Enjoy the Beauty of Costa Rica!

Join Us for an Unforgettable Tour for Families or Individuals!

 

March 2-12, 2025

 

Call AOI at 970-523-9943 today to express interest or to register!

This Christian and Creation-Based specialty tour is reserved for a smaller personal group (max 22). You will see many popular sights that nobody would want to miss. More than that, you will go off the beaten track to places that will make you say,

“This is why I came to Costa Rica!”

     See volcanoes, beautiful rainforests, and birds galore – toucans-macaws-quetzals-hummingbirds. Marvel at tropical mammals – monkeys, coatimundis, sloths, and tapirs. Jaguars? (We haven’t paid jaguars to appear in the wild, but you will get to safely see them and other wild cats at Lapaz Waterfall Gardens.) Enjoy brightly colored frogs, iguanas, and amazing butterflies such as the Blue Morpho that defy evolutionary explanations and point to God’s amazing wisdom!

Take a coffee and cocoa “plantation-to-cup” experience.

Enjoy a safe aerial tram over rainforests (and/or try a more adventurous multi-course zip line).

See fabulous waterfalls.

Board a nice boat to explore off the beaten track to fabulous mangrove swamps on our way to the Drake Bay destination.

If you want, sit back and relax at picture-postcard beaches. Others will want to snorkel at the famous Caño Island and/or hike in the fabulous Corcovado National Park which is really off the beaten track and on the bucket list of many international travelers and even Costa Ricans. Perhaps, charter a deep-sea fishing trip.

An experienced Costa Rican naturalist will accompany us for the entire tour to supply fascinating information and point out what most of us would miss without that expertise.

Likely animal sightings include reptiles (crocodiles, iguanas, sea turtles), mammals (several species of monkeys, coatimundis, sloths, tapirs, peccary, jaguar (? – at least in captivity), and amphibians (an amazing variety of beautiful frogs).

What is included?

• ALL meals!
• Quality hotels!
• Transportation in the country and airport/hotel transfers.
• Entrance fees to National Parks, boat transportation, tram costs (zipline extra), and all other sights.
• A highly qualified and experienced bilingual naturalist guide.
• AOI’s Native Costa Rican “on-board” tour coordinator to keep things running smoothly.
• Creation teaching with veteran Creation speakers, Dave & Mary Jo Nutting and some of our AOI Costa Rica team.
• Tips (These can be a great expense, but we have them all covered.)

What is not covered?

• Air travel to/from San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO).
• Snacks, alcoholic beverages, personal items, etc.
• Camera and plenty of memory cards and batteries.
• Zipline and/or horseback riding may incur an extra fee.

Daily Itinerary

March 2 (Sunday) – Arrive in San Jose

Arrive early at Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in San Jose where your Adventure Host transports you to your first night’s lodging. Our first official activity is our welcome dinner and program at 6:30 PM. Hint: Get there in time so that you do not miss anything.  (Let us know if you wish for us to book an extra day for you on March 1. If you arrive early, there are several sites we could recommend. Lodging: City Express Hotel

 

March 3 (Monday) – Peace Waterfalls and Gardens

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel. Board the bus to visit Peace Waterfalls and Gardens. See lush green farmland and countryside on the way. At Peace Waterfall Gardens, you will not only enjoy a series of waterfalls, but many other options including its famous gardens with a multitude of beautiful and exotic flowers, hummingbirds galore, amazingly beautiful frogs, and live animal displays including the jaguar. Your lunch is a delicious buffet in the Gardens. Don’t miss seeing the evolution-defying Blue Morpho at their world-class butterfly garden. Travel to the foot of Arenal Volcano to La Roca Cabin hotel near La Fortuna for dinner and Creation Highlights / debriefing to culminate this packed first day. By this time, you may already wish you had brought extra camera memory cards!  Lodging: La Roca Cabin Lodge

 

March 4 (Tuesday) —  Arenal Volcano & Adventures Near La Fortuna

Breakfast at the hotel café, then head to the Don Juan Educational/Agricultural Center. For lunch, sample their home-grown food choices. Afterwards depart to the adventure locations where you can choose from fun options such as horseback riding or walking on nature trails and over hanging bridges or zip line it above the canopy! All of this has the Arenal Volcano in the backdrop.  Even your hotel has great views of this impressive volcano! 

Lodging: La Roca Cabin Lodge

 

March 5 (Wednesday) —  Beach Time! Punta Leona and the Pacific Ocean.

Breakfast at hotel and depart to the pacific coast via great scenery. Spend part of the afternoon and evening at the ocean. Look for large, gorgeous scarlet, orange, blue, and yellow Macaws – fabulous birds to see here. Depending on the tide, we may see a shelf of fossil spiral shells – a reminder of the Flood. Soak in the “beauty and the beach.”  We will likely spot river crocodiles in route, but not nibbling on swimmers at the beach. 

Lodging: Arenas (Punta Leona)

 

March 6 (Thursday) – Cocoa Tour and Head South to the Osa! 

