6 independent reviews for Costa Rica vacation, off the beaten track
Reviews for Costa Rica vacation, off the beaten track
Joanna Macrae review 5 Sep 2022
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Getting more or less to the top of Chirripo!2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
If you can, go for 3 weeks.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Brilliant.William Johnson review 20 Jan 2020
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
The rainforests, rafting and viewing the wildlife2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Try and work out what you would like to do, otherwise go with an open mind!3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes, in that it was local business owners that we were in contact with.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
It was a good way to see Costa Rica, and experience a range of activities. I would definitely recommend it.Naomi Hatch review 30 Jan 2019
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
We spent some time with the Bri Bri people who are indigenous to Costa Rica. They cooked all of our meals which were traditional food and took us swimming in the rainforest. The real highlight was making fresh chocolate with them from their Cocoa plantation. It was the nicest chocolate we had ever tasted and a truly unique experience!2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Fill your itinerary with lots of places! Costa Rica is a small country and there is so much to see, each place only requires 2-3 days max. Also self-drive is extremely easy, the roads are very simple and it's the easiest way to get around.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes definitely, they made sure that all of our experiences benefited the local people. All of the places we stayed with local wildlife were respectful and very careful to preserve the natural rainforest.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
10/10 it was an amazing experience, truly unique.Ruth Lambert review 13 Feb 2018
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Early morning canoe trip from Evergreen Lodge with Ray Brown wildlife watching. Snorkelling off Caņo island and seeing sea turtles.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Take easy drying clothing and plastic packing bags as difficult to dry things.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Hopefully we provided some employment for local people. The saving the rainforest kids project trip supports the project.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Read the operator's response here:
Hi Ruth,
Thanks ever so much for leaving us such a wonderful review of your vacation to Costa Rica, I'm really pleased that you had such an amazing time, particularly enjoying the snorkelling near to Corcovado, - this was one of my favourite spots too!
We look forward to helping you plan another adventure soon!
Best wishes,
Paula
Vince Payne review 21 Sep 2018
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
The stunning countryside, wildlife and how incredibly clean of litter it is, great not seeing plastic rubbish everywhere...2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Make sure you learn basic Spanish...3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
It really does and Costa Rica relies on tourism..4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
It was good though some of the places booked for me to stay were a let down due to isolation, paid for trips not happening and a couple of rude staff, though I put most of this down to the company I booked with..Read the operator's response here:
Hi Vince, thanks for your feedback and I'm really happy to hear you enjoyed the nature and wildlife that originally drew you to Costa Rica and could feel how much of a positive effect you were having while traveling with us. I'm sorry to hear about you feeling isolated, we do specialise in smaller more off-the-beaten-track lodges perfect for immersing yourself in Costa Rica's stunning nature but can see these might not suit the solo traveler sometimes. This has all been noted and I hope you still enjoyed your adventure as I know this was a precursor for a bigger trip that you are hoping to head out on soon. Thanks, Rob
Jackie Jones review 18 Apr 2017
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
The most memorable part of the vacation was encountering unexpected wildlife up close!2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
I would recommend that you should not spent too much time traveling but spend a few extra days at a good base. Traveling in Costa Rica, despite the relatively good roads, is not quick and can be quite a challenge. Costa Rica is also very expensive for everything! It was a nightmare getting in to San Jose due to some bridge construction and took a total of 3 hours to get to our hotel from the airport ( 1.5 hours through immigration and a further 1.5 hours in a shared taxi!) - not very environmentally friendly.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
I didn't really feel that local people benefitted except indirectly through having a job in the tourist industry. Items for sale were rarely produced in the country. Traveling by minibus was perhaps more environmentally friendly but there were so many buses!! Conservation is a tricky issue. Many educated locals appreciate their natural inheritance but ironically don't think their government are doing enough to save it. Many people continue to slash and burn the forest and then sell the land for building or worse still, for planting forests of oil palm plantations. No animal species benefits? from oil palms; nothing lives there and the land dies ultimately. I was personally horrified to see so many miles of oil palm plantations along the Pacific coast, and more land being cleared for the same. This was very evident from a flight from the Osa peninsula to San Jose. So despite the numbers of tourists and the overall costs involved, I do wonder how much is actually used to help conservation?4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
We enjoyed the vacation overall and can't fault the organisation of our accommodation and transportation which was totally reliable.Read the operator's response here:
Dear Jackie,
Thank you so much for taking the time to review your experiences of traveling in Costa Rica. It sounds like you had some really special wildlife experiences out there - I have always found the incredible diversity of both the fauna and flora in Costa Rica to be such a wonder!
You have raised some interesting points about the local economy, which is heavily reliant on both the tourism and agricultural industries. Although a vacation to Costa Rica cannot directly impact how the agricultural industry is run, of which African Palm plantations are an established part, we can do all possible to ensure that the vacations we plan for our customers have as much positive impact on the local community and as little negative impact on the natural environment as possible.
We strive to work, as far as possible, with local partners, hotels and suppliers who are either locally owned or have a majority of employees from the local area. By choosing to work with the local ground handler we have in Costa Rica, we know that every booking we make has an immediate impact on local communities and on the local environment, since a portion of every booking made goes towards supporting local community upliftment, educational
and environmental protection projects. They are also registered with CST (Sustainable Tourism Certification) and they have always received the maximum reward for their sustainable tourism practices: 5 leaves. We also make sure to recommend traveling by shared transport so that there are fewer individual cars traveling around this beautiful country sending out those destructive fumes.
I am really pleased to hear that overall you enjoyed your time in Costa Rica and we do hope to hear from you again soon.
Best wishes, Fiona
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