Our Destination Specialists are available to talk about your trip plans.
Costa Rica Culture Experience
Activity Level: Moderate
Price: From $1545 per person based on double occupancy
An authentic cultural experience is all about the feeling of knowing a people, a place, on a more intimate level. While a trip to Costa Rica will never disappoint on account of unlimited adventure and natural beauty, this trip adds something not everyone who travels there is so lucky to experience. Time spent with Costa Ricans in their homes and on their farms, makes a visit to this country truly special and unforgettable. In true GreenSpot.travel style, your accommodations have been chosen on the basis of their sustainable and environmental practices to offer our clients a green and heart-warming experience, learning about Costa Rica culture. You will be saying Pura Vida before you know it.
Day 1: Welcome to Costa Rica!
Meet your Costa Rican driver guide as you step out of the airport and wind up to the higher altitudes and the lush vegetation of the 2 1/2 hours drive to the charming Savegre Lodge. 
Run by the first pioneers settling the San Gerardo de Dota Valley, the Chacón Family has created an environment of warmth and comfort reflecting the kind nature of Costa Ricans themselves. The area is known as an ideal spot to see the most beautiful bird in Central America, the Resplendent Quetzal. A deep cloud forest filled with massive oaks draped with golden moss and other native species serves as a sanctuary for a large number of mammals and innumerable species of insects, amphibians, amazing plants and colorful birds. Set your bags down in the charming cabina and dip yourself in the most authentic connection with the sounds of nature tonight.
Overnight at Savegre Lodge. [D]
NOTE: Depending on arrival time, a night in San Jose should be added.
Day 2: Café Y Cultura!!
Coffee literally permeates Costa Rican culture. Arriving a non-café indulger, you more than likely will be converted and the mere smell upon return will invoke a warm memory of your time in the country. On the other hand if you arrive a connoisseur you will be more than pleased with today’s cultural adventure. The “Los Santos” region is renowned for its coffee, so what a better place to learn about it! From bean to cup, you will join farmers as they harvest the ripe coffee cherries (when in season), visit the “beneficio” processing plant, learn about the producer culture and sample the varieties of roasts - a tasting experience called ‘cupping.’
Overnight at Savegre Lodge [BLD]
Day 3: Cloud Forest Hiking: Spot the Resplendant Quetzal
Wake up Hike several hours with your local guide down through several different ecosystems as you descend from about 11,400 feet to 7,220 feet on the reserve’s trails. Explore pristine woodlands with old-growth trees, multi-colored plants and mushrooms, and many species of multi-colored birds and insects. Dinner tastes especially good after the fresh air and exercise.
The Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor
After a snack depart after breakfast for a drive on mountainous roads and valleys towards the Pacific Ocean. Your driver guide will take you to a lesser known place, with special people, near the town of San Isidro de El General. A coffee and sugar cane farming community amid two protected areas make up the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor. Named for the famous ornithologist that wrote Birds of Costa Rica, your guide’s birding bible, here you can visit Dr. Skutch’s preserved home and his finca, 75 acres of lowland primary forest, home of “Los Cusingos” – the local name for the fiery-billed aracari, a toucanet. Arrive in time for a home cooked “Tico” lunch. Join Doñas Teresa, Sidey and Ana at El Tabacón, a small, family-owned traditional restaurant or “soda” as called in Costa Rica, as they teach you to make some delicious comida típica (typical meals). 
Try your hand at home-made tortillas, patacones, or empanadas. These ladies often take students into their homes and treat them as family. Their warm-heartedness is unforgettable.
After lunch explore the a visit to La Escondida is a chance to see a small sustainable coffee farm, and home of Luis Angel Rojas and his family. Their charming two-story wood frame home is a hidden gem in the forest, where monkeys and 200 species of birds visit daily. Luis and Carmen love to share their home and cook up yummy meals for visitors. 
Luis's dream to have visitors stay overnight in a cabin in the woods on his property. His dream came true with the completion of the rustic cabin built by his son, with picture windows overlooking the trees and only the sounds of the forest to accompany you at night. Toucans like to feed in the trees above so keep your eyes and ears open!
Overnight in the cabin at La Escondida [BLD]
Day 4: Morning birds and Santuario Filaverde
The morning is a special time at La Escondida. White-faced capuchin monkeys arrive for their breakfast of bananas, alongside colourful toucans and a rainbow of migratory birds. 
Have your breakfast in the open air watching the spectacle as you get ready for the day. Today you will have the chance to explore Santuario Filaverde (literally Green Line Sanctuary) This 10 acre primary forest has been preserved by Pablo Ureña and his family for the past 100 years. As tracks of forest have disappeared into pineapple plantations, this remaining forest is an oasis in a desert. Bilingual and humorous Pablo will take you through the trails of his forest, teaching you about the trees and natural uses of plants, knowledge passed down from his father. Seeing the pineapple plantation as it contrasts to the forest is an option. After exploring his property, it’s back to the main house, a 50 yr old rustic home, for a homemade Costa Rican lunch and coffee. 
Luis Angel can take you to one of the local sodas, Rancho Natural, for a Costa Rican dinner of fresh tilapia, or another local favorite. Overnight in the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor [BL]
Day 5: La Cusinga on the Pacific
Wake up, it’s time for the ocean. A beautiful drive through the countryside takes you to the Pacific Coast. La Cusinga Eco Lodge is perched high above the Pacific Ocean, amid its 250 hectare private nature preserve and adjacent to Marina Ballena National Marine Park – renowned for spotting humped-back whales and sea turtles.
The Lodge has beautiful private cabinas on different levels of the hill and early morning birding is a must! Toucans arrive every morning to feed on fig trees in your breakfast balcony view. This lodge takes conservation very seriously and has integrated green technologies such as solar panels into the design of the lodge to decrease its impacts in such fragile surroundings.Day 6-7: Coastal activities
Hike one of the country’s last remaining lowland forests and keep your eye out for floating sea turtles as you occasionally emerge from the trees above the ocean. 
La Cusinga’s nature reserve is home to small felines, monkeys and countless birds. It’s also a chance to observe the contrast in highland and lowland forests, the diversity of trees is outstanding. Spend the afternoon playing in the sand and sea, through the forest and down below the lodge. OR if in season, go whale-watching at Marina Ballena National Park.
Day 8: Back to San Jose and departure
Take one last drive along the "Costanera" - the coastal highway through small towns, see the change to drier vegetation. Stop along the way for a wildlife surprise and take your chances at seeing Scarlet Macaws along the way. Arrive in Alajuela on the outskirts of San Jose 2 hours before your international flight. [B]
Finca Rosa Blanca
Arenal Observatory Lodge
