Essential Costa Rica - Package with Manuel Antonio National Park

Traveler Reviews

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  Abhilash

  April 10th, 2026
  Had a great tour to Costa Rica. I would recommend destination travel to everyone. All the hotels were great. All the...
  Had a great tour to Costa Rica. I would recommend destination travel to everyone. All the hotels were great. All the pickups on time. All the guides were excellent.Show more
  Traveled in March 2026
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  Živa

  April 2nd, 2026
  Excellent! No problem. I can really recommend!
  Traveled in March 2026
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Costa Rica

  Dear Ziva, Thank you very much for your kind words and recommendation. We’re delighted to hear you had an excellent experience, and feedback like yours is incredibly valuable in helping other travellers feel confident when choosing our programs. We hope to welcome you again on another journey our team will be happy to support you with flexible options and seamless arrangements. Warm regards, Customer Experience Team

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  Janet

  March 28th, 2026
  We never had the names of our hotels, which confused the drivers (luckily they had them) even though we kept...
  We never had the names of our hotels, which confused the drivers (luckily they had them) even though we kept contacting Tour Radar about this problem. The hotels (except one) were all located far from the towns and restaurants. We had to take Ubers (twice the Ubers couldn't even find the hotel) or the hotel shuttles to get to town for dinner, sometimes costing as much at $ 25 each way. An extremely unpleasant experience. We do not recommend it.Show more
  Traveled in March 2026
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Costa Rica

  Dear Janet, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We are truly sorry to read that the hotel information and the location of several properties caused stress during your trip. This is not the experience we want for our guests, and we completely understand how frustrating this must have been. To protect your personal data, we will provide the detailed response and supporting information privately via the TourRadar booking conversation (chat). Please note that the names of all confirmed hotels were sent 8 days prior to arrival via the TourRadar chat, in the link containing the full detailed itinerary. In that same private thread, we will also outline all last minute changes processed due to the flight updates, as well as the documentation that was issued immediately after those changes were confirmed. With respect to the hotel in Monteverde, we acknowledge that it is located a bit farther from the town center. That said, it is fully within the expected standards for the booked price range and category, but considering your feedback we will review it for future clients Finally, there are a few points in your message that we would like to review carefully . For this reason, our Complaints Department will contact you directly through the private channel to continue the investigation and provide a complete response. Kind regards, Customer Experience Team

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  Ron

  March 21st, 2026
  Everything worked as planned had a great time!
  Traveled in March 2026
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Costa Rica

  Thank you very much for taking the time to share your feedback! We’re delighted to hear that everything worked as planned and that you had a great time experiencing Costa Rica. It’s wonderful to know that transportation, accommodation, meals, and guiding all met your expectations. It was a pleasure organizing this journey for you, and we truly appreciate your trust in our team. We hope to have the opportunity to welcome you back for another adventure in Costa Rica in the future! Warm regards, Customer Experience Team

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  Deepti

  March 20th, 2026
  Pura Vida! I was travelling solo and was initially skeptical as it was not a fully guided tour. Also, various hotel...
  Pura Vida! I was travelling solo and was initially skeptical as it was not a fully guided tour. Also, various hotel options for accommodation were provided so it was clear that l will not be a part of same group. But it turned out to be a very well organized tour managed by a group of local operators. Be aware that you will spend some extra time fetching fellow travellers staying at different hotels for group activities. But this way, they keep the tour costs down for all of us.? Hotels and other services were good. Overall, it was a very satisfying experience.Show more
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  Traveled in March 2026
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Costa Rica

  Thank you so much for sharing your experience! ???? We’re really happy to hear you enjoyed the trip and felt well taken care of by our local team. We truly appreciate your feedback and hope Costa Rica left you with wonderful memories. Pura Vida! ???? Customer Experience Team

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  Sue

  March 12th, 2026
  Cost Rica was wonderful- the rainforest, animals and people. However, after being met by DS at the airport very...
  Cost Rica was wonderful- the rainforest, animals and people. However, after being met by DS at the airport very efficiently, the rest of the organisation was poor. We were never sure which company was meeting us for tours and twice we were given the wrong pick up times. We had one superb guise - Ray Salazar at Tortuguero, and Justin at Monteverde was also excellent for his young age. But our group was split into different hotels and one - El Faro at Arenal wasn't good. Plaza Yara at Manuel Antonio was beautiful. Great trip because of the country itself but poor organisation and no guidance from a tour leader of what we needed on each trip.Show more
  Traveled in February 2026
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Costa Rica

