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Home > San Jose > Tortuguero National Park
Tortuguero National Park
USD $108.00

Tortuguero National Park

San Jose, Costa Rica

Take an expedition by boat through the dense jungle of Tortuguero National Park and explore one of the most beautiful and scenic regions of Costa Rica. Cruise through an extensive network of freshwater channels – home to river otters, caiman and endangered manatees. On this full-day guided tour, you’ll visit an important nesting site for the endangered green sea turtles, once nearly extinct and now protected in the park! Enjoy complimentary breakfast and have lunch at the luxurious Evergreen Lodge, with round-trip transport from San Jose.

Meet your guide upon pickup from your San Jose hotel and stop for breakfast at Rancho Roberto's in Guapiles. After your meal, you'll travel through the Braulio Carrillo National Park, one of Costa Rica’s largest national parks. Pass numerous rivers, waterfalls and mountains covered in dense forests on your drive, until you reach a banana plantation.

Here, board a boat and set sail for Tortuguero National Park. Since there are no roads to the park from Tortuguero village, access to the vast network of freshwater lagoons and creeks is by boat. Ride for approximately one hour to reach the canals and keep an eye out for all kind of birds in the lush vegetation along the way.
Tortuguero, meaning ‘turtle catcher,’ formed from an archipelago of volcanic islands where high rainfall eventually created the bio-diverse wetlands – great for nature lovers! During your 3-hour boat tour of Tortuguero National Park, your expert guide will be on hand to teach you about the history and wildlife as you cruise between the marshy isles.

Midday, you’ll have time for a lunch break at Evergreen Lodge, located just five minutes by boat from the entrance to the park. Under the high ceilings of the lovely main dining room, enjoy the ambiance that complements the surrounding jungle landscape.

Get an up-close look at the park's great variety of flora and fauna as you ride among the canals. If you’re lucky, you might spot such wildlife as the spectacled caiman, southern river otter and possibly even the endangered West Indian manatee. The park is also home to sloths, howler and capuchin monkeys, tiny frogs and green iguanas.

The secluded, black-sand beaches of Tortuguero National Park are some of the most important breeding grounds for the green sea turtle. These ancient reptiles once neared extinction as adults were hunted for their meat and their eggs were taken. You'll get the chance to see the sites where the green sea turtles nest and learn from your guide about the park’s efforts to protect this important species.

After exploring the national park, enjoy a return 1-hour boat ride to dry land and then board your coach for the trip back to San Jose, where you’ll be dropped off at your hotel in the evening.

USD $108.00
Traveler Reviews
Review by:   Janielle M,    October 2017 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
The Tortuguero National Park tour from San Jose was very long, with a lot of bus riding on some very bumpy roads. However, our tour guide was friendly and helpful. It was the wrong season to see any sea turtles, and it was extremely hot and humid on the coast. The boat ride down the river was very interesting the boat driver and tour guide were able to put us fairly close to some monkeys in the trees, and pointed out several kinds of birds. Overall, a good tour. I just wish we didn't have to spend so much time sitting on a bus to get to the interesting stuff.
 

Review by:   Jonathan D,    August 2017 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
The service was excellent and I enjoyed seeing the countryside and Tortuguero. Perhaps this was my own fault for not reading carefully, however, I was not clear that the most probable chance to see the turtles was by staying overnight. I was disappointed to not see them. I also think it's quite a long journey being on a coach and a boat without a bathroom I was pretty uncomfortable because I needed to hydrate due to the humidity but only had 1 opportunity to go to the bathroom. I would recommend being more forthright with travelers about the chances of seeing turtles and would tell my friends to do the overnight trip or pass.
 

Review by:   cecilia,    August 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
This tour was amazing!
 

Review by:   Naveensnaidu,    April 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
This is an awesome tour. The boat ride through canal is amazing and you get to see a good variety of wildlife. Driver and Guide go out of the way to make your trip memorable. Worth the money.
 

