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Flying to Costa Rica with kids, American visa’s and La Virgen with kids
The start to our first proper family travel adventure around the country of Costa Rica. We feared that the children would be the ones to struggle with the flight but they were the least of our worries! Our first 7 days had us running for flights, floating down rivers, swinging in hammocks, hiking in forests and getting waterfall overload!
Follow our story below and read on for reviews, logistics and costings. For the more standard information about Costa Rica as a country visit our Costa Rica page.
Day 1 – The journey out – it’s a long way!
So today was never going to be a highlight of the holiday but it could definitely have gone smoother! Ironically it wasn’t our children that nearly made this a disaster. You could say that we were actually pretty lucky to catch our flight in the end – we certainly proved the point that it’s always best to have lots of spare time at the airport!
After a leisurely breakfast we were all packed and ready so moved our taxi to the airport forward an hour (thank goodness!). We’d tried checking in online but had issues and were told by the booking agent (Travel Up Ltd) that this was common and ‘would be fine once we got to the airport’. After checking in at the manual check-in in the baggage hall and queueing at the baggage drop off we suddenly told that we could not have our boarding passes as we didn’t have visas for the USA! As I was simply changing planes in Atlanta and not planning on leaving the airport I hadn’t thought that visas were necessary – THEY ARE!
No need to panic – you can apply for American ESTA’s online. Takes about 15 minutes each with an instant decision they told us. So we spent an hour sitting on the floor in the baggage hall filling in forms (thank goodness for that spare hour) and paid our £14 each only to get an email saying that the decision for acceptance would take up to 72 hours!! Permission to panic at this point??!
Then followed a frantic blur of about 30 minutes of running back and forth across the departure hall between Chris, who was speaking to a lady who was saying we’d miss our flight as we didn’t have valid visas, and the lady at the baggage desk who tried a few times and was able to print our boarding passes. With about 5 mins to go until the baggage desks closed we ignored the lady saying we couldn’t get on, checked in our bags and headed off through security and onto the plane not quite sure what would happen once we reached America…
The flight itself was great with an almost constant supply of food and drink and the kids were more than happy to sit and watch three films back to back – what a treat!
We were a little nervy in the queue for security at Atlanta as we’d not received any notification that our ESTA’s had cleared. No issues though seemingly – they must have cleared in the air! Phew! Our bigger issue was that we had an hour and 40 mins transfer time which had been eroded down to an hour and 20 mins after taxiing and disembarking time (we were near the back of the plane). After queueing in immigration control part 1 and giving our photos and fingerprints we approached the massive queue at immigration control take 2 with about 40 minutes until our flight. This was never going to work. After a quick word with one of the staff we were passed through the line but still had to give our fingerprints and photos again (!!?? don’t think I’d changed much in between). Tried so hard not to be sarky with the border control person when he asked me how long I was planning to stay in the country. The look he gave me said I failed.
Long story short we ran (kids included bless the little troopers) from there to our gate and arrived as the last few people were passing through just as they were closing – yikes!
There are a few morals to this story:
- always leave extra time at the airport. Yes it’s annoying when it’s all gone smoothly and you’re sat in the lounge for hours, but compare that to missing your flight and its pretty ok!
- 2 hours is not enough time for airport transfers in American airports. We were lucky that they let us skip the queue, that our kids were able to run with us, and that Atlanta wasn’t bigger (or that our gates were close) or we’d have missed our connection.
Things were a little smoother after that – 4.5 hours to San Jose, a taxi to our airport hotel (paid for by our hotel) the La Guaria in Alajuela and to bed for 9pm CR time, 3am UK time. Shattered!
Day 2 – Los Chorros Waterfalls with the locals
Still on UK time, we were wide awake by 4am after landing at 8pm the night before (which was 2am UK time – gotta love time differences!).
After breakfast, we picked up a free shuttle back to the airport and then a ride to the car rental company (Payless Alajuela). We picked up our car and headed off, looking for some waterfalls partly on our route North. I’d found the Los Chorros Waterfalls online and read that these were not well known to tourists so we hoped to have them largely to ourselves. It’s not a popular tourist attraction and this was our first experience of Costa Rican signposting – there are none!
Los Chorros Waterfalls with kids
It was a gloriously sunny day, and already hot at 10am when we arrived. The man at the car park didn’t speak English but we managed to get that it was park now pay later. The walk down a winding path through the forest was lovely. There were few people and we found a little rainforest trail which follows the river. We felt like proper jungle explorers on the tiny trail, ducking branches and stepping over streams. Then the path ran out, so we had to backtrack back up to find the actual trail but we didn’t mind – we’d had fun. Carried on down the main path to a picnic area and emerged onto the river with a beautiful waterfall backdrop to discover people everywhere! So much for finding a private waterfall! Turns out it was the Tico’s (Costa Rican’s name for themselves) national holiday. Apparently, their favourite pastime is finding waterfalls and rivers and hanging out there in the sun all day. Pura Vida!
We waded across the river (there’s a rope to keep you upright), found the steps and waded upstream to a second waterfall which falls into a gorge it’s carved for itself. More Ticos. We played around for a few hours in the stream and watched people climbing the rocks and diving into the waterfall pool and by then the place was packed – barely a spare rock to sit on! With more driving to do and growing hunger, we headed back up to the car (there was quite a queue for the river crossing by this point) and we were very grateful for the cold water on sale at the top.
