8 Day Costa Rica Itineraries & Tours

Our Zicasso travel company was fantastic. They planned an exceptional trip for our multi-generational family, ages 7 to 74. We visited three main areas of Costa Rica: Arenal (La Fortuna), the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and Tamarindo on the Pacific Coast.

The activities were thoughtfully curated to appeal to all of us, regardless of age, and included nature preserve tours, hanging bridges tours, cloud forest tours, river wildlife safaris, and estuary tours with incredible naturalists. Our coffee and cacao farm tour was terrific and very interactive, and we made our own chocolate bonbons. And the ziplining was so much fun, even in a tropical storm downpour.

Our lodging was outstanding and provided pools for afternoon breaks and swimming for the grandchildren. And every transfer between locations and adventures went off without a hitch.

The travel company was so attentive to our needs and questions before and during the travel. They were available 24/7 while on the trip and were excellent at adjusting things as unseasonable storms caused some changes. We felt like we were in excellent hands.

Our drivers and guides were so knowledgeable, attentive, and kind. I cannot recommend them highly enough. They know what they are doing, their service is top-notch, and their subcontractors were excellent. My goal was for us to experience the rainforest and see birds and animals, and we did.

The greatest testimonials are from the grandchildren, ages 7-12. I asked them to keep a journal of our adventures. They could write or illustrate their entries. I never had to beg them to make their entry journals (I couldn't believe it!). Every night, they enthusiastically recorded their impressions with colorful drawings and statements.

This Costa Rica experience is something they, and we, will remember forever. I'm grateful to the travel company for making it happen. And grateful to Zicasso for connecting us to another tremendous travel company.

Zicasso’s travel company provided an excellent experience for our trip. Prior to the trip, they provided descriptions of what to bring and how to deal with every step of the trip, e.g., normal ranges for tips, packing lists for clothes, currency use, etc. The descriptions were very clear about how to meet our transportation and guides. Every step of our trip occurred on time, as scheduled. The guides they selected were experienced, with excellent English communication abilities.

Our guide in Monteverde was clearly the dean of the guide community. Other guides would ask him questions when we encountered them. He used his experience with bird sounds and other animal hints to allow us to watch two quetzals building a nest, taking turns with one quetzal on lookout while the other dug out a hole in a tree. We learned that it was very unusual to even see one quetzal at all, let alone two for an extended period. Our guide in the Arenal volcano area was also extremely knowledgeable about the plants and animals. We enjoyed getting to know them, as well as the driver who took us from Monteverde to Tamarindo.

The selection of guided tours and related events gave us a varied look at the many different things that Costa Rica has to offer in the northern part of the country. Working with the travel company on our itinerary gave us what we were looking for. It also allowed us to fly in and out of Liberia airport, which minimized our travel on the ground. During the course of our visit, we were in touch with a representative of the travel company on numerous occasions. He provided restaurant recommendations when we wanted to venture outside of the hotel. They were excellent. He also assisted in our determining proper tipping for particular legs of the trip.

The roads of Costa Rica can be challenging, especially at night, but our guides and drivers were very safe and skilled in dealing with the roads. The travel company used some of its people, but also engaged some who were independent. Their choices were very good and always on time. It was clear they are a well-run operation that knows how to support the traveler at every step of the vacation. Thank you for offering this travel company to us. It was our first experience with Zicasso. We were quite pleased and will definitely think of you for future trips.

We had a wonderful time on our trip. Zicasso’s travel specialist was responsive to what we wanted to do and adjusted our trip to fit our budget. He included our interests and took the research out of it for us. We asked him to plan on a tight time crunch of less than a month and he made it with ease.

Costa Rica had so much to do and he kept us active, which we wanted. I appreciated how the travel company had a travel app for all of our itineraries and tickets, as well as an emergency contact to make adjustments during the trip. We used this several times to book things we discovered during the trip and it was a breeze.

Our favorite adventures from our trip were ziplining, the river tour, and the waterfall in La Fortuna. We also enjoyed animal tours, which says a lot, as I'm not an animal fan, but the adventure was wonderful and felt very safe. I would consider the Monte Verde night tour next time.

We enjoyed our resort in Manuel Antonio and the beach at Manuel Antonio. The view was incredible.

Our whole tour flowed seamlessly and Costa Rica was beautiful and full of adventures. We'd happily return and use the travel company.

The coffee and chocolate tour in Don Juan was wonderful. Additionally, all of our hotels were great. I'd highly recommend this experience.

Our trip was very enjoyable. The resorts that were selected were top-notch in all aspects – nice rooms, great restaurants, and very nice locations. The tours we went on were very nice. Our favorite tour was the hanging bridge tour in La Fortuna. The hot springs at the La Fortuna resort were amazing. Our only criticism was the travel day between the resort in La Fortuna and the resort in Manuel Antonio. We were picked up at 8am and didn’t arrive until 4.15pm. We did zipline on the way, but the eight-hour travel day was very long. We would have preferred to travel straight from one resort to the other as quickly as possible, with no stops.

Overall, the trip was fantastic. Zicasso's travel agency did a great job of planning our itinerary and was very accessible during our trip. We loved Costa Rica.

We recently traveled to Costa Rica with two other couples, and using Zicasso's travel agency was one of the best decisions we made. From the very beginning, our agents were incredible. They helped us plan every detail of our trip and guided us every step of the way, even once we had arrived in Costa Rica.

They carefully listened to our preferences (even after we changed hotels and itineraries multiple times) and created an unforgettable itinerary that included stays in La Fortuna and Manuel Antonio. Every hotel, tour, and transfer was thoughtfully arranged. One day, we chose to skip our planned excursion so we could enjoy more time at our beautiful hotel and they had it canceled with no hassle at all.

What really set them apart was their exceptional personal touch. They greeted us at the airport in person, checked in with us regularly during the trip, and made sure we had everything we needed. Their attention to detail and commitment to making sure we had the best experience was truly impressive.

If you’re planning a trip to Costa Rica, I can’t recommend this agency highly enough. Professional, responsive, and genuinely caring, they made our vacation seamless and special from start to finish.

Everything was arranged thoughtfully, with time for "adventures" and downtime at terrific resorts to relax. All pick-ups, travel by limo, and drop-offs went as arranged. The drivers, guides, and hotel staff were all very pleasant and kind. Zicasso's tour operator did a great job planning our eight-day, family-of-10 trip to Costa Rica! We appreciated that most tours, hikes, and ocean experiences were small groups of just our group of 10. This made it a personal and annoyance-free experience all around. Thanks!