Costa Rica Panama Trail

Product Details

About this adventure tour...

So much to explore, so much to experience; this unique camping tour offers the best and most dynamic destinations in the region.

Leaving the capital of San José, we stop first at the Quitirrisí Indian Reserve before spending a night at Costa Rica’s newest national park, La Cangreja. Monteverde calls to us next where we will have a day in the park to explore the unusual ambience of this cloud forest. For a more adventurous experience, try zip lining among the cloud-drenched canopies and across open ravines.

Continue your adventure to Volcán Arenal, one of the most active volcanoes in the hemisphere. You can hike, mountain bike or visit one of the various hot springs that adorn the area.

From Arenal, we travel northwest to the dynamic Parque National Rincón de la Vieja with its boiling mud pools and clouds of sulfurous vapor emanating from beneath the exotic foliage on the forest floor. Here we will explore the park, making hikes in the enchanting lowland forest and to the barren lunar landscape that marks the rim of a smoking cauldron.

What better way to finish the first half of our journey through the interior of Costa Rica than with a two-night stop at Santa Teresa. In Santa Teresa, the soft roar of crashing waves are a perennial backdrop to the end of your adventure and have a way of drowning out the noise you have come to escape from.

After one night back in San Jose, we head immediately to Volcán Poas and continue to Río Cuarto de Grecia, where we will explore an incredible fantasy of waterfalls along the Toro River. This next day finds us travelling south toward Panamá and its enchanting archipelago, Bocas del Toro.

Here, you won’t run out of ways to spend your days. You can rent mountain bikes or go on a boating excursion and snorkel among a myriad of coral reefs and brightly coloured fish. What better way to spend your evenings than to sip rum cocktails and dance to the unique rhythms of Panama’s off-shore Caribbean islands?

Returning to Costa Rica, we stop in Cahuita to explore the park that bears its name. Here, you may hike and enjoy the beach. Travelling north and then west toward the Pacific, we make a stop at a private farm in the high southern mountains that offers one of the best opportunities to view the Resplendent Quetzal, the most mythical and illusive bird in Central America. From here, we descend to the secluded and pristine Osa Peninsula to visit Corcovado National Park.

Our last days have us in one of the most revered beaches in all Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio. And what better way to end your 11-day romp in Costa Rica and Panamá than by body-surfing Manuel Antonio’s perfectly curled waves and perfecting the ephemeral yet all-important sun tan that may offer the only proof you went away?

Remember, if you quote '10% gapyear.com' when booking this tour, you'll get 10% off the price quoted above!

Included in the price

- Transportation by private vehicle
- Services of a local tour leader
- All camping fees and equipment
- Eight hotel nights accommodation
- Boat ride to Bocas del Toro
- Admission to Arenal Hot Springs
- Admission to all national parks and reserves as per itinerary to include: Quitirrisí Indian Reserve, La Cangreja Reserve, Monteverde Reserve, Arenal NP, Rincón de la Vieja NP, Palo Verde Dry Forest NP, Volcán Poas, Reserva Cascadas, Corcovado NP, Bastimientos Marine Park, Cahuita Marine NP, Finca de Quetzales, Manuel Antonio NP.

Optional activities

- Mountain biking
- Horseback riding
- Canopy zip-line tour
- Boogie / surfboard rental
- Snorkelling
- SCUBA diving
- Surf lessons
- Windsurfing

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