Review by:   Deb C,    April 2017 Review: 1 star rating: I do not recommend this
I was very disappointed in the quality of the guide German on this tour. Not only did he not answer simple questions i.e. what type of fish are in the canals, he was very rude and condescending. Twice during our tour, he stopped to get himself a treat- first a coffee, and then an ice cream without asking if any of us would like to have/ buy one for ourselves. Lastly, he spoke very derogatory to the women on the tour asking the Barbie's to sit at the back of the boat. He was inferring that small/ thin women sit at the back and women who were heavier sit at the front. This type of behavior is completely unacceptable. Food: the lunch was absolutely delicious, the breakfast however was disgusting eggs were hours old, as was the coffee. I would welcome someone to contact me to discuss further. I don't imagine you will post this review.
 

Review by:   Liu Y,    March 2017 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
It was enjoyable and quite long hours in the park. We saw some interesting animals, however, quite less than we expected. Some persons in the same boat guessed that maybe because of the boat engine is too loud. Anyway, it is nature.
 

Review by:   Louise L,    January 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
What an amazing experience!! We traveled for about an hour and then had a breakfast of eggs, beans and rice, fruit, coffee, and toast! Our tour guide was wonderful to show us as many animals as he could find. We saw a momma and baby sloth and several monkeys as well as many different species of birds. Our trip down the river was peaceful and the rain forest was amazing. After a buffet lunch at the Evergreen Lodge and a walking tour of the village, we traveled back to our hotel in San Jose by boat and bus! The tour was worth everything we paid for it!
 

Review by:   Jason B,    January 2017 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
This tour is an ALL DAY tour. We were picked up bright and early at 5:25 AM. After picking everyone else up, we headed out of town. About an hour into the trip we stopped for an excellent Costa Rican breakfast of Gallo Pinto, fruit, scrambled eggs, coffee and juice. Before we boarded the bus, our tour guide showed us all a pair of blue jeans tree frogs in the plants out in front of the restaurant. Everyone took pictures and we hit the road. Farther down the road our guide had the bus stop and we all got out to find that he had spotted an mother sloth and baby hanging out in a tree only about 5 feet up next to the road. Once again, we were able to get some really good pictures, and have a very close encounter with the pair We left them alone, just oooohed and aaaaaahed alot. Back on the bus and on to the boat ride to Tortuguero. We saw several different kinds of animals on the ride, the best being a small flock of green Macaws that flew overhead. Tortuguero was not what we expected, but it was a neat little town, definitely driven by tourism since the original industry, banana farming, is long gone. Back on the boat and up the canal a little farther to lunch at one of the resorts in the area. Lunch was buffet style with plenty of options, and all of them were tasty. After lunch we ran into a spider monkey in the trees outside the dining hall eating his lunch. Out came the cameras, and then it was time to load up on the boat and head back to the bus and the ride back to San Jose.
 

Review by:   kedwards01,    December 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
This was an amazing tour. I am very glad that we chose to do it. It gave us the opportunity to see more of Costa Rica and the national park. The guide was great and the lunch was amazing.
 

Review by:   Estelle V,    December 2016 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
We enjoyed the trip overall. The bus trip was quite long and the bus was completely full, so we had to sit in the first row with no leg space at all, which was quite uncomfortable for the long trip. The boat trip was very nice. I would have preferred to have more time at the beach or in the little village, rather than spending 45 minutes at breakfast and another hour or so at lunch. However, overall we had a very nice experience!
 

Review by:   frances.marin,    October 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Our tour guide was German, he was pretty funny and always tried to please the tourists. He had a lot of knowledge about his country and he spoke English and Spanish during the tour. We enjoyed a really good breakfast and lunch; it was delicious. At Tortuguero, we saw cocodriles, alligators and sloth
 

Review by:   Edwin P,    October 2016 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
This was a great tour and great tour guides, could not have been better.
 

Review by:   turner,    September 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
The tour is well described by the tour information and the comments from those who have taken it. It was a great tour, but if you visit during the nesting season for the turtles September-October you should stay for at least one night if possible. You don't get to see any turtles on the day trip. It was a fairly long trip form San Jose to the park, and of course the same going back. But it was worth it.
 

