Manuel Antonio National Park Full-day Adventure From San Jose

They dont.pick you up where they tell you to go. Paid for it got the ticket and confirmation number and booking number and yet no one came.to pick me up

Excellent trip! Erick the guide was awesome! And the drivers were great and attentive. Erick explained a lot about nature she it’s animals.

One star off because communication for the pick up was terrible. I messaged them on what’s app and viator and received no response from what’s app despite getting a thumbs up for my “please confirm pick up time” message. Viator indicated a 6 am pickup. Got a call to my room at 5:15 that my pickup was here. Much better after this. The trip is long but worth it. The park is beautiful and the beach is amazing. Saw sloths, iguanas, monkeys and birds. My guide Robert was amazing and thankfully understanding about the lack of communication for the pick up time.

unreliable: confirmed and then “regretted to inform us that it was not available “, so don’t book with them! You, guys, got to understand, that we do not come to your country for a month or two, just for a few days and behaving like this ruins vacationers plans!

Great day trip to the national park. The guide showed us a ton of animals that we would have never seen if not for him. The drive was long but the did a great job at giving stops along the way.

Awesome experience! Guide was super friendly, transportation methods were super safe. Went solo and felt so safe! Food was delicious!

Had a nice day. Enjoyed beach time, but not overall my favorite trip. Would recommend but with traffic warning, exceptionally long ride back.

Great excursion to experience the beach of costa rica and see monkeys romp up close and experience the dense lush vegetation! The trip there had beautiful scenery and the Macus were beautiful. Breakfast and lunch were very good too! Highly recommend

Tour operator (Destination Services Costa Rica) did not show up for our trip that we booked months in advance. When I contacted the company, they refused to help us, initially responding then refusing to acknowledge or assist after I confirmed the booking.

Long drive 3 1/2 plus traffic and bumpy ride. Just regular park with lots of walking. Resident animals not visible and unimpressive, Beach park similar to public beaches in the highway. No chairs and umbrellas around with overcrowded shower facilities. Food inside very costly but just part of business I guess. Decent meals included. Guide ,Francisco and driver friendly patient and helpful. Another over priced tour in CR.

The activity was nice, but unpleasant experience by Felipe, the tour guide. He didn’t have much knowledge of the park history, an he was very unprofessional. He asked me questions not related to the tour, and on the bus he talked very loud on his phone, disturbing our sleep. On the return to San Jose he decided to purchase a Pizza an wanted to split the cost with all of us. I didn’t accept that, but the others felt compromised. I think it was unethical. The trip was very long. We were picked up at 5:00am ad return to our hotel at 10:00pm. The tour included breakfast and lunch. The breakfast was good, but not the lunch. The instructions to take things to the park on the reservation where different from Felipe’s instructions. When I told him that the things on his list didn’t matched with the wants that we had, he responded pretty rude by saying that I must complain with the person who sold us the ticket. On the reservation confirmation that I received, it showed that the name of tour guide was Roberto, but the one that we had was Felipe. Nod good!

Long day with a lot of time in minibus - would have loved more time at the park though. Great breakfast and lunch. Guide Pedro and driver Oscar were super friendly, informative and passionate about wildlife and sustainability

It was good to get away from the traffic of San Jose and to see some picturesque Costa Rica. Breakfast was a pleasant stop and broke up the long journey. The park, especially the beach and the sea was beautiful. Monkey watching was awesome. The climb to the viewpoint was arduous and time consuming. A challenge achieved but more time in the ocean sacrificed. ‘Lunch’ was delicious. The consistent pinging of the driver’s phone on the way back was annoying.

Guide and driver were good. Saw most of the animals we hoped to see with their help. Meals were ok but traffic because of the road construction made the day really long

Great day and guide. We covered a lot of ground, and care was given to show us as much wildlife as possible.

Since I only had a few days left in San José and couldn’t stay in the Manuel Antonio Park area, I decided to book this trip. Manuel Antonio Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen, so for that alone I’m very glad I went. We weren’t very lucky with wildlife sightings, but that wasn’t anyone’s fault—it was a hot day, and by that point in my trip I had already seen quite a lot. The lunch spot was very nice, and overall it was a great experience. I also really appreciated that this tour allows solo travelers to book, as many tours in Costa Rica require a minimum of two people. As a solo traveler, that made a big difference and added to my overall satisfaction.

