Guanacaste Tours & Trips

Everyone was so kind and our tour guide, Andreas was so helpful and would go out of his way to make sure everyone felt included :)

An outstanding outing including carefully selected hotels and restaurants and customized route.

The same driver picked us up at the airport in Liberia and drove us to the Hacienda Guachipelin, and then picked us up and drove us to Tamarindo Beach, and then picked us up and drove us back to the airport. So, that was nice. He gave each of us a water bottle. We didn’t use them but it was a nice touch. I loved Hacienda Gauchipelin. It was very pretty. The rooms were large (the first night we had one room, the second two nights we had another room), the bathrooms were large and there was a nice veranda in front of each room. The buffet breakfast in one of the open-air dining rooms was very nice and for lunch and dinner there was a choice of buffet or à la carte. I loved the walking tour into Pailas National Park, K. didn’t love it because – unbeknownst to me – she has difficulty walking on inclines and steps. But the tour guide was able to adapt the tour to take us on the easiest part of the trail first, rather than last as he usually does, and then she went back to the trailhead where there was a little café and waiting area. The rest of the walking tour was like a mini Yellowstone, because the park is volcanic, so we saw steam holes that made noise (I’m sure there’s a name for them), mud pots, some wild monkeys and interesting vegetation, and then a visit to a pretty waterfall. The following day we did the zip line tour. Safety was a priority for the staff so they did a good job fitting us and a family of 5 with helmets, gloves and harnesses. On the first part of the zip line one of the staff went with K. to make sure that she could do it. In the afternoon we took the Hacienda bus over to the hot springs. It was not my cup of tea, but worth seeing once. I didn’t love Tamarindo Beach, but that’s mostly because it is a typical beach town that you can see anywhere. Think Galveston with a trucks thundering down the main street. There was a glitch at the hotel, the Diria, which was really K.’s fault for not having indicated that she can’t climb stairs. The hotel occupies the beach side and a larger space across the street from the beach. Initially they put us in a room that required climbing a short flight and then a longer flight of stairs. When I called to request a room with no stairs for access (assuming that they had an elevator building) initially they wanted to put us somewhere further up hill, but when I rejected it and the bellman came over and met K. to assess the problem, then they gave us the handicap accessible room the beach side. It was very nice; they tried to be accommodating. The buffet breakfast was nice. The grounds were nice with plenty of places to sit in the sun or the shade, several swimming pools and easy beach access. There was no plan for the next day and I don’t like shopping, so I went to the tour desk for the hotel and arranged a tour to a waterfall and an animal sanctuary. That was very nice, but apparently whoever booked this tour either in Canada or the local outfitter just dropped the ball and expected us to sit around for 2.5 days. The real problem was the next day, when we were scheduled for the Catamaran Sunset Tour cruise for snorkeling and watching the sunset. The instructions said only that we had to get there on our own, with no information about where the meeting place was. The link on the itinerary didn’t work. So, I went to the Concierge desk and someone called the local number for the cruise company. That person texted me a link to a location that was only a 5 minute walk away, but wasn’t the meeting place, either. Finally, after some discussion, the owner of the business gave us a ride to the meeting location about a mile away on the beach, and then asked his skipper to assist K. into the dinghy and then into the catamaran. When we got back there was a cab driver waiting for us, at no charge. They were very nice and kind. There was an open bar but the bar tended kept an eye on who was drinking how much, and provided some extra pineapple slices for me and the people I was talking to to munch when he heard us exclaiming about it. They provided a buffet lunch. They had two groups of visitors who were repeat customers. The swimming cove was nice. I didn’t snorkel but we had a nice time sitting on the side of the boat and dangling our legs. They were so kind that I left a nice review on TripAdvisor. I wouldn’t advise sending someone to the beach again, but I would do the national park again.