Costa Rica Tour of The Arenal Volcano

Costa Rica Tour of The Arenal Volcano 3 days / 2 nights

Arenal Volcano has maintained nearly constant activity ranging from soundless explosions with large mushroom-shaped clouds of ash overhead to booming explosions sending hot rocks nearly a kilometer into the air to pyroclastic explosions highlighted by rushing gases and flowing lava pouring down the side of the volcano. For visitors to Costa Rica, volcano viewing is the most promising at Arenal – no other volcano has been this consistently active.

Arenal Tour Package Details

Tour Day 1 COCORA GARDENS; TRANSFER TO ARENAL VOLCANO

our journey will begin by traveling northwest along the Interamerican Highway for an hour or so and then turning off to head north through the town of San Ramon. Here you will take a short break and visit the community’s agriculture town market. This market offers a variety of tropical fruits and vegetables, including some that are rarely seen outside the tropics. Depending on the season, visitors may encounter the farmers’ stands with familiar and delicious! local vaieties of bananas, mangoes, and pineapples; as well as lesser-known cassavas, carambolas, mamon chinos, guanabanas, tamarinds, cas, guayabas, annonas, papayas, plantains and others.  We encourage you to try something new here! A popular thirst-quenching drink at the market (and on our beaches) is “agua de pipa” which comes from unripe coconuts. In addition to the produce, you will also find local products and handcrafts at the market. (Note: The market is closed on holidays).

After taking a break at the market, you will continue on with a visit to the Cocora Private hummingbird and butterfly gardens en route to Arenal Volcano. Cocora is located in the cloud forest belt at 3000 feet elevation. Cloud forests are dominated by dense vegetation and tall trees covered by carpets of mosses, lichens, ferns, bromeliads and orchids. A beautiful butterfly garden offers the visitor attractive tropical plants and colorful butterflies. One may see giant Blue Morphos,  Zebra Butterflies, Small Postman, Glasswings, Monarchs, Julias, Owl butterflies, “Halloween” Butterflies, wing-snapping Crackers (yes, the male butterlies make noise!), Brown peacocks, Giant Swallowtails, Sulphurs  and other species. You may also find rare hummingbirds like Green Thorntail, Coppery-headed Emerald and White-bellied Mountain-gem.

Lunch at Doña Rosa´s house. Doña Rosa Quiros and her family have been living in the beautiful Blue Valley area of Alajuela Province for more than 40 years. Their small farm is surrounded by mountains, rivers, and farmlands of bean, cassava, plantain, and sugar cane plantations.  Some farms have fish ponds stocked with tilapia and rainbow bass. Doña Rosa’s two sons Diego and Erian take care of the farm and their Brahma cows. Erian is a self-taught local artist that works with recycled materials. For your lunch, Doña Rosa will cook a traditional Costa Rican meal for you.  This will usually include a “picadillo de papas,” fresh hand-made tortillas, rice and beans, cassava (a root crop from which tapioca can be made), and fresh lemonade, among other tico goodies. A visit to Doña Rosa´s farm will take you back in time to an era when rural Costa Rican families always welcomed weary travelers walking or riding horseback through the countryside into their homes with a ready smile and a great meal! 
After lunch you will continue on to your Arenal area hotel, travelling in the north central lowlands of Costa Rica among plantations of tropical crops and cattle ranches.  (L)

Hotel: Arenal Observatory Lodge or similar (2 nts)    
Meals Incl: 2B

Tour Day 2 FORTUNA WATERFALLS & DANAUS ECOLOGICAL CENTER

In the morning you will visit the Fortuna Waterfalls. Located just 3 miles away from the town of La Fortuna, this beautiful 200 foot-tall waterfall receives its cool clear waters from the pristine forested mountains of Arenal National Park. En route and near the falls one may see parrots, toucans and tropical hummingbirds. The steep trail to the waterfall goes down through dense, lush rain forest and ends at a large pool at the base of the falls.  In addition to seeing a majestic waterfall in a beautiful setting, visitors to the falls are helping the local community. The fees collected are used for important community projects such as supporting area schools, buying books, and helping cover some of the expenses for the town orphanage.  Additionally funds are used for recycling projects, maintenance of the community water supply, improvement of the local roads and sidewalks and construction of an educational center.

