Costa Rica 13 day family holiday
Highlights
San Jose | Tortuguero National Park | Puerto Viejo | La Fortuna | Arenal Volcano | Monteverde Cloud ForestDescription of Costa Rica 13 day family holiday
This Costa Rica family holiday is ideal for school summer holidays, and with this season in mind we suggest the following carefully crafted itinerary to ensure that you all experience some of Costa Rica’s most exciting adventures. With the best weather.Starting in the capital city of San Jose, you have a day in a central hotel to acclimatise and also enjoy a guided tour of the city. From here, the wildlife adventure gets off to a wonderful start with a boat trip out to Tortuguero National Park, famous for its sea turtle nesting grounds, and myriad waterways through tropical jungle. And all only accessible by boat. Further down the coast, you will also spend a few days enjoying the Caribbean vibe of Puerto Viejo where the Costa Rican raison d’être of Pura Vida or ‘pure living’ is omnipresent. Whether you are snorkelling or just hanging out in a beach bar enjoying Creole culture.
Taking a hire car or shuttle bus, you head north again to La Fortuna, gateway to the famous Arenal Volcano, where you spend a couple of days staying in a wooden lodge hotel, hiking through jungle or across it on its famous walkways. And then enjoying thermal hot springs. Last but not least is Monteverde Cloud Forest, where you have time to go hiking through this elevated tropical jungle where mists hover and nurture myriad trees and rare flora, and where you also get a chance to take on one of the world’s most spectacular ziplines. Which is one fine way to bring this holiday to a close before heading back to San Jose by shuttle bus to catch your plane back home.
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.comDeparture information
Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.
Our local partner in Costa Rica are committed to sustainability and have achieved the highest sustainability accreditation possible in Costa Rica of 5 leaves as part of the Certification for Sustainable Tourism Program, this is based on the degree to which they comply with a sustainable model of natural, cultural and social resource management. They have a sustainability manual outlining their aims to reduce their negative impact on the local environment through their own practices as well as those of companies they use the services of. The eco-lodge we use in La Fortuna are committed to protecting the natural resources. This covers wildlife protection through recycling, environmental education for the local community, energy saving light bulbs and using biodegradable products at the eco-lodge.
On top of this, we also provide each of our customers with a 'How to be a Responsible Traveller' document before they travel. This includes advice and tips on how to buy locally, protect wildlife, and how to make a genuine difference to the country they’re visiting.
Our responsible travel journey starts at home, from our Brighton based paperless office, where we reduce, reuse, and recycle wherever possible. Each and every day a healthy lunch is provided to our staff and any leftovers and food waste are composted. We’re committed to sustainable travel and are proud to have received the thumbs up from Travelife by achieving their Better Places Partner criteria.
The Impacts of this Trip
Our local partners ensure that all employees are well treated and that they exceed all minimum requirements for salary, work hours and rest days. This ensures that everyone directly involved in your trip receives all of these benefits and is paid and treated fairly.
Throughout our trips we use guides and drivers local to each area so you can take advantage of their local knowledge. This benefits not only our customers but also for the guides and drivers by helping put money directly into the pockets of the local people. We encourage our customers to stop along the way at local restaurants, shops and stalls to buy food, drinks and souvenirs, whether using a driver or self-driving and we also encourage them to tip well.
In Tortuguero we use three guides throughout the trip who are local to the area. One is from a small village where you will learn about day to day lives of the villagers and turtle conservation in the area. In Puerto Viejo we arrange a cooking class in a local home where you can learn delicious recipes whilst directly helping the local community.
As well as this we also use only small-scale and locally owned accommodation every step of the way, which not only provides you with a truly authentic experience but makes sure that the revenue goes to the ones who need it the most.
We believe in putting people first, not just in the destinations we offer but also here in the UK. We believe that happy staff lead to a happy working environment, so with this in mind we offer a wide variety of staff rewards at our office in sunny Brighton. This includes ethically sourced daily lunches, a ride to work scheme and one paid charity day per employee.