Driving from Alajuela to La Virgen throught the mountains and trying local food
We then drove north to La Virgen looking for a lunch spot on the way. Everything was so busy that we passed most the restaurants on route as they didn’t look like they’d have space! We had some pretty desperate young people in the back when we were travelling through the mountains past La Paz.
Then we were flagged down by the guy behind us who was pointing at our wheels. Pulling over we realised the brakes were smoking (automatic car going up and down mountain passes with 4 cases and 4 people in it is apparently not a great match). Now we faced a dilemma – how long to wait? We were all VERY hungry, but if we moved on too early we faced failing brakes which is not helpful when you’re heading down out of the mountains… We gave it 15 minutes (which seemed like hours) and shortly after found our first soda (small café) for ages and stopped out of desperation – now the car needed a break as much as we did.
Queso Tortillas and arriving at Wendy’s Ecolodge La Virgen
It was a tiny place with glorious mountain views but no menu. A few things were listed off to us (they spoke no English) and we chose the queso tortillas. Not good. Made with maize rather than wheat flour and with the cheese as small lumps inside – not bad for a couple of mouthfuls but they were rather plain and very dry. We thought we’d been shafted by the locals, but then others came in and ordered and ate the same. Just not to our taste. We ate as much as possible to stop our stomach’s growling and headed off again.
We finally reached La Virgen late afternoon. After driving up and down the one road which is the town, we picked up some shopping in the supermarket and headed up and out to Wendy’s Eco-lodge as the light was starting to fade. The sun came up about 4 am, but went down early evening so it was pitch black by 6.30pm! No sitting outside enjoying warm summer evenings as we’d expected.
After a welcome drink from Wendy’s super friendly but non-English speaking mum (Cas juice – no idea what it was but it remained a firm favourite with the kids throughout the holiday), we’d just got inside our lodge when it started to rain. Proper rainforest rain that went on all night, hammering on the corrugated iron roof making it hard to sleep – luckily we were exhausted after being up so early and passed out.
Day 3 – Dave and Dave’s Nature Park and Tirimbina Night Walk
The rain was still going when we woke up. I knew we were in the rainforest, but it was the dry season – it wasn’t meant to rain this much and we wanted to get out there!
Dave and Dave’s Nature Park
Thankfully the rain stopped at about 9 am so we were off to explore. First stop Dave and Dave’s Nature Park at the other end of La Virgen. Going out just after heavy rain turned out to be an excellent idea as the birds and reptiles were all out getting a late breakfast. First, there were hummingbirds flitting inches from our faces at the feeding area, then we played ‘spot the frog’ on the way down with the kids and were rewarded with numerous Poison Dart frogs. Aiden was very proud as he was the first one to spot one. Down by the river, there were trails of leaf cutter ants across the path and up the trees, birds galore and a pleasant walk chatting to Dave about his work here. Their story is really inspiring (it did make us talk quite seriously about buying our own bit of plantation!) as this land was once cleared to grow palm oil but they have been restoring it back to natural forest and watching it recover. This really is a labour of love and after 30 years of work it already feels like forest and a lot of the smaller wildlife has returned at least. It’s amazing how well the forest has grown back in 30-40 years – the bamboo at the start of the trail is enormous! Dave was happy to run well over the tour time telling us about his land which is clearly his passion and as we were obviously interested in what he was doing took us out to plant some avocado trees to continue the growth of the forest.
After an enjoyable morning we were all very hungry (that may be an understatement for Evie who gets seriously hangry – no idea where she gets that from :/!) so we looked for somewhere in La Virgen to eat. The kids won and we stopped at La Trongo pizza place where a massive pepperoni pizza fed us all for c9,500. Their great pizza was delicious and super cheap which got a big thumbs up from all of us (although we did feel a little bad to have not tried some more Costa Rican food – possibly we were still jaded by the Tortilla from the day before…).
Night time Nature Walk at Tirimbina
We planned to go on the Night-time nature walk at Tirimbina Lodge so headed back for a quick nature spotting walk around the property and dinner of tomato and vegetable pasta before the heavens opened again. The walk was at 7pm so we were going to be walking in the dark. Were we going to go if it was still raining? Decision time came; get wet or give it a miss. We decided to go – it is the rainforest after all. After getting waterproofs etc on we stepped out to get in the car and it stopped. Excellent. Tirimbina’s Nature walk was good, we weren’t alone but the American family were on a private tour with a guide and he came too so we had both Sergio and Manuel looking for wildlife. Bonus. We didn’t see anything big, but hearing about the bullet ants (so named because the bite feels like you’ve been shot), and venturing over the 262m long hanging bridge in the dark as it sways and bounces was exciting for kids and adults, as was walking through the pitch-black forest with only head torches. The recent rain meant the frogs and insects were out in force and we saw praying mantis, false scorpions, giant millipedes and a baby tarantula which all look even eerier by torchlight.
Day 4 – Safari float down the Sarapiqui River
Awoke to the sun streaming in the windows (if you can call them that) and great views of Tanagers from our little wooden balcony. Bliss. We wandered over to the main house where the kids helped feed the chickens and goats with Wendy’s father. Wendy arranged a boating trip down the river with someone she knows so we headed to Puerto Viejo and to a small cafe there called Sabo which Wendy recommended. The kids didn’t like the spaghetti bolognese, probably because it was slightly different to what they’re used to (we thought it was ok) but we enjoyed our massive plate of prawns, rice and salad and the shakes and smoothies were great. All for a good price too.
