Chocolate Tour In The Rainforest & Hanging Bridge. Private Tour

Really enjoyed the experience. Our guides actually worked at the plantation so were very knowledgeable about the cacao plant.

The private tour was a splurge but it was the only way I could find to do the chocolate tour from San Jose, and I’m so glad we did. Getting to see the chocolate-making process, with tastings along the way, from A to Z is very cool. Bonus points for wildlife.

Excellent tour. Our driver and tour guide, Josue, was very informative. professional and friendly. He was very thoughtful taking us to see a couple of extra sights, i.e. stopping by a coffee plantation and looking for sloths. The chocolate tour at Tirimbina Reserve was also excellent and a lot of fun. Our chocolate tour guide was very knowledgeable about chocolate, the hands-on demonstration was very fun and the reserve was beautiful. We all had a great time and even got to see Howler monkeys and a sloth. So glad we took this tour. Highly recommended!

Although the drive is long (2 hours from San Jose), the trip and tour were TOTALLY worth it! During the drive out (in a super comfortable bus) our guides from Greenway pointed out sights, information, and wildlife along the way. At Tirimbina, they handed us off to a naturalist from the ecological preserve that walked us out to the chocolate tour. The presentation on the preserve took us on a historical, culinary, and sensory experience from raw beans through processed chocolate. We were able to experience and sample throughout the presentation and it was honestly some of the best chocolate we’ve ever tried. It was delicious and really fun, and the park is gorgeous and teeming with wildlife. After the chocolate tour we stopped for lunch in a location that had a ton of birds and other creatures to see (frogs, coati, etc) I should perhaps mention that the chocolate sampled is on the pure/more bitter end of the chocolate spectrum. My kids (who are now college students) agreed they might not have appreciated the flavors when they were younger and prefered sweeter chocolate.

We paid for a private tour and didn’t get a private tour. 8 more people were added to my group. Also for that amount of money it was truly NOT worth what we got for it. Crossing a hanging bridge and a lesson on chocolate THAT WAS IT!! NOT WORTH IT AT ALL.

The tour guide was fantastic with a lot of personality! Both in your and chocolate demo. I would recommend leaving time if you can to take the trails along the rainforest. Highly recommend the trip

Perfect private tour for your group. Leonardo was our great driver, and Francisco was our wonderful guide that was a world of knowledge. He was able to answer our questions and gave us all the highlights of the country as we went along our ride. The Trimbina Biological Reserve is an amazing place. Our guide, Walter and our chocolateir Cristian made the tour a fun experience.

Our guide, Willam, who was knowledgeable and funny, took us across a long, high, hanging bridge. Views were great. We saw a Howler monkey and a huge Iguana. Further along, we saw more monkeys and a Bullet Ant (if it bites you, it feels like you've been shot, and the pain lasts for 24 hours). We saw wild vanilla plants and then we came to the cocoa plants. William took us to a little pavilion, where he and Juan showed us how chocolate was made, using the same ingredients and processes that the Indigenous people used. It was fascinating and delicious. Afterward, we had lunch in the restaurant on site. It was all excellent..

My wife and I were the only passengers. However the guide and driver gave us the entire package. They were very knowledgeable and did an excellent job.

We were recommended by a close friend to try a coffee or chocolate tour. His recommendation turned out to payout so much in the positive I cannot thank him enough; but I would caveat that the experience we had that was so meaningful all started with our driver/guide Geraldo! Geraldo showed up on time, greeted us, got us to the car, which was clean, nice and very comfortable. Our conversations just seemed to flow as if we had known each other for a life time; talking about everything and anything and providing us with great insight on Costa Rica. The drive was long, but didn't seem that way because of the good conversations had by us all. Once we arrived at the bioreserve; Geraldo got us all squared away with the tour company and because we had a considerable amount of time before the tour; he took us on a mini tour which allowed us to see a sloth and most importantly to me; a poison dart frog! My hearing is pretty bad, but Geraldo was able to focus in on the singing little guy and point it out for me to grab a picture of it! We got back and went on our tour with Walter. Walter did a great job sharing the history of the park and the fauna and animals that we saw. After our tour we went back to the tour area and sat down in the restaurant. Shortly after our arrival, Geraldo showed up and asked about the chocolate...We were puzzled and stated there was no chocolate on the tour. He instantly jumped to his feet and took off. After a little bit of time had passed he arrived and we very apologetic...it seems the bioreserve had made a mistake and booked us on a walking tour and not the chocolate tour. Geraldo asked us if we had time to go back out on the actual chocolate tour and we were totally fine with it. Geraldo, that short period of time had engaged his company, the bioreserve company and worked out what went wrong and how to resolve it. After a very delicious lunch (I loved the ribs) we were off again with Walter, but this time to the small chocolate plantation on the bioreserve. Very informative, very interesting, but my wife found out that fresh chocolate with lots of cocoa is very bitter! Additionally to having the correct tour, we had a chance to see a basilisk sunning itself on a rock in the river and a mother sloth with her baby! We were back with Geraldo and on the road back to the hotel, the conversations continued to flow and Geraldo offered some extra stops for photos, but we knew we had those stops on another tour and passed so that he could get home at a reasonable hour. We cannot recommend Geraldo and Greenway Nature Day Tours enough; great communications from start to finish and they are definitely above the rest when it comes to their customer experience!

