Luxuries of Costa Rica: Premier 9-Day Tour

Epic landscapes evoke a sense of serenity, Monteverde Park, Costa Rica

What to expect on this itinerary

Handcrafted with unique experiences and luxurious lodges, this 9-day tour celebrates much of the best that the country has to offer. Epic landscapes and a beautiful sense of tranquility fuse to make Costa Rica an idyllic destination during any month of the year. Explore remote cloud forests, soar in a helicopter above volcanos, witness sea turtle hatchlings, and experience pure solitude on two different coastlines. From cultural impressions to pure nature, this is the ultimate Costa Rica tour.

Countries Visited

Costa Rica

Places Visited

San Jose, Tortuguero National Park, Tenorio Volcano National Park, Monteverde, Manuel Antonio National Park

Suggested Duration

9 Days

Customizable Itinerary

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Day 1

San Jose – Intimate Cultural Impressions

Costa Rica is a tropical destination that has something for everyone. After being greeted at the airport and transferred to your luxurious accommodation in the heart of the city, you will soon be immersed in San Jose’s delicate charms. As architecture and atmosphere set the scene, you will be immersed in San Jose’s culture. A local guide will lead you on a walking tour of the city past the key monuments and down the main streets before concluding in a place of storytellers and entertainers. While sipping on drinks, you can listen to tales of the country’s past before an evening of dance and dining at a small restaurant.

What's Included:

Tour
Accommodation
Transfer
Dinner
Day 2

Tortuguero National Park – Nesting Sea Turtles

Day 3

Tortuguero National Park – Beautiful Wildlife Cruise

Day 4

Tenorio Volcano National Park – An Iconic Volcano

Day 5

Tenorio Volcano National Park – An Eco-Adventure

Day 6

Monteverde – Evening Nature Walk

Day 7

Monteverde – Hiking and Ziplining

Day 8

Manuel Antonio National Park – Scenic Helicopter Tour

Day 9

Manuel Antonio National Park – Departure

Trip Highlights

  • Savor a stunning aerial safari with a full-day helicopter flight across Costa Rica’s volcano-studded interior and Pacific coastline
  • Explore beautiful Caribbean beaches to come face to face with sea turtle hatchlings
  • Feel the thrill of the canopy with an expressive zip lining tour through Santa Elena Cloud Forest
  • Experience a beautiful wildlife safari and two days of intimate encounters in Tortuguero National Park
  • Escape into sublime solitude during a white-water rafting trip down the Rio Celeste
  • Ease into Costa Rica with some handpicked cultural experiences in the country’s charming capital
  • Discover the iconicity of Arenal Volcano on a private tour that includes adventures on land and a crater flyover
  • Listen to monkeys and wander past sloths during a day of wildlife in Manuel Antonio National Park
  • Rest and relax with free time on Caribbean and Pacific Ocean beaches, plus superlative lodges perched on the waterside

Detailed Description

Costa Rica is easy on the eye. During these intriguing nine days, you will explore the country’s wonders, including the Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, a charming city, two volcanos, and a cloud forest. Volcanos stand sentinel above the cloud forest with their iconic cones that are a symbolic impression of Earth’s power. Monkeys call from treetop perches, turtles nest on white-sand beaches, rivers flow through ancient forests, and you can raft down them. Ziplines will reveal an intimate canopy world to you, and winding trails will lead you past toucans and sloths. This country is spectacular from almost every angle, and this 9-day journey will show you many of the country’s most magnificent spots.

While Costa Rica is beautiful to look at, the real experience is how comfortable it can feel. There is an atmosphere here that lures visitors into an ecological world of Pura Vida. Whether paddling past capuchin monkeys, hiking to hidden waterfalls, or flying above it all, you will be uncovering Costa Rica’s treasures. With nine days, you can explore the country’s diversity, especially with direct domestic flights that will significantly reduce your transfer time between destinations.

