There were communications issues about arranging drivers.

Transport

As above.

Private Manuel Antonio National Park Guided Hike

Costa Rica

Our guide showed us a variety of animals that we would never have spotted, with lots of information about each animal and its habits.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide, Andres, was personable and knowledgeable, sharing information and locations with other guides.

Transport

Worked smoothly.

Coffee & Chocolate Tour

Costa Rica

Our guide was wonderful. We had children with us and the guide made it especially fun for them! The chocolate was delicious.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Catamaran Tour with Meal

Costa Rica

The boat was clean. The crew were wonderful. We saw whales. What could be better?

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

It was punctual and easy.

All of the guides were excellent. We especially liked the Sloth tour in La Fortuna because it turned out to be a private tour and the tour guide (I can’t remember her name) was able to take pictures with my phone through her telescope.

In Puerto Viejo, we enjoyed meeting Andres for the BriBri tour, which was the best of the trip hands down. Amazing family and culture. Shout out to Nelson, our friendly driver!

This is the first time we've taken a trip that was pre-arranged with a trip specialist and it went amazingly well. Everything was taken care of for us, from transfers to hotels and outings. It was great to not have to worry about arranging that ourselves. All transfers and trips went smoothly and we didn't have to worry about trying to contact anyone for no shows. We really enjoyed our outings, especially our riverboat experience on the Rio frio with Canoa Aventura And our guide. Jorge. Jorge was amazingly knowledgeable about the local wildlife and made our wildlife excursion very enjoyable and educational. We got to see sloths and monkeys and an amazing variety of bird life.
All in all our trip was stress-free for the most part and very enjoyable. We will definitely consider Kim Kim for future trips.

We wanted a trip focusing on "birds in Costa Rica", and we were pleased at what a wonderful itinerary we had. First hotel: We loved Hotel Bougainvillea - it is clear that this is a birders paradise in San Jose. It is far from the city center, but the gardens were fantastic. The hotel is a bit old fashioned, but the service was great. Lovely restaurant with an excellent breakfast. We loved stopping at the La Paz waterfalls. Amazing hummingbirds, very educational, and the hikes were fantastic!!! Next we stayed at Lomas de Volcan. This might have been my favorite of the places we stayed in terms of the actual room and amenities. Comfortable individual "cabin" - very modern bathroom, fantastic restaurant and bar, and a great location. I would gladly stay there again. My husband really enjoyed the thermal pools, and the restaurant was "traditional" food and just fine. We loved visiting Arenal Observatory Lodge - and saw lots of birds. It was super rainy, but we got a nice hike in. We next stayed at Natural Lodge Cana Negro. We loved this place - the owner and family were awesome, the staff were very interactive and helpful, and it was a fantastic place to birdwatch. The guide who took us out on the river was very knowledgeable, which made it quite exciting. The restaurant at the lodge is quite good. I will recommend everyone visiting Costa Rica and interested in rain forest and flora and fauna should take the time to get up to this part of Costa Rica. We also loved the Cloud Forest Lodge. We were literally in a cloud the entire time. It was wet and windy, but being able to see Curi Cancha and Monteverde reserves was AWESOME. It gives one a great understanding of "rain forest"! Our guide, David, at Curi Cancha was absolutely one of the best. He was enthusiastic, and we saw a lot of birds because of his knowledge of the area. While we didn't see any birds in Monteverde reserve, we did get a real "rain forest" experience.

While Hotel Villa Caletas was fine, an Italianate hotel in Costa Rica seemed a bit odd. It also had a million steps, and we had to ask to have our room changed. There was no way the two of could manage all those stairs multiple times/day. It has a great view and the restaurant is fine. Our guide into Carara National Park was our only real disappointment. She really knew nothing about birds, although she did know her plants. The only birds we identified was through interacting the guides helping other people. I suggest you not use her again for a birding trip.

Esquinas Rainforest Lodge was an experience! The cabins are rustic, just screens, and it was rather hot and rainy, but nevertheless we loved visiting this part of Costa Rica. The staff here was great. I think we also appreciated the variety in the places we stayed, which on top of the amazing diversity of flora and fauna in Costa Rica made this trip amazing!!