Enjoy the earlier morning beach and the restaurant, and likely see monkeys and macaws! Travel south along the beautiful pacific Coast’s scenery. Experience how natives made cocoa. Afterwards, we head to the river, ditch our bus and board a boat to take us down the river and passages through mangrove swamps and into the ocean to the beautiful Drake Bay. At Drake Bay, enjoy the beach, then dinner at our hotel. Lodging: Jinetes de Osa

 

March 7 (Friday)  – Guided tour of Corcovado National Park and Snorkeling at Caño Island or…

You have several options today. First is sit back and relax at the beautiful Drake Bay. The second is charter a fishing boat and go deep sea fishing (*Extra cost). Bring your fish back to the hotel for dinner (or feast on the scrumptious meal the hotel restaurant makes. The third option is to join our boatsman for a trip down the coast to a beach where you disembark for a fascinating tour of Corcovado National Park. Keep in mind you are now in an area that is on the bucket list of many international travelers as well as Costa Ricans.

Located in the remote Osa Peninsula, Corcovado is considered by many to be the most bio-diverse place on Earth boasting more biodiversity than the entire United States! It is home to over 400 bird species, 140 mammals, and a whopping 500 tree species. Corcovado National Park also lays claim to being the most unspoiled costal rain forest in Central America.

Look again for more of those gorgeous scarlet Macaws that you likely enjoyed at Punta Leona. If you choose this Corcovado option, after lunch, we re-board our boat to the Isla Del Caño Biological Preserve located on a small island about 12 miles off the coast where you can enjoy snorkeling (equipment provided). This site is home to tropical fish, eels, rays, playful dolphins, and even an occasional sea turtle or whale. This is an underwater paradise to enjoy God’s awesome Creation! Lodging:  Jinetes de Osa

 

March 8 (Saturday)  – Mangrove Swamps, Stone Spheres, and Onward to the Savegre River

After breakfast, board our river boat for more mangrove swamps and monkey viewing as we head up the Sierpe River for the bus. We will stop at the stone spheres park to see large stone spheres which ancient indigenous people somehow carved to almost perfection. (Some say Costa Rican spheres are so perfectly crafted from solid rock that they must have been made by highly advanced aliens! You will find that native Costa Ricans were not brutish savages, but very intelligent!)

From there we head north ascending high to the rain forest then steeply down the road less traveled to get to the amazingly beautiful, crystal clear Savegre River – a destination for the trout fly fisherman. This has been touted by many as the cleanest river in the world. In past years, our fellow explorers were enthralled with the huge number of various species of hummingbirds and filled their memory cards with still pictures and videos of them and with the prized and gorgeous quetzals.

Lodging: Sueños del Bosque

 

March 9 (Sunday)  – Quetzal Tour & Volcanos!

You can sleep in a bit or get up early this morning and join the guides to look for the turquoise and red (bird watcher favorite) Quetzal with its long tail feathers. Return for breakfast at the hotel restaurant. View lush flower gardens with its famous hummingbird population. It will be hard to pry you away, but our next stop is a mountain looming ahead — Irazu Volcano and sights of the Turrialba Volcano.  Lodging: Turrialba

 

March 10 (Monday)  – Guayabo Archaeological site

This great Pre-Columbian site will amaze you at what the ancient people here had accomplished – Cobble stone roads, water systems, entrance corridors and buildings, etc. After this, we head to San José via more lush rain forests and an exciting arial tram at Braulio Carrillo N.P. with its adjoining orchid gardens, butterfly gardens, and sloth center.  Lodging: City Express

 

March 11 (Tuesday)  – Coffee Tour, Buffet,  Amazing Restaurant High Above City Lights

Experience an authentic Costa Rican coffee plantation (plantation-to-cup) with buffet lunch. Some may enjoy shopping in their gift shop.  Head back to the hotel to freshen up, begin packing, and make sure you are ready for a great evening with dinner and entertainment at a fantastic restaurant high above the city lights of San Jose. The entertainment is provided by native Costa Rican performers.  Lodging: City Express Hotel

 

March 12 (Wednesday)  – ¡Adiós!  (Sadly)

Transportation is included from your hotel to the airport. Head home with unforgettable memories or extend your stay to see more of beautiful Costa Rica. If you want to extend your stay, call us so we can book an extra hotel night(s) for you, and point you in the right direction for additional great sites with or without a guide.

Please take home with you fond memories of Costa Rican Culture, volcanoes, intense coloration everywhere you look, and for the people you have met and the friends you have made.

 

 

After the Tour…

Talk to us if you are interested in the possibility of joining Dave and Mary Jo Nutting’s creation-outreach ministry after the tour or participating in a service project.

 

Cost:   $2970

Call today for this extended tour.

This is per person for Double Occupancy. For single occupancy or for a discount offered for children in the same room, please call us.

To Register, express your interest, ask questions, and/or hold your place:

Call AOI:  970-523-9943    (Open 9AM – 5PM Mtn time, Tues – Fri)

Email: [email protected]   

Payment Schedule

To view this information in a printable PDF format, see the 2024 Discover Creation Costa Rica Adventure PDF. *Note that details may still change.

This PDF printout would be a great way to present this trip as a gift to a loved one! (You may not want to wait for Christmas!)

AOI can furnish you with a Gift Certificate if desired!