Kimkim Trip Reviews for Costa Rica

The best activity with great guides and nice boat rides. Our main guide was outstanding in showing the wildlife..we saw very nice birds and different types of monkeys. The boat driver and guide were instrumental in these experiences. Food were great too!

Great guide on history of volcano and nice short hike. Not outstanding beauty

A gorgeous hotel centrally located in the town for walking to nearby restaurants. A big plus were the dozens of white faced monkeys who were everywhere.

Wonderful suite, excellent staff and delicious meals including a huge buffet breakfast.

The Park walk was underwhelming. We saw more animals at our hotel.

The ship was lovely and the crew were very friendly

We visited some pretty area that we wouldn’t likely have seen

Rappelling off of several waterfalls was thrilling

I have a fear of heights but I was assured that I could zip line safely.

Amazing ocean views from our beautiful room. We had monkeys on our deck that were fun to watch and a sloth that was in the tree right next to our room. It was so close!! It was an amazing experience.

Beautiful views from our room. Breakfast was amazing! Friendly staff and clean rooms and wonderful amenities ! Beautiful location!

Beautiful.

We saw lots of frogs! So cool

We would not have seen most of the animals that we saw without our amazing guide Socio! I would not recommend this trip without a guide. The park was absolutely beautiful

Fun to see all the beautiful butterflies

Fun

Mariano was extremely knowledge and friendly. We had a great time learning and seeing the sites

Great views and services.

This walk is very dependent on what you see. The night we went was not super interesting - bugs and a couple birds.

Hike was good - guide was knowledgeable and interesting. We had a partly day but views were still nice. Hot springs were ok - better pools than our hotel; but would do something else next time as most hotels have something similar.

Great overall experience at the park - bridge guide was very knowledgeable and zipline team made everyone feel comfortable and safe.

Beautiful surroundings, excellent pool, excellent beach access with great restaurant at the beach and beach-side service. Great amenities and options for activities--surfing lessions, bird watching, monkey sighting, etc. Excellent restaurant at the hotel itself. The mountain view room was excellent for wildlife sighting--we saw howler monkeys in the valley below and scarlet macaws in the tree above our little "yard".

Beautiful surroundings and views. Endémica restaurant is fantastic with so many delicious options and a beautiful fireplace and balcony. Very friendly and accommodating staff. Removed enough from Monteverde that you must call a cab to go into town. A little more difficult for families--we had the largest suite, the Tityra Junior Suite for our family of three (parents & 1 teen son), and it's still only one large room (with king bed & a daybed) with a large bathroom. In the future, I might book 2 different rooms. The nature trails around the property were great for hiking and some wildlife, and the bird viewing as well as cloud forest views from the balconies were excellent.

It was fun to learn about the breeding project that has been so successful at reinvigorating the scarlet macaw population in Costa Rica--what a great accomplishment! In terms of seeing the macaws, we were led to the area where food is put out for them, which our guide did, and tons of them came to eat the food provided (these were birds that had been bred & hatched at the center then released into the wild after 2-3 years--the center provides less than 50% of their daily nutritional requirements--can't remember exactly how much--20-40%??--so that the released birds can learn to forage and survive on their own but have a backup just in case). So we learned a lot about the project and are happy that we were able to support the project. But we were hoping to see the actual breeding center itself--where the eggs are laid/chicks are hatched, and that wasn't part of the tour. Also it was billed as a 3-hour experience, and only lasted about 45 minutes (plus transportation there & back--about 10 min each way).

Saw lots of wildlife including many "lifer" birds as well as howler monkeys! Learned lots about the local flora as well--very interesting. Great view of Sámara beach during the hike.

We loved this adventure! Unfortunately, we were there during a season when the fishing wasn't great so we didn't catch anything--but our son (a seasoned fisherman) was OK with that ("that's why they call it fishing and not catching"). The boat ride was beautiful and we saw lots of dolphins right alongside the boat. The snorkeling was great too--our son spotted a ray as well as a turtle for us all! The boat driver & fishing guide were fantastic as well--and the fruit at the end of the ride was incredibly delicious!

