Manuel Antonio National Park Day Trip From San Jose

Phenomenal time. Was blessed to have what felt like a private tour since there was only one other individual - shoutout to Javier from Spain. Guide Harlem and Driver Herbert are a one of a kind duo. Seen snakes, sloths, toucans, bats, etc. and swam in the Pacific. Food was also great with a breathtaking view on the 6th floor of the resort.

Maurice was wonderful. We had a great time.

It was an amazing experience. Seen sloths, monkeys, iguanas, and birds. Food was great. Beach was amazing. Don’t forget to bring a towel because you do get free time which everyone stayed on the beach to play. The only thing that I would add is having a Wi-Fi connection in the vehicle since it is 3 hrs both ways, not including the traffic.

Highway 34 currently has a bridge under repair. This causes a huge traffic delay. Our tour left Manuel Antonio at 4:30 pm. It took 5 1/2 hours to cross the bridge. Then another 3 to reach San Jose. So we were stuck in the micro-bus for 8 1/2 hours getting from Manuel Antonio to San Jose. For me, the traffic mess cancels out any reason to go to the park. My suggestion is to stay away until that bridge is fully functional.

You will drive 4hrs, have 4hrs there and then 4hrs back. But the animals are so worth it. Nice beach too.

Our guide and driver were very nice, but guide should have had binoculars and viewfinder for park, to see animals better. Also, towels should be provided for beach. Breakfast and lunch were good. Beach nice too.

Unique opportunity to experience walking in a tropical forest and seeing monkeys, coatis, Sloths, etc. Enjoy beautiful beaches. Tour guide explained well the local culture and geography. Very humid, you will sweat. Long drive with traffic from and return to San Jose.

Manuel Antonio National Park was a lovely experience. It’s an all day experience that included breakfast and lunch. It was a sunny clear day that allowed us to enjoy the long drive from San Jose. Traffic was a problem. Much time was consumed on the road, because of traffic. Our guide explained that traffic is a national problem and the current administration is trying to get a bill passed to widen the roads and highways. Once at the park, we enjoyed walking on the trail and seeing the wildlife, plants, trees, and beaches. Our guide, Ricardo, was very experienced finding wildlife. It’s not easy to spot the animals because they’re so well camouflaged. The beach was the highlight of the trip. The water and sand were prestine. We stayed at the beach until it was time to leave. The beach looked like it was from a scene of Jurassic Park, with thick trees and vegetation, and waves crashing against volcanic looking bolders. Our driver, Cristian, was an excellent driver. He did everything possible to workaround the heavy traffic. I booked the trip through Viator. Viator’s website was easy to navigate. I called Customer Support with questions. The agent was very helpful. If you’re in Costa Rica, it’s worth adding the Manuel Antonio National Park to your agenda and to book it through Viator.

The journey one-way can be three hours or more. The communication around pick up times can be confusing. The guides are very average - lack humor and storytelling you see from other tours. This advert doesn’t include enough information about how to prepare for the trip. It is essentially a van ride to the beach. There is a rainforest walk where the guide points out animals and lets you see through his magnifier. The best part was just meeting other people, good conversation and a long swim on the beach.

Wow wow wow! Yes this is worth it! Wish I could stay in Manuel Antonio longer! This place is great, guide is great! He spoke Spanish and English and was helpful! The beaches were lovely! Wanted more time there honestly! But what an amazing trip! And my god the food was amazing! I have dietary needs so I said for food that I could have something else for the lunch and yes they adhered to it. Would say though that it’s best to discuss this prior in case your dietary needs are very specific! The view from the hotel where we had lunch was AMAZING! This one is organised!

The views were amazing.We took so many pictures. Our tour guide Jose helped us looked for wild life. A very unique experience and place. I really recommend to visit.

The activity was good HOWEVER, I can not tell you how frightening it is to be told after you’ve already paid then to be told 12 hours before the event they need a passport or ID right then or event will be cancelled. I was not near my phone at the time of the threat but this should have been requested at the booking. It would’ve been devastating to miss the event & not have enough time to plan another one, especially as a solo traveler. People travel thousands of miles & pay thousands of dollars. I was literally in line at customs when I was told another event was cancelled. Also, solo travelers shouldn’t be punished for being alone having to pay for two tickets. There’s got to be a better way.

