Central America Travel Agents & Reviews

The travel agency (Rachel) deserves a five-star rating. Rachel was easy to communicate with and work with. She was always very responsive. She listened carefully to what I was looking for in this first-time visit to Costa Rica, mainly a focus on experiencing the biodiversity of the country, and planned an itinerary for me and my daughter that matched exactly what I wanted.

Our itinerary included visits to Tortuguero, Monteverde, the Osa Peninsula, and a coffee plantation outside San Jose. The tours and lodgings she arranged were all outstanding. The sequence of the various places we visited and the pace of each day were perfect. Our guides were excellent. In-country transfers occurred without a hitch. I highly recommend using this travel company when planning your trip to Costa Rica.

It was a wonderful trip to a beautiful country with so much history, natural beauty, and, most of all, friendly people. Our experience was nothing short of magical and we have to thank our travel planner, Catarina.

From accommodations (in Ambergris Caye and in Belmopan) to tours to the guides to all the logistics, there were no hiccups at all. We had different family members arrive and depart at different times/days. Very happy that the travel agency was so thorough, from the initial planning until the end of our trip. They were extremely patient with all our requests and made sure they gave us many options to pick from.

And the food we had was beyond good. A big thanks for making sure we had great choices as vegetarians, including on the food tours customized for us and special orders for dinner entrée at our resort in Belmopan. We couldn't have asked for more. We highly recommend using them for planning a perfect Belize trip.

What a pleasure to work with Charlotte and the travel agency. From our first interaction, she listened to what I wanted and created a custom trip that incorporated the very different requests from each of my teenagers, as well as meeting my needs. It was so easy for me! Communication was easy and they were very responsive.

Once in the country, we communicated via WhatsApp and she checked in to make sure everything was going smoothly. I am so happy I used them for this trip!

When my parents decided they wanted our entire family, 18 people, ranging in age from seven to 80, to go to Costa Rica as a belated celebration for their 50th wedding anniversary, I knew we would need help to make it happen. I reached out to a few different travel companies for quotes and more information, and we ultimately chose this one to help plan this trip of a lifetime.

From the beginning, Pierre and the team at the travel agency offered great insight and advice. They asked lots of questions to make sure they met our needs, and with such a large group, there were many different things to take into consideration. They were also very good at working within our general budget, which ended up being approximately $1500 per person for the main part of the trip (10 days in La Fortuna, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio). We also added a Tortuguero extension for 14 of us.

Throughout the planning process, Pierre and the team were great at updating the itinerary and keeping us informed. We ended up adding on a few tours just a few weeks before the start of the trip and they quickly worked to include those. (It is challenging to get 18 people together for a discussion, so it took us a while to confirm some of the optional tours.)

From day one everything was very efficient and smooth. We had comfortable private transportation between destinations and for all of our tours, we had private transfers and guides, except for the Tortuguero extension. Pierre chose great hotels for us in terms of amenities, ambiance, etc, though in hindsight, with 18 people, accommodations that were within walking distance to town, restaurants, etc, would have made things easier.

We also happened to celebrate three birthdays on this trip, including my husband's 50th, for which Pierre and his team surprised us by arranging a beautiful cake, balloons, and sparkling wine. That was incredibly thoughtful. Then they helped us arrange a cake at our resort in Tortuguero for my sister.

Definitely a very memorable family trip with so many great moments. We saw so much wildlife and had many exciting experiences. Thank you!

Perfect attention to detail from start to finish. They were very responsive and prepared during the planning process. They offered a huge variety of activities to choose from. When we arrived, we were greeted by Alex and his team, and we received Costa Rican chocolates and a small painting from a local artist, which was such a thoughtful detail. All the details were looked after.

They tracked delays in our flight to manage ground transportation. When our luggage from the airline was delayed, the travel agency arranged for it to be delivered to our hotel, located hours away from the airport. We wanted to add some activities and they added them seamlessly. They listened during the planning process and the hotels were perfect for what I needed. The activities were limited to very small groups and it was such a charming experience.

Ten of us went on a milestone birthday trip and had an excellent time. Everything went smoothly and it was tailored to our likes, with a good mix of activities and downtime. All of our drivers and tour guides were awesome!

I've worked through Zicasso for several years on multiple itineraries, including four just this summer, and I think I have to rank this travel agency as one of the best companies I've had the pleasure to experience. 