The food was excellent and the service fantastic. The view was amazing!

Katherine, our guide, was fabulous! We loved chatting with her and learning from her. I would highly recommend this experience!

Oscar, our birding guide, was fantastic! Knowledgeable, and very accommodating to our birding priorities!

LOVED the ziplining! The hanging bridges were great too--saw lots of wildlife including many birds and a snake!

Great stay

Fantastic stay with amazing views. Large area to yourself, hot tub, and views

Fantastic experience

Beautiful location and accommodations

Fantastic!!

There is a reason this hotel consistently gets 5 stars! We loved the restaurant, the tranquil vibes, and the remodeled modern rooms. We saw coatis, agutis, mott-mott birds and tucans right from the resort. We also enjoyed the hiking trails right next door (where we saw an armadillo and lots of hummingbirds), the soaking tubs, and the fire pits. The food at Koora was definitely the best of our three resorts. And the staff connected via WhatsApp, so any questions we had could be texted to them (e.g., Which nearby restaurants would you recommend and can you call us a taxi to the restaurant?). We also enjoyed the coffee and snack they left in the room. Our only recommendation would be to add more hooks for hanging towels and wet swimsuits. Koora was fantastic!

We stayed at this hotel because it was the site of a destination wedding to which we were invited. This hotel is situated on a hill and extends pretty much from top to bottom, counting the restaurants. There are numerous room areas (designated A through E) that are scattered from reception (near the top) to the bottom of the hill. A is at the top and E, where we stayed, was at the bottom. Some units are part of a larger building, bungalows (which we had) look more like singles. The hotel has an aeronautic theme, so some rooms include the nose of a plane. Staying at area E meant that we were close to the lovely beach, but a bit of a distance from other areas, including reception. The hotel readily provides transport from area to area on demand, but my husband and I walked most of the time. That meant a fairly steep walk up to pool areas or to reception or to the restaurants. Despite our ages (70s) we were able to do it successfully. This hotel is not meant for those with mobility issues. Our unit had a balcony overlooking the beach. It would have been idyllic, but the noise from the main road below was very intrusive. We were able to tune out regular car noise, but there were many busses, trucks, motorcycles and vehicles with no mufflers. That was highly annoying. Each room has a kitchen. Although they claim the kitchen is fully stocked, we did not consider ours 'fully stocked'. Minimally is how I would describe it, though there was a cook top and refrigerator and microwave, some silverware and dishes. The biggest problem was the very weak light in the kitchen. We like to cook our own breakfasts and one could barely see in that kitchen even when the other lights in the unit were on. However, the rooms were large and comfortable and very clean. Maids come daily. Despite our hanging up our towels, the towels were changed every day. I found that surprising considering the ecological bent of Costa Rica. The only restaurant we used was Anaconda for lunch. We found it a very pleasant restaurant with good food. We especially enjoyed the lox sandwich. We only used the adults only pool which was half way between our room and reception. It was a very nice pool with a bar attached. It had great views all around it. There is a path for a short hike shown on the map but don't try to take it. It's largely impassable and not worth the trouble. One gets enough exercise hiking the regular hills in this hotel just to get to reception, restaurants, etc. All that said, the views from anywhere on the hotel property are exceptional. The foliage is lovely. We saw many birds, especially macaws and kiskadees and green parakeets. There were also white-faced monkeys and, somewhere off the premises, a howler monkey. It was only a short walk from our unit to the beach, which is a very beautiful beach. We can recommend this hotel, but with the stated reservations.

