Carara National Park (Parque Nacional Carara)

The guide was a very important part of the Carara park visit. We were also in a small group which was more conducive to a genuine rainforest visit. On the best of times it is a lot to ask to see so many animals, birds etc but with less people trampling through it is a better experience.

Our guide Antonio was really good & we did see a few monkeys but did not see any macaws at all so was a bit disappointed. Overall it was a good tour even though it was quite expensive.

My family and I (we have a 10 and 12 year old) had an awesome tour with Ronald. We learned so much! We got lucky and it was a cloudy morning, so we saw a lot of poison dart frogs (you don’t see them when it’s sunny). We also saw white-faced monkeys, toucans, macaws, and some other smaller ground animals. We took an early tour and practically had the park to ourselves. I received excellent communication before the tour and Ronald was a perfect tour guide. PS- We visited Crocodile Bridge on our own afterwards (2 miles away) and I recommend that as well for a quick stop!

We booked on short notice from the Viator app the day before. Within the hour, Daniela from G&R tours contacted me via WhatsApp to finalize details. She offered some flexibility with the scheduling and we settled on 8am as my kids (10 and 13) wanted to sleep a little later. Although we had planned to Uber to the park entrance to meet our guide, Daniela was able to arrange transportation for us from our hotel (Marriott Los Suenos) about 20 minutes away for a reasonable additional fee. Communication was pleasant and accommodating and we felt cared for right away! Even when our transport was running just 3-5 minutes “late”, we were kept informed by WhatsApp. Everything went very smoothly! Our guide, Geovanna, was wonderful! She is obviously very knowledgeable and passionate about Costa Rica, gave us so much useful information about the country’s history, economy, school system (I asked), the flora and fauna of CR. She was very patient, eco conscious, very dedicated to providing a good experience to her guests. She took time to explain so much about the eco system- from the leaf cutter ants to the various rainforest plants, to the animals we saw. With her help, we saw numerous birds, poison dart frogs, deer, squirrel monkeys, white faced capuchin monkeys, scarlet macaws (flying and nesting), numerous insects, iguanas, basilisk lizards and more. She was gracious enough to help us take photos through her viewing scope. We never felt rushed, and we felt so comfortable with Geovanna- it was like being with a friend. She even extended beyond the tour description to take us to a second part of the park (less visited) to look for other wildlife on her own time, because we were seeking the elusive toucan and howler monkeys which we didn’t see in the main park. Sadly, these were not to be found this day, but not for her lack of trying! Cararra Park itself was much less busy than Manuel Antonio park. The paths are narrower, still well marked but not always paved so the ground can be uneven. I think this park is navigable by even young children with closed toe shoes with good grips (sneakers, hiking sandals or hiking shoes) as long as they stick to marked trails and are careful where they put their hands so as to avoid any poisonous animals that may be camouflaged. I think it could be a little challenging for wheelchairs or those requiring walkers as there are several areas with steps, rocks or uneven ground. Those who require just a little assistance with mobility (a cane or a helping hand occasionally) could probably fare well if careful. The whole environment felt very natural and peaceful. Most of the trails are under canopy of shade. There are no facilities within the park- the only bathrooms are at the park entrance. Make sure you start with full reusable water bottles as there is nowhere to fill up within the park. There is also no food/snacks for sale so plan accordingly. We enjoyed the low-key nature of this park and at times we felt like we had the whole park almost to ourselves as the visitors we encountered were few and far between. There were several small groups of high school children there on a field trip when we first arrived, but they were quite respectful and well behaved, and were only there for a couple hours, never interfering with what we were doing. We also passed a couple small groups of birdwatchers with guides and a couple small families. Everyone did their own thing quietly and no one got in anyone’s way. We went to this park primarily to look for scarlet macaws. While we didn’t see flocks of them within the park, we did see several in a tree high up and even two within a nest! We could hear them overhead on numerous occasions and upon leaving the park, right outside was a group of 5 of them in a tree clearly visible. We had not seen them anywhere else in the wild in our week in Costa Rica so being able to see them at Cararra was worth the park visit to us. For those debating between Manuel Antonio and Cararra for whatever reason (we did, and eventually visited both because we couldn’t decide) both offer different things. To summarize- Carrara- No beach, less infrastructure within the park, smaller, quieter, more “intimate” setting, shorter walking distances but not all paved, more shade, known to have scarlet macaws visit, monkeys in a more natural setting (less socialized with humans). All in all, i would definitely recommend this tour and especially if you can get Geovanna as a guide!

