The review of the Costa Rica Escape tour is from April 2023, but the majority has remained the same apart from a few optional excursion changes.
The rating misses a perfect score due to a large part of several days of this short tour being full of driving. You have to have a pretty strong constitution for off-roading due to the large amount you’ll be doing on this tour, as well as the traffic you may run into. If that’s not a problem, then ignore the four and think of this as a fantastic five star review! For more details, visit the site here to read more about this Escape: Costa Rica Escapes
Day 1:
Meet your Tour Director at your hotel.
This first day is likely a wash unless you’ve scheduled something a flight that gets in early. If not (like me), arriving means fighting exhaustion. Most flights will get into San Jose in the afternoon or the evening. My flight arrived around 10PM, which meant that my first day was essentially arriving at the hotel to check in. The next day will be in transit, so there wasn’t even much incentive to unpack. You might have time to grab dinner at your hotel, but I would recommend eating on the plane so you can get a good night’s rest before you head onward.
If you do want more time in San Jose, proactively plan for your flight to arrive earlier in the day to take advantage of the limited time you’ll get.
Day 2:
Depart on a scenic drive past banana groves and pineapple and sugar cane fields en route to Arenal. Visit to La Fortuna Village in the shadow of mighty Arenal Volcano (currently dormant but known for consistent lava flows before 2010). Arenal is home to cascading waterfalls, thriving rainforests, abundant wildlife, and a wealth of outdoor activities with nearby nature trails and 400-year-old trees. Watch for frogs, monkeys, birds, and native wildlife.
The first morning departure leaves around 8:30AM, so while it’s not too early, you will have to get your bags out since you’ll be switching hotels that day. For this Escape, you may have a full tour or have the smaller bus (which will hold 23 people). There’s a very fly-by-night tour of San Jose in the morning by bus. Don’t expect to make any stops. It’s all narration from your tour guide as you drive through the city and head out towards Arenal.
You’ll get a quick stop for a bio break. Our tour stopped in San Ramon, which had a lovely little shop, but also had a flower park and small animal farm nearby. Even with the limited time, I was able to venture around the corner to see a longhorn bull and some baby cows before it was time to rejoin the group.
After your stop, there’s still about 2.5 hours of winding roads through the mountains to get to Arenal, which can be rough. Still, the views were absolutely beautiful.
Upon arrival in Arenal, it’ll be just around lunchtime. The tour may take you somewhere as a group. In our case, we stopped at Selva Rustica. This is a gorgeous little restaurant in the middle of nature with a bunch of winding trails. Plus, you could get lucky and see sloths hanging out in a tree above the restaurant!
The food here is decent, but the cocktails are the real draw for their unique service vessels. My strawberry margarita came in its own Don Julio service vessel and was very fun.
Once you’ve paid for your lunch, you arrive at your hotel. The tour is just delaying you past check-in time, but that gives you time to leisurely enjoy lunch. The hotel on my tour was the Magic Mountain Hotel. This had epic views of the Arenal volcano from the balcony. Plus, there’s so much nature nearby that the bird-song is constant and soothing as a version of white noise.
That evening, you have two options. You can explore Arenal on your own or you can join in the Optional Excursion to Ecotermales Hot Springs. I opted to take this, and I was pleased for it. The group arrives in the mid-afternoon when it’s not that busy, so you get first choice of chairs. It also means that the pools are open for your choice.
There are a few low-lying elements, so watch where you’re walking or risk being like me, who scraped her knee on a few submerged rocks. There’s a fantastic waterfall in a 80-degree Fahrenheit pool, some cold plunge pools, and some very steamy ones. In addition to the fantastic relaxation is all the wildlife nearby. We could hear howler monkeys the whole time and saw plenty of iguanas. Want a drink? Grab something at the bar. I had a “Relax on the Springs” cocktail that was amazing to enjoy before the included dinner. In terms of dinner here, it’s nothing to write home about, but perfectly serviceable.
TRIP TIP: Drink water. Drink lots of water. Between the soaking and the steaming and the heat, you may not realize how much you’re sweating and getting dehydrated. Don’t fall victim to a headache.