My husband and I enjoyed this experience. Los Pinos is not a 'traditional' hotel. Guests have their own cabin; our cabin was clean and comfortable and had a rustic-look. We had a 'junior' cabin, which meant that we had one queen-sized bed. Some cabins were a bit smaller but most were larger and could accommodate families. Each cabin has a fully-stocked kitchen. Ours was stocked with vinegar and oil for salads, salt and pepper, coffee and tea. There was a toaster oven, a cook top, refrigerator and plenty of dishes and pots and pans. We looked upon this hotel as 'glamping'. Los Pinos was situated on its own preserve on a hill. Monteverde is, of course, very hilly. Having no car, we had a short uphill walk to our cabin from the registration area. Our suitcases were transported to our cabin. The site was private and wooded, just as we like. There was a picnic table and chair outside the cabin on the porch but it was generally too chilly for us to make good use of them. We were there in late March. The cabin was very spacious and warm indoors. Some might be put off by the fact that one could not put toilet paper down the toilet, but it didn't bother us terribly. It was, however, very difficult to remember to do so as habit is so strong. The bathroom was well ventilated and there was no bad smell. Maid service came every day and removed the trash. We very much enjoyed the ecological point of view espoused in Costa Rica. The person working in reception was always most helpful even though we required little. There is a private reserve with a trail that one can hike but we found nothing of note on the hike . We do not really recommend this activity. It was fine for the exercise. There is a nice lookout at the top, but the day we were there it was quite cloudy. Best to walk to Curi Cancha and walk around that lovely park. Be sure to eat at Stella's on the way.

Hotel Lomas del Volcan was an excellent hotel. The rooms were spacious and clean. The bathroom was large and luxurious. There was no refrigerator in the room but there was really no need for one. The breakfast buffet was included and provided a wide choice of food. Service was excellent. For dinner, one could eat at the bar, the pool, or the restaurant if one wanted more formal, bigger dinners. The food was good. My husband and I especially appreciated the fabulous landscaping at the property. It was obvious a great deal of care went into it. There were beautiful flowers, trees and shrubs everywhere. There were a fair amount of birds and many people joined birdwatching groups to admire the birds. We also enjoyed the monkeys. Mostly there were spider monkeys which one could see best in the early morning or evening. We never saw the howler monkey but its howls reverberated early in the morning and in the evening. I was fascinated by it so it never bothered me. The service at the hotel was excellent in general and they were highly responsive if we needed something. The hotel is situated a bit far from the town. You would have to get a taxi if you wanted to go into town for anything, but we didn't really need to. We had a local tour every day and were occupied when we returned to the hotel. There is a walking trail that one can take, but we didn't see anything special on it. It's best to walk the main grounds of the hotel and admire the foliage and the bird population. All in all, we recommend the hotel.

My husband I like to kayak but this trip fell a bit short. We took the trip in the late morning and that may have made a difference. It was very hot and anything interesting was probably hidden away. There ended up being two guides for us two people. One, the secondary guide, was quite interesting and talked a lot to us. The main guide was informative during the ride, but got quieter during the trip. Basically, we paddled through mangrove trees for an hour or so. It gets very repetitive. The best part was the last 10 minutes when we actually saw two interesting birds. It wasn't our best trip. The kayaks are not propelled by paddles as we are used to. They are propelled by pedaling, as in a reclining bicycle. Steering them is also very different from our norm, and it took a few minutes to get used to. I would not really recommend this tour, but it could be better at a different time of day.

We very much enjoyed this tour. It took about 45 minutes to get there from our hotel, but the surroundings were interesting to watch during the ride. The guide at the farm was excellent. We learned a lot about vanilla and saw examples of the plants and orchids. The guide showed us many spice trees and plants on the farm and described in good detail how each was harvested. We learned a lot. Best yet, we got to sample some of the vanilla and chocolate in drinks, cake and ice cream. It was a lovely tour.

It was an interesting excursion. The bridges were sturdy and easy to walk. The views were excellent. It was worthwhile. We took the ride to the top, but it was so very cloudy and rainy that we couldn't see too much. We were grateful that we did not do the zip lining in the cold rain. Our guide was very good, though and enjoyable.