Amazing trip. Ricardo, the guide, was excellent and spoke English well, knowing many specific words relating to the flora and fauna. Only drawback is the time going back and forth. As long as you're aware going in, it's worth it.

Manuel Antonio National Park is a wonderful place to visit. The wildlife is all around you and our guide Ricardo was outstanding and very knowledgeable. We had more than enough time to see as much as we wanted and the restaurant just outside of the park offered us an extremely tasty lunch with more than enough to eat. This is a must do for Costa Rica!

Breathtaking views. The wildlife. An unforgettable experience I won’t forget. I did not want to leave. Will be back.

This is a great tour. The drive to the beach from San jose is also very nice. If you really want to see the cappuchin monkeys, yiu havevto take the trail from the beach It is a slight hike in the first half of the climb, but it is worth it. The views are beautiful. If you are lucky, you will these small monkeys playing around. Our guide cum driver was jose dias. He was extremely nice and polite and patiently answered all our questions. The tour was locally organized by Destiny tours. Very professional and on time

The tour in the national park was good but a little disappointing because the sloths were hard to see (high up in trees). Saw lots of monkeys and iguanas as well as red crab and 1 macaw. The big dis’s appointment was our tour guide. We booked a English tour but our tour guide (Roy) spoke Spanish 90 percent of the time and only translated to English the bare minimum (even after I asked/reminded him early on the trip to speak in English as well). I felt like he catered to the family from Mexico in our group and carried on a personal conversation during our drive for over 1 hour on the way to the park as well as on the way back to San Jose. Very frustrating for our family because we know very little Spanish and we felt alienated, considering we were in the van for 6 hours in the morning and 4 hours on the return.

We had a great time at Manuel Antonio National Park! The tour started off with good vibes thanks to our friendly guide, Eric. He did his best to explain everything and kept the group engaged. One suggestion for improvement would be to provide a couple of binoculars for the group—it would help us appreciate the park even more. The tour also went longer than anticipated (we arrived back to San Jose past 10pm) so a more transparent timeline would be appreciated. Overall, a wonderful experience!

We had a wonderful day at Manuel Antonio National Park. Jerry was an interesting and efficient guide who made our day perfect. We had a stress free drive, wonderful food and best of all, Jerry helped us find sloths, monkeys, crabs, lizards and birds. We sat on a beautiful beach for two hours.

Amazing! Carlos(driver) and Ricardo( tour guide) were both great. Very informative. Learned the history of the areas we went through saw wonderful wildlife and spent some time at the beach. And we made it there and back safely.

Our tour was supposed to be in English - it was almost entirely in Spanish. The full day was a pickup at 5:20 am and drop off at 9:30 pm - TOO LONG due to Sunday traffic. This excursion to Manuel Antonio was not worth may hours spent on the van -mostly in traffic.

A great day trip from San Jose. The driver/guide was bubbly, full of life and information and very punctual. I was impressed with the food provided, especially the breakfast, my only criticism on the lunch was that there was too much of everything. The tour around the park was great and ample free time was given.

This was a great trip. I might have said 4.5/5 - but it was really worth it. Edgar our guide was great. It was an early morning and a long drive down. We stopped for breakfast after an hour or so. Local food and some fresh fruit. It took another 2 hours to get all the way to the park. But we did get to drive all the way to it - we parked right beside at the hotel where we had lunch. The park was amazing. We learned a lot from our guide - saw two species of sloths, lots of birds and lizards and the white face monkeys. The hike up cathedral is worth it but it is a workout. The beach areas were lovely. The water was a perfect temperature (early March) and the beach was not crazy crowded. Watch out for big waves to knock you over. It was crowded at the cantina and the showers - so be prepared to skip. Late lunch after was good. Drive home was long again. 12+hr day. Tips - Bring water in a reusable bottle - Bring snacks that you can top up with before you go into the park (you will be about 6-7 hrs without food) (no outside food in the park) - Bring a charger for your phone Good - our guide was great - we got very lucky with one other lovely couple - it was nice to not be in a massive tour (it was just the four of us plus the guide). The van was small and it was just us. The less the 0.5/5 - it might have been nice for cold water bottles to be on the bus. Even if we didn’t need them. - the van was a little older - so no phone chargers. AC was good though.

