Gustavo Camperos

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!

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.

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 ❤️

Using a travel agency/booking guides to plan, organize and adjust our itinerary and logistics for our trip to Costa Rica was a huge departure from our usual do it yourself travel. It was a first for us actually. So we obviously had some fears and trepidations in how it would all work out. We needn't have worried. Everyone we dealt with was professional and quick to adjust our plans as needed. From early on there were changes that had to be made. Perhaps most notable though were the cancellation of two of our planned and paid for activities due to weather conditions. I am very pleased those were refunded in full. The rental car seemed a little sketchy as we neared our departure day as I was unable to find much information or reviews on them but Sun Valley Rentals turned out to be a pleasure to deal with and we especially liked the pick up and drop off right at the airport. No un-nerving shuttle to deal with. The only glitz was the rep was not waiting for us when we arrived and I ended up paying a local who could see I was searching for awhile for them to call Sun Valley for me. I take the blame here though as apparently he sent us a message via Watts App which we missed. Still, he wasn't there with a sign as planned.
You really listened to what we wanted in Costa Rica and picked two perfect lodgings for us based on those wishes. We really feel we had two vacations in Costa Rica thanks to the dramatic differences between our lodges in Monteverde and Guanacaste. We experienced all the experiences we asked for, when the weather cooperated. We experienced a tropical storm and winds, rain and heavy rain our first three days there. Thanks in part to your help, we were able to salvage much of what could have been a disaster. I suppose you could suggest that folks vacationing in the cloud forest may experience significantly harsher weather conditions than expected. We had temperatures in the upper 40's (F) and winds in excess of 70mph! We took it in stride and even had some good laughs with other good natured tourists as we all admitted we had been wearing all the clothes we brought with us for three days in a row now :)
Our favorite highlights of our trip were the el tigre waterfall, tree top dining and everything about Rio Perdido, especially the thermal river and the overall complete lack of crowding (we hiked to miles without seeing anyone) and incredible privacy of our lodging.
Our planner was Gustavo and Kate assisted us while in Costa Rica.

Hotel Reviews

Cloud Forest Lodge

Monteverde

Very personal intimate experience, especially with the staff. Excellent food choices and quality. Loved the fireplace! Property is impeccably maintained and offers nice hiking, bird watching and other amenities.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Río Perdido Hotel & Thermal River

La Fortuna

exceeded our expectations in every way. Perhaps the nicest lodge we've stayed at overall. The bungalows are extremely private and designed so well I found myself photographing many features of them to perhaps implement some of those ideas in my own house someday. The outdoor shower, the lava exfoliating tiles on the floor, the copper trough bathroom sink. Just wonderful. Couldn't believe the privacy we had in everything we did. Had the thermal river to ourselves, the hiking paths to ourselves and even the restaurant almost to ourselves. So much so that I questioned if they were perhaps not very booked and was stunned to hear they were at 100%.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Private Treetop Dining Experience with Wine Pairing

Monteverde

One of the best dining experiences I've ever had. The waiter was a true professional who really added to the experience. Not only did we enjoy 9 gourmet foods and wines but we learned a lot about the country. The setting was as unique and beautiful as the photos.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

El Tigre Waterfalls Excursion

Monteverde

Good description overall. Swimming on this hike should not always be expected. We had 4 layers, raingear and muddy boots on. Horseback ride was cool!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

TreeTram, Hanging Bridges & Zipline Adventure

Monteverde

I'm not usually much into such planned and organized activities as this but figured when in Rome. I've done hanging bridges and ziplines before so expected about the same. I was wrong. The Hanging bridges put you in or above the canopy which is other- worldly and a must see in Costa Rica. The ziplines are very fast and with the clouds present gave us the experience of plunging into a fog bank! Exciting and un-nerving at the same time.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a great time spending two weeks in Costa Rica

Highlights and best memories:

