white water rafting
 

My family of four-two teenagers-14 and 16- will be in Costa Rica in early June. We will travel to Arenal(3 nights), Manuel Antonio(4 nights), and Finca Rosa Blanca(two Nights). Where would you suggest that we go on a white water rafting daytrip? I would prefer not to be on a bus for two hours to arrive at the river-My kids would enjoy some excitement and beauty.

Thank you in advance.

About the only place you won't have a fairly long ride is from MA. You can raft on the Savegre river.

The Rios Pacuare and Reventazon are about a 1 1/2-2hr trip but there is a stop for breakfast in Cartago for some outfits or closer to the river with other.

The trip to the Rio Sarapiqui from Arenal is about 1 1/2hr.

I haven't been on the Savegre so can't really comment. The Sarapiqui is probably where you will see the most wildlife while rafting, while the Pacuare is, imo, the most scenic. The Reventazon is probably considered to be the most technical because of the longer rapids. It is also very pretty.

Of the rivers above that I have been on, the Pacuare and Reventazon offer the most excitement, again imo.

Even in MA, the ride to the Savegre is about an hour and a half. I rafted there and thought it was good. The rapids are Class III and I thought they were exciting enough. I used Amigos del Rio and they were good.
The ride to the river is plenty exciting, a dirt road along cliffs for much of it.

Thanks for the distance to the Savegre. I was going by how long it took to drive to Dominical which was only about 1 1/2hr so I assumed it would be less time.

Thanks for all the imput. Will the rivers be considerably higher since we are going during the rainy season? I have read so much on this forum about rafting th Pacuare. Is it really that much better than the others?

We just returned from Costa Rica and did a fun class 2-3 rafting trip on the rio Arenal, about 20 minutes from La Fortuna, with our two 13 year olds. Desafio tours is the only company that does this river. You can do it in inflatable kayaks( fun!) or in a raft. The water level was very low so kayaks were advisable, got hung up on the rocks quite a bit. Still, sooo beautiful, great jungle scenery, and fantastic guides. This is a wonderful company to go with. At the end they serve a delicious meal. If the water level was higher it would have been perfect. When you are going I think it's better. Check out their website at www.desafiocostarica.com. The kids (first time on a rafting trip) and we had a blast.