Our final stay was at Savegre National Reserve Hotel. This is a great place. We loved our room, and we had another amazing guide - absolutely the best. We went out twice with him! He has so much local knowledge. It was inspiring.

Altogether, we had an amazing trip - and we ended up seeing 190 new species of birds, including scarlet macaws and the resplendent quetzal. I would recommend this trip to anyone who is interested in wildlife, birds, and getting to see different aspects of Costa Rica. Olman did a great job of putting this together, although I wouldn't go back to Hotel Villa Caletas and Carara National Park.

Hotel Reviews

Gran Hotel Costa Rica, Curio Collection by Hilton

San José

This is a Hilton, and Hiltons have a certain level of dependability. It is located downtown, so it nicely placed if you want to go to the gold museum or the central market. Our room was on the small side. The bed was very comfortable, and the bathroom fixtures modern. You have to valet park your car, which was $27. This quite a hefty charge. You are also a bit of drive from the San Jose airport, so give yourself plenty of time to get there.

Savegre Hotel Natural Reserve & Spa

Páramo

This is the place to go if you are interested in seeing a resplendent quetzal. The guide the hotel arranged was stellar!! The room was spacious, and including a porch where you could look out over the gardens or the stream that runs nearby. The bathrooms were very modern, and the place was modern and comfortable. The breakfast here was excellent, but we did not have the best of luck with having supper there.

Esquinas Rainforest Lodge

Golfito

This part of Costa Rica is hot and humid. You are in essentially a cabin with only screens. The showerhead actually heats the water for your shower. The place lost power during a torrential rainstorm - so no shower that day. However, the beds were comfortable, and the meals (you really have to eat here) were very good. They used local fruits to make pitchers of juice they served at the meals. I found this quite fun. The staff is great, and our bird-watching guide was excellent.

Hotel Villa Caletas

Tárcoles

This is a fine hotel in an Italianate style. The staff were excellent and very helpful. Our room was comfortable, and the place has a lot of old-fashioned charm. My only complaint is that there are a lot of stairs. If you have any mobility issues, this is NOT the place for you. They were kind enough to change our room, because to get to our original room was quite a trek up and down multiple stair cases. From the restaurant area, you have a great view looking out over the Pacific Ocean, and watching the sunset from there was amazing.

Cloud Forest Lodge

Monteverde

This may be the most famous rain forest area of Costa Rica. It is well known because it is amazing. We drove up through the clouds to get here. While it was windy and rainy while we were there, it did not keep us from heading to Curi Cancha and Monteverde Reserves. The guide the hotel arranged was fantastic. I don't think you can understand a rain forest until you hiked through one! This lodge is perfectly positioned to visit both these reserves. Our room was quite spacious, the bed very comfortable, and the bathroom modern. The restaurant is good, and they do a very nice breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Natural Caño Negro Lodge

I think people don't often head up this way on a visit to Costa Rica, but it is a mistake. This area is fantastic, and the National Cano Nego Lodge is great!! The staff was sensational, and the food at their restaurant quite good. Great bartenders too!! The owners are quite gracious. They arranged our birding trip down the river, and it was excellent. They have a bird feeding station that you can look out on while eating breakfast or other meal, and it makes it all the more fun! The Refugio de Vida Silvestre Cano Negro is amazing, and it is definitely worth heading up to this region. The beds are very comfortable, and the bathroom was modern! I highly recommend this lodge as well as visiting this part of Costa Rica. The roads in are a bit rough, so be prepared to bounce around a bit.

Authenticity & Character

The owners are amazing, and the staff very helpful and knowledgeable.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Lomas del Volcán

Fortuna

The location of this hotel near Arenal Volcano is fantastic. We had our own little "house", and it was well furnished. The bathrooms were modern, and the property beautifully landscaped and maintained. The restaurant here is excellent, but they have a nice bar with original cocktails. Their breakfast is first-rate. They had many hot and cold options, including an omelet station and waffle maker. The location is great if you are interested in the area around Arenal National Park. We had a flat tire, and the staff was amazingly helpful in putting in enough air and then recommending a great place to get the tire fixed in the nearby town. I highly recommend this lovely hotel. There is a great view of Arenal Volano when it is not socked in by clouds!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Bougainvillea San José

Heredia

This is a lovely hotel away from the center of San Jose. There gardens are fantastic. If you are a birdwatcher, this is the place to stay, as the gardens attract many local birds. The rooms are comfortable, and the restaurant and bar were good. The owner must love rocks, because the lobby has many cases of rocks collected from all over Costa Rica. It was quite interesting.