1. Frog night tour with Kendry our first night in country outside of La Fortuna.
2. Saw and heard 133 species of birds using Merlin ID app - highly recommend downloading the Costa Rica bird data
3. Saw 2- and 3-toed sloths, howler and squirrel monkeys, white-faced capuchins, coati mundi, agouti, squirrels, bats, peccaries and skunk! Also crocodiles (at Tarcolos), iguanas, lizards, venomous snakes, tarantulas, mango crabs and wonderful small hermit crabs in all sorts of seashells at Manuel Antonio beach,
4. Excellent and memorable dinner at San Lucas Treetops in Monteverde. Also enjoyed the farm to table cooking class outside Quepos with Caesar and Crystal and the foodie tour in San Jose with Andrea. Dinner at Sikwa in San Jose and food at Hotel Guachipelin were also memorable.
5. Covered rain forest, cloud forest and dry forest habitats at La Fortuna, Tenorio, La Finca Farm, Monteverde, Santa Elena, Rincon de la Vieja and Manuel Antonio with excellent guides Kendra, Melany, Olman, Fatima, Olivier & Corey.
6. Orchid garden and hummingbird feeders at Cloud Forest Lodge and the hummingbird gallery in Monteverde; butterfly gardens in San Jose (Spirogyra and National Museum), El Jardin Orotina (best place to see 100s of Morphos and it’s free), and Manuel Antonio.
7. National Museum, Jade Museum and Museum of Precolumbian Gold in San Jose
8. Seeing cloud forest canopy and epiphytes from a different perspective at Treetopia
9. Good choices of hotels overall with breakfast free and good dining options at almost all.
10. Good hike seeing waterfalls and hot springs on the grounds of Hotel Guachipelin with one of our favorite guides, Olivier. The Montezuma Oropendulas, Amazons and two different owls calling at night there were also memorable
11. The chocolate, sugar cane and coffee tour at Don Juan’s was much more informative and fun than I was expecting. Seeing the cacao beans during fermentation and tasting them before and after roasting was really instructive. If you’re lucky, they will prepare some Mayan Xochol for you to drink with freshly ground beans. Sampling fresh frogwater after squeezing one’s own sugar cane was also great fun.

Disappointing or not as enjoyable or memorable:

1. Overall, the fauna in the Cloud Forest (Monteverde, Tenorio, Santa Elena & Tretopia) was more disappointing and/or elusive than in other areas. Not sure if this was because of the time of year or our guides.
2. Snorkeling trip to Isla del Canos. The drive and boat trip took >2 hours each way and the snorkeling was not that much better than we could experience with less effort in Hawaii. Also, 1.5 hours in the water was quite tiring.
3. Not enough time to explore Papagayo beaches. Not sure that going to the coast from Rincon de la Vieja and then going back inland for a long round trip to Tenorio was the best planning.
4. Los Lagos Resort in La Fortuna was the hotel at the bottom of our list: too touristy, tired rooms and poor food. Birds on site and landscaping were good though. I think we would have enjoyed a smaller boutique hotel in town.
5. Lots of driving! Next time, we’ll stay in fewer places and drive less
6. It was REALLY, REALLY wet in La Fortuna. Not KimKim’s fault, of course!

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Los Lagos Spa & Resort

La Fortuna

Resort was a little tired and touristy. Food was not the best

Authenticity & Character

Rooms and food

Location

Would prefer to have been in town

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Hacienda Guachipelín

Liberia

Great place to stay for a few days with good wildlife, lots of activities and two restaurants to enjoy.

Authenticity & Character

Architecture and wildlife on site

Location

Situated adjacent to Rincon de la Vieja National Park

Staff

Servers in restaurant were great

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Bosque del Mar

Playa Hermosa

Nice hotel right on beach at Playa Hermosa

Authenticity & Character

Location

Beach

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cloud Forest Lodge

Monteverde

Very quiet and well appointed hotel away from the more touristy parts of Monteverde. Food was excellent and the bird feeders at the restaurant were a treat

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Si Como No Resort & Wildlife Refuge

Manuel Antonio

Very nice grounds with a great pool, view of the ocean and great wildlife including scarlet macaws and toucans. Food at both restaurants was above average

Authenticity & Character

Location

There were a lot uneven steps down to get to our room

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Presidente

San José

Very well located in center of town although the entrance is not very obvious. Rooms and food were great. Free breakfast

Authenticity & Character

Location

In the middle of the city so there was city noise

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full-day Waterfalls Expedition

Rincón de la Vieja

We hiked for several hours with a very pleasant young man called Olivier who was knowledgeable about the flora, fauna and geography of the area. Saw howler monkeys and white faced capuchin and some great birds. Saw three waterfalls which were each spectacular. The first two we had completely to ourselves. The last one had a great swimming hole but there were quite a few people. It was nice to relax in the hot spring pools at the end after the hike, but they were also quite crowded. Beware: the no-see-um bugs in the parking lot were the most vicious bugs we encountered during the whole trip. The bites stayed with us for 2 weeks.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Olivier was very knowledgeable, polite and pleasant. After talking with others, we realized how lucky we were to get private transport between the Oropendula waterfall and the hot springs.