Sarapiqui River Float with kids
We met Luis outside Sabo with his boat, got in his truck and headed upriver. The safari float back down the river was simply excellent. Luis was entertaining and knowledgeable and pointed out many birds. We moved peacefully down the river in our dinghy, paddling where we wanted (Luis steered), listening to the sounds of the birds and soaking up the forest.
It was also possible to get out of the boat and float alongside. With your life jacket on this is so easy and I floated down the river looking up at the trees wishing the trip would never end.
We stopped on a bank halfway and Luis produced a pineapple, orange, watermelon and guabo’s (a bean you eat the flesh around) which he skilfully chopped up for us there and then. I ate so much pineapple my tongue was stinging but it was simply delicious. We fed the rinds to the piranha’s (vegetarian ones only in these waters!) and headed on.
It sees to be the running theme here that the tours last as long as they last. Our 3 hour tour turned into 4 and he spent even more time in Puerto Viejo on the bank looking at birds with me rather than rushing off. It’s a very relaxed lifestyle here in Costa Rica – something we can definitely learn from in the UK!
Even writing this up later this day was one of the highlights of the whole trip!
We stopped for pizza take out from La Troco’s on the way home. Not the healthiest but it was late and we were hungry.
Day 5 – Tirimbina trails and Chocolate Tour
Literally woken up by the sound of a Howler monkey troupe passing 😊. A beautiful sunny morning.
Tirimbina’s Rainforest Trails – super accessible rainforest trails for kids
We headed out to Tirimbina again to walk their trails. The 262m suspension bridge wasn’t as exciting in daylight, but it’s a great way to cross the river into the forest. We spent a happy morning wandering around their trails, looking for wildlife and gazing at great towering Guacaneste trees and we didn’t see another person.
Aiden was particularly happy as he tracked down a Howler monkey from its calls, spotting it high in the trees. There was also an armadillo on the way in, rummaging in the leaves a few metres away from us totally unconcerned and literally hundreds of Whiptail lizards sunning themselves on the path – beautiful lizards with yellow spots and blue tails. Chris had a run in with an army ant who grabbed onto the seam on his shoe and would not let go – we were beginning to think he was coming home with us!
We ate lunch in the restaurant at Tirimbina. Our timing was impeccable – just as we walked in a massive green iguana (at least 1.5m long) fell from the tree right beside us and landed with a massive crash! Looking up there was another one who was still in the tree, crest raised looking very smug (if lizards can look smug? – check him out below). Seemingly they’d been fighting and they try to push each other out of the trees. The one on the floor had lost bigtime, his pride was sorely wounded, his crest was down and he stayed right next to us for a while before crawling off slowly whilst we ate. This was Aiden’s highlight at this point – giant fighting lizards!
Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate!
After lunch (which was ok but back to tourist prices) we headed back up the road towards Chilamate to Sarapiqui Best Chocolate for a chocolate tour. We weren’t sure whether the kids would enjoy a trip like this and the sun was beating down but Wendy had recommended it and she’d been so spot on with Luis that we trusted her. We were so glad we did. Whilst I expect many of these tours are not great for kids, Rodolfo was amazing with them. Right from the start with the walk through the woods highlighting local nature (pygmy round-eared bats roosting inside an old termite nest) and a canopy lizard he kept it interactive and fun with bits of chocolate history in bitesize chunks. There were lots of opportunities to taste the chocolate (raw, roasted, melted, liquid and finished) and the kids especially enjoyed the fresh hot chocolate they made which could be flavoured with vanilla, chilli and sugar!
We were particularly pleased we took this trip as Rodolfo is really giving something back to the community with the profits from this tour. He supports local small growers and teaches them how to produce the quality of chocolate for sale so they can cut out the middle man. He also teaches them English.
Back home for a spot of birdwatching outside the lodge for me and a homecooked dinner of a vegetable omelette and rice.
Day 6 – Cano Negro National Park
Another gloriously sunny morning. We set off early for Cano Negro National Park near Los Chiles on the northern border. We knew it would be a fair drive but it’s meant to be excellent for water birds. Basically, the kids and Chris were suffering a long drive and birdwatching trip for my entertainment. Which just made me feel worse when we couldn’t find one of the roads (Costa Rica’s lack of signs got us again). The road we ended up on turned out to be a winding mountain road frequented by lorries, which are never speedy on hills.
3 hours and 15 minutes later we arrived at Los Chiles (big shout out to the kids who were angels and didn’t even once ask whether we were there yet!). The route itself was interesting but also quite sobering. We started in forested mountains and then when the land flattened it became mile after mile of pineapple and sugar cane plantations. These seem to cover most of the area between Arenal and Los Chiles. This was once virgin forest and the theory is that the dropping water levels at Cano Negro are due to the large amounts of water being removed from the rivers to irrigate all these crops. Not good. Costa Rica is one of the better countries for protecting their natural resources, but even they need to do more here.
I had no idea that pineapple plants are ground plants which produce one pineapple without fertilisers. These massive farms use chemicals to produce 3 per plant – it’s a big difference so you can see why they do it, but seeing this did rather put me off those glorious fresh pineapples – organic is definitely the way forward in pineapple purchasing.
Cano Negro National Park – maybe…
After all this time we were not where we wanted to be. We were trying to find the road to Cano Negro but after reaching the border, coming back and taking the turn at the cell tower as per the instructions we found ourselves at the docks at Los Chiles. These were empty as it was now past 12 and most boats had left for the park. We were approached by a man who offered us a boat tour from there. His friend said he would look after our car. We couldn’t actually see a boat and his English was patchy so we were a little unsure. Would we even see anything on this stretch of the river – the tour would not make it to the lake/wetland area where the best birds were meant to be?