Later you will have lunch at a local organic farm in the town of La Fortuna. At the farm you will see how farming techniques can be practiced in an environmentally sound way. The farm produces more than 60 crop species, including native and introduced plants.  With your guide, you will learn about many of the crops and the challenges and benefits of farming organically in the tropics.

After lunch you will have a natural history walk at the Danaus Ecological Center. This small biological reserve east of the town of La Fortuna near Arenal Volcano is a model of conservation. Visitors will see that it is possible to restore a rainforest. This reserve was once open farmland, but has been allowed to revert back to forest which now teems with wildlife. Slow-moving sloths live here, and along the main trail visitors may  see  a number of the 154 bird species recorded here.  This trail passes by a small lake where boat-billed herons and alligator-like caiman reside. Tiny native red poison dart frogs can be seen in a little forest ranario (frog farm) and many different species of butterflies flit about the reserve. A nursery on the property is used to propagate native trees- including species in danger of extinction-for reforestation projects. (L)

Overnight at Arenal Observatory Lodge.

Tour Day 3

Depart back to San Jose. . You may just want to take advantage of banks and supermarkets or visit the local cheese factory, women’s cooperative (CASEM) or one of the many art and craft galleries to purchase some souvenirs or gifts for the folks back home. Local coffee, wood sculptures, embroidered clothing, and paintings by resident artists are just some of the offerings available. If your planning permits you can continue to the Beach without having to go back to San Jose

Vacation Package Benfits:

1. Driver/guide modules are focused on Nature and Wildlife viewing, however, we have added aspects such as: home lunches with local families, town markets and sustainable organic farm visits. All this in an effort to follow Sustainable Tourism practices involving the average "tico" that otherwise does not have access to be a part of the industry.
2. Guaranteed daily departures with a minimum of 2 participants, allows more flexibility when putting together itineraries yet clients get the benefits of group pricing. Modules are less expensive & better value compared to if we costed it out individually. We won’t cancel.
3. Small groups  – maximum group size of 8. Personalized attention, flexibility with regard to activities and stops enroute
4. Trips are all lead by bilingual licensed naturalist guides. Guides have all participated in company’s guide training, have binoculars, spotting scopes, bird and wildlife colour plates and guide books. We have the very best guides in the business, passionate about our country, happy to share their knowledge, intimately familiar with the areas we visit and committed to taking care of your every need.
5. No hidden costs. Driver/guide is available at all times during the tour.
6. With driver/guide client is able to experience things that they wouldn’t be able to do so on their own. Like visit a local town market or stop in at Doña Rosa for a typical home cooked meal.
7. No extra transport costs or hazzles of having to get local taxis to get around once you are in Arenal and Monteverde. No worries.
8. There is built in free time in the tour to either enjoy some free time on own or with driver/guide do some extra walks or early birding walks.
9. Sustainable Good Practices are followed in the conduction of the modules. We favor hotels that have received certification from Rainforest Alliance, CR Tourism Institute or otherwise have demonstrated they too follow Good Sustainable Practices. We include activities like La Fortuna Waterfalls and Danaus that have strong local community programs.
10. We offer the highest level of customer service and personal care to every guest. We are committed to exceed your expectations.

Included

As specified in the above itinerary, lodging, transportation within Costa Rica, specified entrance fees to National Parks & private Reserves, guide services, ground operator support within Costa Rica and taxes.

Not Included

Airfare to Costa Rica , airport departure taxes, meals not specified in the itinerary, alcoholic beverages, personal equipment, extras in hotels (laundry, phone calls, room service), gratuities, or costs associated with changes in your itinerary for reasons beyond our control.