4 independent reviews for Costa Rica classic self drive vacation
Reviews for Costa Rica classic self drive vacation
Janet Doherty review 13 Mar 2026
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
The wildlife tours were amazing.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Vegan travelers should buy their own milk and bring it with them. The tours are great. Do three weeks if you can.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
All the guides were local to Costa Rica. This was important. The guides made it explicit the link between eco tourism and conservation.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
It was fantastic. We would definitely recommend this operator.Sarah Webster review 7 Aug 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
All activities were great, particularly zip lining.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Make sure you have a couple of days of down time spread across your trip.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Definitely supported local communities and conservation. I came across more single use plastic than I expected.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Super vacation, with suitable activities for the whole family.Chris Webb review 9 Mar 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
No single thing as there was so much to enjoy but the variety and quantity of the wildlife was spectacular.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Be prepared for slow travel on the roads which in most parts are very poor and many parts are unsurfaced for long stretches. Use Waze for navigation rather than google maps and add at least 20% to travel times. Try and learn some Spanish as English isn't widely spoken in more secluded areas.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
On the whole yes, as the guides were all local as well as the majority of the people working in our accommodation and restaurants and local shops. There seemed to be plenty of recycling points in all the places we stayed and a general encouragement to use less resources such as water.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
We had an excellent time on all fronts.Janet Sutherland review 16 Mar 2016
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Lots of very memorable moments, but the best was finding a family of sloths at Playa Punta Uva on the Carribean Coast who were so close we could have touched them. They were moving down the tree to drink from the river, as we stood in it. Magical! Right next to the beach. Also walking along this beach to Manzanillo, the end of the road, close to Panama, seeing monkeys and birds along the way. We spent a few days at the beginning on the Caribbean coast and at the end on the Pacific Coast, and this was a wonderful way to bookend our concentrated time exploring the 3 different forest environments and the Arenal volcano area.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Our vacation providers were wonderful, all the travel arrangements with the hotel shuttle bus uses worked perfectly, all the hotels were good and the tours were excellent, particularly spending a whole day at Selve Verdi Biological reserve, and another whole day in the Monteverdi cloud forest.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Tourism is the biggest industry in Costa Rica, and all the people who helped make our vacation such a success were friendly and helpful. Usual contradictions as our travel and hotel stays clearly impact the natural environment, but tourism is leading to reforestation, and an awareness of the impact of agricultural pesticides etc on wildlife, so hopefully overall is beneficial.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Excellent.Holiday Reviews
You can trust Responsible Travel reviews because, unlike many other schemes, reviews can ONLY be written by people who we have verified have been on the holidays. In addition, we don't run these holidays ourselves - our only interest is giving you the best independent advice.