Authenticity & Character

This is a slightly older hotel, but full of charm. The gardens are wonderful, and the beds comfortable, and the bathrooms are modern.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Early Birdwatching Walk

La Gamba

We had a great guide, and the area is really diverse biologically. It is quite worth visiting this part of Costa Rica!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Quetzal Safari Quest

San Gerardo de Dota

Our quetzal quest was successful, plus there are so many other places to birdwatcher. We went out with our sensational guide twice - amazing!! What a beautiful place.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Carara National Park Guided Tour

Costa Rica

The park is not worth the visit. It is a transitional forest, and we saw very few birds or wildlife. Plus the cicadas were so loud and there were so many of them it was kind of gross.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Early Birdwatching Tour at Curi-Cancha Reserve

Monteverde

By far, the best birding experience in Costa Rica. It is a beautiful place, with a number of different habitats. Our guide David was fantastic! We were even lucky enough to see a resplendent quetzal! This is a "DON"T MISS THIS" type of place!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge Bird Watching Tour

Caño Negro

This is a fantastic area to bird. Our lodge provided us with a great guide, and we went down the river seeing iguanas in trees, caiman, and a fantastic assortment of birds. FANTASTIC!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide was quite excellent.

Transport

Our trip to Costa Rica was very enjoyable. Before we discuss the trip, we must
acknowledge how helpful Gustavo was in planning where we went and where we
stayed as well as the excursions that we went on and as it turned out, what he
recommended was just right for us. Also, he was very responsive to any questions and
as I will explain later he and his team were especially responsive during our trip.
Our first stop was in La Fortuna with the Arenal Volcano in the background. As it turned
out our transfer from the airport took much longer than planned because of the unusual
traffic that we had leaving San Jose but the private driver made it his mission to get us
to our hotel, Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs, in time for our tour that started at 4:45 PM.
We arrived at 4:35 PM. There was a mix-up in our reservation, but the hotel manager
told us not to worry that we would have a room, and we should go on our excursion. I
texted to Gustavo and KimKim and told them of the problem. Before we returned from
our excursion, I received a message back from Gustavo, apologizing for any confusion
and let us know that they had upgraded our room to a suite since our original junior
suite was not available. By the way, the suite was fantastic. We recommend this place
to stay. The grounds are beautiful, the staff were very pleasant and accommodating,
and the restaurant both for breakfast and dinner was excellent.
The tours in La Fortuna were Nocturnal Frog Excursion & Traditional Costa Rican
Dinner, Río Peñas Blancas Safari Float Experience, and the Sloth Discovery Walk. The
first excursion took place on a family run farm and after our walk around we were
served a nice dinner. On the walk we saw several very colorful frogs and the special
sighting was a sloth up a tree and she was nursing a baby. The second was a very
pleasant slow drifting raft experience. We saw many birds, a crocodile, and a Cayman.
Our guide was very knowledgeable and told us a lot about the flora and the history of
the area and the river. Here also just before our boat ride we saw a sloth up a tree. On
the third tour, we saw sloths as we were supposed to. The one note is that it was a good
thing we obeyed the recommendation of bringing raincoats because even though it was
the dry season, it rained, although not the whole time. It didn’t bother the sloths and
ended up not affecting us much either. We saw both two and three toed sloths. Actually,
as we learned they were really two and three fingered sloths because all sloths have
three toes on their back feet. We recommend all three of these excursions.
On day 3 we had a private transfer to Monteverde. This included a driver who took us to
the boat, a private boat ride on Lake Arenal, and then another private driver to our hotel
the Hotel & Spa Poco a Poco. The afternoon we arrived we took a stroll down and up to
the town of Santa Elena. There were many nice shops there that had many local wares
and crafts: where we did a good amount of purchasing. The reason that I said down and
up is that essentially the town was on another mountain and we had to go down to the
valley to then go up to get to the two block, downtown. The walk was, actually, not bad

