Monteverde  

Montezuma

Our tour is designed with safety in mind. Costa Rica is one of the safest Central America countries but we still have designed this tour for maximum security. The towns, hotels and tour operators all have been chosen for a reason. Small groups offer lower transportation cost and total security with our dedicated van and driver. We know this because we live here and have used all forms of transportation.

Small Group Tour - The Group consists of 8-10 persons (4-5 couples) and does not interfere with you having plenty for free time. Basically we do the small groups to for lower cost and safety while traveling through the country. It also lets us keep our cost low and deliver a for personal custom tour (like the BBQ on a private ranch and the Santa Teresa beach sunset dinner party blowout).

We are a unique company and have designed a totally Rockin’ Best of the Best Tour.

Please join us in Costa Rica...

Ø Transfer to and from airport

Ø Dedicated air conditioned van and driver for entire trip (all transportation)

Ø Hotels for entire trip

Ø Zip line or tree top canopy bridge walk

Ø Guided Santa Elena Cloud Forest tour

Ø Mountain horseback ride to private ranch

Ø Catered group BBQ at private ranch

Ø Montezuma waterfall tour

Ø Lunch and drinks on Tortuga Island

Ø Snorkeling gear for Tortuga Island

Ø Full afternoon at Playa Carmen (beach)

Ø Catered group sunset dinner on the beach in Santa Teresa

What’s included:

Summary Itinerary Day Activities Hotel

Day 1 San Jose

● Arrive at San Jose's Juan Santamaría International Airport ● San Jose: Airport - Hotel shuttle

Apartotel La Sabana

Day 2 Monteverde

● Travel by dedicated van to Monteverde (4 hrs.) ● Canopy Tour - Zip Line OR Tree top bridge walk.

El Establo Mountain Hotel

Day 3 Monteverde

● Breakfast (included) ● Guided tour to Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve ● Guided mountain horseback ride ending at a private ranch for a BBQ dinner

El Establo Mountain Hotel

Day 4 Montezuma

● Breakfast (included before leaving El Establo) ● Travel by dedicated van to Montezuma (5 hrs.) ● Welcome tour of Montezuma by Desi Ramsey ● Waterfall hike and swim (famous Montezuma Falls)

El Jardin Hotel & Spa

Day 5 Montezuma

● Full Day Boat Safari to Scenic Tortuga Island for ○ Coastline sight seeing, Snorkeling ○ Lunch, 2 drinks & fruit (included)

El Jardin Hotel & Spa

Day 6 Montezuma

● Travel by dedicated van to Santa Teresa (30 min.) ● Explore Santa Teresa/ Chill on Playa Carmen ● Catered sunset dinner on Playa Carmen ● Travel by dedicated van to Montezuma (30 min.)

El Jardin Hotel & Spa

Day 7 San Jose

● Explore Montezuma ● Travel by dedicated van to San Jose (4 hrs.) Afternoon

Apartotel La Sabana

Day 1 San Jose Arrive anytime at San Jose's Juan Santamaría International Airport, where you will be met by a Apartotel La Sabana shuttle driver who will cheerfully help you with your luggage and safely drive you to the beautiful Apartotel La Sabana where you will begin and end your Costa Rica adventure. There are no planned activities on arrival and departure days. Early arrival offers you the chance to enjoy the swimming pool, spa and gardens or explore San José on your own. San José was founded in 1737 and is a pleasant mixture of traditional and modern Spanish architecture. Places of interest include the Teatro Nacional, the Legislative Assembly building, and the Parque Central, east of which is the Cathedral. The National Museum and the Museum of Gold are also worth a visit.

Day 2 Monteverde Your adventure begins with our dedicated, air conditioned van and driver (same for entire trip) as you travel to north Monteverde . This 4 hour scenic drive takes you up the spine of Costa Rica via the Pan American highway. Then you wind up the twisting mountain road with breathtaking vistas to arrive in to the quaint village of Monteverde. We will assist with checking you into the El Establo Mountain Hotel.

Nestled in the misty cloud forest of Monteverde, El Establo offers the best quality services that will make your trip an unforgettable experience: The area`s best view, heated indoor pools, spa, restaurants, café-bars, special events center, internet access, souvenirs shop, tennis court, basketball court, mini soccer court, hiking trails, canopy tour and the most charming staff. This half Costarican – half Quaker, family owned hotel, will allow you to share the best of both cultures.

