Costa Rica Sun Tours - Authentic Costa Rican Jewels

A valuable part of your El Remanso stay is the activities and tours you will do, most of which come included with your stay as part of your Experience Package

Our vast property has so much to offer, either right on the premises or very nearby. There’s no real need to travel far to experience an array of exciting and compelling activities like hikes through forests or rivers, daytime bird watching and nighttime nocturnal creature tours

All the tours at El Remanso are led by at least one of our highly trained, passionate, subject matter expert guides.

ON-SITE INCLUDED WITH YOUR STAY
- The Forest Hike
- River Walk
- The Short Hike
- Early Hike
- Garden Bird Watching
- Night Hike
- Lowlands Bird Watching
- Matapalo Tour

Our expert tour guides and concierge will suggest the best times for each of these tours to ensure you have the most rewarding experience.

Suspended above the world you know, immersed in a world you don’t: El Remanso’s suspension bridges connect to our trails and dangle high in the rainforest canopy, offering a bird's eye perspective of dense and vibrant ecosystems impossible to explore from the forest floor. As you traverse these bridges, you'll feel a profound sense of immersion in the forest, allowing nature to reveal its secrets to you. This perfect self-guided activity is suitable for guests of all ages, providing a unique and unforgettable experience.

At El Remanso Rainforest Lodge, we offer three unique bird-watching experiences designed to immerse you in the rich avian diversity of the Osa Peninsula. Whether you prefer a relaxed morning tour in our gardens or a more adventurous excursion into the lowlands of the Osa Peninsula, there's something for every bird enthusiast. Our expert tour guides will suggest the best times for each of these tours to ensure you have the most rewarding bird-watching experience.

GARDEN OR FOREST BIRD WATCHING
This physically easy afternoon tour, led by one of our birding experts will allow you to add more than a few of the more elusive endemic birds to your life list. Listen to the variety of birdsong and learn to identify common songs with the incredible birds belonging to them. Capture amazing photos of technicolor birds with the aid of the expert’s telephoto monocular lens. All within a half-mile radius of the hotel’s lobby!

LOWLANDS BIRD WATCHING QUEST
Start just after dawn to catch birds at their most active. Hop in the bed of a 4x4 truck for this up-close and changing habitat birding tour. Your expert guide will take you back up out of El Remanso and its rainforest and onto the main peninsula road to head down to the lowlands. Along the way, there will be spontaneous stops to point out exotic birds, hard-to-spot nesting and naturally camouflaged birds, and soaring birds of prey. Even Blue Morpho butterflies and maybe a family of monkeys may enliven your route. Your tour goes all the way down to the riverside pastureland, where you’ll see completely different types of birds before turning around and making it back in time for another delicious El Remanso breakfast!

The night hike offers insight into the nocturnal side of the rainforest! When all diurnal species take to their dens, nests, or favorite branch for the night, a different world comes alive! Be it frogs, snakes, spiders, or scorpions, the Night Hike packs a completely different view of the forests you explored during the day. The hike varies in its itinerary but usually goes anywhere our guides have their night-vision eye focused. This experience begins at 6:00 p.m. (around sundown) and you will be back for dinner at around 7:20 p.m.

This is a 3–4-hour full immersive Rainforest experience. Join one of El Remanso’s expert naturalist guides on an exploration of the onsite forest trails where you will learn about Osa’s rare and precious ecosystem. Armed with a portable tripod, monocular, and encyclopedic knowledge, your guide will show you trees several hundred years old; teach you the medicinal value of plants and other rainforest organisms; point out reptiles, insects, birds, and animals on or near the trails; and tell you stories from the history of the rainforest

It takes place on either the Carablanca Trail, Beach Trail, Waterfalls Trail, or a shorter version of the Ridge Trail, going through the suspension bridges. Your guide will discuss which route you’d prefer during this tour, which will take a maximum of 2 hours. This is a quick and wonderful way to familiarize yourself with the rainforest.

This hike is a unique experience that will take you deep into the tropical

lowland rainforest. You will follow the meandering river canyon up into the

foothills. This trail takes you to a place where time stands still and forest

giants stand guard over the river’s edge.

The waterfall rappelling tour is high on adventure but low on difficulty. It begins at a section of El Remanso not accessible on foot and continues to reveal El Remanso’s most unique and wild experience: Rappel down the face of four rainforest waterfalls, each increasing in difficulty. Don’t worry, we’ll start at the smallest and easiest; the final Big Daddy towers 85 feet and promises a true adrenaline rush! This tour ends at the beach; please follow the Beach Trail back to the lodge.

The zip-line canopy observation tour provides a sight into the canopy ecosystem and the different habitat it represents. After a short hike crossing the hanging bridges, you take off into the treetops with the help of your guides. With 4 cables and 3 gorgeous suspended platforms, the tour is ideal for a first-ever cable experience and guarantees a fun and exciting way to explore the roof of the rainforest.

A guest favorite! Get up close and personal with the incredible dolphins of the Golfo Dulce, one of only four tropical fjords in the world. Our “sweet gulf” is home to a wide variety of wildlife – dolphins, whales (August-November), rays, whale sharks (February) and sea turtles, among them. Most common sightings: bottlenose and spotted dolphins. Depending on weather and visibility, you’ll also go snorkeling or swimming on the other side of the gulf.

