I enjoyed this tour a lot given that Manuel Antonio National Park is one of the best places to visit in Costa Rica. The tour is highly recommended especially if you are pressed for time. Normally, it takes at least two days to visit Manuel Antonio. Since I am from the Philippines with more stunning beaches, I just went trekking at the National Park. I took all three major trails and leisurely walked for around four hours. It's a different experience because you get to see monkeys, sloths, raccoons and other animals along the trail. The guide was also informative and entertaining!
Review by: Christin L, April 2018
Great trip to a truly beautiful beach. We had a fantastic tour guide - Jose, who took great care of the whole group even though we all were interested in different things. Wonderful breakfast and lunch and the National Park has so much to offer.
Review by: Patricia B, March 2018
We were disappointed with this trip from the beginning. When we were picked up, the driver spoke absolutely no english therefore communication was difficult. If we had not had a member of our party who spoke spanish, we would have had no way to understand him. Once we got to the park, we were surprised with an additional fee of 30 per person for a guided tour which we did not expect nor was this mentioned in the description. Basically this was 140 for a ride to the park and the 16 it cost to get into the park for a self walking tour. Everyone in my party was very disappointed.
Review by: Skeeta S, March 2018
Very long day of driving, but the stops along the way were well selected.
Review by: Cheryl G, March 2018
Although this tour starts out very early in the morning it is well worth it! The drive is long but hey, I wanted to see Costa Rica and our tour guide, Carlos was very informative. About an hour in, we stopped for breakfast, which was very tasty and well prepared. After that we drove another 30/40 minutes or so and stopped a local gift shop. It was reasonably priced items and well worth stopping for. We proceeded to the park and they stopped by a beautiful scenic view to take pictures. When we got to the park, they gave us a very good small sub sandwich and water. Then he gave us the options of going directly to the beach or take the rain tour and then go to the beach. I opted for the tour as I live by the beach back home. It was very informative and he was definitely on the lookout for any animals. We actually didn't see any monkeys until we got to the beach, their home. LOL Carlos also told us about the 3 point look out which you could go up to see and it is definitely a hike up, so be prepared. Now here is where we encountered those lil spider monkeys. Try not to be afraid of them although they seem aggressive. The points were a beautiful spot to take pictures of the ocean. Once we made it back down, we decided to lay out at the beach. Well this is where those monkeys get aggressive. I didn't have any food in my bag however, I had pulled my towel partially out of my bag. My friend was watching my bag, so she had her back against the trees, well one came up and started to grab my stuff. She ran away and another person on the beach shewed him away. So we moved further down the beach thinking if we were away from the closes part of the forest, they would leave us alone. Well they did but then we had an encounter with 3 raccoons. They are easily shewed away if you are aggressive with them. After our beach time was over, we went back to the restaurant where we were served a delicious lunch which we had great options prior, to choose from. The service was impeccable and with the cost of the tour, it was surely every pennies worth. I highly recommend this tour and just be prepared, it is a long day. We were lucky that it was during the week and the traffic wasn't as bad. They did say it has sometimes taken twice the amount of time to get back due to the high volume of traffic and the day of the week.
Review by: Momo, February 2018
Excellent. Very enjoyable trip. The bus was comfortable and air-conditioned. We were given the choice of walking through the forest before spending a few hours on the beach or walking straight through to the beach for those wanting to spend more time on the beach. We started with breakfast then a snack before the walk in the forest and lunch after the beach and before heading back to the hotels.
Review by: Arrena S, February 2018
The park was amazing! Be prepared for challenging walking elevations, even to and from the beach. There are many path options to walk, or enjoy several beaches. The main beach is definitely the best! There are many animals to watch and they are very friendly. Keep an eye out for raccoons and iguanas. We considered staying in Jaco, but instead settled on taking several day trips from San Jose. This was worth it! It was a full day, but there were meals included. They are very accommodating and picked us up from our hotel in Escazu.
