Puntarenas

We are stopping in Puntarenas next month and are open to ideas on what to do. Prefer private vs cruise line tour.

We are group of 4 adults, hubby and I in our 40s, my folks in 70s with mobility issues, though not in a wheel chair. Also have five year old child.

Any tips/recommendations are welcome! Thanks!

Questions similar to yours come up every month or so, so searching the old threads should give you some idea of what others are doing or considering. Is there anything in particular that you want to do or see? With your crowd I assume zip lining and white water rafting are not being considered. Basically I'd say look at what cruise sponsored excursions are available and assume that most can be arranged privately. Personally I like the Damas riviner and mangrove area. There are several boat excursions offered that would be easy for those with mobility issues and offers the chance to see a lot of wildlife and, to me a boat is always more fun than a bus.

Depending on the extent of the mobility challenges, our first time off a cruise ship in Puntarenas we booked (independently) the Calypso Tours catamaran cruise. I would check the times your ship arrives and departs, but we made it with plenty of time to spare. Since then every time we go to CR by land not Puerta Limon by ship, we take that tour.

It is all day, breakfast and lunch. They bring the lunch, canopy shading and everything with them. Last year we saw a mother and baby humpback whale, two sea turtles (mating) and on their island we saw a deer (very small like a key deer), a very tame "wild" boar, and many other things. There are banana boat rides for the adventurous, crew usually starts a beach volleyball game. You can swim (or not) walk the beach, or sit and listen to the island band entertaining. There is also a gift shop, drinks, etc.

I know when we went the first time they were really trying to encourage the cruise ship business. Again, I guess it would depend on your shore time.

Most everything else is about 1 to 2 hours away. The roads systems have gotten much better in the last several years. We are staying two nights in Puntarenas this August (to again do the tour with friends) and there is not really much to do there. There are several hotels (Alamar Hotel) that have a tour desk and could arrange transportation or tours I believe. Have not done just read about it.

Manuel Antonio CR largest National Park is down the road, but not probably the best for mobility challenged.

Hoped this helped a little bit. Don't forget to take back some of that great CR coffee.

Have a great cruise.

Kathryn

We will be in Puntarenas from 8 am to 5 pm and would like to go to a National Park, preferably Manual Antonio. How do we arrange a tour on our own. Thanks, Jim

We will be in Puntarenas from 8 am to 5 pm and would like to go to a National Park, preferably Manual Antonio. How do we arrange a tour on our own. Thanks, Jim

I searched this forum for tour guide operators and made contact with them via email. We are booked with Odyssey though I was also impressed with OkeyDokey. We are not doing Manual Antonio as it appears it is a 2 hour drive (each way).

We will be back at the beginning of May if you would like me to report back on our experience with Odyssey.

Manuel Antonio is a nice park but I'd call it a stretch for a cruise port visit. As flyboyswife mentioned, it's a bit of a drive from Puntarenas so your time in the park would be limited. Secondly, it's a small heavily used and well developed park which makes it friendly to those wanting restrooms & broad trails (roads) so it does not rank high on the secluded, untouched beauty that you get in many other less traveled parks. But on the good side, with so many visitors it actually helps to see the animals since they have become accustomed to having humans around and many can be seen right from the main road/trail entering the park.

Thanks flyboyswife for your reply and I and I am sure others would be very interested in your review on the tour when you return in May. Also thanks to pilotdane for your suggestion me Manual Antonio Park, which I have toured many years ago, but as you suggested it is too far away, some 2 hrs, from the port, so this tour is not suitable.

I searched this forum for tour guide operators and made contact with them via email. We are booked with Odyssey though I was also impressed with OkeyDokey. We are not doing Manual Antonio as it appears it is a 2 hour drive (each way).

 

We will be back at the beginning of May if you would like me to report back on our experience with Odyssey.

We'll be in Puntarenas via the Coral Princess in November. Would you use them again? What did you see? Thanks!

We were in Puntarenas in April and booked through Greenway Tours. Had a small group, at our request, and our guide was Olie. We would recommend it and would like to book longer tours with them if we get back to Costa Rica. I think it was called 6 in 1 on the Greenway web site but maybe not. It included several stops plus three hanging bridges in the rainforest and lunch. A fun day in a beautiful place!

In Huatulco, Mexico we booked a private tour with Marcos Lopez and he is fantastic if you can get him! Very nice young man who is from there and knows the area well. Will tailor a day for your requests. His e-mail is huatulcotours@yahoo.com.

I inquired about a tour that was simular to Princess 10 tour- Aerial Tram & Tarcoles River, to knock off some time. 10 hours seems too long. Here is what their response.

Not sure about Punta Leona beach, Villa Caletas Amphitheater, & Santa Lucia. Does anyone know why they would want us to go there??? Are these worth seeing?? I will ask more about the beach, shade?, chairs, or is it hiking??

Hello Grace,

Thanks for contact us, my name is Alvaro and is my pleasure assist you with your tour planning.