Muchísimas gracias to Sylvia, my travel consultant, who did a superb job from start to finish. She has a wonderfully charismatic personality that made our discussions over the phone, email, and WhatsApp a pleasure and effortless. When deciding between the two bidding companies, I was ultimately swayed by Sylvia due to several factors. 

First, Sylvia's planning conveyed original, authentic ideas that seemed genuinely tailored to match my personality and interests, not just some off-the-rack itinerary hurled at every customer. As a result, I ended up with an awesome scenic drive down the Pacific Coast straight from the airport to Uvita, where I got to fulfill a goal of seeing whales. After that, I got to travel to the Osa Peninsula where I had unbelievable luck in spotting dozens of species of flora and fauna, including two up-close encounters with tapirs (one in the forest and one, to everyone's astonished glee, inside my ecolodge!).

Second, Sylvia was fully transparent and honest in the advice she gave, even at the risk of her sale. When I commented that I wanted to travel to an ecolodge, but was fearful of spiders potentially entering my room, she immediately adopted the tone of a wise and straightforward auntie and told me that she couldn't guarantee that wouldn't happen and that such things were just a reality in tropical places like Costa Rica. But she also put the situation in context, explained how rare it was, the conditions under which it might happen, and steps I could take to protect myself just in case. She also frequently referenced her personal experiences and those of her niece when recommending ecolodges and describing the various places I expressed interest in traveling to. The fact that she herself had done what I sought to do lent her advice great credibility.

All of our communication was smooth and aside from a little hiccup with payment (we experienced a technical issue with their bank's transfer system), all planning and prep went well. 

Once on the ground, everything fell into place. I was greeted at the airport by my driver and driven to Uvita in a huge van with passenger windows as big as the windshield, which provided me with unobstructed views of the rolling green mountains and glistening sea along the way. My stays in Uvita and Drake Bay provided me the close encounters with nature I sought, along with effortless transportation between them by car, boat, and (tiny) airplane. My adventure was capped off by my guide, who provided me with a personal afternoon tour of San Jose. Overall, this was one of my better trips and best experiences through Zicasso.

We made a last-minute request for a long (16 days) and complicated honeymoon itinerary in Costa Rica. Mercedes and the travel company team moved mountains to make our honeymoon dream a reality. My wife and I decided on Costa Rica only after our wedding and days before our vacation window closed. Mercedes with the travel company had to reassure us and manage our stress as well as wrangle many unique reservations on a very tight deadline.

I normally plan my own vacations, but given the complexity and deadline we needed help and reached out to Zicasso.  We interviewed a few travel agents recommended by Zicasso and Mercedes was the most organized with her presentation of options and the overall plan. She was very patient with us as we established trust and added numerous requests and changes. Being willing to jump on video calls with us was key in building that trust. She was very helpful in explaining the options and reassuring us that our travel goals would be met. We’ve never spent anywhere near this much on a trip before.

Mercedes has the connections! She has done the tours and gone to the places. Everywhere we went our naturalist guides seemed to be the best at what they did for that location. In Manuel Antonio, our guide had to reschedule with us, and it was worth the time change to stick with him!   We loved all of the hotels that we stayed at as well.  They were all unique and seemed to become even more impressive as our trip progressed.

Mercedes herself even greeted us at the airport. I’m a bit of a nervous traveler and worried about being taken advantage of outside of airports. None of that was an issue with her there and introducing us to our first driver.  She provided daily itinerary details and updates on an app while in CR. Replies on the app were quick when we had questions or requests.

Drivers are on staff and so most of our connections no matter where in the country were made by the same person or someone else on staff. We got very emotionally attached to one driver especially. All the staff speaks English very well, but we especially enjoyed our driver’s patience as we practiced our Spanish with her and asked her touristy questions about what we were experiencing.

We usually rent a car on vacations, and really only accepted the hired drivers as a consequence of needing to plan this trip with help on short notice, but my views have changed.  Especially in a new country, I would recommend it, not even for safety on the road, but for the chance to meet new people and relax and view the scenery.   There is a lot of beautiful scenery to see in CR!!!Finally, Mercedes made sure that we had a true honeymoon experience.  Most of our hotel rooms were decorated in honeymoon fashion--flowers, fruit bowls, chocolates, and wine/champagne.  We really appreciated the details and the delicious fruits.  (Especially, the chocolate-covered strawberries at the hotel near Manual Antonio!!!