The tour guide was very informative of every species of animals and plants. Was on time and talked about places he recommended in the area.

Thank you for the trip guided by Charley that i enjoyed a lot ! Charley is a professional biologist and provides lot of interesting information. On the way he took me to the local fruit stall as well. With the telescope we observed lots of wild animals. I also joined another amazing day tour held by OROPOPO on the next day which i enjoyed so much too. what a satisfied day!

My husband and I had an incredible tour with Ronald at Carara National Park! I told Ronald that my dream was to see scarlett macaws in the wild. He took us to two separate locations where there were scarlett macaws! At the first location the macaws flew right over our heads and landed in the trees in front of us!! I cried tears of joy at this magical moment. And the second location Ronald showed us was a nesting spot! We actually got to see a macaw pair in their nesting cavity of their tree!!! Ronald also showed us white-faced monkeys in the forest canopies, a white bat taking a nap, a poison dart frog, and many rare bird species including the orange-collared manakin and the beautiful but rare Royal Flycatcher!

Tour guide was very knowledgeable. We saw poison Dart frogs, howler monkeys and alot of other cool things.

This tour was one of the best tours I’ve done in Costa Rica and thanks to an amazing guide in Rigo! Very friendly and personable wit you, he is like a friend that you don’t even realize he’s a tour operator. This tour consists of first stopping at The crocodile bridge, then walking around and seeing the carara national park and we even saw some animals such as a monkey, and tree frogs, and then the best part at the end where we went to the Tarcoles River to see the wildlife and crocodiles, and so many different type of birds. Rigo was awesome, took really good pictures of us and was very informative throughout his tour, it was basically a private tour as he picks you up from his SUV and takes you everywhere along the way, I would recommend highly of this tour of anyone trying to see the Tarcoles River!

I was surprised to discover that not only was I the only one on tour but that we were the only ones on the river - people are missing out I was collected by Rigo nice and early, we stopped to buy fruit on the way and adjusted the itinerary slightly due to the weather but we need not have worried, the weather was perfect Along the river I was shown many birds from the mighty Scarlet Macaw to an Osprey with fish in tow, we also saw many crocodiles from a baby to Tyson the oldest at 90 ish years, along with many lizards On to Carara we were fortunate enough to see both Spider and Capuchins, a salamander, iquanas, lizards, white tailed deer, an Agouti (?), my favourite Morpho, green and black poisonous dart frogs and many different birds Rigo was extremely knowledgeable and very friendly, the day went really quickly I would just recommend, no matter how hot, thick long trousers as the mossies were in abundance and bit non exposed areas as well, despite two types of repellent!

This was an AMAZING adventure with my guide YEPO (Jose Pablo), he was extremely knowledgeable, had a great instict for spotting wildlife and went completely out of the way to provide us a unique experience. First time in the morning we bought some seasonal fruits at a local market, then we went hiking to CARARA NATIONAL PARK where we saw monkeys, frogs, lizards, dozens of plants and mushrooms and for every organism Yepo had a wonderful story to tell. Then we had a small picninc at the beach where we finally ate the fruits he got for us (god bless the tropics!) And finally after having lunch we went for a very calm but informative and scenic boat ride through the Tarcole River where Yepo showed us a handful of colorful birds and HUGE crocodiles. My favorite was Shakira! Thank you Yepo for this wonderful day, god bless