Your vacation will begin in San Jose, where a day of cultural experiences will help to immerse you in the Pura Vida lifestyle. After flying to Tortuguero National Park, you will spend day two with sea turtles, basking on their beaches and searching for hatchlings after dusk. Paddling along Tortuguero’s canals will bring very different wildlife encounters on day three before some relaxing beach time. You will fly to Arenal on day four to spend the day discovering the very best of Costa Rica’s most famous volcano by land and air with a crater flyover.

For two nights, you will stay in Tenorio Volcano National Park, which is an off-the-beaten-path alternative to Arenal, where the activities are more exclusive, and you can customize your adventure. Monteverde will have you venturing above the clouds for exceptional wildlife and wilderness experiences. During these few days, you will raft down Rio Celeste, hike with unique wildlife, and rest in a divine luxury lodge that is practically in the forest canopy. Day eight will be your scenic helicopter tour across Costa Rica before you culminate your adventure with wildlife and beaches on the Pacific coastline.

Starting Price

$7,400 per person (excluding international flights)

Your Zicasso trip is fully customizable, and this sample itinerary is a starting place for your travel plans. Actual costs are dynamic, and your selection of accommodations and activities, your season of travel, and other such variables will bring this budget guideline up or down. Throughout your planning experience with your Zicasso specialist, your itinerary is designed around your budget. You can book your trip when you are satisfied with every detail. Planning your trip with a Zicasso travel specialist is a free service.

What's Included

The starting price is based on travel during the low season for a minimum of two travelers staying in shared 3-star accommodations. Please inquire for a custom trip quote based on your travel preferences and travel dates.

4.9

Verified Traveler Reviews

Based on 166 reviews

Costa Rica Trip Review: La Fortuna, Manuel Antonio, San Jose, Ziplining, River Tour, Waterfall, Coffee and Chocolate Tour, Sunset Cruise, 10 Days

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.

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Costa Rica Tour Review: Monteverde, Arenal Volcano, Tamarindo, Cloud Forest, Wildlife, 12 Days

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.

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Costa Rica Trip Review: Monteverde, Manuel Antonio, Ziplining, Hanging Bridges, Hiking, Hot Springs, Private Tours, 12-Day Vacation

Mike and I wanted to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for our unforgettable two-week adventure in Costa Rica. The trip was amazing and exceeded our expectations. We were spoiled by the private transfers and private tours. All of the tour guides were professional and very informative. We enjoyed all of the selected hotels, with the lodge in Monteverde being our favorite. The hotel had a great happy hour with a variety of drinks and was within walking distance of Santa Elena. We liked having daily breakfast included and loved all of the fresh fruits, especially the cantaloupe and watermelon.

We appreciated your attention to detail and expert recommendations for the variety of tours and guides. We enjoyed the float trips and had a wonderful tour of the mangroves in Manuel Antonio. Our time in Monteverde included a rainy day hiking the hanging bridges and ziplining for the first time. I am glad we added the vanilla tour to our agenda in Manuel Antonio.   

Thank you so much for making this trip special and stress-free. Please let your staff know that we appreciated all of their hard work. The WhatsApp gateway was great once we figured out how to use the app. It allowed us to communicate with the team to update us on schedule changes or other information. We will definitely recommend your services to our family and friends, and ook forward to visiting Costa Rica in the future.


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Costa Rica Anniversary Trip Review: La Fortuna, Manuel Antonio, Hot Springs, Ziplining, 6-Night Tour

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.

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Costa Rica Travel Review: Catamaran Trip, Ziplining, National Park, 8 Nights

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!

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Costa Rica Trip Review: San Jose, Monteverde, 2 Weeks

Having never been to Costa Rica, we wanted to experience an overview of the country and its diversity. Consequently, we ended up visiting five areas of the country over a two-week period, flying in and out of San José. The trip was well planned by Zicasso’s travel company and services met or exceeded our expectations, from accommodations to tours and transportation.

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Customizable Itinerary

This is a sample itinerary to inspire a personalized trip designed with your travel specialist.

30,000+ Verified Traveler Reviews