for us Septuagenarians but the remarkable fact is the wind was blowing at 40 miles per
hour with gusts up to 60 mile per hour or so. There also was a cold spell, so we had our
winter coats on and we almost flew down the mountain as the wind seemed to want to
pick us up and take us for a ride. The town was quaint and the people there, as were all
of the people in Costa Rica that we encountered, were really very nice and helpful.
On the next morning, the cold wave that made the entire northern part of the western
hemisphere was alive and well in Monteverde and the winds did not die down either.
The locals remarked about how it is never that cold. Our scheduled excursion that
morning was to take a 1.5-mile walk covering several long hanging bridges. We opted
out of that trip. We did walk around a path that is attached to the Hotel Poca a Poca
which was fun and relaxing and the trees helped block out the winds. The hotel has lots
of nice areas where you can walk and where you can sit and relax. One caveat about
the hotel. As we mentioned, it was very cold, supposedly it broke a local record, and
the hotel rooms only had air conditioners. We were able to score an electric heater from
the few that the hotel had for the second night. We enjoyed the heat that night.
In the afternoon the winds started decreasing and our tour was the Coffee, Chocolate &
Sugar Cane Experience at Don Juan farm where they grow all three of these
commodities. The guide that we had on the tour was not only very knowledgeable but
was a lot of fun. There were several hands on experiences from shelling a ripe coffee
bean and observing how slimy they are before being dried, taking a cocoa bean and
tasting it and not being so enthralled by it, to tasting the coffee that was made fresh
from beans, and making some sugar by grinding sugar canes which one of us was part
of the grinding process using the old hand cranked machine. We learned a lot about all
three including how to judge which is better and which is not.
The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast and then took another private drive to
Manuel Antonio. On this drive we took several stops to look at birds, and spider
monkeys, and we stopped at alligator bridge where we took a pleasant walk on the
bridge. Once we were out of the mountains, the weather was pleasant. While that drive
was long, it was pleasant both by the accommodations in the vehicle and the views that
we had. One thing I haven’t mentioned previously, is that all but one of our transfers had
WIFI. We arrived late in the afternoon at the Si Como No Resort & Wildlife Refuge.
The Si Como No is situated on the outskirts of the national park and has beautiful
scenery all around. Our room had, as we were told, the highest view and it was
spectacular and certainly worth all of the steps to get up to it. We also had our own
personal jacuzzi. We sat on the porch and viewed the Pacific and multiple birds
including a magnificent red macaw. Some of these birds even decided to use our railing
when we were inside and we even had a spider monkey give us a show out there.

There were two restaurants. We had breakfast and one lunch on the one near the pool
and dinners at the main restaurant. All our meals were very good.
We had a tour of Manuel Antonio National Park Nature Hike through the park with our
guide was not disappointing. We learned a lot about the history and the flora and had
the opportunity to see several sloths, monkeys, snakes, many beautiful birds, and we
even saw a porcupine. We spent a little time at the beach which had very soft sand and
essentially no waves in the ocean. In the afternoon we went across the street to a
butterfly garden that had a restaurant in it. We sat eating a sandwich and having a
coffee with butterflies flying around us. It was amazingly relaxing. Just what we needed
near the end of our time in Costa Rica. The next morning, we went on a Mangrove
Boat Tour. Again, we saw many birds and learned about the history of that area. The
special part of this tour is that the guide brought some bananas, and we went to the
shore and suddenly, we had a family of capuchin monkeys all around with some coming
on the boat. Both my wife and I had the pleasure of having one sit on our head.
Thankfully, I had a hat on.
We had another private transfer back to San Jose where we stayed the night at the
Grano de Oro Hotel. This was a nice modernized old hotel that was very comfortable.
We ate at the restaurant which had good food and a nice old San Jose atmosphere.
The next morning, we had our private transfer to the airport for our flight back home.
We had a great time in Costa Rica and recommend this itinerary to everyone. However,
we could not have had this wonderful adventure without the planning and support of
Gustavo and the whole KimKim team. Also, as we mentioned, while we were on the trip
when we needed them, they responded quickly and took care of the issue. Thank you,
Gustavo, Kate, and everyone at KimKim.

