Costa Rica - Garden Tour in Costa Rica

March 11-18, 2010

Learn about horticulture while enjoying exotic gardens in Costa Rica, the #1 destination worldwide for nature travel. See many of their 10,000 plants while also experiencing the charm of Tico culture. Costa Rica Tours, Ltd.'s commitment to providing you with the best travel experience has resulted in a tour which takes you off the usual tourist path in a small group of like-minded travelers. Our full-time Costa Rican naturalist guide helps insure we never miss a thing, whether on a planned stop or in a chance roadside encounter.

Tour Highlights

• Small group size (16 maximum) makes the best nature experience
• Full-time Costa Rican naturalist guide and U.S. tour escort
• Annual National Orchid Show in San Jose
• City Tour of San Jose: Jade Museum and National Museum
• Basilica de Los Angeles in Cartago
• Lankester Gardens in peak orchid blooming season
• Renowned tropical fruit tree collection at CATIE in Turrialba
• Tayutic Hacienda tour & demonstrations of crop processing
• Folk Dances by local school children at your mountain lodge
• The Ark Herb Farm
• Zoo Ave Breeding & Rehabilitation Center
• The Butterfly Farm in La Guacima
• Tabacon Hot Springs & Spa in Arenal
• See Tour Video

Daily Itinerary

Day 1: Upon your arrival in Costa Rica, you will be greeted at the airport and transferred to Hotel Bougainvillea in Santo Domingo de Herredia, a town to the east of the San Jose airport. You will have time on your own to enjoy their spectacular flower and sculpture garden, considered one of the best in the country. In the evening, you will have a welcome cocktail and tour orientation meeting, followed by dinner.

Day 2: Your day will begin with an informative motor coach tour of San Jose with stops at the National Museum and the Jade Museum, which has the best collection of Pre-Columbian ceramics in Central America. After a typical lunch at Nuestra Tierra Restaurant, we will attend the annual National Orchid Show and visit a bookstore and gift shop. We will stay in town to have dinner.

Day 3: You travel southeast to Cartago, the first capital of Costa Rica, to visit the Basilica de Los Angeles and catch the local market, full of exotic tropical vegetables and fruits. Your lunch will be at a restaurant with a spectacular view of the Orosi Valley. Next, on to Lankester Gardens, known for its orchid collection and tropical plants. At the end of the day, relax at your mountain lodge with a beautiful view of the countryside of Turrialba.

Day 4: You will tour the beautiful Tayutic Hacienda of the Ortuño Family where they grow sugarcane, coffee and macadamia nuts. The tour offers a good inside view of how these products were traditionally processed and their historical importance for Costa Rica. On the farm you can see a little church built in the beginning of the 20th Century and beautiful gardens.

In the afternoon, you visit CATIE (Center for Tropical Agriculture Research and Education). You will see tropical fruits that you probably have never seen before. CATIE’s Botanical Garden serves to enrich genetic diversity and help scientists, students and the public become aware of the importance of protecting our natural resources that provide us medicines, food, and the enjoyment of nature.

Day 5: Today you transfer to an area north of San Jose to visit The Ark Herb Farm, considered to have one of the best collections of culinary and medicinal plants in Costa Rica. There are acres of terraced beds growing culinary herbs that are sold to restaurants, hotels, and cruise ships. In a central botanical garden, ornamental plants and over 400 species of medicinal plants from Costa Rica and around the world grow. Some species are endangered in other areas of the world due to over-exploitation of their natural populations. The staff will prepare a special exhibit for our group to have the opportunity to see, touch, and smell their plants.

After lunch at a popular local restaurant in La Garita, we will visit nearby Zoo Ave, which is a "must see" while in Costa Rica. On 59 hectares of landscaped grounds, the staff operates Costa Rica's most successful rescue and rehabilitation center for injured and confiscated birds, reptiles, and mammals. Their fantastic bird collection of over 100 species (the largest in Central America) includes dozens of toucans, scarlet and green macaws, cranes, curassows, and parrots. Zoo Ave is one of only two zoos in the world to display resplendent quetzals, considered the most beautiful bird in the world. They also maintain a collection of 20 species of mammals and 15 species of reptiles which they breed for reintroduction into the wild. Your visit to Zoo Ave contributes to the reproduction and preservation of the natural wildlife of Costa Rica.

Afterwards, you will visit The Butterfly Farm in La Guacima for the most comprehensive tour of its kind in the world. You will learn about the natural history of butterflies and acquire first-hand knowledge of a fascinating cottage industry which employs hundreds of families in a sustainable manner. The Butterfly Farm is a working farm dedicated to the rearing of live butterflies for export. It was the first venture of its kind in Latin America, and today is the leading exporter of butterfly pupae (live butterflies) in the world, exporting annually over a quarter million chrysalides. The farm was opened to the public in 1990, and is one of the most popular destinations in the San Jose area.

Day 6: After breakfast, you will transfer to Arenal in northern Costa Rica. Along the way, you will stop to take an easy guided walk through El Silencio de los Angeles Cloud Forest. After lunch at your hotel in Arenal, you will relax at Tabacon Hot Springs & Spa. You will enjoy it multiple pools of thermal water heated by Arenal Volcano and its beautiful tropical vegetation and gardens. While at your buffet dinner, you may catch the sight of the smoldering lava flow coming down the distant slopes of the volcano.

Day 7: You have a free morning to relax by the hotel pool and take optional spa treatments or optional tours, such as a Canopy / Zipline, horseback ride to La Fortuna Waterfall, or hike at Arenal Hanging Bridges. After lunch, you will transfer back to San Jose, with a stop at Else Kientzler Botanical Garden known for its ornamental plants. You will also stop in Sarchi, the crafts capital of Costa Rican, known for its painted ox carts of various sizes, carved leather rockers, wood and ceramic items. Your farewell dinner will be at your colonial-style art lodge in the outskirts of San Jose.

Day 8: You are transferred to the airport for your flight home.

Cost for Land Tour (8D/7N): $1975 per person, double occupancy (add $375 for single occupancy). Includes all 20 meals (7B,6L,7D); 7 hotel nights at best quality hotels; two airport / hotel transfers and group transportation to multiple locations in Costa Rica with driver and A/C motorcoach, full-time Costa Rican naturalist guide, and U.S.Tour Escort. International airfare, guide tips, and airport exit tax (currently $26) are not included.

What Passenger Have Said About Their Garden Tour:

The tour was fabulous! Although I wasn't an avid gardener before I left, the enthusiasm of my fellow travelers and the extensive knowledge of the naturalist guide made me one! I learned so much, and the experience made me truly appreciate the beauty of nature. Id do it again in a heartbeat! Kathy C., business owner/NC

"It has been such a pleasure to book a tour with a company like yours. The service is so personal and comes straight from the top. That is a very unusual experience these days and it is such a joy. I hope you are around for a long, long time. Thank you again." Valerie M., Master Gardener/NC

"I thought the trip was terrific. A friend of mine said before I left that I would fall in love with the country. Was he ever right! I have never had so much fun learning new things and seeing new places. Being a lifelong plantsman and insect fancier I couldn't get enough of either. It was the best tour I've gone on. I have traveled a lot, but this was the first in Latin America. It has spoiled me for other tours." Phil P, Master Gardener/PA

Contact us for a complete tour description and registration information.

COSTA RICA TOURS, LTD Specialists in Costa Rica & Panama info@costaricatoursltd.com www.costaricatoursltd.com (704) 541- 8680 We can arrange private tours on your preferred dates throughout the year.