There was a little empty soda at the docks so we stopped off to have some food – I was too hungry to make decisions about whether I was about to be ripped off! The soda staff spoke no English again but we asked for chicken, rice and beans and were not disappointed. As usual, it was delicious and nutritious.
We said yes to the boat due to a lack of options – we couldn’t face more driving around trying to find the road when we had no idea where it was, it was still 30 mins to the lake dock we were trying to find on unpaved roads and it was already past 1.
Despite our doubts, we climbed into our 12(ish) seater canopied boat and our captain Henry set off. We’d hardly turned a corner when Henry took us to shore to look at an adult caiman and babies on the bank! Maybe the tour wasn’t going to be that bad after all!
It was actually amazing. We had a private tour again without paying the extra for one and Henry was so experienced. He could see things on the bank from the middle of the river which we couldn’t see even when they were two metres in front of us – like this amazing Basilisk, which looked like a green leaf to our eyes. Evie couldn’t see it even when we were less than a metre away!
We got super close to a lot of animals like the caiman and its babies, Jesus Christ Lizards, iguanas, Howlers lounging in the trees above and white-faced capuchin monkeys facing off across the river. When we got within a few metres the male was squaring up to us too!
After tipping the friend who had seemingly sat by our car for three hours we headed home. On the way home, we discovered a new road which was not on the maps which links just north of La Virgen across so the journey only took us 2 hours! Gutted and ecstatic all at once!
Day 7 – Wendy’s bird walk and a private waterfall
Woke for a 6 am start with Wendy bird spotting and saw loads (kids and Chris stayed in bed). We didn’t have to go far, just around the property and over into the neighbour’s property to see a whole host of species.
Wendy’s family have built the lodge to provide a way out of manual labour for her parents when they get older. Her friends thought she was crazy and that no-one would come! We did and we encourage you to go too – the lodges were hand-built by the family (with the help of an architect) from wood from the land.
After a relaxing swing in the hammocks below the lodge we went for lunch in San Miguel following a travel guide recommendation. We couldn’t find ‘La Mirador’ restaurant which supposedly has views of a waterfall and a hummingbird feeder, but we did find Hotel Gallios who had an open area at the back overlooking trees and fields which also served rice, beans and pork ribs which was excellent.
Headed back for a post lunch nature walk with Wendy. She took us down to the waterfall (with a pool under which you can swim in) on the neighbour’s property. Wendy talked to the kids on the walk down about the jungle layers and plants which was nice for a spot of education. When we got there we had the pool below the waterfall to ourselves – it was cold but ‘alright once you’re in!’
Dinner was sea bass, rice and beans (was I getting bored of rice and beans by this point? Nope! I don’t know what spices they use but it was delicious!) with a selection of veggies (mostly from their garden) cooked by Wendy’s mum. Tasty. A lovely day although a bit much for Aiden – he fell asleep in the chair after dinner!
Reviews
Accommodation reviews
La Guaria Inn & Suites – Alajuela
Overview
A simple, dated but relatively cheap (for the airport hotels) hotel. Absolutely fine in our book for an overnight stay.
Getting there
About 10 minutes from the airport. You can catch a taxi from the airport and then the hotel will pay the taxi on arrival. They will then also arrange shuttle taxi’s back to the airport at certain times.
Costs
$98 per night if you book online.
Facilities
Our room was basic but was an apartment really with two bedrooms, a large lounge and a kitchen area (no equipment for cooking though).
There is an outdoor pool for guests to use and free wifi (which works as we made extensive use of it booking our next accommodation after we lost our passports – full story here!).
Food and drink options
Breakfast was pretty basic with bananas, watermelon, white bread, ham and cheese alongside some brightly coloured American cereals.
There are a number of places you could walk to (within 15 minutes) as it’s in a town. We tried KFC, which did at least have a play area inside for the kids and another in the opposite direction which was not great and not cheap either.
Sustainability/Eco-friendly rating
A pretty standard hotel with no special eco efforts.
Wendy’s Ecolodge – La Virgen
Overview
A great wooden lodge set at the back of their property on the edge of the rainforest. Wendy is a qualified guide and her family built this lodge on their land themselves to give her parents some security as they get too old to farm.
It’s an eco-lodge so it’s basic inside with no air con and everything is made from wood (including the sofa!). The lodge is large and sleeps 6 but they have recently built a second smaller lodge (for 2?) and the plan is to build one more and plant more bird attracting tree species so it should keep getting better (based on the number of birds I saw whilst here it will be amazing for birders!).
The lodge is surrounded by green forest with a balcony and hammocks underneath. From the bed, you look out over rainforest with a balcony. An excellent place for relaxing and Wendy was very helpful with booking tours. Her parents don’t speak any English but are very friendly and make a welcome juice on arrival (and phone Wendy so you can talk to someone in English!).
Getting there
You will need your own car to stay here (2WD is fine). La Virgen is about 2 hours from San Jose and 1 hour from La Fortuna (near Arenal). The lodge is 5 minutes drive from La Virgen.
Wendy did offer is a transfer from the airport for $130.
There is a bus which stops in La Virgen but it’s 3km to the lodge. Buses can also be used to get to Puerto Viejo.
Costs
Around £70 per night for a family of four.