The drive to the national park was very nice. We stopped for a lovely breakfast and many site along the seashore. The national park was nice and beautiful beaches. Our downfall in this trip was the drive back from that area. It took more than 6+hours to go 97 miles. Totally ruined the day.

A lot of driving! Our guide was excellent (Charlton) he was funny, knowledgable and great company. The problem is simply that once you leave the resort it took us 6 hours to get back to San Jose, and we arrived at past 10pm. It seems too far to advertise as a day trip so I would suggest that those seeking an adventure in CR on a limited budget/time are better off at La Fortuna

The park itself was amazing and worthwhile. But as a solo traveler and a young woman I didn’t feel the most safe being picked up by an unmarked mini van at 5 am with only me and the driver. For the money I paid, I expected something a bit more legit. I had also heard from one of the women I spoke to on this same tour as me who said this company lied to her the day before about picking her up- she was meant to have been on the tour the day before but the company was a bit sketchy. Not a great feeling.

The entire trip was top notch from ease of pickup/drop off to the food, stops, the national park, to the tour guide (Jerry). I must give the highest praise to our guide Jerry and our driver Christian. Jerry was very attentive to any of our questions or needs and very knowledgable about Costa Rica flora, fauna and culture. Jerry is one the best tour guides I’ve ever met! Christian was a fantastic and safe driver.

This trip wasn’t quite what we were expecting, and we wouldn’t do it this way again. We wound up spending 4.5 hrs in the car on the way there and 4 on the way back. We spent close to 2 hours at lunch, which felt unnecessary. All of this meant we only had 3.5 hours at the park, which was our main reason for doing the trip. I would have preferred to have lunch on the go and more time at the park. The other big issue we had was that our guide did not come into the park with us; we expected to have a naturalist based on the description, but when we got to the park we were left to part ways. It’s highly recommended to have a naturalist with you to see things, and we thought this was part of the package - we didn’t see nearly as much wildlife as hoped (hard to spot them without the help of experts!). Overall we would recommend seeing Manual Antonio via a different mechanism- or at least wanted to make people aware of the logistics of this trip!

I highly recommend this place when you are in Costa Rica 🇨🇷 the park is a beautiful place where nature and beauty collide

The place is beautiful and our tour guide Jerry was phenomenal..he went above and beyond to give us an unforgettable experience! Costa rica is beautiful!

The best tour guide and awesome trip would recommend anyone to get their trip it was very fun and would do it again

The trip started very well with Arlene but inside the park the local guide had too many people he was handling( both Spanish and English speaking guests). He didn’t have high powered binoculars with tripod to show us some of animals and birds around. Must guides had binoculars.

Nice trip. With traffic we were on the roads for maybe 8 hours (in total, 2 way). Breakfast wasn't that good. I think they should pick a better place for that. Lunch was awesome. Park is nice to walk, beach wasn't very crowded.

Very well organised tour and very nice guide and drivers. I had a very pleasant day! I would definitely recommend it to anyone coming to Costa Rica.

The park and beautiful beach. This tour not as wheelchair friendly as we thought but we had a great guide who helped push my husband's chair through the tough spots. He was very knowledgeable! Breakfast and lunch were great!

Pleasant guide who was very good at spotting wildlife which was my priority. He was very caring as I had some mobility issues. But breakfast was supposed to be included and it wasn’t and I had not eaten at my hotel. Also there wasn’t much info shared about costa rica and the culture on the long drive over. Felt like the tour company was combining what is normally 2 separate roles (driver and guide). It was a nice day and saw great animals but not as good as I expected.

Knowledgeable guide, quality van, the beaches are beautiful and the hamburger for lunch could feed a small army. The views at lunch are amazing and the monkeys in the park are cool. We stopped at two souvenir shops both to use the restroom and are timed well. One of the stops you can go on the bridge and look for crocodiles we saw about 5 of them. We had time to roam the streets near the park when we were done at manual Antonio park.

