Family Eco Adventure
A thrilling eco-adventure through the jungles & beaches of Costa Rica spotting an abundance of wildlife and doing exhilarating activities such as ziplining and white water rafting.
From 11000 per personEverything you need to know about a Family Holiday to Costa Rica
COSTA RICA EXPERIENCES
Known as the peaceful soul of Latin America, Costa Rica is a small, diverse country that packs a huge punch. With vast biodiversity, volcanoes, rainforests, and two contrasting coastlines with an endless supply of beaches, it’s no surprise that Costa Rica is one of the world’s top family holiday destinations.
Costa Rica is rich in culture, outstanding landscapes, immense biodiversity, and offers a plethora of activities ideal for all age ranges. This makes it the perfect, soft introduction to South America. Widely welcomed as an idyllic travel destination, this colourful country provides travel that is free from the worries that trips with children often bring. Costa Rica is an oasis of calm, an escape from a busy world, making it the ideal location for much-needed family time. Children are genuinely appreciated by Costa Ricans, or Ticos, so travelling with them here will be a delight.
One of the best things about travelling to Costa Rica is there will never be a shortage of activities for family members of any age. While stretches of shimmering, sandy beaches provide hours of amusement for young children, more active, older children can partake in water sports surrounded by a plethora of incredible marine life. Whether you are after an action-packed, adrenaline-fuelled adventure or a more relaxed, peaceful holiday, Costa Rica can be experienced at your own pace. Combined with luxury villas with activities for the whole family, Costa Rica is sure to provide an unforgettable getaway, tailored to your family’s needs.
COSTA RICA FAMILY SAFARIS
Great Ideas with Kids
Costa Rica is the world’s largest natural playground, offering everything from simmering volcanoes to outstanding beaches surrounded by crystal-clear waters and bordered by lush rainforests with mangrove swamps. The country offers both fast-paced, adrenaline-enhancing jungle adventures like white-water rafting and more meditative, relaxing pastimes such as swimming with tropical fish or sunbathing on countless beaches. You could sit and relax, but that would mean missing jaguars in the forest, crocodiles and turtles on white powdery sands, and volcano climbing, all amidst lush scenery from dense mountain trails to open plains.
Younger Children Aged 8-12
Costa Rica is perfect for families travelling with younger children. Being a small, safe country, it offers a wide variety of activities for young ones under 12. Most of the adventurous activities can easily be scaled down to accommodate children of all ages, whether it be a scenic zipline through the cloud forest, surfing, or even white-water rafting. The outstanding hotels available within the country are always welcoming to younger guests and offer children’s clubs, menus, and rooms adapted to families. In such a relaxing environment, there is no better destination to introduce your children to international travel.
Older Children and Teens
Costa Rica is the destination your children will come home bragging about. In a country where older children, even teenagers, will never get bored, be prepared to hear about this holiday for years! From spotting curious wildlife such as macaws, sloths, and howler monkeys on jungle hikes to adrenaline-boosting zip-lining through forest canopies, parents can relax on picturesque beaches while teens enjoy surfing in pristine waters.
A must-do activity for older families in Costa Rica is hiking to one of the country’s beautiful waterfalls, where families can enjoy a refreshing jump into natural pools—a fantastic opportunity for brilliant family photographs!
Where to Stay
Costa Rica's tourism industry has blossomed recently, and most lodges and hotels are happy to accommodate families. Here are a few options to get you started:
Mawamba Lodge – Tortuguero
This exotic lodge, in the northeast area of the Caribbean coast, is positioned on a sandbar between the Caribbean Sea and the Tortuguero Canals, with spectacular views over both. Surrounded by lush rainforest, the lodge has great access to both the ocean and the canals within an amazing ecosystem.
With intricately thatched and spacious bungalows, Mawamba Lodge offers fantastic activities, complete with frog, iguana, and butterfly farms on the premises. Children will be delighted to wake up to the unusual calls of howler monkeys in the surrounding trees—the perfect start to days full of nature treks, nocturnal night walks, dolphin tours, kayaking, horseback riding, waterfall rappelling, and zip lining.
Lapa Rios Eco Lodge – Osa Peninsula
With spectacular views over the last remaining lowland tropical rainforest in Costa Rica and onto the glistening ocean, it is hard to imagine paradise as anything but this. Lapa Rios Eco Lodge is the perfect hideaway for families seeking comfortable and eco-friendly accommodation. Built using locally sourced materials, the individual huts of Lapa Rios are perched 350 feet above sea level, overlooking where the Pacific Ocean meets Golfo Dulce—the ideal spot for watching humpback whales and dolphins.
Harmoniously blending with the jungle and beach habitats surrounding it, Lapa Rios Lodge has won numerous awards worldwide for environmental and social excellence. With abundant wildlife and access to a private reserve, children will be in their element with nature, given the opportunity to glimpse unique nocturnal wildlife on night walks. Other activities include horseback riding, surfing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and zip lining. Kids can also plant a tree and name it, or take part in the Kids Rainforest Tour.
Hotel Punta Islita – Guanacaste
Ideal for families, Hotel Punta Islita is a wonderful location to explore local cultures and some spectacular beaches. With unique stays available in Deluxe Rooms, Suites, Casitas, and Villas, each accommodation option is well decorated with a tropical feel and offers beautiful places for you to relax and make the most of your Costa Rica holiday. The large infinity pool is a great place to relax with a book, and at ocean level, there is the Borrancho Beach Club, complete with a pool, gardens, playground, restaurant, and wet bar.
An exercise room with gym equipment, such as treadmills, spinning bikes, and weights, and a golf course and tennis courts encourage children to get active. Alongside a spa, there is also a babysitting service, ideal for when you would like to participate in a longer nature walk. Children can also go horseback riding, sport fishing, and surfing throughout the year. Depending on the time of year, you may be able to watch sea turtles or kayak through the mangroves and rivers.
WHERE TO GO IN COSTA RICA
Arenal Volcano
When the skies are clear and lava is in full flow, the magnificent Arenal Volcano provides one of Central America’s most exhilarating natural sights and wonders – a combination of blinding light and logic-defying rumbling that erupts in a spectacular show for onlookers. Since 2010, Arenal, the world’s most active volcano for the last 43 years, has been in a resting period; however it still remains a stunning sight. Beyond Arenal’s lava fields, the surrounding rainforest national park is a lush, prime spot for walking and hiking. Set within the 29,960-acre Arenal Volcano National Park, the volcano itself is 1633 metres above sea level and was formed some 7,000 years ago by the adjacent and now extinct Chato Volcano. The town of La Fortuna is the gateway to the national park and is situated just 4 kilometres from the volcano itself. Soak and relax in volcanic hot springs, listen out for gas eruptions and, as darkness descends, watch Arenal come to life from the comfort of your lodge.
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Tortuguero National Park
Lying in the northeast of Costa Rica along the Caribbean coastline, the Tortuguero National Park is a stunningly located park that protects a 22-mile stretch of beach, providing one of the largest and most important nesting grounds for the endangered green turtle. During the nesting season, between July and October, entrants to the park will have the privilege of coinciding their visit with these gentle creatures who make their way up the beach at night to lay their eggs, and with our guided nocturnal trips it is possible to see them at incredibly close range, making it in many wildlife enthusiasts eyes a must as part of their Costa Rica itinerary. This is one of the best places to see turtle hatchlings, and you can also see wildlife such as sloths, monkeys and toucans.
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Monteverde Cloud Forest
Forming part of the central highlands, an expanse of undulating countryside that spreads as far east as Volcan Arenal to the lowlands of Guanacaste in the west, the luscious and fertile hill country of this region makes it one of Costa Rica’s most enticing for walking, hiking and exploring its natural world highlights. The corridor of settlements that comprises Monteverde and Santa Elena is surrounded by a swathe of famous cloud forests, which generally sit at an altitude of around 1500 metres above sea level and protect a variety of flora and fauna within the spectacular two reserves of the region.
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Manuel Antonio National Park
Manuel Antonio National Park is a small biological reserve set on a peninsula atop an enchanting expanse of tropical rainforest, with spectacular views out to far-reaching white-sand beaches of the Central Pacific Coast.
Just a three-hour journey from the capital, San Jose, and one of only two spots in the country where you can see all four monkey species, it is also a great place for sloth-spotting. The smallest of Costa Rica’s nature reserves but by no means the least rewarding, Manuel Antonio offers visitors a tantalising and unusual mix of incredible beaches lapped by crystal-clear waters, varied wildlife, and one of the best spots for relaxation in natural splendour.
Osa Peninsula
Described by National Geographic Magazine as ‘one of the most biologically intense places on earth,’ the Osa Peninsula is a unique and remote area in the southwest of Costa Rica. Home to the Corcovado National Park, this region is perfect for those seeking an off-the-beaten-track experience away from more popular tourist areas. The Osa Peninsula boasts vast biodiversity and is a natural wonderland with much of its parkland protected since 1975. It is even possible, though elusive, to sight pumas and jaguars.
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Guanacaste & Nicoya Peninsula
Bordering Nicaragua in the northwest of Costa Rica, Guanacaste is a province whose name stems from the indigenous word ‘quahnacaztlan,’ meaning Guanacaste Tree, also the national tree of Costa Rica. The region is marked by spectacular beaches, a host of national parks, a string of volcanoes, wild rivers, and diverse forests, including the last remaining bands of protected tropical dry forests that used to stretch to Mexico.
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Costa Rica’s tourism sector is probably the most advanced in Latin America. Moreover, we ensure that all our guides, accommodation, and transportation conform to the highest safety standards. Years of experience mean that Ticos lead the way in customer service, ensuring that you and your family are always in safe but entertaining hands.