Family holiday Costa Rica with a rental car

15 days - from € 3.700 per person*

self-drive - active - jungle - wildlife - birds

* Please note: this price is based on a trip with 2 children under the age of 5 using family rooms. If you are travelling with older children, prices will have to be calculated on the basis of 2 double rooms

Day 3: Tortuguero

In the morning your guide will pick you up and you will visit the Mawamba Park, a private facility in the lodge’s gardens that features two butterfly farms, a frog garden, a bio-digester and river turtles area. The bio-digester is a very important effort in conservation, through which they treat the sewage waters of the lodge to convert them into a natural source of methane gas to heat up the stoves. Nowadays, approximately 30% of the gas that they use at the lodge comes from the bio digester. This visit is combined with a walk in the trails at the lodge. This way you can meet the inhabitants and learn about their lifestyle. In the afternoon a boat trip (approx. 2 hours) through the rivers of the Tortuguero national park is planned for you. Visit one of the park’s canals by boat and discover the wonderful biodiversity that resides in this area with your guide. We recommend to bring your windbreaker and poncho. A shower can always be expected in the rainforest! The canals are home to manatees, caimans and crocodiles. In the forest you can find among others jaguars, sloths and various species of monkeys. There are also Basilisk lizards and poisonous frogs, more than 375 species of birds, including kingfishers, toucans, grey herons and parrots. Of course, the national park also has a very rich fauna; about 400 species of trees and about 2,200 other plant species. For a reason this park is one of the three most visited parks in Costa Rica. 
Overnight stay: Mawamba Lodge | full board
 

Day 4: Tortuguero – Guápiles – Monteverde

(approx. 220 km | 4,5 hour drive)
With other hotel guests you will be brought from the lodge to Guápiles. Here you will pick up your rental car and drive further northwest to Monteverde where you will stay at Senda Monteverde. This accommodation is located in the cloud forest of Costa Rica. You will stay in a comfortable and modern mountain lodge with an open-air porch. You will have a view over the Pacific Ocean in the distance or over the cloud forest. Monteverde is situated on a height between 1400 and 1700 meters. In the national park you will find about 400 bird species, 490 butterfly species, more than 100 mammals, 2,500 types of plants and tens of thousands of insects. 
Overnight stay: Senda Monteverde | bed & breakfast

Day 6: Monteverde – La Fortuna

(approx. 110 km | 3 hour drive)
From Monteverde you drive on to the town of La Fortuna, known for the Arenal volcano. During this drive you will drive through the highlands of Costa Rica. Enjoy the beautiful surroundings! From the town you have a good view at the Arenal volcano. The 1633 m high Arenal volcano with its almost perfect conical shape rises majestically above the meadows and forests on the east side of the Laguna de Arenal. Currently the volcano is in a resting phase. The peak is often hidden behind the clouds, but once it is visible it offers a nice view. 
Overnight stay: Hotel Arenal Manoa | bed & breakfast
 

Day 9: La Fortuna – Rincón de la Vieja

(approx. 165 km | 4 hour drive)
From La Fortuna you will continue today to Rincón de la Vieja. You will stay in an area of ultimate peace with a beautiful panoramic view. The lodges are spacious, tasteful and furnished in colonial style. The eggs, dairy products and vegetables used in the accommodation all come from a nearby farm, so they are local products. This place is not fully discovered yet, which makes it possible to enjoy the unique and natural surroundings.
Overnight stay: La Casona lodge Rincón de la Vieja | bed & breakfast
 

Day 11: Rincón de la Vieja – Nosara

(approx. 190 km | 4,5 hour drive)
In the morning you drive on to Nosara where you will stay in a small charming boutique hotel, hidden in this village just off the shoreline of Playa Guiones in Nosara and yet only 200 meters from the beach.
Overnight stay: Olas Verdes | bed & breakfast
 

Day 14: Nosara – San José – Amsterdam

You drive to the airport of San José (approx. 255 km | 4,5 hour drive) by yourself where you will return the rental car. Unfortunately, your journey is over. In the evening you will board an intercontinental flight to Amsterdam where you will arrive the next day.
 

Day 15: Amsterdam 

You will arrive in Amsterdam today.