Facilities
There’s no air con but we didn’t feel it was needed as the house is cleverly built with holes between the floorboards and net only in the windows so that the air moves through it and cools it (this does mean that more than air can get in and we found a massive toad and a smaller frog in the house!!)
There is a little path which you can walk around inside the forest next to the big lodge.
Wendy is a guide professionally and if she’s around can take you on various trips. I did the bird walk with her just around her property and we saw so many bird species. She also took us down to a waterfall on a neighbouring property for a stroll and a swim.
Food and drink options
There is a fully equipped kitchen and there are a couple of supermarkets (Megasuper) in La Virgen which sell quite a range of things. We were able to make some pretty standard meals like spaghetti bolognese, omelette and rice and tomato and vegetable pasta with what we found.
There are also a couple of local restaurants in the town. We sampled La Troco for pizza’s (massive and cheap).
Wendy’s family will cook you a traditional dinner at their house – sea bass, rice and beans with a selection of veggies (mostly homegrown). Delicious!
Sustainability/Eco-friendly rating
Air conditioning free, with composting toilets and built from materials from the land you don’t get much more eco-friendly than this.
Wendy’s parents used to work growing Yukka plants and selling them to a wholesaler for $1 each, although most the time they didn’t get paid for all of them as the wholesaler would say they were damaged or poor quality. The wholesalers sell on for eventual sale to the American market for over $20 each. Wendy wanted something better for her family so they built the ecolodge in the forest at the back to allow them to stop having to work the plantation and actually make some money. By staying here you know you are putting your money into the hands of locals and improving their futures.
Bird walk with Wendy
I went out with Wendy one morning with her telescope to look for birds We barely even left their land and saw so many species, Bronzed Cowbird, Crested Guan, Roadside Hawk, Grey-headed Chachalaca, Yellow-Crowned Euphoria and my favourites, Montezuma’s Oropendola.
Waterfall walk with Wendy
We all took the waterfall walk down to some falls on her neighbour’s property. Wendy talked to the kids about the ecology of the forest on the way down and we got to swim in a private pool.
Activity reviews
Los Chorros Waterfalls
Overview
Essentially a walk down to two reasonable sized (40m) waterfalls. Los Chorros translates to ‘the jets’ and the two falls are named Catarata Zamora and Catarata Prendas. We enjoyed these waterfalls but they would have been much better without all the locals – avoid during the local holidays!
Getting there
Search for Los Chorros on Google Maps and the location is pretty accurate. After driving up the hill (from Alajuela direction) there’s a gravel track to the right on a sharp left-handed bend (with a sign). Once you’ve found it you park next to a hut (note that no one here spoke any English but it wasn’t really an issue; we managed with some extremely basic Spanish). Don’t expect to see any signs for this place from the main roads.
Costs
We paid 3,000c on the way out for entry (about £4) for the four of us.
The trail
The trail heads down the hill to the waterfalls. It’s about 1km down but good underfoot. As you emerge into what looks like it was once a car park (??) with an empty hut/restaurant and some picnic benches the main path is the large wide, gravel path which looks like a road. We took a smaller path to the left down to the river and more picnic benches and then followed this thinking it was the path. It wasn’t and came to a dead-end but we thoroughly enjoyed trekking down it feeling like jungle explorers (before turning back). You should really keep on the big main gravel path which runs straight through the car park.
At the bottom of the hill by the river, there is a picnic area and you can head right to the river for a swim there or left to the falls.
To get close to the falls you have to wade through some knee-deep water with a rope to hang onto and then step through some shallower bits and maneuverer over a few logs. There is an initial waterfall which you can see from here (and swim around) but it’s worth heading all the way along the ‘path’ to the steps to the left of the main waterfall pool. After a short rocky path (slippery) you wade up the river to get to another waterfall in a gorge where you can also swim in a pool (a few hundred metres). I would imagine that when it is less busy this second waterfall would be quieter than the first as it’s not immediately obvious that it’s there – you would have to know that there’s a second waterfall and go looking for it.
Food and drink options
At the top you can buy some bottled water (which we were very grateful for – it was hot!) and a few snacks but no lunch.
When we were there there were people selling fruit and ice lollies down by the falls but this was probably only because it was their local holidays and therefore busy.
There is a picnic area with tables and people had managed to carry their coolboxes with them but it would be pretty onerous. We wondered whether there was another path in from a local town as there were a lot of people there compared to cars…
Practicalities
Footwear wise I would recommend something stable which you don’t mind getting wet (old trainers or walking sandals) as the footing when walking through the water was rocky. The path down was steep in places. Having said that the Tico’s (Costa Rican locals) were in their sandals with coolboxes so it’s clearly possible!
It’s fairly steep back up so perhaps if you’re not very mobile this would be an issue, and I wouldn’t recommend a buggy as you wouldn’t be able to get it very close to the waterfalls and there are some steps.
There appeared to be some very basic bathroom facilities and changing rooms here but we didn’t investigate.
We went during the dry season so paths were not slippery and it was possible to get to both falls. From reading other blogs, during the wet season, the paths can be slippery in places and the flow of water can make it unsafe to head to the second waterfall. The first would be more spectacular at this time of year though…
Wildlife
Didn’t see a lot here but I expect they were scared off by the volumes of people!