This tour focused heavily on the plants and the cloud forest itself, rather than the birds and all of the animals. The guide was excellent and his passion for the environment was evident. We really enjoyed our time with him. Although he focused on plants, he identified a few birds for us and teased a tarantula out of its hole so that we could get a good look. We gained a lot from this tour and highly recommend it to others.

This is a great activity. We had a private tour. The guide was friendly and fun. We saw at least 20 birds, including the elusive quetzal. It was a great activity, probably the best of our trip.

My husband and I enjoyed this activity start to finish. It gave one a perspective on the life of the indigenous peoples back in time which gave way to present days issues. The demonstrations were fascinating. They demonstrated a wedding ceremony, how they made their clothes and how they made bows and arrows. I actually shot an arrow and hit the target. Big win for me. The lunch was delicious. We highly recommend.

The guide was friendly and knowledgeable. The hike was excellent. The guide told us a lot about the area and pointed out interesting animals and birds, particularly the birds. It was a group hike and it was interesting meeting the various travelers. The waterfall experience was a bit less so for us. We were the only ones on this part of the trip and had no idea what to expect. It turns out that the waterfall is 500 steps down and 500 back up. You can swim in the pool but one has to clamber over huge rocks to get there. After we got back to the top we were taken to a private farm to table lunch at a restaurant owned by the tour company. It was a lovely secluded site, but the food was so-so. We enjoyed the day, however.

It was a beautiful hot springs. We had the dinner and it was very good. We aren't ones for sitting in water for long periods of time nor for drinking extensively in the pool, so it was not a long experience for us. It was, however, very relaxing.

It was right in the middle of La Fortuna. A little loud and run down but easy to get to all activities.

Rooms definitely need updating but the location and views were off the charts. Everyone was very friendly.

This hotel felt like a treehouse. It was amazing. Needs a little updating (bathroom) but the bed was so comfortable! The views were ridiculous!! Everyone working there was so kind and super friendly.

Very cool design and nice touches. Very clean and comfortable. Wonderful location. The family pool is a bit small and the beach is a bit far from the main part of the hotel, but the staff was so helpful providing rides back and forth to the beach.

Great family friendly hotel with beautiful hot springs and pools, friendly staff and very good food. Though it was cloudy during our stay, it has a terrific view of the volcano.

Arenal Springs Resort & Spa was definitely the highlight of my accommodations on this trip. The place was simply luxurious and stood out compared to the other hotels. Everything about it was top-notch, from the atmosphere to the services provided. I felt entirely pampered during my stay. It's one of those places you can't help but look forward to coming back to after a day of exploring.

I told you I can't say enough good things about Tortuguero and cruising around the canals looking for wildlife.

Love, love, love touring through the Toruguero Canals. You see something different all of the time. Our guides were great: Ronny, Bony and Lilly did an excellent job!

Great little walk around the village. You do not realize how close you are to the Carabean Sea until you walk through the village. A nice fruit milkshake just hit the spot on a hot day.

This was a fantastic tour. You just see so much more from the vantage point of being on the water. Great tour!

Awesome tour with Mariano! He was just great. So informative. He had a great sense of humor and was just so fun!

The history of how the Children's Cloud Forest was created is amazing. European children were moved to conduct bake sales and other fund raisers to help preserve what is now known as the Children's Cloud Forest in honor of their efforts.

Monteverde Cloud Forest is just awesome. You can do the walk without a guide, but you get so much more out of it, if you have one.

This was fun and informative tour. Chocolate and coffee are so important to the history and economics of Costa Rica. It was great to learn about the growing and the processes for making coffee and chocolate. Definitely glad I did this tour.

Our guide Andy, made this a very special trip. He was so fun and easy to be with. He really knows his birds and helped us find and identify many that we would not have seen without him. I do like the Curi-Cancha Reserve. It is so beautiful with lots of opportunities for seeing special birds.

hilltop location was great. food in the restaurant was outstanding.

