Explore Costa Rica
Small Country, Absurd Variety
You can stand in cloud forest at breakfast, watch a volcano steam through the afternoon, and be swimming in the Pacific before dinner. Very few countries let you do that, and Costa Rica does it without ever feeling like a theme park about itself.
The mistake almost everyone makes is trying to see all of it in a week. The roads are slower than the map suggests, and the trip quietly becomes a minibus with a view. We'd rather give you three bases and let you actually stop in each one. That is where the wildlife turns up, and where the country stops being a checklist.
The Beauty of Costa Rica
Rainforest & Wildlife
The forest does not perform on demand. What changes everything is the guide: someone who reads the canopy, knows the hour to be there, and turns a green wall into a morning you talk about for years afterwards.
- Dawn walks in Monteverde with a private naturalist
- Hanging bridges through the canopy before the day groups
- Night walks for frogs, sloths and everything nocturnal
- Boat mornings on the Tortuguero canals
Volcanoes & Water
The volcanic spine of the country is where the landscape gets theatrical. Hot rivers, turquoise waterfalls and craters you can walk the rim of, all within a morning's drive of one another.
- Arenal at dusk from a lodge with the view
- Rio Celeste and the waterfall that runs impossibly blue
- Private thermal springs rather than the resort pools
- Tenorio and Rincón de la Vieja on foot with a guide
The Two Coasts
Most people only ever see the Pacific. It is superb, and it is also half the story. The Caribbean side runs on a different clock, a different kitchen and a different sea, and it rewards anyone who bothers.
- Manuel Antonio, where the forest ends at the sand
- Guanacaste and Nosara for the long Pacific afternoons
- The Osa Peninsula for the wildest coast in the country
- Puerto Viejo and the Caribbean reef, at its own pace
Explore the World Your Way
Private Touring
Your own driver-guide and private experiences throughout, paced entirely around how you actually like to travel.
Guided Touring
Small-group travel with expert naturalist guides at each stop, and everything between them quietly handled.
Independent Travel
Self-guided, with our itinerary, your lodges booked, and the local knowledge that never shows up in a search.
Multi-Country
Pair Costa Rica with Panama or Belize, and turn one good fortnight into two very different halves.
Where to Go in Costa Rica
The Northern Highlands
- Arenal & La Fortuna
- Monteverde
- Rio Celeste
- Tenorio
The Pacific Coast
- Guanacaste
- Manuel Antonio
- Nosara
- Osa Peninsula
The Caribbean & Beyond
- Panama
- Puerto Viejo
- San José
- Tortuguero
"We planned our honeymoon to Costa Rica through Andrew and everything was absolutely perfect! Great communication, recommendations, and service! He worked with us to make it exactly what we wanted. 10/10 recommend!"
Frequently Asked Questions
December to April is the dry season and the safest bet, though it is also the busiest and dearest. May to August is our quiet favorite: lush, far fewer people, and rain that usually arrives in the afternoon rather than all day. September and October are the wettest on the Pacific, but the Caribbean side is at its brightest then.
Fewer than the map suggests. Roads are slow and winding, so what looks like two hours is often four. Three bases in ten days is the sweet spot: usually a volcano or cloud forest stop, a beach, and one more. Four or five stops turns a holiday into a series of transfers, and the wildlife only shows up when you slow down.
One of the best in the world for it. Hanging bridges, hot springs, wildlife that genuinely turns up, and short enough days that nobody melts down. We pick lodges with pools and space, build in real downtime, and choose guides who are brilliant with children. The country does the rest without much help from us.
A 4x4 is worth it for most routes, especially in the green season. Whether you drive yourself is the real question. Some people love it and the country is very manageable. But signage is patchy, rain changes roads quickly, and a private driver turns transfer days into part of the trip. We usually mix the two.
Nine to twelve months for dry season travel, and longer again for Christmas and Easter. The good lodges are small, the best naturalist guides are individuals rather than agencies, and both are finite. Green season is more forgiving, though the handful of genuinely special places still go early.