Tackle the three excellent breaks of Cabo Matapalo, one of our region’s most famous surfing beaches. There are waves for both beginners and advanced surfers, and our experienced instructors work with you one-on-one to develop the skills you want to build.

Within the unique setting of the Golfo Dulce, paddle into an activity appropriate for all ages, interests, and skill levels. Depending on the tide, your guide may take you to a beautiful beach (go ahead, stop for a swim!) and into the mangroves to explore local flora and fauna: fish, birds, rays and even dolphins abound. Depending on the time, you may also catch the sunset and a breathtaking view of the gulf’s glowing water and imposing green mountains.

In this tour we get into the coffee culture, Don Carlos and Doña Maria along with their family will be delighted to receive you in their beautiful property surrounded by coffee plantations. This is a private coffee farm only 10 minutes away from our Lodge, it offers an excellent option for all those people who do not like to visit the crowded and touristic places. This is an authentic coffee experience, where you can walk in one of the most beautiful coffee farms in Costa Rica and learn a lot about this popular beverage, the coffee process and also prepare a delicious cup of coffee in the traditional Costa Rican style, it is characterized by the warm welcome, the magical place where you can breathe fresh air and an and an unforgettable experience.

Naranjo is a small town that is home to some of the best coffee plantations in Costa Rica. More than two hundred years of coffee cultivation have marked Naranjo as a mecca in the production of some of the best coffees in the world, achieving several world awards for its quality. Our first stop will be at the Else Kientzler Botanical Garden; for an hour and a half we will learn about the variety of native and introduced tropical plants. . After the visit to the garden, we will continue to the local church of Naranjo, the Basilica de la Señora de las Piedades, rebuilt after several earthquakes in the 1940's, after the church we will visit the Municipal Market, where vegetables, fruits, meats and other products are on sale for the local inhabitants to buy always fresh products. Our

After a short hike in the rainforest where you can observe various species of trees, plants and flowers, we will begin our descent to the bottom of the waterfall down approximately 400 steps. The Toro Amarillo waterfall is the largest waterfall in Costa Rica and is unsurpassed in beauty and splendor. The waterfall has a natural setting that no one could have designed. Looking down from above it is a beauty, but once below, this diamond in the rough will open up for you, step by step. The observation stations are strategically placed on the property to offer you breathtaking views, as you walk down, enjoy the rock formations of this ancient volcanic crater, its colors and the feel of the special chemical composition of the water will make for one of the most amazing encounters with nature.

Enjoy a day visiting the most beautiful volcano in Costa Rica. Located in the Cordillera Volcanica Central and only 2 hours from Chayote Lodge, Poas is the most emblematic volcano in Costa Rica and has the widest crater in the world. Our trip will take us through the town of Sarchi, Grecia, Poasito to finally reach the national park located 8124 feet above sea level.

The national park houses a museum where we will have the opportunity to understand the geological cycle of the volcano. After a short hike we will arrive at the crater, and weather permitting, we will admire its unique crater. No other volcano offers such a view of the crater in Costa Rica.

In this tour we get into the coffee culture, Don Carlos and Doña Maria along with their family will be delighted to receive you in their beautiful property surrounded by coffee plantations. This is a private coffee farm only 10 minutes away from our Lodge, it offers an excellent option for all those people who do not like to visit the crowded and touristic places.

This is an authentic coffee experience, where you can walk in one of the most beautiful coffee farms in Costa Rica and learn a lot about this popular beverage, the coffee process and also prepare a delicious cup of coffee in the traditional Costa Rican style, it is characterized by the warm welcome, the magical place where you can breathe fresh air and an and an unforgettable experience.

Located at an altitude of approximately 5400 feet (1650 m) and surrounded by lush cloud forests and coffee plantations, the gardens of Chayote Lodge are a birdwatcher's paradise. Here, colorful flowering plants attract several species of hummingbirds, while toucans can often be seen flying. Start your day walking in and around the lodge property, it is possible to observe several species, including the twinkling hummingbird, the blue-crowned motmot, the keel-billed toucan, as well as parrots, tanagers, chiffchaffs, flycatchers and more. Enjoy our one-hour birding tour in the morning, as our specialist birding guide helps you point out some of the local species in this area.

Enjoy different options of massages in the hands of professionals that will make you feel a moment of deep relaxation.

Enjoy a visit to a local home and learn how the best Costa Rican food is prepared in the traditional way. Our experience begins. when Doña Elida shares with you her secrets to make the best Costa Rican meals, you can choose to take this tour for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You can learn how to make a gallo pinto on a wood stove, then make your own tortilla or cook your own fried plantains for the ultimate Costa Rican dish. If you prefer to take this tour for lunch, Doña Elida will teach you how to make a casado, with chicken and potato, salad accompanied by natural fresh. This is an authentic and delicious Costa Rican experience that you must live.

Enjoy a relaxing yoga class with certified teachers, enjoying our platform in the middle of the forest to make this experience one of the most pleasurable.