We had a great day beginning with out tour guide, Gerrardo with Greenway Nature Day Tours. He was on time, picking us up at our hotel in San Jose in a very comfortable Hyundai mid-size SUV. He provided bottled water, and was great in answering our questions along the way about Costa Rican culture, life, and some of the great things Costa Rica is doing, as well as challenges for the future of the country. Gerrardo was also very accommodating, stopping a few times along the way to allow us to take pictures at scenic sights. Once at the site of the chocolate tour and suspension bridge hike, Carolina took over as our guide. She has an undergraduate in biology from the University of Costa Rica. She was very knowledgeable about the local flora and fauna, as well as pointing out different insect, amphibian, and tropical wildlife while hiking to the jungle cultivation site. The walk across the suspension bridge was amazing, with wonderful views of the river and the surrounding area. With her co-worker Theresa, they talked us through the traditional method of producing chocolate from the cacao, including cultivation and its historical impact both locally and globally.

The Tirimbina chocolate tour is a superb experience especially if you are guided by the beautiful and immensely charming Carolina, a fount of information, sly humor and magic. The chocolate you will eat is prepared by the lovely Theresa and is stunningly tasty. The setting is a tropical rain forest with iguanas, howler monkeys, humming birds and the occasional viper. A truly worthwhile experience.

We had a really fun time doing this chocolate tour. My wife and I were on our honeymoon and chose to do a real chocolate tour (since I'm a chocolate maker in the US) Our tour guide Mario was right on time picking us up for the drive from San Jose to the rain forest preserve where the wild life and chocolate tour began. On the way, Mario added historical information about the city and country. We even stopped for a quick view of a pineapple plantation, howler monkeys and a banana search. The chocolate tour was everything we were hoping for and more. A hike through the rain forest and hanging bridge to open and taste real cocoa fruits. Most chocolate makers I know never tried the fruit. It was really good. My wife and I had some amazing chocolate and made our own drinks. We loved it. The lunch after was great too. On the way, we saw some green frogs that were deadly to the touch. Mario made sure we didn't get too close. We just had a lot of fun and well worth the price. Thank you. I wish I could post pictures as we took a ton.

The chocolate tour was great. The guide there walked us through the forest to the site and explained the entire process from tree to bean to traditional drink to modern chocolate bar. We tasted all along the way including the outside of the raw bean, roasted beans, and all stages of the production. We ate tons of chocolate including hot chocolate with various spices, ie chile, cinnamon. We were able to buy organic chocolate produced by other local producers in the gift shop. Our main tour guide and driver, who worked for Greenway Nature Tours, Geraldo, was friendly, informative and discussed cultural aspects, daily life, etc. He answered all our questions, spoke excellent English, and was a safe driver. He was flexible, great for a private tour. The company had planned for us to eat at a tourist hotel Selva Verde. We preferred a local restaurant/soda Restaurante El Yugo. Geraldo changed this and Yugo was great - much better to eat authentic food where the locals eat rather than places for tourists. We suggest that Greenway change the choice of restaurants so tour takers can eat better food and mingle with locals for the true cultural experience. We arranged this through Viator, Greenway operates it from San Jose, and a tour guide at the site conducted the actual chocolate tour.

This was a fantastic tour! We got to hike into the rainforest to see where the Cacao plantation was and learned everything from seed to end product about chocolate. We also got to taste the different levels of chocolate. Along the hike we also saw several wildlife around. The company Greenway Nature Tours is a fantastic company and our guide Gerardo was superb! Totally worth the experience!

<p>This is a highly recommended tour! We got to hike into a Rainforest and actually see where the Chocolate plantation was and we learned how chocolate was made from the seed to the end product. Not only did we get to see how it was made traditionally but we also tasted different levels of the chocolate. Aside from the chocolate tour, we also stopped for a delicious lunch and also a fruit stall to see the local fruits. The tour company, Greenway Nature Tours was fantastic and our guide Gerardo was superb! This company and tour is not one to miss if you want to know more about how chocolate was made or to take their other tours.</p>