Day 3:
Today, take a guided excursion with your Naturalist to Arenal Hanging Bridges. Explore the jungle canopy atop 15 bridges suspended in the treetops to see various species of plants, birds, butterflies, monkeys, sloths, and other local wildlife. On a clear day, get a 360-degree view of the tropical rainforest and stunning views of Arenal Volcano. Free time the remainder of the day.
Today, you’ll be exploring the Arenal Hanging Bridges park, but first, you’ll have to make a decision. You’ll have some free time before this excursion and there’s plenty of options on this tour. So what do you do? Personally, I chose to do the Penas Blancas River. First, you get your hotel breakfast. If you’re at Magic Mountain, you’re in luck because they were offering an omelette station and some amazing cookies. Then, when you’re full, you’ll head off in a van with the guides from BluePass for your day. It’s a pretty short ride to the departure point.
TRIP TIP: Wear a pair of shoes that you don’t mind getting wet. There is some getting in and out of the inflatable raft, so whatever you wear should be durable.
Each group will be six people, so if you’re a larger group than that, prepare to be split. It’ll be the six of you and a guide. When rafting, you sit perched on the edge of this raft for about two hours, drifting down a beautiful crystal clear river. As you do, you enjoy the gallery forests on either side of you, spotting swallows and kingfishers, screecher owls, and plenty of howler monkeys just a stone’s throw away.
Occasionally, you do need to paddle a little, but it’s pretty rare. You’re rewarded at the end with smoothies and snacks. That potentially includes cassava fried bread, fried plantains and halloumi cheese. You can also see toucans being fed, pet a few adorable dogs, and if you’re lucky, see some horse training taking place.
After this little respite, you head back to the hotel at mid-day. The heat will be getting pretty serious at this point. You do have some time to grab lunch, but I found that the food given on the tour was plenty. Plus, there’s a few convenience stores in town to supplement with snacks and drinks prior to your next activity.
In the early afternoon, you board the bus to head to the Mistico Hanging Bridges park, stopping first at the tip of Lake Arenal. Here, our group was lucky enough to see a bunch of guatis hanging around some cars. You don’t stay long, however. This is mainly a quick photo op stop.
The real destination in the afternoon is the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park. Once you arrive, there’s a few moments to take in the views of the volcano (if you’re lucky and can see it). During this time, the guide will be getting tickets and organizing guides for your tour. If your group is large, you’ll end up being split into smaller groups and assigned a guide. They also stagger the groups to give more room on the walking trails, which was a nice touch.
This whole stop is an amazing opportunity to see animals. There’s snakes (like the very poisonous eyelash snake), leaf cutter ants, tree frogs (and their eggs, stuck to a leaf!), stingless bees, howler and spider monkeys, birds, and more. There are occasionally telescopes set up so you can see the animals even closer. Plus, if you’re lucky, you might even see an odd animal. In our case, that was a crab, which was surrounded by multiple armed guards. It was extra strange to see the crab given that we’d done quite a bit of hiking upwards by that point.
Beyond the animals, there’s a lot of impressive vegetation and waterfalls with great views from the suspension bridges. They are quite high, so if you have a fear of heights, I strongly recommend you don’t look down. Overall, the trail is 3.2km, so bring your good hiking shoes. Once the tour is finished, it’s back onto the bus to continue back to La Fortuna. Maybe if you’re lucky, your guide will stop on the way — in our case, we went back to the Ecotermales parking lot, because there was a sloth sighting.
On the way back, the guide gave the option to stay in the main area of La Fortuna to shop, but it’s dinner time at that point. Dinner isn’t included this evening, but there are plenty of options to eat at. I wound up dining at La Cava, a pizza place, as I was craving some good pizza and they had an amazing wood-fired oven. Plus, their mozzarella fritta was a true revelation, served with balsamic vinegar, pesto, and prosciutto.
After your dinner finishes, get some rest. There’s a big drive ahead the next day!
Day 4:
This morning, depart Arenal on scenic drive to Monteverde for the next two nights. Arrive in the cloud forest of Monteverde, situated on the continental divide under misty cloud coverage in one of the world’s most bio-diverse areas. Enjoy an afternoon and evening at leisure.
Even though you’re departing Arenal for Monteverde, it’s not a super early morning. You get to sleep in, get your last looks at the volcano, have breakfast and still have until 9AM before you depart.
