Great trip to Monteverde & Sámara, Costa Rica!
Costa Rica
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Mar 22 - Mar 30, 2025
Booking our family's trip to Costa Rica with kimkim was easy and streamlined. We simply told Gustavo what we were interested in doing & seeing, and what level accommodations we wanted, and he came up with a fantastic itinerary, including transfers between airports, hotels and activities, as well as great activities that we only needed to tweak a little on our initial call with him. In Monteverde, we particularly loved the zip lining at Treetopia Park Monteverde, our birding guide, Oscar with Ocotea Tours & Transfers (who was very flexible and indulging based on our birding priorities), and our coffee & chocolate tour with Katherine at Don Juan Monteverde. The treetop dining experience at San Lucas Treetop Dining Experience was fun too, and the food was delicious. In Sámara, we enjoyed our fishing and snorkeling adventure with Sámara Adventures, even though we didn't catch fish--but we saw lots of dolphins right up close to our boat! Our hike at the Werner Sauter Biological Reserve was good too--lots of wildlife. I would say that the Scarlet Macaw Refuge and Breeding Center Experience was a little disappointing; it was scheduled for 3 hours but only lasted about 1.5 hours including transportation; we had hoped to see the actual breeding facilities but only saw the macaws being fed by staff. This was great, but since we were staying at nearby Punta Islita, we had seen several of them flying around and eating in the trees on the resort property by the time we attended the experience. I will say that Punta Islita is a good 30 minutes away from Sámara, and 2 of our 3 experiences were in Sámara, so there was a lot of driving. The Hotel Punta Islita offers many of the same tours and adventures that we had with Sámara Adventures--so maybe we could have had fishing/snorkeling and hiking without as much driving if we'd used the hotel's options instead?
We loved our accommodations at the Cloud Forest Lodge in Monteverde and the Hotel Punta Islita, Autograph Collection near Sámara--especially the views and wildlife (mostly birds) at Cloud Forest, and the pool, beach access and wildlife (including howler monkeys & scarlet macaws) at Punta Islita. While both these accommodations are beautiful and fairly luxurious, they are both removed from local culture, making it more difficult to explore the nearby (far in the case of Sámara--about 30 minutes away) towns, restaurants and cultural life on foot without having to call a taxi or other ride service. They did have all the amenities we needed on site, but we found ourselves eating at the same hotel restaurant (which were still excellent) for most meals in each hotel. I wanted to have some local gallo pinto, but the hotel restaurant versions were not the same as the gallo pinto I got at sodas when I was in Costa Rica many years ago--and we never found the time to find a soda or smaller restaurant at which we could get authentic gallo pinto (though if we'd made more effort to call a taxi for a ride into town in Monteverde for lunch or dinner one day, I'm sure we could have found some!). In addition, neither of these accommodations seemed to have good suite options for a family of 3--2 adults and a teen son--that would allow for much privacy (Cloud Forest Lodge was better in this sense--at least there was a large bathroom). They would be better suited for a couple, or you'd have to book more than one room/suite.
Overall, we LOVED our trip to Costa Rica, and particularly loved the fact that booking with kimkim made it easy, with an easy-to-follow itinerary, so that we didn't have to worry about ground transportation (especially between airports & hotels) or scheduling of tours while in-country. It was great to have a schedule to follow, but also enough downtime to relax and enjoy the beauty of Monteverde and Punta Islita!
Hotel Reviews
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.
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".
Activity Reviews
LOVED the ziplining! The hanging bridges were great too--saw lots of wildlife including many birds and a snake!
Oscar, our birding guide, was fantastic! Knowledgeable, and very accommodating to our birding priorities!
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.
Katherine, our guide, was fabulous! We loved chatting with her and learning from her. I would highly recommend this experience!
The food was excellent and the service fantastic. The view was amazing!
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!
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).
