Costa Rica Hotel Based Self Drive Adventure
Take a dugout canoe ride on the Yorkin River to learn traditional chocolate making with the Bribri, then search San Gerardo de Dota’s cloud forest for the Quetzal – twenty-eight nights across Costa Rica.
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Costa Rica Hotel Based Self Drive Adventure
Tell us your trip details and we'll put together a complimentary Stradora Expedition Pack for the journey.
28 nights through Costa Rica
Twenty-eight nights across Costa Rica, self-driven with a local guide and assistant alongside, staying in hotels.
A month in a country the size of Wales sounds excessive until the route is read: this one reaches places most visitors never see, and the community visits are the part that makes it unusual.
Three active volcanoes open it, Turrialba, Irazu and Poas, then the Caribbean coast at Puerto Viejo and the Bribri Indigenous Territory, reached by dugout canoe up the Yorkin River, where organic cacao and banana growing and traditional chocolate making are demonstrated by the community itself. Cartago and the Guayabo archaeological site follow, then a Guaymi community visit, a heart of palm farm, a pineapple cooperative and a coffee tour at Coopedota. San Gerardo de Dota comes next in the cloud forest, where the quetzal lives, then the Pacific coast towns, the Tarcoles mangroves, Boca Tapada for the great green macaws, Corcovado and the hanging bridges at La Fortuna.
The transfers, the accommodation and hotel taxes, a Land Cruiser Prado with all-terrain tyres, unlimited mileage and zero-deductible insurance, driver fees for two, a two-way radio, all breakfasts, fourteen dinners and nineteen lunches, a local bilingual guide and assistant and the listed activities are all included; airfares, fuel, drinks, the remaining meals, tips, insurance, the departure tax and a refundable vehicle deposit are not. No wildlife sighting can be promised, the quetzal least of all. The dry season from December to April is the window, since several of these routes involve water crossings and beach driving. Twenty-nine days is long enough to see the country properly rather than the three or four places everyone else does.
Costa Rica Hotel Based Self Drive Adventure (2 of 4)
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Images selected by Stradora to represent the journey.
What's included
- Arrival and departure transfers
- accommodation throughout
- Toyota Land Cruiser Prado or similar 4x4 hire with unlimited mileage
- all-terrain tyres
- and full 'titanium pack' insurance with zero deductible
- driver fees for two people
- a two-way radio
- all hotels and hotel taxes
- all breakfasts
- 14 dinners
- and 19 lunches
- a local English/Spanish-speaking tour guide and assistant
- activities as listed.
Not included
- Return airfares from Australia (approx. AUD3
- 000)
- fuel (approx. USD500 per car)
- alcoholic drinks
- approximately 18 meals not in the itinerary (approx. USD17-45 each)
- private property passage taxes (if required)
- local tips
- travel insurance
- Costa Rica departure tax (approx. USD29)
- optional activities (approx. USD20-95 each)
- visas
- immunisations
- a USD1
- 000 vehicle security deposit (credit card only)
- additional driver fees (approx. USD6/day) and a possible cleaning fee (approx. USD20).
Ready to drive it?
28 days, from £11,271pp