Is very kind of you in give a look to small local family-run tour business to enjoy your day tour in Paradise Costa Rica, thanks to people like you we have been capable to not only support our families but improve our services while doing what we love as work, enjoying everyday our own country with new friends, so now we count with modern a/c vehicles such as minivans and minibuses with plenty of room and comfort with full a/c and we will be happy to reserve one for your party.

We are available for your date and we will be honored to take you in a very good, as a matter of fact it is very good plan to do aerial tram and crocodiles river cruise for a day tour with the most exciting sights.

The itinerary of the tour:

8:00am pick up time in Puntarenas port.

Stop to see monkeys on their natural habitat.

9:00am crocodiles river cruise.

10:30am Enjoying Punta Leona beach.

11:30am visiting Villa Caletas amphitheater to enjoy the breathtaking ocean views, spotting toucans.

12:15pm Enjoying Lunch at very good restaurant in Jaco.

1:00pm Aerial tram tour.

3:00pm Visiting Santa Lucia village, colonial village surrounded of rain forest near Carara Biological reserve and with souvenirs.

3:35pm Stop at grocery store for coffee and vanilla.

3:50pm Puntarenas city tour.

4:15pm Drop off in Puntarenas dock.

Rate: 130 USD per person for a minimum of 6 people payables on same day of the tour with cash or credit card.

If only 2 people in private tour the rate is $155 per person

Our most wanted tour:

The idea of this tour is to covert all the amazing things our country has to offer, beautiful beach, rain forest, culture, wildlife, plantations and city of Puntarenas but with not so much driving time, our most wanted tour is so fas Manuel Antonio park which is located 2 hours away and very turisty so most of the time it take longer the drive due to the number of visitors on the area, so to avoid these troubles for day tour we decided to create this tour visiting now Punta Leona beach, Carara rain forest park surroundings and Puntarenas so we only need 1 hour drive each way to enjoy all these nice sites and get the most of Costa Rica, so the name 6 in 1 comes to be very convenient.

The itinerary of the tour:

8:30am pick up time in Puntarenas port.

First stop to enjoy sugar cane juice and some other local spicies and fruits.

Second stop to see crocodiles on the Tarcoles river from the safety of the bridge.

10am Enjoying Punta Leona beach, swimming, hiking through beach and forest spotting scarlet macaws, raccoons and other nice birds.

11:30am visiting Villa Caletas amphitheater to enjoy the breathtaking ocean views, spotting toucans.

12:15pm Visiting Santa Lucia village, colonial village surrounded of rain forest near Carara Biological reserve and with souvenirs.

1:00pm Enjoying Lunch at local rice and beans food and also best fresh seafood.

2:00pm Stop to see monkeys on their natural habitat.

2:30pm Stop at grocery store for coffee and vanilla.

3:00pm Puntarenas city tour.

3:30pm Drop off in Puntarenas dock.

Rate: 70 USD per person for a minimum of 6 people payables on same day of the tour with cash or credit card.

Bring: Camera, sunblock, comfortable clothing (short, t-shirt), bathing suit, towel, hat or cap, mosquitoes repellent, hiking or tennis shoes).

For your convenience we pick you up right at the dock and you can meet us just few steps off the ship where we will have a sign with your name.

Best regards,

Alvaro Ramirez G.

Odyssey Tours, Costa Rica Experts!

Voted N.1 in Trip Advisor and other traveler sites.

El domingo, 10 de junio de 2012<burst@emailmeform.com> escribió:

> Subject*:Pacific/Rainforest Aerial Tram & Tarcoles River Cr

> Request details*:Date (month/day/year):for Sept. 26,2012

> How many people:2 plus???

> Adults:2 plus?

> Kids:0

> Your hotel/(cruise):We will be off Princess Coral

> Could we do a tour of just Rainforest Aerial Tram & River Cruise on Tarcoles River with NO shopping??

> From the Punadares port how many hours will it take??

> Probably need a potty stop. Is this possible??

> Thanks

> Your Name*:Grace

> Your Email Address*:>

>

>

>

>

-- I will also ask them more about the Aerial Tram. I said I wanted Pacific Rainforest Aerial Tram same as Princess. The price seems very good, also not sure if $ includes lunch?/Lots of questions

Thanks for anyones help,

Grace

We'll be in Puntarenas via the Coral Princess in November. Would you use them again? What did you see? Thanks!