Review by:   Bipin K,    August 2016 Review: 1 star rating: I do not recommend this
Save your time, money and do not take this trip especially with these folks. This is run by a tour operator and that will make it even worse. First of all, this is a day trip and turtle will never come out during the day. You must enter the park in the early morning to get the best out of it but because of these tour handlers greed you will reach there around noon and then all animals are gone. They always start late, and then will keep on loading their bus until it gets full by picking passengers from all over the town. Passengers will enter from front and their suitcases will enter from side windows to make it even more uncomfortable. Their whole purpose of conducting this tour is to sell you their night tour. In our case, they kept on selling us their night tour from the minute we boarded the bus. By the time the whole bus was full few of us wanted to go for it but did not have enough cash. But instead of focusing on their main goal of what we paid for in advance the park, they kept on taking us from ATM to ATM in the search of a machine that can accept these couple of passengers cards to take cash out. Over all journey is not so comfortable because half of the road is horrible but they will still drive very fast. You will see plenty of flora, banana plantation at 60 mile speed and almost none of fauna. I tried to tell the organizers how they can improve via email, but their response was, this is not a private tour and there is nothing guaranteed in the jungle. The only good thing in this whole trip was the smooth sailing close to water river cruise very much like being in the amazon and the meals. But no surprise, both of them were outsourced to local folks. So the question is, why should we take this tour when there are plenty of other options? My recommendation, go with someone else, stay overnight if possible to see the animals at their peak, and take a night tour with night goggles if you happen to be visiting the park during the turtle season.
 

Review by:   Marc H,    July 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
We did the day trip to Tortuguero. We went during the rainy season so be prepared for rain and muddy terrain! Our tour guide Luis was excellent with many years of experience. The breakfast and lunch were both excellent too!
 

Review by:   Quinn B,    July 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Great guide. The monkeys, sloths, parrots, etc. It was incredible!
 

Review by:   Boyd,    June 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
We were unable to take this tour, due to illness, so cannot rate it
 

Review by:   Jay J,    May 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
It was very fun and a beautiful experience.
 

Review by:   Τάσο Ψ,    May 2016 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
This tour is a really long way to finally reach the park with countless hours of driving through city's traffic, villages, cloud forest, rivers and so on but reaching the park there wasnt really much of wild life to see let alone turtles due the the season.. Guide was informative and food was nice too. One has to visit the national park of Tortuguero in September to get a chance to see the turtles...
 

Review by:   clfoley,    May 2016 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
The boat ride was great, but I thought this would be more than just a boat ride. We did not see any turtles which we were disappointed about. We did see banana plantations and stopped to see how they are cleaned and packed. We saw one howler monkey up in the tree's and lots of birds but not much else. Kind of disappointed in that......The guides were good but hard to understand at times.
 

Review by:   Tammy G,    April 2016 Review: 2 star rating: It was OK, but could have been better
Long day from San Jose, got picked up at 5:30 am and got home at 8:30 pm. Boat ride is four hours and only saw a few wildlife, we did not go during turtle season which probably would have been better. The food was excellent breakfast and lunch, the ground transportation on way home was very cramped and would have liked to walk around lodge area to possibly see more wildlife on trails.
 

Review by:   Karen C,    April 2016 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
Had a great time. Just wasn't the season for the turtles! _br/_ Thank you,_br/_ Kc
 

Review by:   Ron,    April 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Wonderful trip. Beautiful day. Relaxing. Eduardo was knowledgeable and made sure we saw the banana plantations, pineapple plantation. Made sure we saw monkeys and lizards. Went to the black sand beaches. Tried Coconut Water. Great experience. They took good car of my 75 year old mother who had the time of her life.
 

Review by:   Susan W,    March 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
We loved the tour. The guides were very knowledgeable and made the experience fabulous, The only draw back was we were the first to be picked up and the last to be dropped off and their were a lot of pick ups with a lot of waiting for people. Tortuguero National Park was one of my highlights of my trip to Costa Rica
 

Review by:   Mary G,    March 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
We did a one-day tour, with Viator Great tour -- these people are so well organized. We only had one day no overnight, but others had overnights. They had it all figured out how to work with all these needs. You should probably stay overnight if you have the time, but we're still very glad we went, long day and all. Boat tours, wildlife, rainforest -- you've heard what you'll see already. Costa Rica has such diverse ecosystems! I've been to the cloud forest, the desert, the mountains, and now the rainforest -- wow. So it's definitely worth seeing. The air is so fresh, so rich. Being on the canals is a heavenly break from it all. I do hope the speeds of the boats don't hurt manatees or crocs, but that's my only concern.
 