Serendipity did a fantastic job organising our trip in Costa Rica- plenty of planning discussion on the hotels, schedule and wildlife experiences.. Elena and Nancy were extremely helpful and had lots of useful suggestions to make sure we had plenty of bird watching, nature tours, and visits to Guayabo monument and Turrialba volcano. The trip was amazing and we had great fun managing to dodge between the rain showers even in Tortuguera which provided excellent photographic opportunities on the boats to get close to wildlife, including sloths! Adrian was on hand via the WhatsApp link and was extremely helpful in suggesting additional trips and making sure our pick-ups went to plan. All accommodation was spot on - clean, spacious with great restaurants - lots of rice and beans! All our guides were really knowledgeable and highly motivated. All in all a wonderful holiday, thank you KimKim and Serendipity!

Hotel Reviews

Rancho Naturalista

Cartago

A wonderful place for bird watching and knowledgeable guides ! Meals at set times on shared tables, so plenty of opportunity to talk with other guests

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa Turire

Turrialba

Wonderful hotel full of character and with fabulous gardens. Huge room and great service.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Le Cameleon Boutique Hotel

Puerto Viejo

Fabulous jungle setting, restaurant and beach across the road but very easy access.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Easy to get access to Cahuita and Manzanillo parks. Try Nenas restaurant close by for rice and beans!

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tortuga Lodge & Gardens

Tortuguero

Superb room overlooking the river, excellent food and great guides (Manuel and Bernardo). Fantastic boat trips getting close to wildlife.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hampton by Hilton San José Airport

Alajuela

Close to airport and welcoming, frequent shuttle. Special Valentine's breakfast!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Birding at Rancho Naturalista

Turrialba

Thoroughly enjoyed the bird watching- from the early morning feeding of the birds in the garden to the walk around the estate.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Fabian was an excellent guide - spotted lots of birds we would have missed.

Transport

Archaeological Tour of Guayabo National Monument

Turrialba

Interesting - you do need a guide to understand the history and what remains of the structures.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide Roseta was especially enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the archaeology and birds. Sergio was a great and safe driver and took us to an authentic Soda cafe for lunch.

Transport

Private Hike Turrialba Volcano

Costa Rica

Once the cloud cleared (luckily) great views and an interesting hike around the side of the volcano seeing the dead forest and new agriculture.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Cahuita National Park Excursion + Group Snorkeling

Puerto Viejo de Talamanca

The Park was good and the guide excellent - saw 10 sloths and 2 snakes but relatively few birds, great path by the sea. Part of the track was closed due to wet weather. Our snorkeling was cancelled due to poor visibility following turbulent sea.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided Boat Excursion Through the Tortuguero Canals

Tortuguero

Boat trips allowed you to get close to wildlife and great opportunities for photography

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Thank you to the entire KimKim team for making our trip run so smoothly. They took care of us from the second we reached out until we touched down back home. Will absolutely be using them again in the future ❤️

Our guide Marino was amazing. He added so many details that we would have walked right by. He was flexible to our needs.

Activity Review

Private Guided Hike in Arenal Volcano Park 1968

Arenal/La Fortuna

Weather was very bad which hampered the experience.

Please thank your whole team, US and Costa Rica, for taking such good care of our group of four when we had car trouble. Everything about the trip was FANTASTIC. Our favorites by far were the Manuel Antonio National Park tour and the Selvatura Hanging Bridges. The hotels were fabulous, esp. Issimo Suites, in the treetops! We plan to use KimKim for every trip out of the country! Thank you again!

