Canopy tour - Arenal or MA?
 

We will be in costa Rica for our honeymoon in mid-November. we would like to do a canopy tour at some point, and we will be in the MA area for 4 days, and the Arenal area for 3 days. I was hoping some of you could give me some recommendations as to which area would be the best to do a canopy tour.

There are no shortages of canopy tours in the whole country. My advice is once your in an area, see what the prices are and how many lines they have. Some are short and not worth the price. I did the waterfalls one outside of Jaco which was fun. I also did the one at Tabacon, which was really short and just "Okay" When we were in manuel antonio, there was one down there that seemed really good. Ill see if I can find the name of that company for you.

Thanks!

I'm not sure where you are staying in the Arenal area, but we did the Canopy Tour at the Arenal Paraiso and really enjoyed it. I think there are 11 lines, one goes over a river. The cost was $45 per person, which I believe is about the norm. The guides we had were alot of fun. The photographer took lots of pictures with an excellent Minolta digital camera, and charged $30 for the CD with over 240 pictures on it (about 1/2 of them of our family.)

We also did the "Superman" zip line and the regular canopy tour at Turubari park. We didn't do one at MA.

Our driver suggested one on the way from Arenal to MA that he said was great. I believe it was called "San Lorenzo" and it was in or near the town of San Ramon (?). However, the day we were in the area, there was a torrential rainstorm, so we didn't get to try it.

I believe that several people on this board did the "Canopy Safari" tour near MA. If you do a search on those words, you will see some reviews.

Have fun! :)

My husband and daughters did the canopy tour at Arenal Paraiso in August & they loved it! lvk has given an accurate description of it. My family highly praised the guides. They were very safety-conscious and professional.

Hello,
I would highly recommend the one in Monteverde over those in Arenal. It is called Sky Trek Canopy tour. It was the highlight of our trip, and one of the best things we had ever done (we liked it better than skydiving). Sky Trek made all the other canopy tours we saw look like the "kiddie pool". It was $40 per person including transportation from Santa Elena (the main town near Monteverde) and lasted about 2.5 hours. This tour was well organized, very new equipment and wonderful guides. It is definitely thrilling-you go across gorges, down the side of mountains, and zip right through the trees. But it wasn't scary, just exciting. In our canopy tour group, there was a 55 year old college professor with her students, and she loved it. Granted it is not a serene rain forest walk, but you can do that elsewhere. You can make reservations in the town of Santa Elena (I can't remember the place, but it is right on the main corner of town. Also go to the website
www.monteverdeinfo.com You can find lots of info about the area, different modes of transportation between arenal and santa elena, and info about SKy Trek. Have a fantastic time! Let me know if I can answer any other questions

Thanks for all the advice. We'll be staying at Tulemar in MA and the Arenal Lodge when in the Arenal area. Can we do the canopy tour at Arenal Paraiso even if we are not staying there?

Yes, there were people in our group staying at different hotels. (They'll gladly take your money too ;) ) I'm not sure if your hotel will charge you a premium to book it for you and/or shuttle you over there. If you have a car, you can just stop by the AP and make a reservation and drive yourself over.

We also stayed at Tulemar- loved it. We did the zip line at Manuel Antonio- it was called Canopy Safari. It was a lot of fun- included a jungle walk with explanations of the plants and animals. The zip line included three rapels down the trees. The last zip line goes about 300 feet over a small stream- you end up where the tour started.It was $69- included pick up at the hotel, breakfast and a swim in the river. Do the morning tour- it is less crowded- only 5 of us on the tour.We had the tour company drop us off at Manuel Antonio park instead of our hotel.

I have heard nothing but praise for RioSPAraiso in the MA area. Hot springs, canopy tour, horseback riding plenty of things to do. I don't normally like to mention places that I haven't personally been to because I'm not giving you a true opinion based on experience but this place has had high marks from most people.

We just returned 9-11-04 from CR and did the SkyTram / SkyTrek for $40 USD. The tram is made by Dopplmayer (ski lift equip. mfr.)

The jackass behind the desk hit us at $60, but from my research here, I knew that $40 was the right price to pay. It was a little like buying a car -- but I'm in sales, so it was no issue for me to work him over.
I recommend this canopy tour. Our nice guide was Gilberth 506-645-5238.
[email protected].

At the end of the zip lines, you walk downhill on a concrete service road. Soon, they will finish the final zip line that will return you to the base w/o hiking at the end.
San Lorenzo is 506-475-1081 or www.valleescondido.com. At this one, there is a restaurant and you have to climb stairs to towers. The drive to either is easy.

AIRWAYVZ
WE TOO WILL BE IN C.R. FOR OUR HONEYMOON/ WEDDING IN MID NOVEMBER. WE ARRIVE ON 11/18 THRY 11/28 AND GETTING MARRIED ON 11/22 AT MAKANDA. WE ARE STAYING AT LOST IGUANA FOR OUR FIRST 3 DAYS THEN TO MAKANDA FOR 5DAYS AND BACK TO SAN JOSE THE LAST 2 DAYS. WHERE ARE Y'ALL STAYING?

I agree with everyone on the skytrek but alas, they are not going to Monteverde. Good job getting the right price TripleSecDelay!

Note to Jessie : I'm aware of the same company offering SkyWalk, SkyTrek, SkyTram. The last two are in the exact same location, on the Lago Arenal side of the Volcano. SkyWalk is in another location and involves suspension bridges. Have you been there? I have not. Are we talking about 2 different things, or did I work too hard on a Monday and misunderstand your message?

A gentle note to Danmin : Are you aware that when you type with all capital letters, that you are "shouting"? It can be difficult for some to read; kind of like the fine print on a sales contract that the company doesn't want you to read.

Question for koa :

When you say that you did the canopy tour at Tabacon, do you recall where it was located? Were you driven there? Sometimes, when I'm driven places on vacation, I don't remember the roads taken because we're having so much fun talking or whatever. Curious to know ... Thanks!

To danmin- Congrats, we will be staying at Tulemar when in MA, and on to the Arenal Lodge after that. Congrats on your wedding, maybe we'll bump into ya down there, as we'll be in MA around the same dates.

To the rest of you, thatnks for the great advice so far, keep it coming if you have any more recommendations! Alas, we will not have the time to visit the Monteverde area - but we had to leave SOMETHING for a return trip!