Review by:   Dorothy R,    February 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Excellent. I can't say enough good about this trip. Although it was a long day and the roads were bumpy, it was outstanding and we saw so many animals and learned so much! Our breakfast and lunch stops were great and our tour guide, Bernie, was the best! Outstanding!!!
 

Review by:   Kelly G,    February 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Excellent on every level. The guide and drivers were very experienced and made sure we got the most out of the day. We saw lots of wildlife including sloths, howler and spider monkeys, birds, caiman and reptiles. I thoroughly enjoyed my day and highly recommend it.
 

Review by:   Jing Z,    January 2016 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
The whole trip was wonderful, we saw many beautiful plants and some animal along the bus ride to and from the river and the river boat ride. The meals were delicious, our tour guide is very nice and knowledgeable, bus driver and boat captain are very considerate and skillful. My husband and I loved the trip. It is the highlight of our Costa Rica vacation.
 

Review by:   Pasi H,    January 2016 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
The trip was excellent and met most of my expectations! Timely pick-up and return to my hotel, good food and the guide was great! The only negative to say is that there were not many stops to go to boys' room and I did not see crocodiles or snakes, and wished to see more variety of birds and monkeys - but that is up to luck always anyway. I definitely recommend this trip!
 

Review by:   stagecoach,    December 2015 Review: 2 star rating: It was OK, but could have been better
Too long. This trip took 14 hours. Much of the trip was in a small, crowded bus over some rough roads. It also included a boat ride of about 2 hours on very hard benches---then 2 hour boat ride back to the bus. We saw a lot of animals and interesting plants. The lunch was nice and the tour guide seemed to know the area quite well. The trip just took too long and the transportation was too uncomfortable.
 

Review by:   Oscar R,    December 2015 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Excellent day trip
 

Review by:   James A D,    November 2015 Review: 2 star rating: It was OK, but could have been better
Saw some good things, but did not meet all of our expectations
 

Review by:   Krupali T,    November 2015 Review: 1 star rating: I do not recommend this
worst tour ever- the guide was awful, the transportation was awful where too many people were cramped into a loud and smelly and old van - it was a complete wasted day :
 

Review by:   Edlin G,    August 2015 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
It was a very relaxing trip. In the village we were able to purchase fresh coconuts for a dollar! Only wish we did the overnight stay because we didn't get a chance to see any turtles.
 

Review by:   Cindy,    August 2015 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Great trip and fantastic guide. The guide was an older gentleman, I don't remember his name, but he was really enthusiastic and made the trip very enjoyable. The best parts were the riverboat ride, lunch onshore and walking the boardwalk in the rainforest. The guide pointed out a lot of wildlife, gave us a closeup look at monkeys, a two toed sloth, river birds and reptiles. I did some other tours in Costa Rica with other companies and Viator was definitely the best value for the money!.
 

Review by:   Jennie B,    June 2015 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
Beautiful tour, it was very hot and muggie. Could only spend very short time on the beach before rushed off.
 

Review by:   Lidia L,    May 2015 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Fantastic! The boat ride up the river and the walk through the rain forrest was amazing. The guide, Luis, was very knowledgeable. Delicious meals provide for breakfast and lunch.
 

Review by:   Regina Y,    April 2015 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
The tour guide on this tour was wonderful! And the boat ride through the rain forrest was really beautiful! The turtles are only in season part of the year, so we didn't see any turtles on this trip. The food was OK, but not the best.
 

Review by:   Julia E,    April 2015 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
We really enjoyed our trip to Tortuguero, definitely one of the best days that we spent in Costa Rica. Having the chance to see sloths, turtles, monkeys and more in the wild was a great experience. Highly recommend.
 