Then it’s off to have some fun! Walk the high tree top or zip through the jungle.. Choose one of the following best of bread adventures during the “Boots” part of our tour: 100% Zipline heart pounding face down (superman), excitement! 12 cables, rappel, tarzan swing and SUPERMAN! Company: 100% Aventura

“We will have the opportunity to spend six cables with different distances and elevations, up to the part of "rappel", where you have the opportunity to make a vacuum drop, helped by a horizontal line of 15 meters for this activity will be helped and duly instructed by our experienced guides. We return to fly between the canopy, spending three cables, which lead us to the "Tarzan Swing", another of the exciting parts of the tour, which is a kind of swing where you can swing at a height of 30 meters high and in the middle of the forest, duly tied to strings, in this activity we have the help of four guides, two of them help from the upper platform and the other two getting it to stay on the lower platform. This part of the tour, take photos and relax while they spend the rest of our companions. Once this feat take a short walk of 300 meters, which leads to a new section of the property with three new cables, one of them measures 400 meters long. This part of the tour is famous for having longer cables and high, giving them the opportunity to enjoy the landscape and nature, with trees covered with epiphytes, bromeliads, orchids, birds and animals. At the end of this section, we will make our second walk, which no doubt will open the appetite leading us to the last cable, the longest and highest 600 meters long and 80 meters high.”

Click here to check out the video

OR you can Walk the tree top of the Cloud Forest on hanging bridges! 8 beautiful bridges and as much jungle as you want! Company: Selvatura Park

Selvatura's Tree Top Walkways consist of a 1.9 mile (approximately 3 kilometer) trail that crosses through the Monteverde Cloud Forest.

Here visitors will walk on eight different bridges with various lengths ranging between 150 feet ( 50 meters ) up to 510 feet ( 170 meters ) and altitudes ranging between 36 feet ( 12 meters ) up to 180 feet ( 60 meters ). Each bridge has a width of five feet, the widest bridges in Costa Rica, and also a capacity of up to 80 people per bridge making them both the longest and strongest bridge systems in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. The Tree Top Walkways are suitable for people of all ages. The duration of the hike usually takes between 1.5 and 2 hours .

Day 3 Monteverde

Wake in the jungle and enjoy the free breakfast, then travel even deeper into the Cloud Forest on a guided tour of Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve . Lace up those boots and get ready to see the Cloud Forest up close and personal. With over 8 miles (12 km) of trails, 3 overview points and an observation tower, The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve makes for an exceptional hiking experience. Our van will drive you to the reserve and a professional biologist will take you on a personal in depth tour of the reserve. Tours generally last about 3 hours. The reserve is host to many varieties of flora and fauna. When exploring the forest you will come across a variety of birds and animals including bellbirds, iguanas, toucanets, jaguars, pumas and monkeys, as well as the golden toad, a toad species that is only known to exist here the in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Our van will be waiting to safely deliver you back to your mountain retreat El Establo Mountain Hotel to rest up for the exciting afternoon ahead.

If you brought your “Cowboy Boots” it’s time to Saddle up! Our caballeros will take you on a exclusive (only offered by Suntans & Tucans) mountain horseback ride through more jungle and breathtaking vistas. Another chance to see wildlife and get personal with Monteverde (the jewel of Costa Rica). This trek ends at a private ranch where we have a treat designed by Co-owner and Texan Desi Ramsey. It’s a Costa Rica BBQ with a Texas twist! Great food, great people in the heart of the Cloud forest. Our van will be waiting to safely deliver you back to your mountain retreat El Establo Mountain Hotel to rest up for the exciting day ahead.

Day 4 Montezuma Wake to a Costa Rica sunrise, enjoy the free breakfast and get ready for the “Bathing Suits” part of the tour as your dedicated van and driver take you to Montezuma. To get there your van will cross the Gulf of Nicoya at Puntarenas on the Tambor Ferry. Green mountain tops emerge from the green waters of the gulf as you approach the Nicoya Peninsula at Paquera. You are in a very different type of jungle, tropical and rich with history and most important.... Great beaches! The dirt and gravel roads wind their way to Cobano and finally you reach the hip and funky beach town of Montezuma on the southern Nicoya Peninsula. This remarkable beach town is undoubtedly the coolest place in Costa Rica. Since the early 1970's, people from all over the world have visited this area to discover the beauty of Central America, and many have ended up discovering themselves. Some have stayed permanently, creating this thriving community of artists, conservationists, musicians, chefs, and creative visionaries. While there are many types of people of all ages, colors, and backgrounds, they all share a common desire to live near a beautiful jungle beach with a sense of purpose and style. From the moment you arrive in Montezuma, you'll know that you've discovered a very magical place, which is quite unlike other towns in Costa Rica. The area has been compared with Maui 50 years ago, or Santa Cruz, California, but with monkeys and warm water.

When you arrive in Montezuma we will greet you and get you checked in at the El Jardin Hotel & Spa which sits on a hillside on the edge of town where you can see all the night life and the Gulf. That after noon you can get wet as you take a hike to the famous Montezuma Water Falls (a must see) where you can swim and relax. Montezuma Falls is perhaps the most famous waterfall in Costa Rica. It isn't a single waterfall, but three separate falls. This is a must do photo op! Click here to check out the video Relax back at the El Jardin Hotel & Spa and explore the village at night with its street Artisans and fire dancers and shopping. It’s all right at your fingertips.

