I am planning a trip to Costa Rica in Dec. Has anyone used OAT [Overseas Adventure Travel]To tour CR or anyplace else. I have not used them but their 13 day tour looks very interesting and is quit reasonable.

There are many companies that offer tours in Costa Rica. The first thing you want to ask yourself is do you want an escorted tour, or just explore by yourself, or a combination of both? I would also check with companies that specialize in Costa Rica, such as Way to Go, Apple, Elegant, etc. I recently saw an 8-day itinerary from Way to Go that looked pretty good. They can also customize it for you.

Send me your-email if you want the details on it.

Regards,

Enrique

Just returned from the OAT trip to Costa Rica. the value is excellent---stayed in nice places, good guide and food. I do not know your age, but the OAT groups tend to be over 55. I felt that there was not enough activity on this trip and too much time was spent traveling. Ellen

There are many reputable tour companies that will help you with your trip as much or as little as you would like. You can go on organized "cattle tours" or you can just contact a company and have them help you make arrangements for hotels and transportation. Just about any hotel you stay in in Costa Rica can help you with day trips to the various attractions in that area which would give you more options. You can make your decisions on what you want to do after you get there and take a day off and sit by the pool when you want to.

We used Elegant Adventures for an independant trip around CR and LOVED them. We booked our hotels and a driver w/ them and things went smoothly. There was a fairly major problem w/our hotel in Manuel Antonio but one phone call and they worked everything out for us.

We especially looved our driver Carlos and even got to meet another Carlos who works in the main office in CR. Very personal service! Get this, the 2 Carlos's took my friend and I out on the town and showed us places Ticos go--we had a blast and they were perfect gentleman!! I don't know if everyone gets treated as well as we did, but it sure was nice (and the trip was very reasonably priced...my friend and I are both teachers on tight budgets)

Debbie

Has anyone had any experience (positive or negative) with Costa Rica Luxury Vacations?

EVega, We used Costa Rica Luxury Vacations for our last trip. No real complaints, but I'm not sure I'd use them again. They were at the airport to meet us, even though our flights was well over an hour late from Miami. All hotels were 'as advertised' and expecting us. One transfer didn't show, at the Quepos airport, a VERY minor inconvenience. We had one last minute hotel change, on our last night, that wasn't very good. The small B&B we were to stay in had closed due to a family emergency, and they put us in a not very pleasant 'Traveler's Inn'. If I spoke better spanish, I would have spent the money and moved a half mile to one of the Melia properties. But it was Sunday and I wasn't sure I could get in touch with anyone who would know where we were. I sure didn't want to miss our very early morning ride to the airport. All in all, I think they are a reputable company, just be watchful of any last minute changes....