Olman worked quickly following up on our initial inquiry to put ideas into a plan. The drivers we had were courteous and professional, getting us safely to and from destinations. Our initial drive from the airport to our lodging was a bit too long after a full day of travel and made more difficult by standstill traffic, dark and rain. In general, I was not prepared for some of the winding, bumpy roads and switchbacks and was grateful not to be trying to find our way driving a rental car. The lodging, restaurants and staff in Arenal all were excellent. The hike to the volcano was more challenging than the photos of the trail indicated but our guide was very patient and kind. All accommodations were very clean with attentive, polite staff. The river safari, coffee and chocolate plantation, organic farm and cooking class, swinging bridges and night hike were all great activities. If anyone could help us obtain the recipes from our cooking class, that would be much appreciated. Attempts to connect with them online have not been fruitful. Our guide at Manuel Antonio Park was very good but the park was very crowded and busy, taking away from the beauty somewhat. Some tourists in surrounding groups were excessively loud and as a result some of the wildlife were driven away by their noise unfortunately. It seemed to take awhile for groups to be connected with guides on the night walk, but once that happened we were pleased with the guide we had as well as the small group size. The beach in Guanacaste was beautiful and we enjoyed walking there. There were many roving "vendors" trying to sell their merchandise on the beach but we didn't encounter anyone being overly aggressive and most usually moved on quickly. Costa Rica is a beautiful country and the people we met were proud and happy to share the country with us. My hope is that development and commerce can be managed so the many beautiful spots we visited are preserved for the future.

Olman and his team put together a trip that we could not have done ourselves. I had a pretty good idea of what we wanted and looked at doing it myself. But without the local knowledge and connections, it would have been difficult at worst and most likely impossible.

We wanted upscale hotels and they were in fact amazing. The excursions also were perfect - exactly what we hoped for. Local transfers were great. Everything was seamless and no stress.

The only negative is the destinations were rather far apart. Driving in Costa Rica is challenging. The roads are narrow and mostly two lane. Traffic is terrible. So perhaps it would have been possible to find venues closer together (or maybe not - hard for us to know).

Hotel Reviews

Makanda by The Sea Hotel Adults Only

Manuel Antonio

Fabulous. Wonderful views and pools.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to the national park. VERY far from the previous hotel and far from the airport.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs

Fortuna

Our own pool! Volcano view! You'll love this place. Can't recommend highly enough.

Authenticity & Character

Location

This hotel was close to ziplining, coffee, and volcano. Set off by itself away from the crowd. In a perfect world it would be closer to the airport but what can you do.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hampton by Hilton San José Airport

Alajuela

This is exactly what you want. Five minutes from the airport. Reliable, easy to locate shuttle that goes every 15 minutes on the button. Free breakfast. No frills but very nice, clean, and US standard.

Authenticity & Character

You aren't looking for authenticy and character from an airport hotel.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Manuel Antonio National Park Guided Hike

Costa Rica

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sky Tram, Ziplines & Sky Walk Adventure

Arenal/La Fortuna

just what we hoped for

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

El Silencio Volcano Hike

Arenal/La Fortuna

The hike we did was great. The second half fell through

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Coffee, Chocolate & Sugar Cane Farm Experience

Arenal/La Fortuna

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Elena was amazing. Knowledgeable and very pleasant to work with. She planned my bucket list trip of a life time exactly with precision and left no detail out. She included all of the activities that were important to me as well as my Niece and Great Niece that made this such a memorable experience

We had a private guide “Andy” who was so gracious wonderful. He shared his time and years of experience with a passion. He is an A+++ and represented your company very well

Our drivers were also amazing. Everything about Costa Rica was magical and special

Hotel Reviews

Hotel La Mariposa

Manuel Antonio

Wonderful accommodation. Staff were very nice and helpful Loved our resident 5 month old two toed sloth Lucy who visited daily Pool area was lovely and made it easy to meet other guests have drinks and relax

Authenticity & Character

Location

Situated beautifully on landscape. Felt private and had access to wildlife. Breakfasts were great

Staff

All were accommodating.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Room was great. Wonderful view.

Hotel & Spa Poco a Poco

Monteverde

All staff were very helpful and the location was wonderful. Quaint and welcoming and nestled into a lush landscape. We were welcomed at our first breakfast with a stunning rainbow 🌈 Loved the night walk. Highly recommend the zip line experience and walking through the cloud forest and hanging bridges

Authenticity & Character

The spa was a wonderful addition. After a day of walking we loved our massages and hot tub

Location

Quaint and tucked into the landscape.

