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Holiday in Costa Rica, 9 Days

Alajuela - Corcovado National Park - Naranjo - Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Key
B&B: Bed and Breakfast
FB+: Full Board Plus - Dinner, Bed, Breakfast, Lunch and Activities

Itinerary

Day 1: Xandari Costa Rica, Alajuela

Upon your arrival in San José, Costa Rica and after passing through immigration you will be met by a member of the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) who will give you a sticker that will facilitate our representative to identify you after exit the Airport building.

As you exit the airport you will be met and transferred to your hotel. Your driver will provide you with the travel vouchers for your services and review them with you at this time.

Overnight: Xandari Costa Rica

Day 2: Casa Corcovado Jungle Lodge, Corcovado National Park

You will be picked up at your hotel by one of our transport representatives for transfer to the Local Terminal at the San Jose Airport.

Local airline flight from San Jose to Palmar Sur. Check in 1 hour prior to flight departure time, approximately 50 minutes.

You will be picked up at the airstrip in Palmar Sur by a representative from your hotel for land transfer to the Sierpe River, approximately 30 minutes. Once at the River board a motor boat to Drake Bay, approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. The boat ride through the Sierpe River will take you through mangrove forests to admire the flora and fauna of this unique ecosystem. Drake Bay offers visitors a taste of a tropical wilderness along the coast and into the forests of nearby Corcovado National Park.

Overnight: Casa Corcovado Jungle Lodge

Day 3: Casa Corcovado Jungle Lodge, Corcovado National Park

Corcovado National Park has often been described as one of the most biologically intense places on earth. The park extends over 100,000 acres on the southwest coast of Costa Rica.

Your guided walk will bring you into a wonderland of ancient, steamy forests dominated by huge trees, home to much wildlife including scarlet macaws, toucans, parrots, all four monkey species found in the country and jaguars-although these elusive cats are rarely seen.

Day 4: Casa Corcovado Jungle Lodge, Corcovado National Park

Caño Island was once an important ceremonial site and burial ground for the pre-Colombian Indians. Its possible they abandoned the area when pirates began arriving - the first, according to legend, being Sir Francis Drake back in 1579. The island is now a National Park.

Your tour starts after a leisurely breakfast, when you will meet your guide at the Gear House to select your flippers and mask. Its then a 40-minute boat ride to Caño Island. At certain times of the year, you may also see pilotor humpback whales, and dolphin along the way. The snorkeling site is located within a marine reserve, and is a good place for spotting a wide variety of fish and marine mammals, including - if you are lucky - manta rays, turtles and small white-tipped sharks.

There are no facilities, and visitor access to the interior is prohibited while important infrastructure work is carried out. However our boat can take you close to the shore and you are welcome to wade ashore and stroll along the beach.

Day 5: Chayote Lodge, Naranjo

You will be picked up by a representative from your hotel. Board a motor boat from Drake Bay to the main port of the Sierpe River, approximately 1 hour and 30 minute transfer. The boat ride through the Sierpe River will take you through mangrove forests to admire the flora and fauna. At the port of the Sierpe River you will take a land transfer to the Palmar Sur airstrip, approximately 30 minutes. Please be prepared for a wet take of when departing the Lodge.

Local airline flight from Palmar Sur to San Jose. Check in 1 hour prior to flight departure time, approximately 50 minutes.

Pick up at the Local Terminal in San José for a private 1 hour overland transfer, plus any stops along the way, to your hotel in Llano Bonito de Alajuela.

Chayote Lodge is a new lodging concept where the unique combination of culture and nature meet to share with its guests’ one of the most valuable treasures of Costa Rica: our authentic lifestyle and culture.

Overnight: Chayote Lodge

Day 6: Chayote Lodge, Naranjo

Naranjo is small town sheltering some of Costa Rica best coffee plantations. Over two hundred years of coffee cultivation, have marked Naranjo as a mecca in the production of some of the finest coffees of the world, achieving several world awards for its quality.

Our first stop will be at the Espiritu Santo Coffee Tour; during hour and a half we will learn all the secrets of why this famous drink has taken the world over. We will be able to learn about all phases of the coffee, from the seed to the cup.

The visit takes place in farm own by the local cooperative of coffee growers, where a coffee landscaping of rolling hills make a unique scenery. After our coffee tour, we will continue to the Municipal Market, where vegetables, fruits, meats and other produce is for sale for the local inhabitants to buy always fresh produce. Our guide will tell us about the different fruits and explain how they are used in local homes. We will have lunch in one the eateries of the market. After lunch we will visit the local church, the Basilica of the Lady of Piedades, rebuilt after several earthquakes in the 1940s.

Overnight: Chayote Lodge

Day 7: Senda Monteverde, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Today you will be transferred to your next destination: Monteverde.

Monteverde is more rural village than town, although it does offer some conveniences. Your best bet for services such as gas is to stop in nearby Santa Elena, which offers a bank, pharmacy, restaurants and Internet cafes.

The Monteverde area has several dairy farms, which produce some delicious cheeses.

The dairy farms were established by Quakers who migrated from the U.S. to Costa Rica to avoid the WW II draft. The Quakers were instrumental in developing Monteverde and preserving the cloud forest.

Overnight: Senda Monteverde

Day 8: Senda Monteverde, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

The Selvatura Canopy and Walkways Tour in Monteverde are a zip line adventure ride and treetop canopy bridge walk respectively. The zip line canopy tour is an exhilarating ride through the tree tops where you are suspended by a harness and glide on 15 cables. Between cables you rest on platforms constructed among the trees which offer panoramic views.

On the Walkways Tour you hike along a 1.7 mile cloud forest trail and suspension bridges through and above the tree tops.

Overnight: Senda Monteverde

Day 9: End of Itinerary

Download Detailed Itinerary

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