Dave and Dave’s Nature Park
Overview
A section of land (about 17 acres) which is owned by father and son combo Dave and Dave which is plantation land they are returning to rainforest. Loggers were not allowed to clear the forest within 50m of a river as they are deemed vital travel paths for animals. Dave and his son purchased this land as a plantation which had gone bust and have been working to return it to its former rainforest glory ever since. This is helped by being connected to the forest around the river as species can arrive and repopulate.
There are hummingbird feeders out, and a trail down through their reforested land to the river through a range of habitats. We chose to do this with Dave as a guide (seeing as he was setting out down the trail with a couple of other visitors when we arrived) but you can pay less and wander about by yourselves. Having gone around with Dave I totally recommend paying the bit extra – he’s lovely and knows so much about the land, the wildlife etc.
Getting there
Dave and Dave’s is in La Virgen (northern end) and very well signposted from the road.
Costs
For a 2 hour guided tour with Dave it’s $40 each (book in advance) but I believe you can turn up and pay less to wander around by yourselves. This seems a lot and is the same for the children but I’m very happy with where the money is going, the bird viewing area is great and we actually got more like 4 hours with Dave because we kept asking questions (the other people on our tour left way before us!)
Hummingbird feeders and rainforest trail
We hadn’t planned to go with a guide, thinking we’d wander down their trails by ourselves and hopefully get a look at some hummingbirds at their feeders. There were two Dutchmen already on the tour who were taking pictures of the hummingbirds (HB’s) and we joined them. Dave asked if we wanted to join them on a walk down to the river and we decided to accept seeing as they were going down anyway. After watching the HB’s for a while – White-tailed Jacobins and Scaly-breasted (which were literally hovering a foot from our faces at times much to the kids’ delight!) – we headed down the trail.
After the feeding station, the tour takes the trail down through the forest to the river, spotting wildlife along the way. Dave talked about the different plants and animals in the forest and about the mission they had here as we wandered to the river along the well-maintained trails (not buggy friendly probably but trainer/walking sandal rather than boots). The trail to the river passes through some different areas of forest of different ages.
On the way back from the Sarapiqui River Dave heard White-collared Manakins and took us on a side trail to find them – they make a very loud snap sound with their wings and hop about. We found them and were all able to see them through the branches, even the kids managed to see them hopping about in the undergrowth.
On arriving back we were offered a banana and water and looked at the HB’s again. Dave offered the kids the chance to put some banana out for the birds which they did (spiked on tree branches) and almost immediately Blue-green Tanagers appeared. Some of my favourites from CR.
The Dutchmen left and we stayed chatting to Dave a little more. He then asked if we wanted to help him with some of the reforestation work he was doing so we eagerly went off to help plant avocado trees nearer the front of the property. Maybe one day we’ll go back and see if we can work out which ones are ours.
All in all, we were with Dave for over 4 hours for $160 when the advertised price was the same for 2 hours as Dave was so happy to share his work with us.
An amazing morning and a great introduction to the rainforest for us and the children. Cannot recommend enough!
Food and drink options
After our tour, Dave offered us a bottle of water and a banana. There is no shop here to buy anything else.
Practicalities
Dave offers a nice stout walking stick for the walk to the river (in the wet season you’d have to cross a stream via stepping stones).
The trail was between 1-2km down and good underfoot throughout. Not suitable for buggies but ok for sturdy sandals (in the dry season at least).
Wildlife
We saw a lot on our tour. As it had just rained the frogs were out in force so we saw the Green and Black Poison dart and Strawberry poison dart. There were also massive colonies of leafcutters and of course birds. As well as the White-tailed Jacobins and Scaly-breasted hummingbirds I saw a Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Buff Rumped Warbler, White Collared Manakins, Northern Barred Woodcreeper, Bay Wren, Chestnut Sided Warbler, Rufous Tailed Jacamar, Rufous Tailed Hummingbird, Olive Backed Euphoria, Green Ibis, Little Blue Heron and more!
Sustainability/Eco-friendly rating
It’s amazing how fast the rainforest can recover. Twenty years ago this land was plantation and now there are grown trees. As the land backs onto the river and the strip 50m to either side of the rivers is protected the animals can easily get back in. Made us want to buy some plantation for ourselves and turn it back into rainforest – what a thing to do! We had no worries about paying for a tour here knowing what our money was going towards.
http://sarapiquieco-observatory.com/welcome
Tirimbina Biological Reserve
Overview
A larger lodge catering to international tourists that come to the area – seemingly where most of them were staying in the area around La Virgen. There are cheaper fan only 2 beds up to air-conditioned bungalows. It comes therefore with what you’d expect from a resort; air-con rooms, a western restaurant, organised tours, English speaking staff and easy access rainforest Can pay to enjoy their trails as an outsider or go on a variety of tours with them.
Getting there
Easy to find as it is signposted from the main road which runs up from La Virgen to Puerto Viejo. Just as you leave La Virgen (heading North).
Costs
Entry onto the site is free so you can just wander into the restaurant, gift shop and reception. In theory, you could just walk into the trails too, but you should go and pay the entry price and collect a map. It’s $18 per adult and $11 per child to enter the trails which contributes towards the conservation work.
The tours are what you’d expect from this sort of set up – pretty expensive (costs listed next to each trip below). You’re paying for the ease but at least it’s a non-profit organisation so you know the money goes towards preserving the forests and into their research and education programmes.
Tours/Activities
There are lots of options for tours organised from here with options for Chocolate Tours ($31 adult/$21 child), Bird watching ($29/$19), a night walk ($29/$20), a natural history walk ($29/$20) or a self guided tour of the trails ($18/$11).