Our local partner in Costa Rica are committed to sustainability and have achieved the highest sustainability accreditation possible in Costa Rica of 5 leaves as part of the Certification for Sustainable Tourism Program, this is based on the degree to which they comply with a sustainable model of natural, cultural and social resource management. They have a sustainability manual outlining their aims to reduce their negative impact on the local environment through their own practices as well as those of companies they use the services of. The eco-lodge we use in La Fortuna are committed to protecting the natural resources. This covers wildlife protection through recycling, environmental education for the local community, energy saving light bulbs and using biodegradable products at the eco-lodge.
On top of this, we also provide each of our customers with a 'How to be a Responsible Traveller' document before they travel. This includes advice and tips on how to buy locally, protect wildlife, and how to make a genuine difference to the country they’re visiting.
Our responsible travel journey starts at home, from our Brighton based paperless office, where we reduce, reuse, and recycle wherever possible. Each and every day a healthy lunch is provided to our staff and any leftovers and food waste are composted. We’re committed to sustainable travel and are proud to have received the thumbs up from Travelife by achieving their Better Places Partner criteria.
The Impacts of this Trip
Our local partners ensure that all employees are well treated and that they exceed all minimum requirements for salary, work hours and rest days. This ensures that everyone directly involved in your trip receives all of these benefits and is paid and treated fairly.
Throughout our trips we use guides and drivers local to each area so you can take advantage of their local knowledge. This benefits not only our customers but also for the guides and drivers by helping put money directly into the pockets of the local people. We encourage our customers to stop along the way at local restaurants, shops and stalls to buy food, drinks and souvenirs, whether using a driver or self-driving and we also encourage them to tip well.
In Tortuguero we use three guides throughout the trip who are local to the area. One is from a small village where you will learn about day to day lives of the villagers and turtle conservation in the area. In Puerto Viejo we arrange a cooking class in a local home where you can learn delicious recipes whilst directly helping the local community.
As well as this we also use only small-scale and locally owned accommodation every step of the way, which not only provides you with a truly authentic experience but makes sure that the revenue goes to the ones who need it the most.
We believe in putting people first, not just in the destinations we offer but also here in the UK. We believe that happy staff lead to a happy working environment, so with this in mind we offer a wide variety of staff rewards at our office in sunny Brighton. This includes ethically sourced daily lunches, a ride to work scheme and one paid charity day per employee.
2 Reviews of Costa Rica 13 day family holiday
Reviewed on 01 Jan 2019 by Claudia Bernat
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Tortuguero.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
1- specify the type of hotel you would like to go to, example, minimum 4 stars if you require a bit of comfort. 2- plan your days in the Arsenal before you go, stay in a hotel with hotsprings. 3- take American dollars with you as they accept dollars in Costa Rica.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Excellent, it could be better if the hotels were a bit more comfortable.
Reviewed on 09 Jan 2018 by Jenny Brothwell
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
We all particularly enjoyed the guided wildlife spotting trips - several boat trips in Tortuguero which were a highlight with the added option of a Night Walk, which we would highly recommend. Tortuguero was magical, going everywhere by boat, with an interesting trip to the village and stunning beach. Our other highlight was our Beach Stay in Samara - a perfect beach practically all to ourselves. We booked a Turtle tour and watching a turtle nesting, laying eggs and returning to the sea was a breathtaking experience.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
It's quite a busy, full on trip, which suited us fine but be prepared for early morning starts and go with lots of energy! There is quite a lot of travelling between stops, but the shuttle buses are efficient and all transfers worked well. We did feel that we might have preferred a self drive tour, to give us more flexibility with the travel. The roads can be really bumpy, but not unmanageable to drive yourself. A couple of the hotels were missing a few of the nice touches - there was rarely a kettle and tea tray! Basic but comfortable.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
All the tour guides seemed genuinely proud of the country's environmental credentials. They were passionate about their wildlife and seemed as excited as we were at each discovery. Facilities for recycling, water saving, carbon offsetting are everywhere and impressive.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Fantastic family adventure. A great mix of wildlife, activities and beach relaxation. All ran very smoothly, transport was efficient, people extremely friendly and the whole experience was very enjoyable. Highly recommended!
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