Classic Costa Rica tour

Carbon reduction

Your holiday will help support local people and conservation. We must also reduce CO₂. Learn about the CO₂ emissions of this holiday and how to reduce them.

Environment

As this tour focuses so heavily around Costa Rica’s environment and its unique nature, we have worked hard to ensure the trip is as environmentally friendly and responsible as possible. The itinerary includes stops at the National Parks of Tortuguero, Arenal Volcano, Rincón de la Vieja, and Manuel Antonio, as well as a Cloud Forest Reserve. These National Parks work to conserve native sea turtles, hundreds of species of birds, Costa Rica’s national flower the purple orchid, and many other types of rare and endangered flora and fauna. The income that results from tourism is essential in the running of these parks – therefore responsible trips such as this one directly work to conserve and protect Costa Rica’s incredible natural environment.

To our travellers, we ask you to be vigilant about disposing of your waste and recycle where possible. During your trip you will be asked if you have any waste to dispose of when it is a suitable time in the itinerary. This ensures we make it as easy as possible for our travellers to be eco-friendly whilst traveling. We strongly advise all travellers to bring a reusable water bottle - this is an easy way to save plastic waste and is detailed in our ‘What to bring’ trip notes for all trips to all destinations. Your guide will remind you where and when you can fill up your re-usable water bottle. We also encourage general sustainability - limited use of air-con for instance. Something we focus on as an organisation and try to pass on to our travellers.

Community

Though this trip includes minimal time in areas where communities are abundant, we still ensure it benefits the communities it touches upon as much as possible. In larger cities such as San José, we employ local tour guides and stop at local shops and restaurants to allow for as much economic benefit as we can. Similarly, tour guides used at every stage of this tour are local people, offered fair conditions and pay.

In this itinerary we visit a number of small remote communities, and in these instances we have created the tour to benefit these communities directly. One stop is Zuñiga Family Farm, and another is a family-run coffee business in Monteverde; in both instances, the tourism provided allows for economic growth that’s extremely beneficial in such small communities.

Finally, we are proud to say that this tour has been awarded with the highest level of Sustainable Tourism certificate awarded by Swiss Travel Costa Rica, a leading figure in Costa Rica’s tourism industry. The award is reflective of the hard work that has gone into ensuring this tour is ethical, responsible, and beneficial to the country and communities it’s set amongst.