Sep 28, 2007
A strong case can be made for touring Costa Rica independently and not in a group
I recently wrote about the fierce competition between Caravan Tours, Gate 1 Travel, and GAP Adventures in the sale of group tours of Costa Rica for under $1,000 a person, not including airfare. But why travel Costa Rica in a motorcoach group? Some of the best reactions I've heard to that popular Central America nation have been from people who rented a car on arrival and then simply went on their own to Guanacaste (the beaches), Monteverde (cloud forest), Manuel Antonio (national park along the sea), Arenal (the active volcano), Tortuguero, Puerto Viejo (the Caribbean coast), and elsewhere.
If you'll go to www.gapadventures.com, and click on "Central America," "Costa Rica," and "Independent," you'll find a large assortment of self-drive tours that cost about $525 per person for a week, $765 for 11 days (all plus airfare), including a self-drive car for those periods and hotels with breakfast daily in all the locations along suggested itineraries. You fly into San Jose, pick up your car, and thereafter follow the indicated route, arriving at each hotel location on the prescribed day. Here's an appealing way to absorb all the sights and atmosphere of Central America without the burden of having forty other people to dog your every step.
And for persons who themselves don't want to drive, the tour company offers a similarly-priced alternative, a hotel shuttle bus that will pick you up at the end of your stay in one hotel and drive you and your luggage to the next hotel. It's called an "Adventure Bus" in GAP's literature, but it is more like a shuttle van and certainly not (in most instances) a large bus.
Although you'll find complete descriptions of these independent programs for touring Costa Rica in GAP Adventure's website, the people handling reservations are an independent unit of GAP reached by a separate phone number: 800/667-1221. (The normal GAP number is 800/708-7761).
Write and read comments about this post.
If you'll go to www.gapadventures.com, and click on "Central America," "Costa Rica," and "Independent," you'll find a large assortment of self-drive tours that cost about $525 per person for a week, $765 for 11 days (all plus airfare), including a self-drive car for those periods and hotels with breakfast daily in all the locations along suggested itineraries. You fly into San Jose, pick up your car, and thereafter follow the indicated route, arriving at each hotel location on the prescribed day. Here's an appealing way to absorb all the sights and atmosphere of Central America without the burden of having forty other people to dog your every step.
And for persons who themselves don't want to drive, the tour company offers a similarly-priced alternative, a hotel shuttle bus that will pick you up at the end of your stay in one hotel and drive you and your luggage to the next hotel. It's called an "Adventure Bus" in GAP's literature, but it is more like a shuttle van and certainly not (in most instances) a large bus.
Although you'll find complete descriptions of these independent programs for touring Costa Rica in GAP Adventure's website, the people handling reservations are an independent unit of GAP reached by a separate phone number: 800/667-1221. (The normal GAP number is 800/708-7761).
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: costa rica
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