TRIP TIP: If you suffer from motion sickness, take some pills on this day. The 3.5 hour trip to Monteverde climbs through the mountains and winds around on gravel roads. I don’t get carsick that often, but even I was fighting a stomachache on this drive.
You get one brief stop at the top of Lake Arenal with some gorgeous views of the manmade lake. There’s a couple souvenirs available to buy, but since it’s a busy tourist stop, you’ll have to prioritize this if you want something. From here, it’s a straight shot to Monteverde. On our tour, we stopped for lunch at the Tree House Restaurante, located right downtown with a tree growing through it. In general, Monteverde is a different climate from La Fortuna. It’s breezy and much cooler thanks to your altitude. The restaurant actually has a fully open window, so you can relax and let the breeze wash over you.
If you’re going to get one thing from the restaurant, I can’t recommend the blackberry milkshake enough. It was truly incredible.
There are some grocery markets nearby if you want to stock up before heading to the hotel — the Monteverde Country Lodge (or something equivalent). These are eco hotels, which means that the septic system may be different than you expect. For these hotels, instead of flushing toilet paper, you place it in a separate sealed box. That can take some getting used to. You might encounter this at a couple of your hotels in Costa Rica, so be prepared.
The rooms at the Country Lodge live up to their name. They’re very rustic with lots of wood floors & wood panelling, but the space outside the room is the best part. There are so many gorgeous spots in the courtyard to decompress and simply enjoy yourself. When we arrived, rather than do anything immediately, I grabbed a book and read in one of the little nooks which hanging plants that attracted hummingbirds in to feed.
That evening, the tour continues at 5PM with a hike in the Children’s Eternal Rainforest (LINK). It’s timed to begin just before sunset as you’re sorted into groups. You get some flashlights for the hike once it gets dark, but there’s a span of time that you get to simply hike in the woods as the sun sets.
TRIP TIP: Temper your expectations. As much as it would be amazing to see tons of animals, they can be easily spooked off or simply not be there. What you’ll mainly see are snakes, birds, bugs, and arachnids, but it’s also an amazing hike.
During my hike, we saw several of Costa Rica’s birds — like the motmot — and sleeping hummingbirds (which is a rare sight). We also saw some viper snakes, tiny little poisonous frogs, and one big tarantula. As the sun sets, if it’s a clear night, you also have the benefit of a gorgeous sky of stars above you.
TRIP TIP: If you suffer from allergies, I strongly recommend taking a pill before you go. I wound up having a massive allergy attack mid-hike, which wasn’t great for trying to stay nice and quiet.
Because the hike is a bit later, your dinner plans for the evening may be limited. However, the Country Lodge had a lovely hotel restaurant with fantastic offerings. It is a later dinner, though, so take care to snack through this day.
Day 5:
This morning, take a Naturalist guided walking tour of Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve home to forest fauna such as sloths, jaguars, ocelots, monkeys, coatis, and numerous species of birds. With almost 100% humidity throughout the year, the cloud forest experiences almost 12 feet of rain per year. Free time this afternoon.
The morning starts with a hike in the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve on the “Youth Challenge” trail.
TRIP TIP: While it may seem counterintuitive, turn off the radios that they give you. It’s nice to hear a little about the birds, but what’s even better is to simply take the earpieces out and listen to the forest rustling around you and the birdsong. I dropped to the back of our group to just enjoy and it was truly incredible.
The walk is fairly easy without too much elevation, though there is a lookout tower you can opt to climb at the end. It is optional, but if you do go to the top, you can get a good view of Arenal volcano and the Pacific Ocean in the distance. The entire hike doesn’t come with many animals, but there’s a lot of bugs and birds. However, the draw of this is the walk itself.
The afternoon then opens up for optional excursions. However, if you select the farm/cultural tour (as I did), there’s a small gap. I used that time to explore the Monteverde Butterfly Gardens (and highly recommend it). Take heed, though, because the road to access the gardens is very steep to walk down — and what goes down must come back up if it’s a person walking.