Day 5 Montezuma Wake to the sound of howler monkeys and watch as the sun rises over the Gulf of Nicoya. Strap on that bathing suit, slip into those flip flops and rub on the sunscreen as you depart at 9:30 a.m. for a full day of on the water fun via the “Tortuga Island Boat Safari “

This is a 45 minutes Boat Safari from Montezuma beach, in the tip of the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. You will get to see an incredible landscape and you will have the opportunity to play with the Dolphins and watch the amazing jumps of the humpback whales along the way. Before we get to the Tortuga Island in Costa Rica, we will stop in three different points; the waterfall el Chorro, a ship that sank almost 50 years ago, and the third spot is what we call the Rainbow Rock, which is volcanic rock formation that looks like an arch and we pass underneath. All this is all happening between Montezuma and Isla Tortuga.

As soon as we get to the Tortuga Island we are going to drop off the people that do not want to snorkel on the Island plus our chef, and we will take the people that want to do snorkeling in a spot right in front of Tortuga Island. This is the best spot in the central pacific of Costa Rica for snorkeling. We do snorkeling there for one hour and then we go back to Tortuga Island. At 12:30 p.m. a delicious lunch is going to be ready and served on our own beachfront spot on the island. Try out our grilled fish, we receive excellent complements from our customers everyday about it.

Click here to check out the video

Day 6 Santa Teresa You got wet at the waterfall and swam with the fishes at Tortuga Island and today you will head over to Santa Teresa specifically Playa Carmen to chill and enjoy the best beach and beach bar and restaurant in all of Costa Rica (Co-owner Desi spends many Sunday afternoons chillaxing here). At noon we’ll load the van again for the 30 min ride over to the Pacific side of the peninsula directly to Playa Carmen. There you can explore the shops, rent a surf board or just chill on the beach. This beach is beautiful and the surf is breathtaking. This part of Costa Rica is truly a surfing culture and is frequented by celebs in the know (Mel Gibson has a million dollar shack just down the road close to the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s place). This beach is not in the travel guides and the Sundowner Bar and restaurant is right on the beach and has great food and drinks. The Sunsets here are the best in the world and the afternoon closes as Co-owner Desi Ramsey will host the group there with a catered sunset dinner and beach party. Dinner and two drinks are on us as you will never forget the warm breeze and golden sunset and beauty that is the “Real Costa Rica” beach experience in a hidden little known pocket of Costa Rica. We’ll safely take you back to Montezuma in our van after your sunset dinner. If you ever wondered what Mexico looked like back in the 60’s before all the high-rise chains took over, well Santa Teresa is it!

You got wet at the waterfall and

Day 7 San Jose Our driver will return you to San Jose for an overnight stay at Apartotel La Sabana before your return flight the following day.

Day 8 San Jose – Departure - Airport The hotel will arrange a shuttle to San Jose's Juan Santamaría International Airport for your convenience.

Andrés Gómez Rodríguez Monteverde Costa Rica

andres86crc@gmail.com

Desi Ramsey (Rivers) Montezuma Costa Rica

desi@suntansandtucans.com

All pricing is per person based on double occupancy. We do take single travelers when we can pair same sex up with client approval. You can also book as a single with a my own room option for a additional charge. Cancellation requires 30 days notice and a cancellation fee will be applied. We do our best to insure the trip goes according to the planned itinerary and canceling can effect the entire group so please book when you know this trip is for you. Itinerary Disclaimer While it is our intention to adhere to the route described below, there is a certain amount of flexibility built into the itinerary and on occasion it may be necessary, or desirable to make alterations. The itinerary is brief, as we never know exactly where our journey will take us. Due to our style of travel and the regions we visit, travel can be unpredictable. The Trip Details document is a general guide to the tour and region and any mention of specific destinations or wildlife is by no means a guarantee that they will be visited or encountered. Aboard expedition trips visits to research stations depend on final permission. Additionally, any travel times listed are approximations only and subject to vary due to local circumstances. Spending Money Every traveller is different and therefore spending money requirements will vary. Some travelers may drink more than others while other travellers like to purchase more souvenirs than most. Please consider your own spending habits when it comes to allowing for drinks, shopping and tipping. Please also remember the following specific recommendations when planning your trip. Money Exchange

Credit cards and debit cards are very useful for cash advances. Visa cards are the most widely accepted cards. While ATMs are widely available, there are no guarantees that your credit or debit cards will actually work in Latin America. Check with your bank. You should be aware that to purchase products or services on a credit card a fee of 5%-10% usually applies. Do not rely on credit or debit cards as your only source of money. A combination of US dollars cash and cards with travellers cheques as backup is best. Always take more rather than less, as you don't want to spoil the trip by constantly feeling short of funds.

CURRENCY EXCHANGE TIP: Please be advised that slightly torn notes, notes that have been heavily marked or are faded may be difficult to exchange. It is best to bring notes in fairly good condition, in denominations lower than 100USD (or equivalent).

As currency exchange rates can fluctuate often we ask that you refer to the following website for daily exchange rates: www.xe.com

Departure Tax

USD26 (may be paid in US dollars or Colones)