If you’re looking to experience Costa Rica to the fullest, particularly the nature and wildlife, then something you should strongly consider is guided tours. Even though you may think that you can spot the toucan or see the sloth on your own, Costa Rica (despite the marketing), is not a zoo and for someone who really wants to see tons of wildlife or learn about the flora and fauna, hiring a naturalist guide in Costa Rica is worth the extra bucks.
You have probably already been wondering and researching to see if you should booked guided tours in Costa Rica and this post will help you decide.
Booking Guided Tours in Costa Rica
There are a few things to know about booking guided tours.
All adventure activities have guides
These are activities like white water rafting, kayaking, ziplining, canyoning, horseback riding and ATV tours, activities that require trained guides with a specific skill set to operate. So whenever you sign up for any of them, they automatically have guides. (You don’t know how to navigate a full raft through Class 3 rapids on your own right?)
Tours such as river boat rides or safari floats automatically come with guides as well since they are usually in protected areas/national parks and only certified companies can operate there.
Activities such as national park/wildlife reserve hikes and hanging bridges do not require guides
Since these are more leisurely activities that don’t require participants to have a specific skill set to do, visitors can do them with or without a guide. You can perfectly do hanging bridges and national parks walks on your own but these are also the activities where having a guide gives greater appreciation and a more fulfilling experience.
These are the activities you need to decide if you want to hire a guide or not. Although we personally recommend having a guide, sometimes it is not necessary which we’ll talk about in a second.
Costs
Let’s say you want to visit the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park. You rented a car so you don’t need transportation. The entrance fee to the hanging bridges is $26 USD for adults and $38 USD with an on-site naturalist guide. It’s a tad bit more expensive but not too much. If you book the hanging bridges with a tour company, it is around $70 USD per person and this includes round trip transportation, a guide, water and the entrance fee.
Another example is Rio Celeste in Tenorio Volcano National Park. If you have your own car, the entrance fee is $12 USD per adult and then you’ll need to pay for food and gas. If you book a tour from La Fortuna, it’s around $150 USD per person which includes round trip transportation, entrance fee lunch and the guide. So this information will also help you decide if you should rent a car or not.
One of the best things about booking a guided tour is it includes roundtrip transportation. For those not renting a car, this is most of the time, your only option for transportation since buses and taxis are not prevalent at all attractions.
Should I Hire a Guide in Costa Rica?
This depends on a few things. Do you want to learn more about the history and hear interesting facts about a place? Or are you OK with simply visiting without getting too much into it? Do you want to see wildlife? The answers to those questions will determine if you should hire a guide. It also matters the type of trip you want.
If you want:
- To stay in an all-inclusive resort to relax, drink and enjoy
- To visit the sites but aren’t that keen about spotting wildlife or getting deeper knowledge
- More freedom and independence for your trip
Then hiring a guide isn’t necessary and you can still have an incredible time in Costa Rica without one.
But if you want to know more about the history or culture of a place, to see wildlife or just to learn more about Costa Rica, hiring a guide is the way to go.
Who Should Hire a Guide?
There are some instances where you should hire a guide.
If you are a bird watcher
Bird watchers who are intent on seeing a specific bird need to hire a knowledgeable guide in Costa Rica. Especially if you have a couple birds you have to see! The guides have trained eyes, knows the calls and knows where the bird lives and best time of day to see them so that you have the highest chance of seeing that bird.
One example is the Resplendant Quetzal, a splendid bird on the bucket list of every bird watcher. They can be extremely hard to see as they are small, blend in well and only live in certain areas of Costa Rica. When we visited Monteverde in March, we would have never seen them at Curi-Cancha Reserve if not for our guides who pointed out 5 Quetzals to us!
If you are hiking Corcovado National Park
Corcovado National Park requires all visitors to go with a guide due to its wild, remote and unforgiving jungle. It is dangerous to go without one so don’t even try!
We have done guided walks in this national park at 3 different ranger stations: Leona, San Pedrillo and Sirena. We had a great time at each station and saw a ton of wildlife with our guide. He pointed out so many insects and plants I never even heard of.
This is one of the best hikes in Costa Rica and we highly recommend it, but do make preparations in advance to get permits and guides in plenty of time.
If you’re a wildlife photographer and not familiar with Costa Rica
Photographers who have been a few times to Costa Rica and are knowledgeable in the animal they want to photograph may not necessarily need one but if you’re a first timer, a guide is necessary. Many guides in Costa Rica are also photography enthusiasts so they can help you find the best/most comfortable location for shooting. Additionally, guides can take you to off the beaten path locations that most people don’t go to so you’re not surrounded by dozens of other people and you can focus solely on photographing.