Later in the afternoon is an optional excursion — a farm tour which focused on the production of coffee, chocolate, and sugar cane. For more details about the tour at El Trapiche, you can read my article here. That evening, dinner isn’t included. I strongly recommend that if you’re going to have the night free, you should check out San Lucas Dining Experience. It was an unforgettable dinner that highlighted Costa Rica’s provinces in the most delicious ways.
Day 6:
En route to San José, visit Sarchi Village, the hub of Costa Rican craftsmanship, and see the artists in their workshops making their famous ox carts. Upon arrival in San José, a guided city orientation introduces downtown San José includes the historic National Theater and the Metropolitan Cathedral.
Your last day is going to be heavy on the driving. It’s part of why I’ve deducted a star from the review of this tour, because it ends on this disappointing note where you’re left with the memory of being in a bus for the majority of the day. The day begins with a quick lookout stop to see the Pacific Ocean, but that’s your only break before a long and unrelenting drive back to the Pan American highway — which also brings you back to traffic.
Your sole destination for this day is Sarchi, where you begin with an ox-cart tour that dives into the historical production and focuses on the shift towards art in more recent years. It’s a quick tour, but you get to see how the ox-cart wheels are made and also local artists who are hand-painting items.
You get a chance to buy some of these souvenirs soon. There are two souvenir shop stops, but don’t think that it’ll be a market. They’re regular stores, with most items mass-produced and priced in USD. Every item that you think might be sold will be there, so this is a great time to stock up on souvenirs for the family. I wound up buying some very rich vanilla extract (expensive, but lasted for a while). There’s a stop at a cafeteria-style luncheon location before you go to a second souvenir shop (which also happens to be where you can see the Guinness World Record Holder for largest ox-cart).
You’re back on the road soon after your diversion in Sarchi to reach San Jose. There’s a couple of sights that you pass, including churches and a quick stop at a couple roadside stops for cashews and other products. Otherwise, it’s back to the hotel. There is no porterage at this final hotel. There wasn’t during check-in either, which is strange for a Globus tour. I haven’t seen it before and not since. That means you’re responsible for your own suitcase on this final night.
The location of the hotel the tour uses in San Jose isn’t in the best part of town, so there aren’t too many restaurant options. That means I opted for the hotel restaurant for dinner (as did most of the tour). This is your final night in Costa Rica. For me, I had an extremely early 4AM trip to the airport, so it was an early night, but you’re still in San Jose if you want to keep exploring! Otherwise, get some rest for the final day.
Day 7:
Your vacation ends with breakfast this morning.
If you purchased transfers, you’ll be given your departure time in advance of this last day. Generally, Globus runs their transfers a full 3-4 hours in advance. When I went, we were on one of the first flights and the airport was literally just opening when I arrived, so getting through check-in, immigration, and security were a breeze.
Without a transfer, you make your own way to the airport. It might be more expensive, but at least it’s on your own schedule, so you don’t end up sitting around the airport. Still, one way or another, the final stop on your tour is back to the place you arrived after a fantastic week in Costa Rica.
OPTIONAL EXCURSIONS:
On this Escape, you’ll be spoiled for choice to the point that you might have to make decisions between things that you want to do. I know that there were multiple excursions I wanted to try that didn’t work out, just because of the timing. Currently on offer, you can pick from the list below — and I’ve bolded the ones I selected and talked about in this review:
- Eco Termales Hot Springs and Dinner (Arenal)
- Peñas Blancas Safari Paddle Trip (Arenal)
- Horseback Ride to La Fortuna Waterfall (Arenal)
- Adventure at Sky Tram & Sky Trek (Arenal)
- Evening Monteverde Reserve Walking Tour
- Sky Walk Tour (Monteverde)
- Cultural Farm Tour (Monteverde)
- Sky Tram & Sky Trek (Monteverde)
The one unfortunate thing about this tour is that because it’s compressed, there are two days when you have three different excursions to select from, but they all overlap with each other. As a result, you end up having to prioritize what you really want to do. This is why I didn’t get to do the ziplining or horseback riding.
Overall, the price for this Escape is a fantastic deal, especially if you hunt the deals and wait until they waive the single supplement (which is what happened when I booked it). It’s a shorter trip (six days with travel days), but a fantastic introduction to Costa Rica!
Discover more from The Single Traveller
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.