Reviews

Great wildlife, shame about the minibus!

Costa Rica is undoubtedly a fabulous location. We really enjoyed the opportunity to see amazing wildlife in some stunning locations. Accommodation was mostly excellent (apart from a very tired-feeling Holiday Inn in San Jose) but there was simply too much time spent travelling in a cramped minibus. The ratio of travel time to dedicated nature-watching was simply too high. It might be too much trying to encompass three destinations, spread across a wide area, in such a short time.

Most Inspirational Moment

Boat trips in Tortuguero National Park

Thoughts on Group Leader

Very friendly and knowledgeable but occasionally somewhat overbearing. We sometimes felt like we were being talked to like naughty primary school children! Initially very unsympathetic and seemingly disinterested when group members' luggage was soaked while being transported on the roof of the minibus.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Costa Rica's a fascinating destination and our knowledgeable guide helped us gain a good appreciation of its natural wonders. You need to be ready to spend a lot of time travelling between the three locations on this tour. It felt like we spent as much time on the road (in a far from comfortable minibus) as we did searching for, and finding, Costa Rica's special flora and fauna. If possible, think about a longer tour with a better balance between travelling time and time spent out enjoying nature. Definitely not recommended if you're tall!

Reply from Exodus

Thank you for taking the time to submit a review of your Exodus holiday to Costa Rica, Philip, and we were pleased to read that you enjoyed the boat trips in Tortuguero. On the other hand, we are sorry that you found your leader overbearing and that you felt your tour featured too much driving. We acknowledge that one of the major reasons our customers choose Exodus is because we provide expert tour guides who can deliver our planned itineraries to a high standard, and ideally elevate a group’s experience in their destination. We are well aware of the impact that our leaders have on our clients’ overall enjoyment of the trip, and it is therefore a matter of great disappointment that you found yours to be unsympathetic and disinterested. Your leader is a valued member of our Costa Rican cohort and has proven in the time she has led for us that she is adept at leading tours that meet ours and our customers’ expectations; in fact, she has previously won our tour leader of the year award and regularly receives some of the best average scores across all our trips. We hope this shows why we were confident in her ability to successfully lead your tour, although we are sorry that your experience was not as positive as you had expected. We are further sorry that you felt there was an excessive amount of driving time proportionate to the length of your trip and that your vehicle was rather cramped. Our product managers spend a significant amount of time designing our itineraries and, though we cannot please everyone, we generally find that they strike a balance between seeing as much of a country as possible, whilst maintaining reasonable driving times. Having reviewed the feedback for all departures of this tour this year, we are satisfied that our customers rated their overall experience 4.27* out of 5*, which meets our general expectations, although we regret if this is not a reflection of your holiday. We sincerely hope that your disappointment on this occasion has not discouraged you from travelling with Exodus again.

 

Sarah Ahern, Product Manager

Brilliant Nature

Brilliant guide Well organised trip Good drivers

Fantastic Holiday!

Considering we only had a week, the holiday had a packed itinerary, was brilliant and just went too quick! A stunning country with a wealth of wildlife, trees and plants made even better by a terrific guide!

Wonderful wildlife

Wonderful wildlife, great guide, highly recommended

Fab trip with great guide and driver but be prepared for long journey times and chaotic airport

Very enjoyable holiday with similar minded folk with a superb guide and driver. Thoroughly recommend but be prepared for chaos at the airport on arrival and exit – took us over 2 hours both times and long travel distances and early starts. But overall worth it. Thanks

Fabulous trip!

Great trip! There is a lot of time spent travelling on this trip but it’s a necessary evil to fit so much in!

San Jose is nothing very exciting but is fine for an overnight stay before you start the proper adventure. I wouldn’t spend any extra time here. Tortuguero is amazing, you head out on a boat to the hotel where you can see all kinds of wildlife. The hotel is a lodge in amongst the waterways and forest, you can see birds and reptiles in the hotel grounds. The boat safaris are good, particularly the first one, the earlier you go out in the day the more you see so the early starts are worth it.

La Fortuna is another lovely place to visit. The town is small and has some good restaurants, all against the backdrop of the volcano makes it rather special. The hotel here is another wooden lodge style place, really liked it, very peaceful. The optional trip to the hot springs is the perfect antedote to a long day of travelling, we got lucky and had 30 mins alone before the Americans descended on us! The food in the restaurant at the springs was good.

Monteverde wasn’t quite what I expected. The walks in the cloud forest were lovely, I wish we had started earlier in the day so we might have seen more. Really didn’t like the hotel here, great view but felt like a business hotel and not amongst the forest which was a shame as you missed the wildlife. Pizza place our guide took us too was fabulous!

We saw lots of birds and were very lucky with the weather given that I was there in the middle of the rainy season. Even when it rains it’s too hot to zip up a jacket unless you’re in Monteverde where it is much cooler and rather chilly at night. Don’t forget the insect repellent.

You cannot avoid the rice and beans, or beans and rice and why would you want to! It’s the staple dish so stock up. If you’re avoiding carbs this is not the trip for you, it’s carb tastic! I now have a new found addiction to fried plantain!

One for the lover of birds

It is a long flight going out, 11 hours. British Airways were the airline chosen because of the direct flight, but the standard of service on the plane had much to be desired could not wait to get off the plane.

The first hotel in San Jose was okay but the food and drinks were very expensive, it would have been nicer to have had a hotel in the centre so that one could go out and see the city.

The adventure really begun the next day when we had a coach journey then boat to get to our first destination.

If you are a lover of birds you will love this holiday as they’re so many to see, however the island is very green with cloud and rain forests which you can explore. It is a country not contrasts and it should be seen.

Fantastic, very well organised tour. Would highly recommend

Breathtaking sights. Very knowledgable guide. Friendly yet not over bearing. Great variety of wildlife and flora and fauna seen. A very intense few days. Probably one of the most exciting and fulfilling experiences we have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Would highly recommend this tour.

Natural highlights of Costa Rica.

This was a fabulous trip, giving you a slice of Costa Rica. There is a lot of driving between locations, ( at times 4-5 hours) some of the roads were still unmade, so can be very bumpy. The weather was extremely hot in places, but in Monteverde quite windy and therefore something warm to wear is a necessity. We saw so many beautiful birds and reptiles,on our boat trips and our guide had a wealth of knowledge of fowl and fauna. Beautiful kingfishers,herons, lizards,turtles,crocodiles to name but a few. The boat trips made it for me,but the visit to the Hot Springs was fun and a great way of getting to know your group! The suspension bridges were a lot lower than I thought they would be and it was far too short. If you are not afraid of heights and speed, go for the Zip Wire. I would recommend taking a waterproof jacket, walking boots or shoes, and mosquito repellent!

Cost Rica for the third time.

There was a lot of hours travelling, however that is acceptable as the country’s road system to the places we were going to do not allow shorter journey times, and some of the scenery was superb. Our drivers throughout were excellent as was our guide Glenda who worked hard to ensure we all had an enjoyable tour.
We were slightly disappointed with Tortequero as the boat safaris could have been longer and we did not really go as far into the jungle as we expected, a lot of time was lost queuing up for entrance tickets and the last morning it would have been possible to do an additional safari and depart the lodge a bit later to return to the jetty. We actually saw more on the 2 1/2 hour boat safari in Cano Negro than we did in the whole time in Tortequero. The Monte Verde part was good but again more time could have been spent in the actual jungle than having nearly an hour to have coffee and shop at the information centre.