My kids loved the water park. Food was ok but everything else was great.

This was a highlight. great experience overall. Probably the best zip lining i've done anywhere. Really a high quality experience. I would strongly recommend.

Great experience. i would highly recommend. Got to see chocolate making, sugar cane and coffee all on the same trip. Well done and our guide was great.

It was good, but there were a lot of people there with us. saw some cool frogs other things but not a lot else. it was worth doing.

Hike was nice but a little short. would have liked to hike longer. maybe took an hour or slightly more.

We had a great time and the rafting was better than expected.

We had a great stay at La Mariposa. It is a beautiful hotel, with breathtaking views of the Pacific. The staff are first class. The restaurant has delicious food. We recommend it higghly. Isaac & Shari Harris

We enjoyed our stay at El Silencio. It is a very laid back, beautiful facility, with villas, hot spring pools, a spa, a restaurant, & an active farm. There are beautiful views of the Arenal Volcano. The staff are very helpful. It is great for adults travelling alone, as well as travelers with kids who can enjoy the farm, & the free ranging animals throughout the property, in addition to all the other amenities. We highly recommend the resort. Isaac & Shari Harris

What really appealed to the younger members of the group was the nearby river warm enough for swimming.

Of course, this was a must-do for our grandsons, and was really a great experience. The young men manning the zip lines took their jobs seriously and treated each traveler with respect and humor.

This was fun! We saw more wildlife here than anywhere else on our trip. Our guide and boat driver were patient and skilled observers. The buffet lunch on sight was delicious, and there were not hoards of tourists.

The hotel was nice and the volcano springs were amazing. The hotel was very busy though and reminded us of a Disney World hotel here in Orlando Florida. Several daily buses unloaded with guests for daily use of the Hot Springs. It made the hotel and springs very busy. They also charged us an additional $100 a day for a 5th person. We booked two rooms both with double beds and one with a pullout couch. However, when we went to check in, they charged us $100 for every night to have the third person in one of the rooms even though there was bedding for the 3 people. I thought this was a rip off and unnecessary. They insisted on the charge and would not budge. We had no choice but to pay it.

Lovely hotel- quaint, charming, modern, and beautiful! Was perfect for a family of five with two adjacent rooms that shared one large balcony. The view was amazing from the room and from the outdoor restaurant restaurant balcony area.

The hiking of the volcano was fair. Our toy guide was great. He shared a lot of information with us. He was kind, hospitable, and professional. We enjoyed getting to know him. We also enjoyed learning from him.

The zip line was no joke. We have zip line many times in the United States and have never been that high or gone that far. The staff was nice, kind, and professional. The kids loved it. It was quite an experience.

The boat ride was nice. The workers were kind and fun! The food was fair. The drinks were good! The water was unclear the day we went , so the snorkeling was not good.

Family of five had an amazing experience on the 3 to 4 rapids white water rafting. Congo was a trip! We enjoyed getting to know him and had a lot of fun. We felt safe the entire time. The nature was beautiful!

We loved this hike. Our guide was very knowledgeable, kind and professional. We were able to see howling monkeys, white face, monkeys, slots, and various birds, lizards, and bats.

Dantica Cloud Forest Lodge was okay. The service was nice, and although the place itself didn't stand out significantly, it was fine for a short stay. It met our basic needs for sure!

The Golden Pineapple Villas in Uvita were lovely, but a bit too remote and isolated for my liking. The accommodations were nice, and the staff was very pleasant, but they didn't offer much in the way of planning or activities. It felt like we were on our own to figure out things to do, and given the location, that was a challenge. We ended up scrambling to find activities and, unfortunately, wasted quite a bit of time.

The Golden Pineapple is indeed an ideal retreat for relaxation if you're into lounging by the pool, but that wasn't what I was looking for. We were more active travelers and found the lack of planning and activities a bit frustrating. For those who enjoy just laying back and enjoying the scenery, it might be fantastic, but we were left wanting more structure and options.