Top Central Valley Food & Drink

Aromatic coffee, sweet sugarcane, and melt-in-your-mouth chocolate are three of Costa Rica’s top agricultural exports—and its favorite products among locals and visitors alike. Learn about these three crops first-hand on this tour of a family-owned farm near La Fortuna. See how coffee is created from bean to cup, and then taste other delicious crops along with a guide.

Sample a wide variety of Costa Rican flavors while learning about the country's cultural heritage with this San Jose walking tour. You'll shop for fruits and veggies at the Mercado Central and the Mercado Borbón, visit the National Theater and La Laguna Plaza, and try all sorts of local treats along the way.

Spend a delicious 2 hours learning all about the best type of chocolate in the world, along with coffee, tropical fruit, spices, rum, and sugar cane- all products of Costa Rica, on this tour. Explore the farm holding 1600 cacao trees, where they produce 150 pounds of cacao every week. The best part: sampling the chocolate and the rest of the delicious produce!

Take the stress out of eating and drinking at night in a new city with this fun-filled dinner and nightlife experience. Explore markets, check out neighborhoods you might otherwise miss, and indulge in a delicious three-course gourmet dinner with wine pairings. Learn about local food and culture from your guide throughout the evening.

Take advantage of some of northern Costa Rica’s best white-water rafting on this full-day, guided tour with traditional lunch included. Paddle through the rainforest and over the rapids of the Balsa River stopping along to swim and rest in nature. After your adventure is done enjoy a Costa Rican style lunch at a local restaurant.

Explore the Costa Rican capital’s rich history, landmark buildings, and modern culture on a combo bus and walking tour of San Jose. Get a great introduction to city highlights like the National Theater and Art Museum, and stop to walk through bustling markets and public plazas to feel the pulse of this modern Central American metropolis. Get an extra boost of Costa Rican culture by listening to traditional folkloric music onboard the bus.

Indulge your sweet tooth and discover the secrets of La Fortuna's best chocolate. This small-group tour starts out in an organic cocoa plantation where you'll see the cocoa flower and trees, as well as the cocoa bean fermentation and sun-drying process. Afterward, in the ranch, you can roast and grind the cocoa beans and also, ultimately, make your own chocolate bonbons.

Learn about two of Costa Rica’s biggest (and tastiest) exports on this tour of a coffee and chocolate farm from La Fortuna. Not only do you go to a side of Arenal volcano that most visitors miss in order to see the coffee and cacao crops, but you also get to taste the final products—it’s as fresh as it gets. Your guide shares insight into the industries throughout the tour.

Get a close look at Costa Rica’s coffee- and chocolate-making traditions at a family farm near La Fortuna. See a cacao and sugar cane plantation, and learn how cacao is made into chocolate. You’ll get to sample fresh coffee and chocolate from the farm with a small-group tour limited to eight people.

Discover San Jose’s hidden delights with this unique evening tour of the Costa Rican capital. Get up close and personal with the nightlife in San Jose, starting with the Morazán Park where we will learn post-colonial Costa Rican history. From there, our appreciation for San Jose’s historical architecture continues, with a walk by the Metallic Building, then on to Spain Park for a fantastic view of the Yellow House (now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). We’ll continue to charming Barrio Escalante, one of the oldest residential areas in San Jose. Finish the night with a 3-course meal and wine or beer pairings at a gourmet Costa Rican restaurant.

Get a taste of San Jose’s culture and cuisine on this 3-hour walking tour. Explore Costa Rica’s capital accompanied by an expert guide and learn about the city’s history, architecture and flavor. Explore the produce stalls of two traditional markets and discover what makes Costa Rican coffee so delicious as you sample some local brews. The tour is capped at 12 people for a personalized small-group experience.

As one of Costa Rica's biggest exports, coffee plays a big role in Costa Rica's economy—and its culture, too. Learn about artisanal Costa Rican coffee from bean to cup complete with harvesting, roasting, and grinding on this tour of a family-owned coffee farm near Arenal Volcano. As a bonus, try other favorite Costa Rican crops such as chocolate and sugar cane.

