Wonderful Costa Rica 8 Day Wildlife & Nature Tour With Family

After flying to Costa Rica’s largest international airport, you will be transferred to Heredia, which is a charming town nestled beneath volcanic brilliance. After a minute to settle in, your guide will lead you to Poas Volcano National Park. A steep road zigzags up this active volcano, so your family does not need to partake in an exhausting uphill walk. Instead, you can access a rainforest trailhead and follow a short track in search of quetzals. Walking around the crater rim will be an educational experience, and it is accessible to all ages.

When you fly south, the landscape begins to change: a mountainous interior will be replaced by a rolling rainforest and views of the Pacific. Corcovado National Park is home to the largest native rainforest in all of Central America. It is another excellent bird watching location, and you can even encounter jaguars, but the primary highlight will be your mixture of family adventure and downtime. This afternoon, you will have a couple of options for wildlife walks. Your guide will explain the options in more depth and can customize a route to suit your interests, such as any particular animal you would like to see.

By getting an early start, you can experience Corcovado at its best before returning to the lodge for some lazy hours. Specialist family guides work at the lodge, and they can keep your children occupied during the middle of the day with activities related to wilderness survival and animal identification. Then, by mid-afternoon, you can be back exploring the trails and in search of anteaters and tapirs. Today, you will also have a wide choice of hikes that can focus on educational exploration. Everyone in your family can learn about different animals and how to identify them.

Today, ocean vistas will dominate as you travel above the crashing waves and indigenous forest. Marino Ballena National Park is a convenient stop for a small boat tour on the Pacific. Dolphins may move like ballet dancers in the water with their fins displaying their artistic nature. They often come directly next to the boat, showing off their dorsal fins before diving back to the depths. After a short jaunt, your open ocean guide will lead you to calmer waters for some safe snorkeling. Here, you can swim with sea turtles if you are lucky. Even without turtles, there is a magnificent marine realm to uncover. After your marine excursion, you will continue to Manuel Antonio National Park, where you will spend two nights at a small lodge on the beachfront.

By staying in Manuel Antonio National Park, you will have the advantage of an early start, meaning that you will miss most of the crowds and be able to soak up all the natural splendor. A couple of clear trails cross the park, and they are great for children. In the park, you can encounter a large variety of wildlife in just one or two hours. The slower you walk, the more you are likely to find. By mid-morning, you will be back at the lodge with the rest of today at your leisure. With so many sublime beaches and bays, this is a great park that allows you to create your own afternoon adventure.

Tortuguero is a lush, green realm of wetlands, lagoons, jungle rivers, and Caribbean beaches. Thanks to new flight connections, you can connect Manuel Antonio with Tortuguero in just under three hours. This afternoon in Tortuguero, you will explore by water. By moving silently, you can move exceptionally close to the animals around the riverbanks. The best part is that you do not need to paddle constantly. Your guides will also lead, so your children paddle before setting their eyes to the trees in search of monkeys. Tortuguero’s animal population is similar to Manuel Antonio, with monkeys and sloths being the prime attractions.

Green sea turtles arrive in Tortuguero, usually around May. Loggerheads and leatherbacks typically come later in the year, including 1.5-ton giants that are among the largest sea turtles on the planet. They all come to nest on Tortuguero’s quiet beaches, and the sand is protected by a small team of conservationists. Today’s boat tour will be flexible, and your guide can plan a trip based on local sightings to show you large turtles, nests, and hatchlings. Different beaches become nesting sites throughout the year, and just to see the eggs will prove impressive. Hatching only happens after dark, so you will return to the lodge in the afternoon before setting back out on a nighttime tour, using a flashlight to illuminate young sea turtles and their manic dash for freedom.

After a short transfer by river, you will have a flight to San Jose this morning. This will be a convenient journey that saves on a long overland transfer across the country. After your arrival in San Jose, you will transfer to your outbound flight after a week of incredible wildlife encounters with your family in Costa Rica.