Review by:   Emily F,    April 2015 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
I know it is not sea turtle nesting season but tour made it sound like we would see something n there was nothing to see,, and that is part of what you are paying for!_br/_ Rest of your tour good
 

Review by:   Betty G. R,    March 2015 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Wonderful experience. Very exciting being on the Lucky River and seeing all the wildlife--crocs, blue and tiger herons, howler and whitefaced monkeys, lizard, etc. It really did feel like we were on the Amazon River! Beautiful scenery.Our guide--Louis--was excellent. He was very knowledgeable and personable. Had a great breakfast and a wonderful lunch at the Evergreen Lodge in the jungle. Visiting Tortuguero Town deep in the jungle was an interesting experience. And seeing the beautiful ocean where the turtles come ashore to lay their eggs was exciting! There were many people at the dock getting ready to go on the tour. Somewhat muddy getting from the dock to the boats. All-in-all, this tour was a highlight of our Costa Rica trip!!
 

Review by:   reemshaf,    March 2015 Review: 4 star rating: Recommended
This tour was amazing!
 

Review by:   Katie F,    February 2015 Review: 2 star rating: It was OK, but could have been better
We really enjoyed our tour of Tortuguero National Park, but if we had it to do over, we probably wouldnt have done it, at least for the price. During the turtle season, Im sure it would be really cool to do a tour to see the turtles nesting and everything. We did get to see monkeys, different varieties of birds, and even a caiman on this tour, so that was really cool. But my husband and I Im 26 and he is 32 prefer a little more adventure, and we felt that this tour is better suited for older or less active people. It was really beautiful and neat to go to Tortuguero Island, but if you do the one-day tour like we did, you only get about 45 minutes actually on land in Tortuguero. So you are basically paying for transportation and food. It was nice to have air conditioning, but we didnt realize until we got there that we could have just taken a public bus and caught the boat ride to Tortuguero for much cheaper. The meals the tour includes breakfast and lunch were delicious. And our tour guide was fantastic and very funny. Overall, we were very happy with the tour, it just wasnt the adventure that we, personally, were looking for.
 

Review by:   rgnarula,    February 2015 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
Very nice tour. Unfortunately the best time to see Tutles is in August September and then again you need to overnight as they come out to lay their eggs only at night.
 

Review by:   Wesley D,    February 2015 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
great experience
 

Review by:   cosmin g,    February 2015 Review: 1 star rating: I do not recommend this
If you are looking for a van, with chairs hard like a brick, on a bumpy road for over 1.5h to see nothing spectacular, than this tour is for you! We had 13 people for 12 seats in that old van too. And that turtle in the picture, you are not gonna see it! The tour guide got into a fight with one of the passengers are refused to take him to his hotel. Highly NOT recommended!!
 

Review by:   Mona S,    January 2015 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
This trip was only satisfactory. The guide did not plan enough bathroom stops, and I had to literally force them to stop the van and allow me go to the bathroom in the middle of a dirt road. The guide stopped the bus for himself to go to the restroom,but he left us on the bus. After that, he paid more attention and the remainder of the trip, he did make sufficient stops for potty breaks. The scenery was beautiful, and the meals were very good. The guide spoke good English, and the explanations were good.
 

Review by:   Mona S,    January 2015 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
This trip was only satisfactory. The guide did not plan enough bathroom stops, and I had to literally force them to stop the van and allow me go to the bathroom in the middle of a dirt road. The guide stopped the bus for himself to go to the restroom,but he left us on the bus. After that, he paid more attention and the remainder of the trip, he did make sufficient stops for potty breaks. The scenery was beautiful, and the meals were very good. The guide spoke good English, and the explanations were good.
 

Review by:   CHIUNG-SHIUAN F,    January 2015 Review: 3 star rating: Worth doing
The park is beautiful and we had a tour guide with great knowledge of wildlife. We had seen many wildlife along the canals in the rainforest. It is sad that the beach was dirty trash.
 

Review by:   Marion M,    December 2014 Review: 5 star rating: Highly Recommended
It was a really great experience! Our guides spotted soooo many animals - it was amazing! Totally recommend it!
 

All Traveler Reviews...

USD $108.00
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