I convinced the hubby we were going to take the fam to vista Cost Rica but the question was how we were going to travel. We don’t like to sit still and the last time we went we went on a tour but wanted to adventure on our own. Our solution was to book half the trip with a kid-friendly tour company and the other half would be driving. We used Global Family Adventures because it seemed like the only company on the interwebs that dealt with kids and some pretty reputable blogs backed them up. I emailed Jenny the owner about a million questions and each time she patiently and quickly responded…she made us a tour that highlighted what we wanted to see and chose some amazing hotels. There was a split second when we arrived at the San Jose airport that the hubby and I thought we might have been duped but we were greeted by an amazing guide named Luis who was great with our kids and was amazing at spotting wildlife. We spent 7 days together and drove to Monteverde, Arenal, Sarapiqui and Cahuita. I don’t know if we would have survived some of the roads or seen as much those first days without Luis. (and I’m not sure I ever want to do the Monteverde, Arenal roads without a local driver! Those are crazy bumpy roads and some seemed like cliffs not roads!).
Some things to think about when you book a trip like this is that you will have additional costs like activities because it’s a flexible tour and maybe food for your guide and you might want to plan out what you think you’ll so in advance to budget. I had a list of things I wanted to see and Luis was very accommodating. We ultimately spent an extra hundred-two hundred dollars daily on food and activities on top of the tour price but we included things like zip lining, the monteverde trainforest and the Sloth Sanctuary and if you wanted to budget less there were plenty of free and inexpensive things to do around each of the hotels Jenny chose. I definitely recommend this tour for traveling to vista Costa Rica with kids.
For the second half the hubby used Dollar-Rent-A-Car who were kind enough to drop a car (charge-free!) where we were staying at the toucan rescue ranch. Jorge at the ranch was super helpful with the whole process so I think this was a big part in making the rental easy. Dollar dropped off a standard instead of an automatic which would have been a problem if I was driving but the hubby had a great time driving stick. We spent time in Heredia (at Cafe Britt
and a super-yummy and friendly restaurant/bakery Jorge and Leslie suggested),
and drove to Manuel Antonio and the roads here were apparently not very difficult ( although I know I would scream if I ever had to negotiate the ‘dangerous bridges’ our gps would point out or drive in the torrential downpours that often came without warning.).
It was nice having a car to stop at little stores and get coffee and it was nice feeling independent. I loved how this worked out and I think we might repeat this trip next year!
It sounds like a fabulous trip!
This sounds like an amazing trip! Do you speak Spanish?