I am so glad I did this. I booked this kind of last minute because I wanted to have a beach experience before I left Costa Rica. They were so accommodating. I had Donald as a tour guide and Jerry as a driver. They made multiple stops for us to be able to take pictures along the way. The place we had breakfast was really good and lunch was amazing as well. Once you get to the park, they take you on a guided tour to the beach and then you get to have free time to explore the two different beaches and an optional walking trail. I did not do the second trail but did spend time on both beaches. Overall I had fun and I'm glad they were able to squeeze me in

I had heard great things about Manuel Antonio and decided to book this tour and take advantage of my time. If you are short on time or want to explore another part of Costa Rica from the capital this is a good opportunity. They were very accommodating and allowed me to bring my suitcase on the van since I was changing hotels and they picked me up from one and dropped me off at the new one. However, the company was not good with communication. I contacted them through Viator and email to ask about the hotel pickup and got no response. Then 24 hours before they finally reached out to confirm pick up. They were early for the pickup which was great. I felt like there were too many stops on the way to the park. It’s normally a 3 hour drive but it took us 5 hours because of the bathroom stops and breakfast. We had a small group of 6 and if we did stop to use the bathroom we would usually just be waiting another 20 minutes for the trip to continue. Then when we got to the park we had a limited time to see everything. Our guide, Katia, seemed a bit rude at times as well. She would try to point out animals but she would say “do you see it?” And I had to ask “what am I looking for?” The breakfast wasn’t good in my opinion but lunch was great and at a really nice hotel. The tour ended up being 16 hours because there was a lot of traffic on the way back to San Jose so leave your evening open just in case. Overall it was a nice way to explore Manuel Antonio and was good that it included meals and transportation.

We went on this tour yesterday and felt like it would be better done with another tour company or on our own. First and most important, once booked, we just could not get hold of anyone to get our questions answered, or even to confirm. Initially, we were told they will pick us up at 6 am or later. After that, there was no communication and no response from them, despite our several messages and calls. The day before the tour, we got an automated message that our pick up time was 5:05 am. And once again, dead silence. We sent them numerous messages, called multiple times, even on their emergency number and through Viator, to ensure that it was not a typo, our pick up time was really pushed earlier. But no response!!! We got picked up at 5 am, returned 10:30 pm. The actual time spent in the park was 3.5 hours. It was absolutely not worth it. We spent a lot of time on the bus, not just driving to and from the park but also waiting while others got picked up and dropped off. We had to wait a lot of places. And then, their bus broke down on the way back. All in all, we would have spent much less time for the same amount of money and a better experience if we opted for a private tour. I recommend not taking this tour if you have a party of four or more, as we did. Just go for a private tour.

Catia and Ray were supreme hosts for this day trip! It was a wonderful day with delicious food and the perfect nature - beach combo. Catia was very engaging and knowledgeable and an all around delight! She had a knack for finding animals along the trail and could identify the sounds of the animals we were hearing. She was also very patient with the divergent interests of our group, allowing the beach lovers to spend more time there and the hikers to spend more time on the trails. Catia was also very good with the children who were on the tour making this a very family friendly trip. There was a very nice variety of meal options to choose from for breakfast and lunch that were quite delicious. All in all I would highly recommend this day trip!

Great trip, the park is very nice. Good breakfast and lunch. There's a lot of driving though: 3-5h per direction.

This tour was very fun and the people I met within the tour made my day so enjoyable, my only critic is I wasn't informed of my pick up time and neither they responded to my message.

A wonderful day trip, worth the long trip there and back. Great wildlife, we saw lots, and beautiful beaches.

Amazing but long day! Day starts at 5am and ends around 830pm. Tour guides were amazing and very informative. Ride out is about 3 hours broken up by breakfast and a trip to a gift shop. Walk down to beach is about 30 minutes with a chance to see monkeys, crabs, and sloths. You have 3 hours at the beach. After that you must walk by yourself back to lunch meet up location (outside of park and through town). Lunch was about an hour. Ride home was over 4 hours with a lot of traffic-be advised this is typical given the time of day. All and all a good day. Beach was beautiful, tour was nice, stops were necessary. Breakfast left a lot to be desired. Lunch was ok, but we were all starving by that point. Only improvement that is controllable would be the food.

Victor and Luis were both great. Victor was very knowledgeable and such an amazing tour guide. He was accommodating and flexible, and he made it easy for everyone in our group to connect. We had some really good conversations and laughs along the way. The tour itself was beautiful and I had an amazing time. Highly recommend.

Great experience beautiful views and highly recommend , would recommend this experience. Minor hiccups at meeting point but over tour guide was helpful and experience was great .

Manuel Antonio is a must do! Our tour guide, Hayro, was the BEST! Very nice and extremely intelligent. He even had equipment, such as a telescope and binoculars, so we could spot animals. We would not have been able to spot many animals without him. We saw multiple sloths, two types of monkeys, iguanas, crabs, birds, lizards, and more.

