-Day 1 Hola San José (groups flying from the west coast may be required to depart day 0)
Meet your tour director and check into hotel
Day 2 San José--Arenal
Travel to Arenal via Poás Volcano
Details: Poás Volcano
Sulfurously glowing, the Poás Volcano has been gurgling and burbling since its last major eruption in the 1950s. From the viewing terrace, visitors can look down over 1,000 feet into the world's largest active crater.
Day 3 Arenal landmarks
Details: Lake Arenal kayaking tour
Glide along the still waters reflecting the perfect cone of Arenal Volcano and the surrounding rolling hills. Lake Arenal, the country's largest, is also among its most scenic, and the area has become popular area to kayak, windsurf, sail, fish, and hike.
Details: Hot springs visit
Let the volcanoes take you away. At Arenal’s hot springs, bubbling lava fields heat the waters to make nature’s own jacuzzi.
Day 4 Arenal volunteer project
Arenal Volcano
Volunteer activities
Day 5 Arenal--Monteverde
Teach English language class
Details: Travel to Monteverde
Because of its humidity and latitude, the entire city of Monteverde can disappear in a second under a massive cloud cover. Founded by Quakers in 1951, the city boasts the best in Costa Rican creatures. Observe a proud display of howler monkeys, revered quetzals and native frogs in the dense cover of the cloud forest.
Details: Local school visit
Take the opportunity to enrich a Costa Rican school with gifts of notebooks, pens, erasers -- all basic supplies that few students here can afford. Learn how rural communities are working to give their children educational opportunities in extremely difficult conditions, often with dozens of students in all different grades taught in a single classroom. We will stop to pick up supplies before visiting, but feel free to bring donations of school supplies like chalk or paper from home, too. (If schools are not in session, you'll be able to give gifts of t-shirts, socks, and other clothing to local children.)
Details: Canopy zip line tour
Soar through the treetops for the unmatched close-up of the New World’s best wildlife refuge. Harness yourself to cables that run between platforms high in the trees, then step into thin air and zip from tree to tree. Experience a true bird-eye view from your new aerial perspective.
Day 6 Monteverde landmarks
Details: Santa Elena Biological Reserve visit
Get your spider monkey fix as you climb into the clouds. The Santa Elena Reserve reaches high into the atmosphere, bringing the cloudy mists into its lush forests and letting you see all the way to the Arenal Volcano.
Details: Horseback ride
Step back in time as you explore Monteverde on horseback, following time-worn trails through the mountains as you breathe in the mists of the rainforest.
Details: Frog Pond visit
Rrribbit. Venture to a frog sanctuary at night for an amphibious symphony. Most of Costa Rica’s famous frogs are nocturnal, making this evening activity a great opportunity to both hear and see the colorful creatures. The tiny Tink Frog, often no more than an inch long, is making the metallic clanging noise you hear (hence its name), while the flashes of red you see might be the Red-Eyed Tree Frog hopping from leaf to leaf. Get up close and personal with 25 other species at this frog museum, where crayola-perfect reds, greens, yellows, and blues mark the inhabitants. Just watch which plants you stand under -- mistletoe is also native to Costa Rica, and not every frog will turn into a prince!
Day 7 Monteverde volunteer project
Volunteer activities at tropical conservation center
Day 8 Monteverde--Coastal Puntarenas
Travel to Coastal Puntarenas
Day 9 Manuel Antonio excursion
Details: Manuel Antonio National Park guided visit
Take a tour of this national park with your Tour Director who is certified as a professional, local guide. Manuel Antonio includes 12 islands and is known for its white sands and array of wild life. You will share the park and its four beaches with sea turtles, parrots, three-toed sloths, tapirs, howler monkeys and iguanas. A word to the wise—be careful of the sneaky white face monkeys. They know how to unzip backpacks. The park boasts an estuary, mangroves, a lagoon and paths, one which leads to an observation tower for a 360° view.
Day 10 Coastal Puntarenas volunteer project
Day 11 Coastal Puntarenas--San José
Details: Travel to San José via Sarchí
On the way to San José, travel to Sarchí, a highly artistic city known for its painted designs and brilliantly colored wheels of local ox carts.
Details: Sarchí craft village visit
Costa Rica's premiere crafts village provides the perfect opportunity for souvenir shopping. Sarchí became famous in the mid-1800s for its elaborate hand-painted oxcarts, and now its artisans create clothing, shoes, chess sets, and other items all decorated in the traditional manner.
Day 12 San José volunteer project
Day 13 San José volunteer project
Day 14 End tour
Tour Includes:
- Round-trip airfare
- 13 overnight stays in hotels with private bathrooms
- Buffet-style breakfast daily
- Lunch daily
- Dinner daily
- Full-time services of a professional Tour Director
- Guided sightseeing tours and city walks as per itinerary
- Visits to select attractions as per itinerary
- Five half-day volunteer projects
- Tour Diary™
- Note: On arrival day only dinner is provided; on departure day, only breakfast is provided
- Note: Tour cost does not include airline-imposed baggage fees, or fees for any required passport or visa. Please visit our Fees FAQ page for a full list of items that may not be included in the cost of your tour.
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