Our guide, Jary, and driver picked us up early at our hotel for the 3 hour drive. We passed many small towns and finally stopped at a roadside soda for a breakfast buffet. After breakfast, Jary had us walk across a bridge. Below was a river containing many crocs, who were basking in the river shallows. Then we drove thru Jaco, an up and coming surfing town with luxury condos planned. We stopped at an ocean lookout and observed several wild red macaws hanging out in a tree. The park is located in Quepos, a small but bustling town with many restaurants, bars and hotels. Our bags were searched at the park entrance (no plastic water bottles or food). Jary led us thru the park looking for wildlife. We saw a snake, lizards, monkeys, ants iguana and a sloth. It was very humid day and Jary led a climb up a steep staircase to a lookout point. It took alot of energy and we were all sweating heavily. After the stairs, we stopped at beach for about an hour. Be careful...the monkeys will steal your belongings if you leave them unattended. So the company Jary works for owns a wonderful hotel / restaurant at the park entrance, This is where we have a filling lunch, where I consumed a HUGE burger (about the size of my hand). A very long day, but fulfilling in so many ways.

It was raining the whole time but it’s a rain forest. Would highly recommend, very beautiful. Very knowledgeable guide. Got to see a lot of animals, but the momma monkeys with their babies on their backs were the cutest.

We had a great time on this tour. Arturo our tour guide was very knowledgeable, friendly and kind. He made sure that we were able to see the wild life at Manuel Antonio National park. The tour was a bit long but worthwhile.

The ocean and both beaches were fantastic. The driver went above and beyond any expectations. I highly recommend this trip

Definitely recommend this tour! Sloths, monkeys, crocodiles, iguanas, and let's not forget a beautiful beach. Ricardo and Armando (driver and guide) are fabulous.

The beach was awesome, gentle waves and warm water in a beautiful, secluded bay! We saw toucans, sloths, lots of iguanas and monkeys - watch your food bags, the monkeys are very friendly, and may zero in on snacks! It's an easy hike and so peaceful! Our tour guide, Jerry gave a lot of information about the country as well as the park, and managed our time well to avoid traffic. The breakfast at the "Crocodile Bridge" was great, and I recommend the rice and mariscos lunch option at the park hotel - overall well worth the trip.

I'm just giving it a 4 star since i haven't really seen much of a wildlife except fo the white faced monkey, Pesote, and a family of Iguana, the name I could not remember. View is nice. The guide Edgardo is great.

This was a very long but very satisfying day. After viewing crocodiles at the Tarcoles River bridge we went to Manuel Antonio Park. Our driver suggested that we hire a wildlife guide and we are very glad that we did. We saw five sloths (both kinds) and three kinds of monkeys. We finished up at a beautiful protected beach and enjoyed a nice swim.

The excursion was fun. The guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. The water temperature at the beach was just right. The breakfast and lunch were both delicious! The white faced monkeys were entertaining.

The park itself was fantastic, and I would recommend visiting. The problem I had was with the overall communication with the tour company. They did not provide information about if we had to bring towels with us or not. Once the trip started then they said we could rent towels from them. In the 1st part of the trip, they take you for breakfast. However, after about a 1.5-hour ride, they pull into a Souviener shop / cafeteria-style restaurant. Which would be fine, I'm all about trying local food. However, we arrived at the same time as 4 other large tour groups. So we ended up having to wait in line for food for about 45 min. Which was crazy given we passed so many local places that we could have been in and out of much faster. Overall the breakfast food was very basic and nothing special. After arriving at the park, around 3 pm we all meet up for lunch at a local hotel. Can you imagine passing several authentic restaurants in town, to then having to have terrible hotel food, crazy! The worst part was they did not mention on the way back we would encounter a lot of traffic. We left the hotel at 4:15 to head back to San Jose, we didn't arrive back to our hotel till 11 pm. It should have only been about a 2-hour drive. So many people in our group had already made other plans, and even one group missed their flight. The tour guide said it was always like this coming back. Again they should have said something in advance. We had another tour planned the next morning at 6am, so I called the travel group (same company) to reschedule for the following day because of the traffic situation. They agreed to change it, but then I had to pay an additional $17 per person. Now that you know all the things bad things, our tour guide and driver did a fantastic job. The park was great, tons of monkey to see and sloths. You will enjoy this trip as long as you are aware of the above issues.

Although the tour is listed as a Guided tour, I think it’s important to note that this does not include a guide with a Scope to spot the animals close. This was personally very disappointing. Lunch however was a highlight, great location and amazing cocktails. 5 stars to the driver who had to endure high season traffic.

Worth the money. Great experience. Great tour guide (Fran). There was something to see and do all day.