Nighttime Nature walk
Starts at 7pm for about 2 hours around the 1.2km trail in the dark (bring a torch!). The guide introduces you to wildlife as you go around. At this time this is mostly invertebrates although there is obviously a chance of seeing something bigger. You have to cross the 262m hanging bridge to get in which is great in the dark! The trail is very good underfoot and the pace is slow so we weren’t worried about falling over in the dark. We all enjoyed this for the experience and of being in the forest at night and it was a good learning experience about bullet ants – always look before you touch in the jungle!
Cost us $98 (but we also get free entry to the rainforest trails which would normally be $58).
Rainforest Trails
By doing the tour we had access to the trails for free another day so we went back and walked around by ourselves. Guided walks are available but we just wanted to wander by ourselves so we got a map from reception and headed out. The 9km of trails are clear and it’s pretty impossible to get really lost as the junctions are signed. No one else was out there in the morning. All the trails we walked were good underfoot with lots of options – a really easy way to access the rainforest. And you get to cross the hanging bridge again.
Food and Drink options
There is a restaurant here (El Ceibo) providing some pretty Western meals (we had the burgers). They were nice enough but double the price of any meal we’d purchased elsewhere in the area – the price of eating in a tourist lodge rather than with the locals. We’d recommend getting out of the resort to eat if you come here.
Practicalities
The trails are fairly flat (few hills) and would mostly be ok with a buggy. They were good underfoot in the dry season so full hiking boots are not required.
Wildlife
Pretty good! We saw a three-toed sloth hanging in the trees as we walked in. Then a Nine-Banded Armadillo wandering around the bungalows. Two massive iguanas at the restaurant and howler monkeys and many lizards out on the trails.
Sustainability/Eco-friendly rating
Per the website, Tirimbina exists for the conservation of biodiversity and are a non-profit organisation. They protect 345 hectares of forest with only 1/3 used for ecotourism (to fund their scientific work) so that most of the reserve is not disturbed by humans. They promote environmental education too.
Luis and his trip down the Sarapiqui river
Overview
This was arranged for us by Wendy from the eco-lodge for us as a private tour. A float down the river for a couple of hours in an inflatable boat with a nature guide. Sounds idyllic.
Getting there
We arranged to meet in Puerto Viejo outside a local SODA just off the main road. You can park at his brothers to keep the car safe car crime seems to be a big thing in Costa Rica (car crime seems to be a big thing in Costa Rica).
Costs
110,000c – about £150 for the Safari river float. This was for a private tour.
Sarapiqui River Safari Float
We absolutely loved this! A driver takes you all upriver with the boat and then you float back down to Puerto Viejo. You are in an inflatable boat which you paddle with Luis steering. We could get out the boat and float down the river too whenever we wanted which was lovely – and very easy if you keep your life jacket on.
Luis was entertaining and knowledgeable (he has worked in La Selva Biological Station before and really knows all the birds and animals) and really good with the kids. He was friendly but unobtrusive at the back – perfect.
We stopped on a bank halfway and Luis produced a pineapple, orange, watermelon and guabo’s (a bean you eat the flesh around) which Luis skilfully chopped up for us there and then. Simply delicious. We fed the rinds to the piranha’s (vegetarian ones only in these waters!) and headed on.
We were with Luis for nearly 4 hours rather than the 3 we’d paid for and he stayed around with us at the end in Puerto Viejo helping me identify the birds I was spotting there.
Ask around for Luis with your accommodation when you arrive, or book using a company like Viator
Food and drink options
Luis brought some fresh fruit for us to have halfway but bring some water. Other than shops in Puerto Viejo there’s nowhere to get any other supplies.
Practicalities
Swimmers with a t-shirt worked well. We had our shoes off in the boat. If you have a waterproof bag it’s a good idea to take that on the boat with your valuables etc in as you’re going to get some splashes from the paddles.
Wildlife
Saw so much wildlife on this trip, so many birds but also massive iguana’s and basilisks (Jesus Christ lizards) running on the water and we all had a wonderful time – it remains one of the highlights of the whole visit to Costa Rica – Do it!
Sustainability/Eco-friendly rating
As a non-motor-powered boat, this is a pretty low impact activity with minimal disruption to the animals as you pass by.
Sarapiqui Best Chocolate
Overview
This was one of the many tours in the area which take you through the chocolate making process right from growing cocoa pods in the forest to the packaging of their final chocolate. This was recommended by Wendy from the Eco Lodge as one which is particularly good for kids.
Getting there
The car park is on the main road between La Virgen and Puerto Viejo. It didn’t look much from the outside, just a shed and a car park.
Costs
100,000c – about £136 so pretty pricey for a 2 hour tour.
Chocolate Tour
Starts with a walk through the forest where he talks about the forest, growing cocoa. He also showed us some of the local wildlife.
There’s a covered area where they take you through the history of chocolate, and how it has been eaten through the times. You get to taste it at various points (there are a lot of forms of chocolate!) and have a go at the original hand processing methods. Despite our worries, it was actually very engaging for the kids with lots of opportunities to get hands-on. Rodolfo was great with the kids and our group was very small (only two others apart from us) so we got to have a go at everything and he could move at a good speed for us. The hot chocolate went down particularly well.
Food and drink options
None here (except the chocolate samples – you won’t be hungry!). They do offer the chance to buy some of the chocolate produced here and locally (and try some).