We have 4 descents, 2 canopy lines, 3 jumps to natural pools, lockers, showers and trails. We maintain the protocols required by the Ministry of Health

Connect with the waters of Costa Rica by paddling down class II and III white waters of the Balsa River. This half-day, guided, white-water rafting tour includes equipment, instruction, safety briefing and ends with a delicious lunch served in a local restaurant. Feel the thrill and excitement as you glide six miles (10 kilometers) down the river flanked by lush the jungle filled with monkeys, tropical birds, and sloths.

Combine learning to cook with learning to dance with this combo experience. You'll learn how to make traditional Costa Rican food and sit down to eat your creation. Once you're done, you'll work off your meal with a dance lesson focused on Latin dance styles such as salsa, merengue, cumbia, and bachata.

For this full day tour, we will visit three incredible places that are completely unique to this area. As well as learning more about Costa Rican coffee, we will visit Poás Volcano, one of only five active volcanoes in the country. We will then see over 100 species including rescued sloths and hummingbirds in the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. This is my favourite trip in the San Jose area, providing you with a great combination of picturesque scenery and the chance to get up close to many species found in Costa Rica.

Learn to cook some traditional Costa Rican food from a local grandmother, who knows all the secret tips. Dona Chela will help you to prepare the dishes with ingredients from her garden, which you can also wander around before and after you cook. You'll cook your food in the traditional, old school way, by using the wood-fired stove in the kitchen.

Experience Costa Rica’s famous rainforest during the magic hour of twilight on this sunset hanging bridges walk near Arenal Volcano. See the changing colors of the sky wash across the volcanic landscape, and then get a new perspective on the Mystic Reserve while crossing six suspended walkways. A nature guide helps spot wildlife that can be tricky to see on your own, including many species that only emerge at dusk.

Get the inside scoop on a pair of Costa Rica's most famous exports on a combo tour of the Doka Estate coffee plantation. Learn how coffee beans are grown, harvested, and roasted to perfection, and then follow the sticky-sweet journey of sugar cane at a working sugar mill. Finish the flavorful visit with a tour of the estate’s inedible natural treasures, including hundreds of miniature bonsai trees, colorful orchids, and butterflies.

This cooking class farm to table is hands-on experience. You will collect the ingredients your-self in our organic farm. (All depending on the season, we will collect what there is available.) We are show you and explain all the plants and tree we have. You will learn about old Costa Rican culture & cooking techniques. The food will be cook in an open wood-fire kitchen.

After this experience, you will have the knowledge to do the same back home. Here you will learn how to take advantage of all the medicinal and sacred values that cacao has. Balance your body, mind, and soul taking cacao as what it is, a superfood, sacred and divine! And of course, walk away with your own dark chocolate bars, a modern way to take the benefits of cacao into us! A nature connection, an inside of a Costa Rican family. Let us show you our pure lifestyle!

Hiking in the Costa Rican rainforest can be a dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. Book this La Fortuna Sloths, Coffee, and Chocolate Experience and go with a guide who will keep you safe and well informed. Set out through the rainforest to spot sloth and other wildlife before stopping at a chocolate and coffee farm for tastings.

The aim of this tour is to reveal more about Costarican culture and food through a relaxed walk in the town of Santa Ana. We will start with one of the best coffees you can have in this country. As we sip our coffee, we will talk about the historical importance of coffee and how it built this country. Afterwards, we will stop for a delicious homemade empanada, before heading to our local "fruteria" (fruit shop) for a smoothie. Our next stop will be a local shop dedicated to chocolate and cocoa... Who does not like chocolate? We will learn how it is produced and we will enjoy a few bites. Our tour will then take us to a local cheese shop and as we make it there we will touch on some topics such as education, religion, not having an army and energy generation. Back to cheese, Costa Rica keeps it simple, fresh white cheeses that go well in many things and that are part of many local dishes. We will end the tour with lunch at a Caribbean place (together with some more stories)!

Spend a half-day at a farm in La Fortuna for a cooking class that features some of Costa Rica’s favorite dishes. Start with a tour of the farm’s orchards and gardens, collect some ingredients for your meal, then head to the kitchen to learn to prepare classics such as gallo pinto (rice and beans). Top off your experience by enjoying the meal with your hosts.