Wonderful day to Manuel Antonio great tour guide Jordan he made the day so memorable! Food was delicious both breakfast and lunch definitely recommend this tour!

Great experience. Great guide and driver. Great group on the tour. Beautiful sights. Would absolutely recommend this tour.

Excellent experience. The guide was friendly and knowledgable. Fun day and would recommend this tour

I dont think it was worth it. I expected to see a lot of animals. We saw nothing except a crab. I dont think our guide was informative. I dont think he knew the paths where take you to spot the animals. On the way to the park he was talking in both languages. On the way back - just spanish. We had no clue what was going on. There was an accident on our way back and it took longer to get to the hotel. He said nothing. He dropped us at a different hotel without explaining anything. I dont think he has a lot of experience. I booked this trip based on the beautiful reviews I read. The breakfast and lunch were ok. But we got very disappointed that we couldnt see any animals. And when I told him that, he said "that's nature". And the trip is not cheap. The admission to the park is $18. Where did the other money go? I will not recommend it.

Well run operation. Every activity is well planned and the facilities were clean. The meals were enjoyable and we appreciated our tour guide’s professionalism.

The park is a long day trip from San Jose, but it did not disappoint. The drive out is broken up nicely by a stop for breakfast and to see crocoldiles. The park itself offers abundant wildlife as well as a wonderful beach. My 11-yr old grandson had the best time.

The park was amazing , though we have had some restrictions about the schedule and where to stop , etc Overall - good experience , I would expect more information and hints from the guide

What a great day! Pickup right at my hotel in San José. The 3 hr drive to Manuel Antonio was broken up by a stop for breakfast and a chance to see some huge crocodiles. Once at the park,most of the group headed right for the beaches. I opted to take the hike around Punta Catalan and saw quite a bit of wildlife. Sloths, bats, lots of monkeys and even a coatl and an aguti. Of course I had to relax and dip my toes in the ocean for a bit after that. The tour treated us to an excellent late lunch (I recommend the mariscos con arroz) and then we headed back. The only drawback of the whole trip was the Friday traffic back to San Jose. A 3 hour drive took 5 hours and the bus seats were a little small.

Probably one of the easier ways to visit Manuel Antonio National Park from San Jose if you’re visiting Costa Rica and not planning to rent a car. BUT be warned, it’s a very long day. Pickup can start as early as 4:50am, drop off 9pm. (They probably do this to try and avoid traffic?). At the time of our booking, the company’s description did not include details of the trip (how many stops, where you’re stopping, etc.) So to help out potential travelers, here was our itinerary for the day: Breakfast was about an hour away from our last pickup spot. Food was great! We also then stopped at a souvenir shop and the “crocodile bridge,” which were both nearby. Then was a quick pit stop at a lookout point in Jaco for some photos. We got to Manual Antonio around 11am, took a quick walk through the rainforest to get to the beach, and then had about 3 hours of downtime before lunch back in town. The beach was pretty but much more packed than I had expected. (The public beach we passed along the way seemed emptier!) Overall, the van was pretty comfortable, making it a pretty smooth ride. Just be prepared for a very long day.

Excellent experience. On time scheduling and good choice of restaurants. Safe driving as well. Antonio and Donald were very professional and cordial

A wonderful tour. Erick is very knowledgeable and willing to answer questions. If he doesn’t know the answer he searches out the answer and lets you know. The reserve and beaches are beautiful. Delicious food for both breakfast and lunch. A must do tour!

This trip lacked an immense amount of communication. I had to figure out stuff on my own despite having a tour guide. First the pick up was 6:15a but didn’t get into the shuttle until almost 7. The tour guide was not helpful and only spoke with the Spanish tourist despite him knowing good amount of English. Would not recommend.

We were told pickup was at 5:25, but they called our room at 5:11am. We were not rushed out, but just a PSA to other travelers. We stopped for an adequate breakfast, and to walk across the crocodile bridge (not many out on our day unfortunately). Those were fine, but then we made a souvenir shopping stop. The last stop should have been cut out, and breakfast could have moved faster to shorten the length of the drive (took a little over 5 hours from pickup to get to the park). The park itself was great - the main trail we saw a few animals (including white faced monkeys right at the entrance), but we had even more luck walking the other trails during our 3 hours of free time (fewer people/quieter). We saw a sloth very close up, jumping monkeys, and great viewpoints. The beach was nice, beware of leaving your stuff out of sight - the monkeys might go for it. We walked back for a late lunch - which was also adequate but could have moved faster to get on the road quicker. and we hit a lot of traffic on the way back, taking us nearly 5 hours to get back as well. Overall, glad to have visited the park and this was a suitable way to go - would just recommend to the tour providers to speed up or cut out some of the stops - would make the long day more bearable.

