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Trip to Costa Rica
Costa Rica | Jul 13 - Jul 23, 2019

G
Garrett S.
San Diego, CA | Reviewed on Jul 25, 2019

We just returned from an 11-day family vacation in Costa Rica and it was truly fantastic. We had a great balance of planned adventures and downtime that we used to explore on our own. The tours and hotels organized by Randall were all great, and I am so glad we decided to have an expert organize our itinerary instead of trying to figure it out ourselves. Below are the brief reviews of the major highlights of our trip:

Balsa River rafting with WAVE: 5/5. Fun river, great guide, great lunch. Wished it were longer!
Arenal Springs Resort: 5/5. Beautiful resort, nice rooms, nice hot springs, amazing breakfast.
Horseback/Waterfall: 5/5. Nice guide, great scenery, just the right length.
Arenal Hike + Tabacon Hot Springs: 5/5. Terrific guide, interesting history, saw red-eye leaf frog. Evening at hot springs was really relaxing, the buffet at Tabacon was just OK.
Sloth Tour: 3/5. Booked this on our own... seeing the first sloth was cool but after 2 hours they're kind of boring. Very nice restaurant stop at the end.
Car/Boat/Car trip to Monteverde: 5/5. Enjoyed practicing my Espanol with driver Hugo. Rough road, wouldn't want to drive this ourselves!
Hotel Ficus: 4/5. Nice room, lacked fan, restaurant was just OK, too pricey for dinner.
Twilight hike: 3/5. It was OK, but we got really wet and only saw bugs.
100% Aventura Ziplining: 5+/5. Whole family loved this! Tarzan swing at the end is a true test of courage.... just do it!
El Trapiche plantation tour: 5/5. Booked this on our own... very nice coffee/sugar farm tour with chocolate demo too, and tasty samples of everything.
Car trip to Manuel Antonio: 5/5. Private van, our driver Rafael was very friendly and took us to a great soda for lunch. And he stopped so we could see Croc Bridge - very cool!
Hotel Costa Verde: 5/5. Great location, spacious rooms, and plenty of monkeys!
Catamaran Cruise: 3/5. Nice day on the water, but the snorkeling is not really any good. Lots of hot, boring waiting before boarding the boat. We paid for the ship paparazzi photos and felt it was a ripoff for what we actually got. Lunch was decent, crew was friendly.
Espadilla Beach: 5/5. Great beach for relaxing and swimming. Rented cheap surfboards for the kids. Lots of monkeys here too!
Manuel Antonio National Park: 5/5. Beautiful, but prepare to get HOT and SWEATY. Lots of monkeys here.

Overall we had a great time and we could have never figured this all out without Randall. Thanks for the great adventures!

Local specialist: Randall Jiménez
Randall
Randall Jiménez
Local specialist in San José, Costa Rica | Replied on Jul 29, 2019
Dear Garrett, It is great to read your review about the trip and confirm that you and your family had a great time with the arrangements that we organized for you. I really want to appreciate your detailed feedback about the hotels, transportation and activities that you experienced along the trip, including also those additional activities and extra services that you booked directly. It is very important for me to read your impressions and improve customer service to those travelers who... Read more

Dear Garrett,

It is great to read your review about the trip and confirm that you and your family had a great time with the arrangements that we organized for you.

I really want to appreciate your detailed feedback about the hotels, transportation and activities that you experienced along the trip, including also those additional activities and extra services that you booked directly. It is very important for me to read your impressions and improve customer service to those travelers who are planning to travel with us in the future.

I wish you all the best to you and your family and when you are ready to plan your next vacation to Costa Rica, you know where to find me ;)

Best,
Randall

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