For example, I had a friend who was intent on photographing frogs in Manuel Antonio. There was no way he could have found all those frogs on his own so he hired a guide who recognized the calls of frogs and knew which kind of trees to look for. The local guide took him to his own private property away from the extremely crowded national park and my friend was able to photograph some beautiful and unique frogs.
You want to do a night walk
Want to experience the jungle at night? You have to go on a guided night walk! Trust me, you do not want to be wandering into the jungle at night by yourself! Guides know the trails, know what animals to look for and makes sure everyone is safe. The forest changes completely at night and you want to be safe, because many protected areas are still home to big animals like pumas, jaguars, snakes and more.
You want to see wildlife and are visiting during rainy season
Most people don’t have trained eyes to see animals in the day, let alone when it’s pouring rain so by hiring an experienced guide, they can help you spot animals with their telescope.
You want your kids to learn
Guided walks are great for families with kids who are interested in nature, wildlife and the outdoors. If you get an engaging, enthusiastic guide, that is the best. Your kids will have a great time learning all about the insects and critters of Costa Rica, different trees and birds. It’ll be such a wonderful eye-opening experience for kids to expose them to another language, country, culture and way of thinking.
Hiring a Guide in Costa Rica
How Much is a Guide?
Even though most tours come with a guide like I mentioned earlier, you can also hire a guide if you already rented a car. For example, you can go to the Carara National Park on your own and hire a guide at the ranger office there. Prices vary but it is around $50 USD for 2 people for 2 hours. In La Fortuna, hiring a guide for a full day is $140 USD and you will pick up the guide in your car.
How to Find a Reputable Guide
First, make sure they are ICT certified (Instituto Costarricense de Turismo). That means they have done the training, the courses and passed the test to be a certified guide. Unfortunately due to Costa Rica’s high eco-tourism popularity, there are many people who pretend to be guides and will charge people a lot of money. This is especially present in Manuel Antonio and La Fortuna. Certified guides should have proof with them.
Second, book through your hotel or tour company. It is not advised to pick one off the street since those are more likely to be illegal tour guides without proper insurance or licenses. Majority of certified guides are hired as freelancers from a company or work for a tour company Research the tour company to see how their reputation is as well.
Our Personal Experience and Opinion on Hiring a Guide in Costa Rica
We’ve had great experiences with booking guided tours in Costa Rica. There have been only a couple instances where we were disappointed. These were the bird watching tours since it requires a particular skill that not every guide has. If you’re an avid bird watcher, I do recommend looking for specific birding guides. Our best bird watching experiences have been in Monteverde.
Even though Yeison is a Costa Rican and I am very knowledgeable on Costa Rica, we still like hiring local guides. One of our favorite activities we’ve done with a local guide is the Guayabo National Monument in Turrialba. Our guide shared so much information about this important historical site that we never would have known since there aren’t any informational signs or brochures.
As for our personal recommendation, we’ve done both guided and self guided walks. We did see more wildlife with the guide but when we went on our own, we had more time to enjoy the views and scenery since we weren’t on a schedule or with other people.
We know not everyone is interested in hiring local guides which is totally fine. You can still have an amazing time in Costa Rica without one! And we personally love and prefer the freedom and independence on hikes like hanging bridges and national parks. On the other hand, you learn and see so much more with a guide. So you need to weigh your options, your budget and time to see if it’s worth hiring a guide in Costa Rica for the activities you want to do. You don’t have to hire a guide for every walk, but we recommend to do at least one during your time in Costa Rica.
Jan says
Hi,
we really enjoyed Corcovado and our guide – Ángel – was definitely our guardian angel 🙂 We were a part of an travel agency group but it was great to directly talk with the local guide in English and not just through our guide (my Spanish is quite limited).
Thanks to the guide in Los Quetzales National Park we were able to see the quetzal in action.
We also hired a guide in Parque nacional Cahuita – he showed us several animals including sloths, some birds and really tiny snakes on a tree. Great guy.
However, it is funny that the closest meeting with a sloth was during a common walk close to Puerto Viejo – first we saw warning signs in order not to disturb the sloths and then also several sloths on the tree branches – one hanging about 3 meters above ground.
Jan
Richard Katzenberger says
If you want to experience a guided tour like none other, then you are in for a treat. Check out ColletteTours, World of Nature, Costa Rica. The guide is Guillermo Ayub. He is formally trained and educated, lives in Costa Rica and is from Costa Rica and has worked for Collette for 25 years as well as with National Geographic. To overstate a cliche, he is simply amazing. My wife and I spent 12 days with him and our group and we cannot stop talking about it. Rain Forest and Jungle tours, bird watching almost every morning and new wildlife each and every day. I took over 2000 pictures, including Sloths, vipers, various frogs, many very colorful and beautiful birds, crocs, hawks, etc, etc. It is worth every penny of the investment.
