Costa Rica

Pacuare River, Arenal & Papagayo Peninsula

Beach + Coast, Wilderness + Safari, and Countryside Family Trip March 2018
Costa Rica

This Costa Rica route opens by whitewater rafting into an off-grid jungle lodge, then fills the days with ziplines, waterfall canyoning and a Cabécar cultural walk. Arenal brings a higher waterfall to rappel, an ATV trail under the volcano and the hanging bridges, then the Pacific at Papagayo swaps jungle for coast with kayaks and jet skis. The biggest days come first, and the coast is the slow finish.

 
Behind the Route

A return to Costa Rica for the adventure, once both sons were old enough to raft. A beach stay at the end was a given; the trip was built around a lodge reached only by whitewater raft.

Best For Families with teens ready for jungle adventure who still want a coast at the end.
  

We had been to Costa Rica years earlier and knew we wanted to come back once the boys were old enough for things like whitewater rafting. This was March break, the four of us: me, my husband and our two boys. I had been eyeing a resort on the coast for a while, but it was finding a rainforest lodge reached only by raft that shaped the rest of the trip. It sounded so good that the whole route built itself around it: a night in San José, the lodge, Arenal, and then the coast.

Ages in group: Young Teenagers (12-15), Older Teens and 20s, and Adults (30-65)

 

That’s the first look. Members see the rest of this route.

The stays and the day-by-day, the transport, tours and restaurants they booked, and what they’d do again.

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