We just got back from Panama Canal Cruise w/ Coral Princess, from LA too Ft Lauderdale. I set up a private tour with Alvaro @ Odessy Tours on Sept. 26. We docked in Pundarus, spelling is wrong. He customized the tour for what we wanted to do. I requested Aerial Tram & Tarcoles River Cruise simular to what Princess offers, as most popular, with no shopping, so we could cut off some time. He added some suggestions, like stopping to look @ the white faced monkeys. So glad we did. We would never have gotten to see them up close & personal if we would have been on Princess tour. Lunch was great & included. Alvaro was right there where he said they would be, that morning to pick us up with a sign holding my name. He was also very prompt in answering my E-Mails back, as I had many questions. We ended up being 8 people total from CC roll call. He had nice Air-conditioned van, which we really needed. They had lots of bottled water, soft drinks, & beer for us in the van. So glad all turned out great because I felt responsible for the other 6 people that went with us, since I'm the one that organized the tour. NO MONEY OR CREDIT CARD until after the tour, that was a relief, as I'm not a very trusting person. It was one of the best tours we have ever been on & we would do it again with this Company in a flash. They were recommended here on CC ports & Trip Advisor. I can not thank them enough for a great tour & Thank you CC for the info, or I would have never known about that particular tour company.

Just back from our Princess Cruise, it was very very humid,

Grace :)

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Just back from a Panama Canal Cruise on the Coral Princess. In Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Sept. 26, 2012, we booked a tour with Ricky Ricardo Tours. We had a great time! Ricky took us to places where the bigger busses could not go. We stopped & saw some white -faced monkeys, WOW! Next, Ricky took us to a small family farm where we pressed sugar cane & drank a wonderful fruit, ginger & sugar cane mixture Ricky also showed us some of the amazing medicinal herbs & spices found there. We took an incredible boat trip...monstrous crocodiles, beautiful birds, lush habitation... lots of great photos! A wonderful lunch on the beach was included... typical Costa Rican meal. A hike down a trail in the forest followed. Our guide, from that site, explained the Flora & Fauna encountered on this tour... amazing! A short stop for shopping & then, back to the ship. Ricky & his driver gave a a brief glimpse of that part of Costa Rica... it was a wonderful time.

Just back from a Panama Canal Cruise on the Coral Princess. In Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Sept. 26, 2012, we booked a tour with Ricky Ricardo Tours. We had a great time! Ricky took us to places where the bigger busses could not go. We stopped & saw some white -faced monkeys, WOW! Next, Ricky took us to a small family farm where we pressed sugar cane & drank a wonderful fruit, ginger & sugar cane mixture Ricky also showed us some of the amazing medicinal herbs & spices found there. We took an incredible boat trip...monstrous crocodiles, beautiful birds, lush habitation... lots of great photos! A wonderful lunch on the beach was included... typical Costa Rican meal. A hike down a trail in the forest followed. Our guide, from that site, explained the Flora & Fauna encountered on this tour... amazing! A short stop for shopping & then, back to the ship. Ricky & his driver gave a a brief glimpse of that part of Costa Rica... it was a wonderful time.

Thanks for this info. We leave On the Coral this Sat. LA to FLL through the Canal. Any other insight or info you can offer would be welcomed! Thanks!

Our experience seems to be totally different from others!

Our group of 12 (a full van) had previously arranged with Ricky for our Nov. 2014 visit to do:

The Seven on One Tour

We also bring you the exclusive 7 on 1 Tour, which includes seven different attractions in one single package. A single tour to attractions distributed in various places:

• The Monkey Tour.

• Picture Viewpoints - NOT done!

• Natural Herbal de Plants Tour - could hardly call this a tour!

• River Cruise Tour.

• Tour to see the local Wood workers do craftworks - NOT done!

• Visit to the Caletas Viewpoint - NOT done!

• Short city Tour in Puntarenas - NOT done!

- On this tour you can see macaw birds, monkeys, parrots - price is negotiable - only if you do, you get half + the whole tram ride removed from your tour!

Pacific Aerial Tram Tours

Pacific Aerial tram tour offers the visitor various travel through farms, this areas are homes for a large selection of Diurnal insects, typically known as butterfly, beautiful color plants of the orchid family and large herbivorous tropical American arboreal lizards or Iguanas.

The open-air rain forest tram with canvas awnings seat 8 passengers plus a naturalist guide. The place is home to an enormous amount of flora and fauna. Eager to find light and space, many plants have colonized the treetops, turning them into small, independently functioning ecosystems. In the forest you can see the thick vegetation of the Cloud Forest and wild life of monkeys, parrots, macaws and others species, price is negotiable - NOT!

So this was to be the second part of our "Day with Ricky". When we arrived at TURU BA RI for Zip lining, something we had told him more than once that our group of 12 were NOT interested in doing, there were aerial closed in buckets like at ski lifts - nothing at all like the open air tram that we had signed up for. First he told us the tram was broken and so THEY had substituted this. THEN he told us because we had negotiated our price, this was all we could afford. THEN he told us because the 2 girls in one of the vans wanted to zip line, all 3 vans had to go here. Since we had previously spent time in Costa Rica, had 30 "typical meals" and done most of the other things being offered, including the crocodile boat trip, the aerial tram was really all we were interested in. He asked for our money at the first stop - something we never should have done because when the tram was cancelled he refused to give most back! Then he never did half of the other 7 things because he said we spent too much time at the zip line (like 2 hours of doing NOTHING!). So I for one can truthfully say Ricky ruined my day in Costa Rica and I personally would never believe another word out of his mouth or recommend him to anyone!