Staff

Everyone

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hampton by Hilton San José Airport

Alajuela

Close to airport. Clean and friendly. Only there overnight to arrive and leave

Authenticity & Character

Location

Location and optional restaurants close bu

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

ATV Adventure Manuel Antonio

Manuel Antonio

Quality of Experience

Sadly I rolled my ATV into a creek and broke my foot

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Catamaran Tour with Meal

Costa Rica

Great staff. Great food. We enjoyed snorkeling and swimming off the boat before the bbq. Watching the sunset and the dolphins was so special

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Manuel Antonio National Park Guided Nature Hike

Manuel Antonio

Our guide was great. He was able to find many species for us. So many creatures, so little time

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cloud Forest Reserve Privately Guided Hike

Monteverde

We did not have a guide. We chose to do this walk by ourselves and loved it

Quality of Experience

The view, the smell, the mist on my face. It is awe inspiring

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Countryside Horseback Ride

Monteverde

The farm was amazing. Greeted by goats dogs chickens and the barn cat The cowboys were wonderful and the scenery and ride was beautiful. Such vistas!! The farm was all organic and we were treated to a drink and lovely snack after the ride We even got to milk a cow and bottle feed a calf

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

All Day Adventure at Selvatura, including Zipline, Hanging Bridges, and Fauna Exhibitions

Costa Rica

The team that conducted the zip line adventure were excellent. Friendly and funny. Very informative and careful with safety

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Night Walk at Children's Eternal Forest

Monteverde

Hard to get good photos in the dark. The guides were very helpful in assisting Guide was good but wished we could have seen more frogs

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Drivers were interactive and provided information about Costa Rica

We had a wonderful trip. The Serendipity guides were extremely knowledgeable and helpful. The accommodation was excellent and ending the trip by the beach was just perfect.

Having rarely used a travel agent, I was not sure if I would need one for this trip to Costa Rica, but since we had never been before, I wanted the security of having a specialist help us plan. And I really loved the convenience of the KimKim online platform where I could identify the exact details for our trip. What started as a family trip for four, eventually became a trip for just my husband and I and Holden was very helpful, very responsive and able to accommodate all of our requests with ease. Even when we had a small hiccup with our choosen hotel, Holden came through and pulled off an amazing alternate plan. The hotels were stunning and well appointed and made the trip even better. The drivers were super knowledgeable and helpful navigating the country. The tours booked were OUTSTANDING. Great overall experience for sure!

Activity Reviews

Canyoning in Arenal

Arenal/La Fortuna

AMAZING!!! This was the highlight of our trip by far. The staff was outstanding. The views impeccable. The experience unmatched. The waterfalls stunning....just amazing all around.

Quality of Experience

Just amazing--from the views, to the challenge level, to the safety...just all around great.

Food

Very traditional Costa Rican dishes--so much flavor and super tender. Delicious

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Dario, and his entire team were fabulous.

Transport

Little glitch at the end only because we had to check out of our hotel, but in the end it all worked out perfectly.

Private Guided Hike in Arenal Volcano Park 1968

Arenal/La Fortuna

This hike was really just ok. Our guide was AMAZING, and very knowlegeable and he tried to pull out little details we wouldn't have ever seen without him, but there really wasn't much to see (and it was not due to the cloud cover).

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Great guide--Mariano was amazing and knew so much about the area. Even suggested a great stop for lunch which we wouldn't have ever done. Just awesome!

Transport

So much fun hanging out with Mariano.

Coffee, Chocolate and Sugar Cane Farm Tour

Arenal/La Fortuna

Our guide was fun, passionate and very knowledgeable about the process of coffee and chocolate from growing to harvesting to production. The tasting experience was super helpful and we learned a lot about the entire process.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We were with a larger group and being that our hotel was the farthest away, we had to sit for a bit longer than other guests.

Big Arenal Mundo Aventura Zipline

Arenal/La Fortuna

Everything about this trip was amazing. The sites. The staff. The precautions to make us feel safe. Just truly superb! Loved every second of it!!