Review by: Jillian S, February 2018
The park was beautiful and we enjoyed seeing the animals/relaxing on the beach, but this trip was 75% bus ride. That may be due in part to the traffic that day, but 11+ hours in a van for 4 hours of excursion was tough. Parts of the trip felt disorganized and we spent a lot of time waiting around.
Review by: William F, February 2018
Manuel Antonio National Park is a must see in Costa Rica. It is simply beautiful. Whether you want to relax on a great beach or trek one of the many trails in the area and observe the wildlife it is a great place. You will likely see a wide variety of Costa Rica animals such as iguanas, monkeys, sloths, and frogs, plus an array of beautiful Pacific Coast landscapes and crystal clear water to swim in. This tour is highly recommended!!!
Review by: Robin, February 2018
I booked this trip mostly for the transportation from San Jose to Manuel Antonio. I'd recommend trying to find a shuttle service if this is the case for you.
Review by: Jason S, January 2018
The tour guide Carlos was amazing. I've done many day trips tours in different countries, and Carlos was probably the best guide I've ever had. He explained the itinerary/time frames very clearly and repeatedly. He was very knowledgeable of the flora and fauna and really took the time to explain things. We saw an abundance of animals-- crocodiles, three species of monkeys, deer, several sloths, scarlet macaws on the pacific coast highway, rainbow crabs, etc. The beach was beautiful. This tour was an incredible experience.
Review by: omaralaa92, January 2018
Very nice place to visit. If you do not mind a long ride in the bus, I would recommend it. The food was good as well.
Review by: Hui Min C, January 2018
This was our second tour with the same tour guide, Antonio, after our Arenal/hot spring tour. He made an attempt at speaking more in English, but still only about 30 in English, and spent much more time chatting in Spanish with the others in the mini van a Mexican family of six. The other family was always 10 to 15 minutes late coming back to the van at every single stop, and I feel there is some communication issue between Antonio and them and us he never reinforced the meeting time with them and never discussed the issue with us he would tell us, Yes, we're leaving now, then walk off to find the other family. We hit heavy traffic on the way back and a normally 2-hour drive turned into 5 hours. My trip companion and I had to share a row of seats with another person in the mini van it was a tight squeeze but luckily all of us are small. It might not be the easiest trip to manage for Antonio, between the consistent tardiness of the other family and the traffic, but I feel he could have handled it better by talking to us more.
Review by: DANIEL V, December 2017
Manuel Antonio is an amazing place. Miza was a great guide. The only thing I would change is the bus, which is very uncomfortable.
Review by: Chad S, November 2017
I highly recommend this trip! Food was amazing, beach was amazing, tour guide/group were amazing. Everything about this trip was amazing. Just what I needed!!!!!
Review by: Raphael, September 2017
I love it. The beach was warm and amazing. The food was delicious. It was such a long day but worth it.
Review by: Eliagne S, September 2017
The best .
Review by: Paul P, July 2017
It's a long bus ride there and a long bus ride back. I appreciate that the tour operator broke this up with some stops for breakfast, crocodile sighting, souvenir shopping, etc., and the countryside is beautiful, but I was really glad I took my kindle to read on the way back. The beach is beautiful, and I did get to see three different types of monkeys, a sloth, and other wildlife. The town next to the park is very touristy, and both it and the park were crowded with tourists. The tour provided lunch before our long drive back to the city. If you're really a beach person, you should probably plan on a two-day trip, or include this stop on a multi-day tour of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As a day-trip from the central valley, it was underwhelming. It felt both rushed and far too long, if that's even possible.
Review by: JonDoh, July 2017
This tour was amazing!
Review by: David B, June 2017
Manuel Antonio Park is beautiful and has a wide selection of wild life, mostly monkeys, also some birds. However, the tour from hotels in San Jose takes nearly 3.5 hours each way, so we spent almost 7 hours traveling for about 4 hours about 3 hours in the park.
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