It was a full day - from pick up and drop off. There were good stops along the way to Manuel Antonio (as it was dark on the way back); coffee and souvenir stop, croc viewing, Jaco viewing spot then to Manuel Antonio. The Breakfast and Lunch stops were great, delish meals. We had a great driver (there was a lot of rain on the way back). Our tour guide was knowledgeable but didn't give much extra info when we got to Manuel Antonio. The trails are easy to follow and plenty of free time to explore.

Pick up: About 15 minutes early but they were patient. Itinerary and organisation are good. There were appropriate breaks and each segment has suitable duration. Our driver Eduardo was a safe and steady driver. Our tour guide Eric was quite cheerful and enthusiastic in the van and explained the itinerary well. Breakfast was good. You have to choose either local or American breakfast on the way to the breakfast place. At the national park, one issue is that our guide became very quiet. If you are expecting the guide to tell you more about the park as you all walk together and also point out what to see, you may be disappointed. Our group learnt a lot more from other guides who shared information with their groups. We saw animals such as white-faced monkeys and two-toed sloths. More training for the guide would probably improve our experience. Our guide led us to walk through the park then to the beach before we split. There was sufficient personal time. One can choose to chill at the beach or continue to explore more trails etc. Lunch was good. I recommend the fish or seafood option. There are also other options. The journey back was smooth. Our driver Eduardo did well. It was a long day but well packed with activities and meals at the right time.

The day started very badly because you told us that you would pick us up at 6:00, but at 5:30 the driver arrived to pick us up with a bad attitude and gave us 5 minutes to come downstairs or we would be left behind. This made us rush out without taking our medications. The people we were grouped with were very hostile, and there were other issues, such as when we were supposed to have lunch at 2:30. Three people from the group were missing, and instead of serving those of us who arrived on time, we had to wait until those who were late showed up.

Fantastic day! Our guide Adrial and driver David, were fun and friendly, professional, accommodating. We learned and saw so much. The beach is breathtaking, and the walk through the park was a once in a lifetime opportunity to walk through the rainforest. Our stops for breakfast and lunch were excellent and perfectly timed. We saw a sloth, macaw, deer, crocodile, iguanas, crabs, and both Howler and Capucin monkeys. The monkeys tried to steal my hubbies underwear right out of his bag that was less than three inches from him! It was hysterical. Take this tour!!!

Trip was very well organised and the guide, Jose, was wonderful. Prepare for a very long day (pick up was 5am!) but you get to see all that Manuel Antonio has to offer with an option to either take an extra guided hike around the park or enjoy some chill time on the beach.

Pickup at hotel on time was in a clean comfortable van. It is a long ride out, but it’s nice to leave the driving to the professionals. We served a simple typical breakfast and fantastic late lunch. Our guide was professional and gave us plenty of instruction. Pack some sunscreen, reuse-able water bottle, towel, change of clothes, and a hat. It’s a hot and humid hike, so come hydrated. I came wearing my bathing suit and an ol throwaway shirt. The park is amazing. Recommend

This was a hassle free tour. After sightseeing Costa Rica on our own, it was relaxing to just hop on the bus and go. Our guide was informative and thoughtful. He had a wealth of information about Cista Rica and the Manuel Antonio rainforest. The forest was nice and the beach was great. It was not too crowded. We made stops going and returning. We stopped for an authentic breakfast which was tasty and filling. We had dinner near the forest. We had a chance to shop. It was a long journey so bathroom breaks were good. The bus was air condition and a bit chilly. We did not get any mosquito bites. Sunscreen is a myst. Bring a change of clothes. You'll be in the beach and you will sweat alot in the forest. We saw an iguana, Hollar 🐒, 🦥 sloth, blue 🦀 crabs, woodpecker, big lizards, and hermit crab.

Amazing trip! The tour guide and the driver were both great! We stopped at the Crocodile Bridge and saw some macaws on our way to Manuel Antonio. After a guided walk through the park were we saw loads of different animals, we had some free time to either enjoy the beach or explore some more trials. The food was excellent too! Would highly recommend the trip!

This was one of my favorite tour, Jose the guide and Enrique were amazing. This tour was worth it. I fully recommend. Jose deserves 10 stars he was the best and make this trip more enjoyable. He was so funny i will do this tour again just because of him. Is a long trip so be prepared. Do not believe those bad reviews that do not research and blame the tour company for something they don’t have control of.