cherish05

Do any of you know any tour companies providing a guidede tour of the national park? My hotel provides them for $40 per person, which I thought was pretty steep. How much do guides outside the park charge?

Thanks!

TXgalinGA

I believe it is $20/pp. Again, pretty steep. We did not used a guide. many do and are SO glad...

ShSue

The hotel was $40/pp and outside the park was $10/pp. You might want to just go in the park and walk around yourself first for a while. Enjoy the beach, wander the trails (they aren't hard to find or follow).

ShSue

SORRY- I typed that wrong! $20/pp was the price outside the park.

vtski

The $40 that hotel charges is a rip-off. We just got back from CR and our hotel in MA offered a guide for $40. We declined and went by ourselves. Right before entering the park the park’s guides were offering their tours for $20!

Melissa5

Of all the places we hiked in Costa Rica, the one place you don't need a guide is the Manuel Antonio park. The rainforest isn't very dense there, so it's easier to spot the animals in the trees. There are more people there, so you would have to be blind not to stop wherever you see a small group of people standing still gazing up into the trees. Just look where they are looking and you will see monekys, a sloth, etc.! There are also some interesting reptiles just sunbathing near the path.

If you change your mind and want a guide, you can always return to the entrance, which isn't that far, and hire a guide if you don't feel you have seen enough. WE saw monkeys and a sloth very close to the path. My hubby is a biologist and he spots things for us, but coincidentally, we happened to be walking behind 2 different tour groups, and it was impossible not to notice where they stopped and figure out what they were looking at. Though they had the telescope, we had binoculars.

Patience is the most important ingredient needed for spotting wildlife by the way. You just need to stop, look, and listen.

At some of the more dense forests, like the Monteverde cloud forest preseve and the rainforest at the Hanging Bridges, Arenal, a guide might be worthwhile.

Anyway that's my suggestion.