Costa Rica
The last big block of Pacific lowland rainforest in Central America, and a 3,820 m páramo summit.
4 expeditions across amazon & rainforest, mesoamerica, coasts & islands. Windows on offer: Dec–Apr · Nov–May.
- Expeditions
- 4
- Open to plan
- 4
- Inquire only
- 0
- Days
- 6–9
What Costa Rica is actually good at
Corcovado on the Osa Peninsula is the reason to come. Its Sirena station is the one ranger post surrounded on every side by primary forest, reached by boat from Drake Bay or a long tide-dependent coastal hike, and the wildlife behaves differently there because it has never been pushed to the edges. Baird's tapir, all four Costa Rican monkey species, and the country's healthiest scarlet macaw population are all present.
Cerro Chirripó at 3,820 m is the counterweight and surprises people who came for a tropical country: páramo, frost on the grass before dawn, and on a clear morning both oceans as thin blue lines. Arenal's crater is closed and has been for years — what you walk are the hardened 1968 and 1992 lava flows — while Monteverde's cloud forest on the continental divide is where the resplendent quetzal nests roughly March to June.
Access and permits
Country-level constraints that decide whether a date is possible.
- A certified guide has been legally required for every Corcovado visitor since 2014, and rangers enforce it at the station gates.
- Sirena's daily quota splits between day visitors and a small overnight allocation; dry-season beds fill months ahead. The sector closes annually for maintenance, in recent years October.
- Chirripó runs on a reservation system — park entry through SINAC and Crestones shelter beds separately, both capped. Book roughly 90 days out for the dry season.
- Arenal's summit is closed. There is no legal route and we do not offer one.
- Cabo Blanco is an absolute nature reserve and closes to visitors on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The Costa Rica catalog
Costa Rica
Osa Peninsula Coast
Corcovado & Golfo Dulce
Primary rainforest meets Pacific beach where tapirs leave tracks in wet sand. Scarlet macaws cross the mouth of the gulf at dusk.
- Duration
- 9 days
- Effort
- Moderate
- Window
- Dec–Apr
$7,500–$11,000
Detail →
Costa Rica
Arenal & Monteverde Cloud Circuit
Arenal & Monteverde
Old lava fields and hanging bridges under Arenal's cone; Monteverde cloud forest for quetzals. Hot springs steam after rain—no crater summit.
- Duration
- 8 days
- Effort
- Moderate
- Window
- Dec–Apr
$5,800–$8,600
Detail →
Costa Rica
Nicoya Pacific Traverse
Nicoya Peninsula
Dry forest trails open onto empty Pacific coves. Howlers call at first light; evenings bring bioluminescence in warm shallows.
- Duration
- 8 days
- Effort
- Easy
- Window
- Nov–May
$5,400–$8,200
Detail →
Costa Rica
Chirripó Summit Ascent
Talamanca Range
Climb from oak forest into páramo where frost holds the summit lakes. On a clear dawn, both oceans show as thin blue lines.
- Duration
- 6 days
- Effort
- Challenging
- Window
- Dec–Apr
$4,900–$7,300
Detail →Something else
Combine Costa Rica with a neighbour
Most private journeys cross a border — the Atacama to Uyuni crossing, Copán into Guatemala, Iguazú from both sides. Tell us the shape you want and we will say whether the logistics hold together.
Private & custom