meliss35

We are going to Monteverde and can't decide which cloud forest we should go to. (Monteverde or Santa Elena?). Also is it worth going to Children's Eternal Forest? And which night tour should we go on (Monteverde, Children's Eternal Forest, Finca Ecologica or Santa Elena?). Do you need to make a reservation for a guide for the early morning tour of a cloud forest or can you get a guide when you arrive? Also, which zip line does people recommend? How is the skywalk and do you recommend getting a guide?

luv2globetrot

Hi,
We went to Costa Rica in Feb. 2005.
We went to Santa Elena, only because we heard it was not as touristy (meaning less crowded). However we did not see very much, a few birds (I can't recall their names), but no quetzals It was just a nice nature walk in my opinion, but great for genuine birders. We made a reservation the night before for the first tour in the morning. We easily did this at the hostel right in the town center.
We went on the Children's Eternal Forest night tour which we really enjoyed! (which we also reserved at the hostel) The coolest thing was all the tarantulas we saw!! We also saw a sloth, a sleeping toucan, a snake, a and a few other things I can't remember...sorry.
We HIGHLY recommend Sky Trek for the ziplining! They use a good braking system (you don't use your hands like I've heard some companies use), the guides were very friendly, fun and helpful. We didn't take the Skywalk part, though because we had done the Hanging Bridges in Arenal (which we also recommend!)
Hope this helps
Happy, safe travels!

meliss35

Thanks for the information. We are planning on staying in Monteverde for 3 nights. I am tring to figure out what to do when we are there and trying to decide if we should only stay for 2 nights. Here is my itinerary
Day 1: Arrive in Monteverde around 12pm and go on Skywalk and then do the Children's Eternal Forest night tour.
Day 2: Go on guided walk of the Monteverde Cloud forest. Also do the Original Canopy tour.
Day 3: Not sure what else to do on day 3.
Any suggestions would be great.

luv2globetrot

We found 2 nights to be sufficient. Keep in mind that the roads to, from and in Monteverde are pretty much atrocious!! You didn't say where you're coming from to arrive in Monteverde at noon, but just be aware that all driving times are way more than just what the mileage suggests. Plan on it taking 2-3 times longer than what you'd expect. For a large portion of the roads you won't be going much faster than 20-40 mph.

vtski

We did a night tour of children’s eternal forest back in December and I’ll say it’s a must! We also came in about 1-1.5 hours before sunset and went for a little hike by ourselves before the tour. End up seeing white-faced capuchin monkeys. It was quite more fun trying to spot them than in Manuel Antonio where they just come to the picnic area for food.

travl4fun

We did the Selvatura Park which included a great zipline tour, Skywalk and more! Can't compare it to the others but we thoroughly enjoyed Selvatura.

dhuszai

I would like to know how you go about making a reservation for a night tour of the Children's Eternal Forest. If it matters, we are staying at the Monteverde Lodge. I have tried to find a web site re same, but I have not been successful in anything closely resembling reservations...just info re the forest itself and the conservation. Any help would be appreciated.

jamaus

I just made reservations for the night tour at the Childrens Rain Forest through www.monteverdeinfo.com. The cost with transportation is $17.00 for adults and $12.00 for kids. The prices are two dollars difference if you do not need to be transported.

pakitty

My son and I went on day tours at Monteverde, Finca Ecologica and Santa Elena. We only saw a couple of birds at Santa Elena. The best day tour was Monteverde, and we got to watch a quetzel through our guide's telescope for several minutes and there was some kind of unusual snake that was easily visible. We also enjoyed the Finca Ecologica day tour.
We went on both the Monteverde and Finca Ecologica night tours. Again, we enjoyed both tours, but saw more at Finca Ecologica.