  Dear Susan Thank you very much for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We truly appreciate your comments and value the opportunity to clarify certain aspects of your experience. We would first like to confirm that the itinerary you booked was designed without a tour leader accompanying the guess throughout the journey. As specified, all activities and excursions included in the program were conducted with professional local guides, specialized in each destination. This model allows guests to enjoy expert-led experiences while maintaining flexibility between services. Regarding your arrival, we are pleased to confirm that the meet & greet service at the airport was delivered as planned, and our local team was present to assist you upon arrival. Additionally, during your stay in Tortuguero, we are glad to note that you received an upgrade Hotel Pachira Lodge listed as superior category, despite having an standard Category hotel , as part of our commitment to enhancing our guests’ experience whenever possible. For any questions or assistance during the trip, our guests are provided with direct WhatsApp contact details for our local destination team, ensuring support is available at all times while in destination. Concerning the pick up services mentioned in your feedback, we would appreciate it if you could kindly clarify which specific pick up was not handled correctly. That said, we take this matter seriously and would be very happy to review it in detail. If you prefer, we would be delighted to discuss this privately and go through the services together to fully understand your concerns and ensure complete transparency. Thank you once again for your valuable feedback. We remain at your disposal and look forward to reviewing this matter with you directly. Kind regards, Customer Claims Review Office

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  Paul

  March 2nd, 2026
  This tour covered the 4 places we wanted to in the amount of time we had available. Tortuguaro was interesting but...
  This tour covered the 4 places we wanted to in the amount of time we had available. Tortuguaro was interesting but it would be better to go from Sept. to Dec. when the turtles are active. Turtle Bay Lodge was lovely - very remote - but there wasn't enough to do. We had 2 organized tours each of the two days we were there, which took about a total of 4 to 4.5 hours and the rest of the days were unplanned. But there's really nothing to do once you've walked around the property so we found ourselves with 8 to 10 hours to fill each day - didn't help that it rained every day. Our other stops, La Fortuna (Arenal), Monteverde and Manuel Antonio were busier and really interesting. We were really looking forward to our full day in Manuel Antonio National Park, which was day 9 (a Tuesday) of our 10 day tour. That's why we booked this particular tour. However, when we looked over our itinerary while we were in La Fortuna, we noticed that day nine now said we had a full day of leisure and Manuel Antonio Park tour was now scheduled on day 10 for just a 3 hour guided tour and then we had to rush back to our hotel to be picked up to get back to San Jose airport for our trip home. Destination Services was very difficult to get in touch with - there was no communication during our trip from anyone and it took close to 3 days to finally reach someone to find out why our itinerary had changed. This person casually informed us that Manuel Antonio National Park was closed every Tuesday for maintenance. There was nothing we could do about it at that point and honestly, it didn't occur to me to check the MA website to see if they'd be closed the day we were schedule to tour. If Destination Services had informed us of this ahead of time, we could easily have left on our trip the day before or after. And then, not to tell us that a major change had been made to days 9 and 10 was very frustrating. I recommend researching the hotel options at each location. We booked Charm category (the lowest and least expensive) and wish we'd done more research as our hotels in La Fortuna and Monteverde (both really lovely) were very remote and not walkable to the nearest town. Higher priced hotels have better locations but that's on us for not doing enough research. We booked this trip through Tour Radar and in the past (Egypt, Jordan and Chile), the companies they contract out to have been top notch as far as communication, checking in and making suggestions. Destination Services was very hard to reach with zero communication until we finally found a way after 4 or 5 days on our trip. On a positive note, all of our transfers went as planned and once we did reach someone, they usually responded to our questions with 4 to 6 hours.Show more
  Traveled in February 2026
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Costa Rica

  Dear Paul, Thank you very much for sharing your detailed feedback with us. We truly appreciate the time you took to explain your experience, as communication is key for us and your comments help us continue improving. First, I want to sincerely apologize for the difficulties you faced in reaching our team during your trip. We fully understand how frustrating this must have been. We have already implemented several measures to prevent this situation from repeating, including strengthening our communication channels. Although our main point of contact continues to be the platform where your booking was managed, we have now added three dedicated WhatsApp lines so guests can easily reach us at any time. Regarding Manuel Antonio National Park Tour you are right — the information about the Tuesday closure and the resulting adjustment in operation was not clearly stated on the platform and may lead to confusion. We are already working on correcting this to ensure future travelers receive clear and timely information before their arrival. About the free time you experienced, we understand your perspective. To better support guests who prefer more structured days, we now offer a catalog of optional excursions available on-site, allowing each traveler to tailor the experience to their interests and pace. Thank you again for your honest feedback. We are deeply committed to improving, and your experience will help us strengthen both transparency and communication throughout the entire journey. All the best, Paola & Destination Services Team