Quality of Experience

Ziplines of all options made this super interesting

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Fun, smart and great overall guides made this trip even more amazing!

Transport

Fun short ride in a tractor was cool...

First time using KimKim and oh, the experience was par excellent!! Right from start to finish- Kat and Kate were super helpful, professional, courteous, prompt, and simply amazing.

The itinerary that Kat created for us was perfect. The communication was on point. Kate from operations did an incredible job. The private taxis, private wildlife tours, the hotels … everything was great!

Midway we wanted to change taxi pickup timings. But it was the weekend and I thought oh we’ll probably hear back on Monday. But lo behold, both Kat and Kate responded and that was really kind of them. Mary helped with our last minute request. Thank you!

Their partner operators in Costa Rica, Javier and Sharon, were very kind and helpful too. All the taxi drivers were wonderful too! Okay, in gist- everyone was simply wonderful!

The accommodation arrangements were fantastic. The weather in one place wasn’t quite what we enjoyed, but that’s just Mother Nature! As for the wildlife (our main interest)- absolutely breathtaking! Vibrant toucans, sleepy sloths, caiman, and more! On the last day of our stay there, a monkey actually tried to open our room door! I caught it on video. That was epic!!

In gist, booking our Costa Rica trip with the help of KimKim was totally worth it. Highly recommended!

Hotel Reviews

Arenal Manoa & Hot Springs

Fortuna

Lovely jungle lodge. Breakfast was great! People were great. Birds galore! Caiman too!! Overall nice.

Authenticity & Character

Beautiful lush greenery and a ton of birds!!

Location

Well nothing to improve! Personally we found it to be far from the downtown. That’s just personal preference.

Staff

Helpful and nice

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very well kept!

Holiday Inn Express San Jose Airport

San Jose

Eh, basic Holiday Inn Room. Okay for one night stay. Room was smelly. Proximity to airport: excellent! Just 5 mins away.

Authenticity & Character

Location

5 mins from airport

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ficus Sunset Suites

Monteverde

Gorgeous location, gorgeous suite, gorgeous sunsets!! We didn’t want to leave!! Close proximity to the lovely downtown. We could literally walk to everything. Close yet away from the noise. 5 stars! The front desk people were awesome. We weren’t fans of the breakfast though. The guy there wasn’t exactly giving off pura vida vibes, if you ask me! The options too were kinda eh. The accommodation itself was excellent!

Authenticity & Character

Beautiful interiors, great coffee in room

Location

Sunsets!! Downtown

Staff

Smiley, friendly, courteous

Cleanliness & Comfort

Great housecleaning, lovely furniture and decor

Activity Reviews

Traditional Cooking Class with Dinner

Arenal/La Fortuna

The cooking class was fun because of the company we had. Two other travelers were in our little group. The cooking class itself seemed a little “let’s wing it” kinda thing. Would have liked it to be more organized and upbeat. Perhaps some music in the background. Proper recipe cards for each participant, some hey let’s take pictures … that kinda thing. Upon one of the participants’ request, the cooking instructor emailed us the recipes later. There was also some confusion on a dancing class post dinner. Also it wasn’t a 2hr50 min activity. More like under 2 hours. All in all, a little disappointing. The food was yummy though.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve Hike

Monteverde

Okay, I’m probably being a bit snooty here. But having lived in Seattle for a major part of my life, the rainforest walk itself wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. If you’ve never been to a rainforest, you should probably go and experience. Our guide Will Nunez though- oh what a brilliant guide!! He has a ton of knowledge on all flora and fauna of Monteverde and CR in general. He showed us two tarantulas!! That was the highlight, really! As for birds, they were there alright, but hard to spot because of the dense forest. We did see a beautiful hummingbird chick in a nest. I think we enjoyed Will’s company more than the rainforest itself!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Will Nunez rocks!!

Transport

Private Guided Walk at Curi-Cancha Reserve

Monteverde

Our guide Oscar was brilliant! Knowledgeable and knew exactly where to take us so we could see the beautiful CR birds. Including the endangered Quetzal!! Didn’t realize how fast the 4 hours went by!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport