Overall a positive experience. We saw plenty of fish, had a nice meal, the tour guide was very friendly and the shuttle was easy to use. That said, we felt... read more this was not exactly as advertised. We didn’t get any information about the area or the fauna. If you have never snorkeled or have had only a little experience, this may be overwhelming as we got not guidance on how to use the snorkels— we just jumped into the deep end and had to figure it out. The location also is heavily trafficked with other tours when we went in the afternoon, just something to be aware of. It was worth the experience overall, we just wished we had more interaction/guidance with our guide.

  Local Flavors tour 💕🇨🇷 - We had a great local flavors tour where we made our lunch and learned a lot about the farming , cooking and Costa Rican culture. Our guide Carla was great... read more , Stephanie was our chef and she couldn’t have been sweeter. We also stopped in Quepas at the farmers market. Highly recommend

  We had a fantastic time with a nature walk in Manuel Antonio park with Alan as our guide. He did a great job giving us informative descriptions of the... read more history and customs of the area. He also was a biologist so was able to answer every single question we had about habitat, reproduction, diet, and behavior of the wildlife. We saw several sloths, toucans, monkeys, iguanas and lizards. Alan was not only knowledgeable but also had a great sense of humor and kept us entertained as he actively searched out animals with his spotting scope and spirited energy. This was definitely an A+ trip and highlight of the week.

  I really was not enjoying this outing /before I got the second degree sunburn on my legs. I had left my sunscreen in our car back at the restaurant where... read more we met the tour. After a beautiful 2-1/2 hour row over and back over a small bay, my lower legs were deep-fried--a rookie mistake I will not make again.

I would have appreciated more help fitting the life vest that kept riding up and interfering with the snorkel. I abandoned the struggle and just swam. My friends were more successful and saw a few sea creatures though the water was murky that morning. They had hoped to receive more information from our guide about the local terrestrial wildlife. I would have appreciated any pointers on rowing a 2-person kayak, but we got the job done. Included luncheon at Los Tucanes restaurant after was very fresh (fish) and tasty. The restaurant has a bar, changing rooms with showers and a small sundries shop.

  Our guide Warren was super helpful launching us from a rocky cove. That was the scariest part, but once at sea, the waves felt awesome and the water was... read more beautiful - an emerald green in some coves.

We tied up and snorkeled for 20-30
Minutes then stopped briefly on a small beach. He provided water and pineapple.

After Paddling back to starting point we were taken to a cafe for amazing local food.

The only drawback IMO is being wet,
Sweaty and sticky for so long. I suggest taking a full set of dry clothes to enjoy lunch and ride back to hotel. You can change at the restaurant. Start in swimwear as there is no changing room at launch point.

  What a fun experience !!! This was honestly the favorite tour we did during our entire stay in Costa Rica. The staff was amazing!! They really cared about your safety.... read more They made sure everyone was comfortable and informed about what was happening and expected. They also truly loved what they do and made sure we loved it as well. We had Orlando as our guide and we loved him!!! Great group of people and a really fun activity.

  Knowledgeable guide, serene experience, immersing into the biodiversity and wildlife. Saw friendly and curious white face monkeys and a variety

  Allen was an enthusiastic, knowledgeable and interesting guide. Seamless transfer from the hotel. Provided refreshments afterwards. Well recommended.

  Fantastic Experience! Enjoyed every minute! The food was delicious. Thank you Nicolas, Erick, Enrique, and Ma

  The last 20 minutes was the highlight as we saw many monkeys up close on the walk out of the park!

Our guide Carla was wonderful. They... read more picked us up at our hotel in nice van with AC. The first 20 min of the walk inside the park was a bit annoying just because of the crowd - so many tour groups clustering to see wildlife.

Carla really had an eye for spotting animals, reptiles, and insects that we could have easily
Missed. Her telescope was super helpful!

Its a bit of an effort to take swimwear and deal with being sandy but the swim in the warm aqua Pacific Ocean was well worth it. We had 40 minutes at the beach and reconvened for mile walk out.

It is also nice not having to wait in line to buy an entry ticket, especially since the park sells out daily right now. I recommend this tour.

  This trip was amazing well worth the money. Our pick up team George and Mono were great. They were followed by more great guides. Orlando was personable and an expert... read more in rafting. He made our trip smooth and fun even with our kids 13 &14. They were knowledgeable about animals, plants and the river. We were beyond happy with the experience they all provided and it's a locally owned business. This is a great trip to take for the whole family. Best river rafting in Costa Rica.

  Great time perfect amount of thrills and beautiful scenery!! Guides were very knowledgable and experts at rafting! Always checking for the safety of everybody! Definitely a must do if you... read more are in Jaco and Tucanes Tours are the perfect people to go with

  We used Tucanes Tours during our trip to Manuel Antonio and were impressed by their professionalism and felt we received high quality experiences. We had a private airport transport from... read more San José-Manuel Antonio, a private transport from Manuel Antonio-Arenal, a hiking tour and a kayaking tour. Each tour guide and driver was knowledgable about Costa Rica and very caring towards my wife and I. We are especially thankful to driver Misael who drove us during both of private transfers. He was prompt, knowledgable, spoke to us in both English and Spanish (English for my wife, Spanish for me) and was willing to make few stops for pictures, souvenirs or to get a bite to eat. If we return to Costa Rica in the future we will not hesitate to use Tucanes Tours. …

  This is a part of the amazing landscapes of Costa Rica you will miss unless you do this trip. It is a challenge and a little intimidating but totally worth... read more the initial nervousness. That scare will slowly settle down as you realize how incredibly capable and reassuring the rafting guides are at what they do. Navigating the chutes and white water is of course the primary job, but their humor, the obvious camraderie amongst their crew and their knowledge of the flora, fauna, traditions & culture of Costa Rica is top notch. We were picked up at our place in Jaco right on time by a friendly driver and had a comfortable drive down to Quepos where we enjoyed a nice Costa Rican breakfast at their meeting point restaurant. Post-adventure lunch was also served there, clean, friendly & comfortable we had a nice selection of local foods. I could not catch the spelling of our guide--apologies for the incorrect spelling but sounds like Heidel or Heigel--but he was phenomenal. I have done rafting trips in California and SEAsia and he was amazing. He was patient with our initial shortcomings and like all of the guides, he was top-notch at navigating the river, pointing out interesting features of flora, fauna and geology of the area and overall giving us a remarkably memorable experience.

  This was a great way to spend a morning in Manuel Antonio. Such beautiful ocean shoreline sites and birds. Warren the guide and his crew were so joyful and... read more knowledgeable. Great host and guide! Delicious authentic lunch after too. Cloudy waters, so not much snorkeling because of choppier waters that day but they brought out some fish treats and these sweet fish came over anyway!

  My husband and I had a blast doing this for the first time. It’s been days later and we are still talking about how awesome it was. We went down... read more so many rapids. Nic made it more of an experience and we enjoyed talking with him. The only downside is the thought that rafting trips anywhere else will not be as exciting.

  Tour guide, Orlando, was very experienced, knowledgeable, helpful, thoughtful, and fun to be with. Great time on the river. Had a lot of fun.

  Nice Costa Rican Experience - We took the Damas Island Mangrove Boat Tour from Manuel Antonio. Alan was it guide and he was fantastic. Very knowledgeable and he made it very fun. The experience was... read more both relaxing and interesting, as we saw monkeys, snakes, and birds up close. Great tour.

  I went white water rafting with some of my classmates. It was so much fun. The rapids were so big and fun. Our guide, lettuce, lead us through the river.... read more We ended up flipping but because of our amazing guide we were all back on the boat safe. And now we have am amazing story to tell.

  My husband and I recently took this tour as an add-on to an 11-day group tour of Costa Rica.

I need to start by saying that as part... read more of our group tour of CR we were accompanied by an incredible guide who had told us so much about Costa Rica and gone out of his way to make sure we saw so much of the amazing flora and fauna this unforgettable country has to offer, so truly nothing (and no guide) could compare.

As part of our Manuel Antonia National Park tour, we were picked up in a small van at our hotel (along with 6 of our fellow travellers) and taken to the Toucanes Tours "home base" for breakfast. The breakfast was underwhelming - a plate of average-tasting gallo pinto, scrambled eggs, a tiny piece of toast (that was more like a dried-out slice of baguette), and a couple of pieces of plantain. Adequate portion size but not terribly tasty or filling for those with larger appetites. Coffee, tea, and juice/water were also included.

After the quick breakfast stop, we continued on into the town of Quepos where we saw a couple of sloths and some adorable capucin monkeys. Our Tocanes Tours' driver (Giovanni) and Tocanes Tours' guide (Jeremy) were very patient as we took photos and watched the animals.

Back in the van, we continued on to the entrance gate to Manuel Antonio National Park.

At the entrance of the park our backs were checked for food and drink. (This is to protect the monkeys and wildlife within the park.)

As we walked the pathway in the park, heading towards the ultimate destination of the beach, Jeremy stopped to show us many things including lizards, insects, birds, plants, and even a Howler monkey perched high in the treetop.

It was fun to stop at the cafeteria area to watch the adorable moneys frolic. This also offered the opportunity to go to the souvenir shop, use the bathroom, or change into your swimsuit (for those who hadn't worn theirs under their clothes).

The true highlight of the park (for me) was the beach. Because we were there during the quieter tourism season, there was lots of places to spread our towels and it wasn't crowded at all. The ocean water was so warm, although there is a bit of an undertow, so weaker swimmers be warned not to venture too deep.

Unfortunately, because our guide had tried so hard to show us so many things and spent so much time setting up his scope (sometimes too many things and taking too much time, to be honest) we only had 40 minutes to enjoy the beach/water before it was time to walk back (along a different path through the mangrove forest) to our waiting van.

Our "included lunch" was a real disappointment, as it was back at the same Tocanes Tours hub where we'd had breakfast and was a buffet that was depleted in quantity and the food wasn't warm. We were told there were four choices of meat but there was only chicken left when we got there (which was quite tasty).

After a quick lunch it was back in the van for the drive back to the hotel.

We were picked up at 6am and back at 4:30pm. That was a long day for two meals that were sub-par and 40 minutes at the beach, in my opinion. Neither my husband nor I, nor the 6 others we travelled with, felt that we got what we paid for. The van was clean and comfortable, the driver and the guide were friendly, polite, and professional, the food was meh (!!!), and the beach visit was too short.

The park is a beautiful place but you may wish to take it in on your own or hire one of the many guides waiting around the gate area when you get there. I feel certain that part of us feeling underwhelmed was as a result of the incredible experience our 11-day-tour guide had already provided us.

  This was one of the best things we did in Costa Rica. Our guide Carla was fantastic. She was extremely knowledgeable and conveyed her passion for the wildlife and her... read more country. We saw plenty of animals and were probably very lucky to be the only 2 people on the boat so had a personal tour. Would recommend this company and this trip most highly

  We had an amazing trip down the river with this tour company. It was a quiet day so we ended up with a private tour just the three of us,... read more myself, my husband and our 20 year old daughter. Nicholas was our river guide, he was amazing and although it was very much still an adventure, we all felt very safe! Erik and Jonathan were our kayakers for extra safety and to take pictures and they too were excellent. All three were funny and entertaining, yet always mindful of our safety! Our driver was “Super Mario” and he also was a gem, providing lots of information about the environment, he had a refreshing drink and snacks ready for us after the rafting and got us safely to and from our location! Great lunch at the tour office afterwards capped off a perfect day! Thank you all for making our rafting adventure something we will never forget! Highly recommended!

  I learned a lot on our tour through Manuel Antonio National Park!
Alberto was our guide and he was full of information about the park, the history, the people, the... read more flora and the fauna!
We saw a plethora of creatures (agouti, basilisk lizards, iguanas, sloths, bats) and unique plants (trumpet trees, heliconias, spiny-trunked palms, ginger, mangroves)!
The humidity was rough for some people on our tour, but midway through, we got to relax at the national park’s secluded white sand beach! It looked like one of the beaches you see in a calendar photoshoot!
We concluded the tour with fresh pineapple and watermelon!

  We had an amazing experience on the Local Flavor Tour with our guide Harold, driver Esteban and chef Stephanie. Harold was incredibly knowledgeable about Costa Rican cooking, agriculture, wild-life, culture... read more and politics. He answered all our questions and accommodated our 5 month old baby. The food we cooked was delicious and the farm was an idyllic setting for our experience. In addition to the cooking, we got to tour Quepos market and did a hike at the farm to learn about the local produce and wild life. This is an exceptional tour and I would highly recommend to anyone visiting the area.

  Our guide Alan was amazing. He took us on a 3hr tour in Manuel Antonio and he even stopped before entering the park to show us sloth and other wildlife... read more on the way through town to the park. He is very knowledgeable about all of the resident species from tiny tadpole eggs to the sloth and monkeys and we saw both types of sloth. Definitely ask for him.

  We loved kayaking with this company!! We went with Lisandro, and his friend (sorry, we don’t remember his name!!). We had a good time kayaking the coast and playing at... read more the beach. Afterwards we had a delicious lunch which was included. We did have some confusion booking the tour, it sounded like they accidentally double booked so we had to go at a different time than planned. It ended up being okay and we had fun regardless of the mix up.

  Great guide - Allan was so knowledgeable and made sure everyone in the boat got to see and take photos of the things he was showing us. He was especially good with the... read more kids. He also switched easily between Spanish and English to include all the passengers. His English was very good.