Sammi says
Thanks for the feedback Richard and glad to hear you had a great time!
Bruce says
Everywhere except at Monteverde it has been extremely difficult to find good guides for photographers. Most are used to birders and all they have to do is point out some small bird 100 yards away but that does not work for photographing birds. The guides that work for a lodge are part time and some are current as to what can be found where but others are not.
Sammi says
You do need to find a guide who is also a photographer so they know what to look for. You should contact our friend Sergio next time you’re in CR. He is a local who lives in Boca de Tapada and runs nature and wildlife photographer tours (he is a photographer himself) in that area specifically. Here is his instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sergiovargascr/. He gets a lot of Japanese photographers and is quite good.
Also, one of my favorite wildlife photographers, Glenn Bartley runs photography tours down to CR, Ecuador and many other places. He goes to CR a couple times a year, I’ve always wanted to join one of his photography tours, he is an amazing photographer.
Kate says
Hi, thanks for all the great information. Generally my husband and I prefer self-guided hikes so that we can take our time, enjoy the peace and sounds of nature. However, I think we’ll hire one specifically to help identify the flora and fauna. What park would you suggest fora. guided wildlife tour/hike? I don’t think we’ll make it all the way down to Corcovado. I was thinking perhaps one of the cloud forests (Santa Elena/Monteverde) or Manuel Antonio. Open to other suggestions as well. We’re staying in near Fortuna and Jaco. Thanks!
Sammi says
Hi Kate! I highly recommend one for the cloud forests and Manuel Antonio. In La Fortuna, you can do self guided hikes but I do recommend one for the hanging bridges so the guide can teach you about the flora and fauna there since there are a lot of flowers and wildlife there.
Carla Savage-Sachs says
Hi,
Thanks for all your fabulous insights and suggestions through your site. Our family has appreciated everything. We are wondering if you would suggest a guided hike versus a self guided hike for exploring Manuel Antonio National Park? We will have our own car and being driving either from Monteverde, or up from Uvita depending on which day we decide to visit the park. We are adventurous, two teens, two adults. We are not large group people, but we also dont want to miss spotting all the wildlife we can! We are visiting the area this month. THanks for your thoughts!
Sammi says
If you want to see wildlife, I recommend a guided hike. It is very difficult to see animals without trained eyes, and the guide will have telescopes and binoculars to point out wildlife. Definitely worth it to see animals.
Livia says
Hi,
Would you recommend doing cave exploring? Is it fun if you don’t like climbing much? (Or climbing through rocks). Is it ok for bigger men to fit in the rocks or if you’re very slightly claustrophobic? I don’t have much of an issue with claustrophobia – Ie I’m fine on elevators etc but I’m a bit nervous of the lack of space.
Second, what should you wear on hikes around Arsenal in mid December? I bought a long sleeve top and pants as I hate bug bites (!) but I’m worried I’ll get super hot in 30+ degree Celsius weather. I did buy one cool weather resistant wear top though. Is it ok to wear tank tops but just put on lots of bug spray or that’s not generally enough? Thanks.
Sammi says
Hi Livia! If you’re claustrophobic, I definitely do not recommend the cave exploring. You will be in some tight spaces as you make your own throughout the caves and they don’t recommend it for anyone who is claustrophobic. You are always with a guide and group though, if it helps to be around other people and seeing them go down the ladder/holes.
You can check our packing list here for our recommendations for La Fortuna: Costa Rica packing list
Sammi says
Hi Megan, I would go to San Jose the night before. You would need to be at the airport by 4 AM and it is about a 2.5-3 hour drive from Manuel Antonio to San Jose so you’d have to leave around 130 the latest and I don’t recommend driving long distances at night. Even though it’s all on a paved road and there won’t be any traffic in San Jose at that time, it’s better not to drive that late at night since you never know what can happen, especially if you don’t have a phone, speak Spanish, etc. It’d be much safer to leave the day before to San Jose.
Megan Monsour says
I am departing Manuel Antonio on june 1 with a flight in San Jose at 6:15 am. I have rented a car. I am curious about the drive to the airport at night and what your recommendation would be.
Sammi says
Hi Livia, the Mistico hanging bridges park require reservations beforehand which you can make on their website (I mentioned that in this post here). Their website only sells park tickets, you will need to have your own transportation.
