We’ll start with a couple of nights in San Gerardo de Dota in the Talamanca Mountains — one of my favorite places in Costa Rica. We’ll look for the resplendent quetzal, hike in the cloud forest, and eat amazing meals at Miriam’s Restaurant and Los Colibris Pizzeria.

We’ll head to the Las Cruces Biological Research Station near the Panama border from the mountains. We’ll be staying for three nights at the station, eating our meals with the researchers, exploring the Wilson Botanical Garden, learning about tropical forest fragmentation and reforestation from the scientists, and visiting the organic coffee farm of Don Roberto and Dona Noemi.

From Las Cruces, we’ll go to Sierpe, on the Pacific Coast. While there, we’ll explore the mangrove wetlands by boat and hike in the Corcovado National Park, which is estimated to contain 2% of the world’s biodiversity. We’ll spend our last night in Alajuela after a drive up the coast from Sierpe, including a stop at the Crocodile Bridge. After breakfast at the hotel, you’ll head to the airport for your flight home after enjoying the treasures of southern Costa Rica.

Day 3

Talamanca Mountains

Today, we’re in the midst of Los Quetzales National Park in the Talamanca Mountain range with an elevation of 5-7,000 feet. It is one of Costa Rica’s famous cloud forests. Within the Park, researchers have identified three different types of rain forests and 14 distinct ecological zones, each with its own unique qualities. Meals included: breakfast.

Day 6

Las Cruces

Today we’ll visit the organic coffee farm of Don Roberto and Dona Noemi.  Don Roberto will take us on a tour of his farm, explaining how his 20 years of organic coffee farming has brought natural springs and wildlife back to what used to be cattle pasture.  He’ll also show us the process of drying and roasting the beans.  Then we’ll sit and have an amazing cup of coffee with him and Dona Noemi.  And yes, you can buy some of their coffee to take home! Meals included: breakfast, lunch, & dinner.

Day 9

Sierpe

We’ll get an early start today and head by boat to the Corcovado National Park. The Park is the largest primary forest on Costa Rica’s Pacific coastline and is famous for containing 2% of the world’s biodiversity. The area holds thousands of species of flora and fauna, many unique to the area and others which have disappeared from other regions, or are in danger of extinction. Approximately 6,000 insects (including the 123 different butterflies discovered so far), 500 trees (a fourth of all the tree species that exist in Costa Rica), 367 birds, 140 mammals, 117 amphibian and reptiles, and 40 freshwater fish species co-exist here. Meals included: breakfast & lunch.

Activity Level

Moderate

Activities are generally not very strenuous; however, we expect guests to enjoy two hours or more of walking, are sure-footed on cobbled surfaces, and walk up and down stairs without assistance. In rural and small-town settings, unpaved roads and pathways will be common with some short sections of rough trail, which we expect that guests can traverse with no more than a companion’s hand to steady them. Historic city centers are frequently more accessible by foot than a vehicle, and sometimes the motor coach can’t drop us off at the hotel and site entrances. Due to the structure of some buildings, facilities for the disabled may be limited.