Irina11

I am reading about zip line options in Monteverde and not sure which one to choose: Original Canopy or Selvatura. Which one would you recomment? What are the main diferences between them? Appreciate any recomendations

librarychica85

I would recommend the Original Canopy as I have gone with them 2x (once in CR and the other in Granada, Nicaragua) so my recommendation comes from personal experience. The guides were extremely professional and courteous and just led to memorable experiences. Not sure of the differences between the 2, but I think both are well touted.

traveltalesfromtheredheadedtraveler.blogspot.com/
(My travel writing blog!)

aprillilacs

I can't comment about Original Canopy, but we did the Selvatura zipline and loved it. We'd ziplined once before and knew what to expect but still were a little nervous at first. There were 18 platforms, with lines of various lengths--a few were quite long. The final line was awesomely long! That one you do as a twosome (either with your partner or with one of the guides) because, I assume, it requires more weight on the line to keep you going across the vast stretch over the canopy--maybe a kilometer? (A few of the couples on that line didn't quite get all the way to the end and a guide had to go out to help them in.) You really go fast on that last one, but by that time you've had a lot of practice on the shorter lines and it's just exhilarating.

There's a fun "Tarzan swing" you can do after the final line--you climb a platform and are firmly attached to the end of a line and then jump/fall off the platform (some needed a little push to get going--it's just not a natural urge!). After you jump you swing back and forth several times over the canopy until you finally are brought to a stop and unhooked. Really fun. About a third of the people who did the zipline couldn't bring themselves to do the swing, but everybody who did thought it was great.

Selvatura is a professional operation. The guides are friendly, helpful, and encouraging (there were 6, as I recall, for the 18 or so people in the group we went with). There's a block that you run into at the end of each line, right before you get to the platform, which helps slow you down. (When we ziplined at Monbacho in Nicaragua there weren't any blocks--that was a lot dicier!) The price was reasonable. We didn't make advance reservations--just showed up at the check-in counter and within about 20 minutes were off to zipline. There are many other things to do at Selvatura besides ziplining, but by the end of 3 hours of exertion all we wanted to do was head back to our lodge to relax a bit!

Irina11

Many thanks for your responses, they are very helpfull indeed. Aprilllicas, it sounds you had a great time. We will be arriving from Arenal so looking into taking afternoon zip line tour because next morning we plan to take morning tour in cloud forest. Does it matter if we take zip line tour in the afternoon?

Deb15July

We also used Selvatura for ziplining in Monteverde and loved it. The grounds are beautiful. We'd hoped to spend more time there, but the number of platforms and lines will turn your visit into an all day excursion if you want to take part in other attractions. I wished we had more time there, but we enjoyed the time spent!

volcanogirl

We did the Original Canopy Tour in Monteverde and really liked it. The guides were friendly and professional. One thing I liked is that our group was small, only 4 people, and the guides took pictures and videos for us the entire time. There were also a couple of fun rappels that we weren't expecting. I got a kick of the pictures of Jimmy Carter doing their zip lines. I think Selvatura is a lot more elaborate though. If we went back, I'd love to try it.

aprillilacs

I don't think it matters when you go -- we went in the morning but didn't see any animals--it was all about the exhilaration of flying over the canopy. The weather was mixed while we were there--kind of cloud-foresty. According to Selvatura's website, they have zipline tours at 1:00 and 2:30, and the park closes at 5:00. Will you have a car? We did, which made it easy to be flexible. If you won't have a car, you can take a taxi or make arrangements in Santa Elena or at your hotel for a pickup by the Selvatura van (see the website for pickup locations)--which would likely require some advance booking.

We really loved Monteverde. The morning tour of the park was wonderful (our guide was Bernal, arranged through our hotel, the Arco Iris Lodge). We went back in the afternoon on our own (free admission for the whole day with your ticket) and spent more time at the Hummingbird Gallery watching all the birds and then walked again in the cloud forest, this time without a guide, where we were lucky enough to see a quetzal that had been spotted by a guide, who let us look through his scope.

I also recommend doing one of the really neat night hikes in the area. We did the one at Santamaria, a private reserve just outside Santa Elena, also with Bernal, and saw lots of interesting things (sloths, stick insects, viper, lobster cricket tarantula, kinkajou...).

Our best dining experience in Costa Rica was at Sofia's restaurant, not far from Santa Elena on the way to the cloud forest. We had dinner there--nice ambience, friendly staff, delicious flavors, not too much (sizewise or pricewise!).

Andrea_loves_travel

We chose Selvetura for a few reasons:
1) We heard Canopy Tour was faster with a mechanical brake, I am slightly scared of the speed and height combination. I wanted to go with the little bit slower/longer version to enjoy the scenery more.
2) Selvetura was up the same road towards Santa Elena Cloud Forest, and the transportation to Selvetura from our hotel could be at any time of the same day. We took the shuttle in the morning, walked 100m passed Selvetura, hiked the cloud forest, and then walked back to do the afternoon zipline tour before taking the shuttle back. This made the most of our time and money for that day!!

Irina11

Thanks! We will be staying at Los Pinos so will try to arrange pick up from there. I am now leaning toward Selvatura. We are plannng to take car-taxi-car transfer from Arenal so I hope we would be able to make 1pm tour. I was just wondering if we would be late would we be able to change our reservation to 2:30 if we reserve in advance. Do we have to reserve in advance? We will be there in the first half of April

PerkelFlirp

Just returned from Costa Rica. We loved Salvatura! The guides are awesome - my son was too light to right alone so one rode with him. Like aprilliacs said, the Tarzan Swing at the end is really fun! We brought our small camera and camcorder (small enough to zip in your pocket, or hang around your neck and zipped into your jacket)and got wonderful shots! Not only did I get to tape my family riding the zip lines and the tarzan swing, but I filmed the last zip line - the longest! Be the front rider!

Andrea_loves_travel

Irina I don't think you could change your reservation if you miss your time. You could change it the day before, but not right at 1pm if you realize you're going to be late, if you know what I mean? You need to book it ahead of time because they can only accomodate so many people.

aprillilacs

On the website it says no refunds, so you might want to reserve the 2:30 tour to play it safe. But I would suggest contacting Selvatura and asking your question directly. Their contact e-mails are listed as [email protected] or [email protected]. I suspect they will be happy to work with you on this.