Transport

Sloth & Bird Hike

Arenal/La Fortuna

Very wet hike. Saw bedraggled specimens of both 2- and 3-toed sloths high up in trees, but they were huddled up and not moving much. It’s good sloth habitat. Also saw a BoatBilled Heron who was rather splendid. Good coffee at the place they took us after the hike and it was great watching birds eat plantain pieces while staying dry!

Quality of Experience

Boat Billed Heron.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Melany was our guide and she was an experienced spotter.

Transport

Private Rio Celeste & Finca Verde Nature Farm

Gulf of Papagayo

Hike through Tenorio National Park with great views of Arenal volcano and great cloud forest vegetation. Wildlife was a bit sparse however, and there was a very long wait with lots of people to see the waterfall, because of a landslide Finca Verde Nature Farm was excellent and we got to see a couple of sloths on the move as well some great birds.

Quality of Experience

Helmeted iguana. Keel billed Toucan. Sloths Great vegetation

Food

Good food and coffee at La Finca

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Olman spotted the helmeted iguana which was a great find although difficult to photograph. Fatima was a great spotter at La Finca.

Transport

Hanging Bridges Adventure

Monteverde

Best thing about the trip was seeing the rain forest canopy from above and getting a closeup view of all the epiphytes living high up on the tall cloud Forest trees. Also got to see a forest millipede and our first tarantula.

Quality of Experience

Guide was a wise guy and not very knowledgeable outside of his prepared spiel. Couldn’t distinguish moss from lichen

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Someone with more natural history expertise and less wisecracks

Transport

Nocturnal Frog Excursion & Traditional Costa Rican Dinner

Arenal/La Fortuna

One of the best nature hikes on our trip. Saw quite a few species including the Blue Jeans poison frog and the eponymous Red Eyed Leaf Frog

Quality of Experience

Beautiful garden with ponds and vegetation perfect for finding frogs

Food

Good chicken and rice; home made CR cuisine

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Kendry was good at finding frogs

Transport

Driver did a great job driving in pouring rain along potholed roads

Local Flavors Cooking Experience

Manuel Antonio

Got to prepare a great Costa Rican style meal with stewed chicken, rice, beans, salad, hand made tortillas, and plantain ceviche. Chef showed us exactly what to do and it turned out wonderful. Nice tour of farmers market in town and a beautiful farm with rabbits, goats, sheep, turkeys, hens, ducks, geese, peacocks, guinea hens and an enormous riding bull recuperating from a horn surgery. Also saw their organic garden, a vanilla plantation with pepper, cacao and coffee plants. Nice to see squirrel monkeys and a great toucan along with a gorgeous sunset

Quality of Experience

Picking our own produce from the organic garden and participating with our chef in making a great Costa Rican meal.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Caesar was a great guide and participant in the cooking class. Our chef was great too,

Transport

Snorkeling at Isla del Caño Biological Reserve

Manuel Antonio

Two snorkeling sites were selected, one with low visibility and lots of sand, where we saw several small sharks and a turtle, and the other which was shallower, had better visibility and more coral and nice reef fish. Overall, the snorkeling was not much better than some places in Hawaii and I was disappointed. I also got a mild foot cramp from so long in the water. Overall the trip was overrated for me: too much effort without enough return.

Quality of Experience

Food

Fruit, poor banana fruit and burritos with too much rice and not enough protein

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Driver showed up at 2pm but we were done by 1pm. We also had a 5:45am start from Manuel Antonio, but could have comfortably left 45-60 minutes later. Coffee on the drive in would have been appreciated

Manuel Antonio National Park Nature Hike

Manuel Antonio

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Treetop Dining Experience

Monteverde

A decadent gourmet dining experience in a glass wall treetop cabin at sunset. Well worth the splurge

Quality of Experience

Ambience and quality of the meal and service.

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our server was polite, personable and informative

Transport

Taxi overcharged us a lot on the way there. Ok on the way back

Food, History & National Museum Experience

San José

National Museum is not included in this tour so it should be renamed. Tour focuses on the Mercado Centrale and Costa Rican food primarily. There was some historical commentary and brief visits to the Cathedral and the lobby of the National Theater which was being renovated during our visit.

Quality of Experience

Sampling fresh and exotic fruits in the Market.

Food

Sampling local exotic fruits in the Mercado Centrale. Excellent mushroom coffee and tamales prepared by Eric. Lolo Mora ice cream.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Andrea was a little hard to understand at times especially in city traffic. Maybe a microphone for her and Bluetooth headsets for the attendees would help? That said, both she and Eric were informative and very personable

Fantastic, friendly, knowledgeable, thoughtful, engaged, as curious as those of us who had never been here before!