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  Cathryn

  March 1st, 2026
  We had a lovely time. The itinerary key we were instructed to use had some incorrect or missing information regarding...
  We had a lovely time. The itinerary key we were instructed to use had some incorrect or missing information regarding the times we would be picked up but generally was correct. The tour company was responsive but the link they gave me wasn’t helpful because I didn’t notice there were multiple icons, one of which was the day to day itinerary with the correct times. Other than that and the rainy weather for most of the trip, we had a very nice time. We saw multiple animals and the tour guides were helpful in making sure we could see them and get great photos. The hotels were very nice- we paid for the upgrade to 4 star. The Trapp family lodge was beautiful, but the room was cold and drafty, and the wind blowing across the roof was noisy. They provided a space heater and extra blankets which helped. The food was good.Show more
  Traveled in February 2026
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Costa Rica

  Dear Cathryn, Thank you very much for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We truly appreciate your comments and are delighted to hear that, overall, you had a very nice time and enjoyed the destination, the wildlife, and the guided experiences. You are absolutely right in pointing out that our welcome letter app can sometimes feel a bit confusing, as it contains several tabs and sections. We completely agree with you on this point, and we would like to assure you that this is something we are actively working on, as we fully recognize the need to make the experience clearer and more intuitive for our guests. At the same time, this digital tool allows us to share real‑time updates, provide all tickets and information in an interactive way, and avoid unnecessary paperwork or phone calls during your holiday—helping guests enjoy a smoother and more relaxed travel experience. That said, we are 100% aligned with your feedback, and your comments are extremely valuable as we continue improving the platform to make it more user‑friendly and straightforward. Thank you once again for your thoughtful feedback and for choosing to travel with us. We hope to have the pleasure of welcoming you again in the future. Warm regards, Customer Experience Team

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  Denise

  February 28th, 2026
  This tour wasn’t quite what we expected. The tour is listed as a group size of 1-30, so we were expecting to be with...
  This tour wasn’t quite what we expected. The tour is listed as a group size of 1-30, so we were expecting to be with a group of people throughout the tour, and a travel guide available. We found that this is just basically a travel agent who books your rooms and tours and transportation, and you are pretty much on your own. We also expected that we could add optional activities once we were there, but that wasn’t the case, so we had to find additional activities and book them on our own. One of the optional activities was to go to the Hot Springs at Arenal, but they included that in our itinerary, so we didn’t book it when we were there, because we thought we already had it included. We waited 30 minutes for our pickup, and nobody showed up. We contacted the tour operator, and they said that was a typo on our itinerary. So that was one place we didn’t get to see. The bus rides between stays were very long and on some bumpy roads. The tour mentions this, but I didn’t completely realize we would be traveling 5-6 hours when transferring between destinations. The one bus was also late, which resulted in a rushed lunch and late arrival to our next hotel. We also got shuffled from bus to bus at during several transfers. Overall the hotels were good, the tours we had were good. The hotels at Arenal and Monteverde were nice, but not in the town, so we couldn’t walk places, which would have been nice. The meals that were included were buffet style, which was okay. We enjoyed it overall, and loved the country, but I’m not sure I would do this type of tour again.Show more
  Traveled in February 2026
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  David

  February 25th, 2026
  We had one issue with this tour and it is very possible it was user error. We did not understand that we would be...
  We had one issue with this tour and it is very possible it was user error. We did not understand that we would be passed like a baton around the country. From bus to bus, from driver or guide to driver or guide. We couldn't get access to the app without a signal and couldn't figure out where or when we needed to be. After a couple of hand offs that worked absolutely perfectly we realized it was a well oiled machine. This is just how Costa Rica works! I just wish someone would have told us ahead of time. We relaxed after a few Whatsapp conversations with a lovely tourradar guy and the rest of the trip was wonderful. My only other comment is that the tours and transport start early! Be prepared to be up at 5:00AM!Show more
  Traveled in February 2026