Practicalities
The demonstration area is shaded so it’s ok for the heat of the day. A very short walk through the forest to the demonstration area.
Wildlife
We saw Basilisks, Poison dart frogs and Golden Orb Spiders and Rodolfo showed us a nest of pygmy round-eared bats roosting inside an old termite nest as we passed it.
Sustainability/Eco-friendly rating
Rodolfo, who runs the company, is an ex guide who knows Wendy. He wanted to give something back so he quit being a guide to start these tours. The tours have a conservation message and fund his other work in the local community. They grow their own cocoa/chocolate locally and buy extra from small local growers who can grow their cocoa in the forest sustainably but who are too small to sell to the wholesalers and make any profit. Rodolfo and his partner also teach local farmers how to make the chocolate properly from the cocoa and teach them English.
Their demonstration area was self-built from materials from fallen trees in the area.
http://costaricabestchocolate.com/en/
Cano Negro National Park (or the river from Los Chiles)
Overview
Cano Negro is a National Park near Los Chiles on the northern border of Costa Rica which is known for its wetland birdlife.
Getting here
We didn’t actually find it in the end! As we ended up on a small boat from Los Chiles (the faster tour boats from Los Chiles had all departed by the time we finally arrived) we didn’t have time to get far so I don’t think we actually reached the National Park.
We were following bloggers directions which involved finding a dirt road to Cano Negro town. We took the turn at the cell tower as per the instructions but we found ourselves at the docks at Los Chiles. If you do try this route by yourselves leave plenty of time and look for a few people’s directions (mobile data would help too…).
Tours to Cano Negro also leave from Los Chiles docks, which are much easier to find. They go in the morning on much bigger boats so that they can reach the wetlands though so don’t arrive as late as we did.
Costs
We ended up on a 12ish seater canopied boat and paid about 70,000c or £95. As we were the only people there we got group tour prices for a private boat.
River Tour
Our captain Henry took us down the river for an hour or so before turning back. Despite the boat being motorised, it was pretty quiet (not a speedboat by any measure) and we took our time on the river. Henry’s English was not fluent but he was excellent at spotting wildlife from a long distance and named many things for us.
Food and drink options
There were none on this trip, but there is a Soda behind the playground at the docks which served a delicious chicken, rice and beans.
Practicalities
This was a very accessible trip with proper chairs on our boat and a metal canopy so the boat was shaded.
Wildlife
We were able to get up close to loads of wildlife on this trip. We had howler monkeys in the trees, white-faced capuchins facing off against each other across the river, caiman, basilisks, and a multitude of birds. From the little swallow who was using our boat as a hunting perch to Anhinga, Bare-throated Tiger Herons, Crested Caracara, Wood Stork, Sungrebes, various kingfishers, and a Great Egret to name a few that I hadn’t seen elsewhere.
Sustainability/Eco-friendly rating
Whilst travelling in a boat with a motor was not the most environmentally friendly way of exploring the river, at least we feel like we were supporting some opportunistic locals rather than the large tour companies.
Transport reviews
Payless Car Hire – Alajuela
We used this company for our car hire based on price.
There’s a shuttle bus from the airport to their site. Which is pretty basic but includes toilets and a water fountain which is all you really need.
Our car was pretty battered which was good in our book as driving round in something that already has scuffs definitely makes me less nervous! We made sure we took pictures of them in case they tried to bill us for them later.
When we needed to extend the lease it was super easy – just a phone call and returning the car was super simple – they barely even looked at it.
All in all pretty much everything you want from a cheap car rental company.
Logistics
Some facts to help you plan your trip:
Our route:
London Heathrow to San Jose with a change at Atlanta. First flight was 9.5 hours long. This left the UK at midday so the kids were awake for this one and spent the entire flight watching films!!
The second flight was 4 hours with a 2 hour changeover time. Knowing we were arriving at 8pm local time we tried to stay awake for most of this.
Alajuela (where San Jose Airport is) -> La Virgen would be a 1hr 45min drive but we made it just over 2 hours (87km) by adding in the Los Chorros falls.
The drive to Los Chiles for Cano Negro was 2 hours (116km).
We drove 400km at a cost of about £34.
Our transport:
We did all of our travels in our own hire car which was 2WD.
Costs
Our costs for this first part of our trip worked out as follows:
Accommodation
La Guaria 1 night = £78
Wendy’s Ecolodge for 6 nights = £480
Travel
Taxi to Heathrow airport (return) = 117
Flights = £1,241
ESTA’s = 41
Car hire for 15 days with Payless Alajuela = £463 plus insurance £97
Fuel (at about £8.50 per 100km) = £34
Activities
Tirimbina night-time nature walk (and entry to trails) = £78
Dave and Dave’s Nature Park = £128
Safari Float = £150
Best Chocolate tour = £136
Cano Negro boat = £95
Wendy’s bird walk, waterfall walk and dinner with family = £67
Food
We were self-catering at Wendy’s but still ate out a few times.
Breakfasts were all at home/the hotel = £20
We ate lunch out every day (6 times) = £175
Dinners were generally cooked at home = £40 except for one takeout £17. We got a free dinner from Wendy’s family as thanks for staying with them for so long and booking some of their tours.
| Cost | Amount (£) |
| Travel | 1,993 |
| Accommodation | 558 |
| Activities | 654 |
| Food | 252 |
| Extra bits, snacks etc | 60 |
| TOTAL | 3,517 |
Follow the adventure – Days 8-10 – La Paz and Catarata del Toro…