Bus, Train & Boat Tour - Costa Rica

[Miss Dot]

Any comments on this tour would be appreciated. My Mother is 74 and a little scared of water....I am worried about the boat portion of this tour for her. Any pics or info on the boats would be appreciated. Has anyone done this tour recently thru CCL to know it it stops at a beach also?

[nybumpkin]

Any comments on this tour would be appreciated. My Mother is 74 and a little scared of water....I am worried about the boat portion of this tour for her. Any pics or info on the boats would be appreciated. Has anyone done this tour recently thru CCL to know it it stops at a beach also?

Our experience is two years old, but we enjoyed this tour. I'm afraid I don't have any good pictures of the boats, but I have some photos from the canal portion of the tour at http://travel.webshots.com/album/558933896aVbpxD?start=48. You'll see one photo that has a small portion of the boat - they're a decent size. The canal is very calm.

 

No stop at a beach. On our tour, we started out riding the bus to the canal, then went on the canal tour. After the canal, they had a buffet of fresh fruits (just-picked pineapple, watermelon, coconut, other melons - yum!:D) and a band playing. (NOTE: Use the bathroom here. It's well maintained.) Then back on the bus and over to the train for a ride through the rain forest. You do get a view of the shore along the way... Then a short bus ride to the banana plantation. It's a very good tour - you get to see everything right down to putting the "4011" UPC stickers on the bunches, and you will never again complain about the price of bananas.:o (NOTE: Try not to use the bathroom here. If you're desperate, hopefully you've brought along some tissue. No TP when we were there.) Then a bus ride back to the pier.

[Miss Dot]

Thank you for the info...we were on the trip when you posted. And I notice you will be leaving this week;) Have a great cruise.

If anyone else reads this for info....I agree with the post. We boarded the bus (only 8 months old, very nice), first stop banana plantation...very interesting. Next, the boat ride, good bathrooms. We saw some other boats to the side and the people yelled to us "Alligator"...our driver said they don't know what they are talking about...I felt this was because he didn't want the to take the time to stop...:( That was what we wanted to see...this trip was really short.

Next was the train ride...we did not go to a beach either...also, the tour states the train ride is forward and backward...we never went backward...we stopped along a highway and the bus pulled up to the back of the train (very close...it was raining) and we exited here.

[LPast50]

Just a reminder that the Railroad has NO AC.....grab a window seat....I thought I would roast riding the railroad car. Our driver did stop once so some people could get pictures of the beach.

[Boston lab girl]

I did take the bus train and boat tour. We really enjoyed it. There was one little problem that still is bothering me. When we were on the train we were asked not to give the children in the village anything as they didn't want the children to become beggars like in some other caribbean ports. So the little kids were trying to give us flowers and everyone was ignoring them trying to follow the rules but the kids just wanted to give us the flowers they were not looking for anything in return other than a thank you and a smile. so if you go make sure you give the kids a big smile.

 

The bus went to a banana plantation which was interesting. The views from the train are exciting and you can see the ocean crashing unto the shores. We stopped to look at monkeys in the trees and going over the trestles was scarry in a good way.

 

the boat went along the canals and we saw animals and bird and interesting buildings.

 

we are in our 50s but did enjoy the tour. I think it was worth the time and money.

[GTJ]

I was on the Pacific railroad many years ago when I traveled the entire route from San Jose to Puntarenas and back. I still have a ticket from that trip, and my files still contain the article "Coast to Coast by Narrow Gauge," written by traction expert William D. Middleton in the September 1986 issue of Trains magazine.

 

Because of that prior travel I did not take advantage of the train tour when I was in Puntarenas again most recently in November . . . instead I traveled by bus into the interior of the country. It was sad as we rode on the bus parallel to the railroad right-of-way in Putarenas where the tracks and the overhead catenary once were, but which today is almost all torn-up with only ocassional remnants there. Could someone who has taken the modern train tour report on the segment of the route along which the train operates, either in terms of mileposts or station names? Does the tour operate as a round-trip on the line, or only in one direction? What other information can recent tour participants pass along to railroad enthusiasts about this excursion?

[kzocruiser]

Could any of you who have taken this tour give an estimate of how much time the canal portion was given? We're trying to decide between this tour and "The Tortuguero Canals" tour. Thanks.