Sammi says
Hi Livia! It will depend on where you are in Costa Rica. From La Fortuna, there is an easy 2-3 river, I wrote a post about it here and we have a discount for it here
Livia says
Hi,
What tour guide is best to hire for white water rafting, if you don’t need transportation? We have a car. We want a reputable company after hearing about the Americans that recently died after white water rafting!! 🙁 were thinking of level 2-3 rapids, something I heard for all ages, not too extreme… thanks! 🙂
Livia says
Hello,
I’d like to hire a guide for the hanging bridges tour. Do you recommend hiring a guide on site and if so, where is the office located for guides? Is this something I should do in advance of my trip (mid December) as I’m concerned it may be busy season?
If we want to do the shorter 2-3 hour hikes around the volcano, is this ok to do without a guide and how do we find these hikes? Is parking free and generally available in morning? We rented a car. Thanks!! 🙂
Sammi says
If you want a guide for the Mistico Hanging bridges, you need to do it through their website to hire one of their guides since you have a rental car. You can definitely do this hike without a guide. You just buy tickets on their website and show up.
Livia says
Hi Sammi,
Thanks. I thought I read on your blog above that you can just book a guide on site when you arrive though? Is it better to book on their website in advance? I’m worried the fee will include transportation though when I don’t need it..
Christine says
I’m traveling on a bit of a budget but still want to enjoy my time in Costa Rica, so I’m in a bit of a rut. If you could only choose either Monteverde or Manuel Antonio to hire a private guide for during the rainy season, which one would you choose? Is it worth it to hire a private guide for both parks?
Sammi says
Hi Christine! I would recommend doing the guided hike at Manuel Antonio as there is more wildlife easily seen in that area than Monteverde. I would recommend a guided hike in Monteverde only if you are a birder but if not, then definitely Manuel Antonio. During rainy season, it won’t be quite as nice for a guided hike in Monteverde and the Resplendant Quetzal season will be over in July.
Guido says
When I was in 2016 in Monteverde Cloudy Forest Reserve and also took a guide there. I do not remember how much he charge us but it was quite helpful especially for identify the different wild life we saw there. Luckily I am having a good eye and discover some wild life too but what it was only the guide help us. Afterwards we do still walk in the Forest and discover some more wild life. So as mention in the article I would recommend to use a Guide to see more of the interesting wild life.
Sammi says
Hi guys, the easiest way will be to rent a car since Catarata del Toro and Rincon de la Vieja are hard to get to via bus. There are shared shuttles to those places except for Catarata del Toro. The prices for shared shuttles will probably only end up being a little bit less than renting a car (you will need a 4×4 for Drake Bay and Monteverde) and private will be a lot more. Since you have some destinations that are a bit harder to get to, I recommend renting a car so you guys have the most flexibility and freedom. We wrote a post on tips for renting a car so you can read more about it: Costa Rica car rental tips
Cecilia says
Do all of the hiking trails require an entrance fee? Even if they are unguided? If some of them are free, could you please indicate which ones with recommendations? Thanks!
Sammi says
All national parks except Cahuita have a fee and pretty much all hiking trails have a fee, even if they are unguided as most of them are on private property if not in a national park and the owners charge a fee.
Sammi says
Hi Lindsay, there are sometimes college volunteers at the park ranger who will explain to you about the park but there are no guides at the station to hire. You can contact tour operators to see if you can hire out a guide for the day but generally, it won’t be cheap and you need to make sure you get a certified guide which can run anywhere from $50-100 a day depending on the location and duration of the tour.
Milou van Dooren-Weekers says
Hello everybody!
We’re looking for some answers and advice about our trip to Costa Rica! We might need a local guide there to help us……
We’re planning on taking this route through Costa Rica in december:
– We’re starting in San Jose, then we want to travel to Tortuguero for two nights.
– From there we’d like to travel to Sarapiqui (2 nights) and from there to Catarata del Toro for 1 night, just to see the waterfall.
– Then we want to go to La Fortuna, again 2 nights, and from there to Monteverde.
– From Monteverde we’d like to go to Rincon de la Vieja, all places for 2 nights, and from there to Samara.
– From Samara, 2 nights, to Manuel Antonio and we want to end our trip in Corcovado/Bahia Drake, 3 nights.
– 29th of december we fly back to Holland from San Jose.
Can you advice us about the traffic? Should we drive by car or can we make this route by public transport?
Any other advices are very welcome! Thanks so much :).
Love, Maikel and Milou
Kelly says
Hi there,
We are doing a similar trip in July. SJ to tortuguero for 2 night, Sarapiqui for 2 nights, LF for 3 nights and then Samara. Wondering how you found the travel? We are thinking of renting a car.
Lindsay says
Hi Sammi,
Do you know if it is possible to hire a guide (that speaks English) at Rincon de la vieja national park? We would like to drive there to reduce costs and also have the freedom of exploring other parts of the park but would like a guide to educate us and help spot wildlife. Any recommendations you have would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Lindsay