Tortuguero

Tortuguero was definitely my favorite part of the trip. Our guide was amazing, we saw a lot of wildlife as well as the local town where you can buy inexpensive souvenirs. The resort is definitely a great place to get away from reality.

Laguna Lodge Gardens were beautiful. Food was very good. Only negative was 'no air-conditioning' - and with temps close to 30 C, sleeping at night was a challenge.

A place not to be missed on any trip to Costa Rica. We were picked up somewhat later than planned from our hotel in San Jose. Ken, our guide on the bus was excellent, explains everything very clearly. He pointed out the main features of San Jose as we travelled around picking up people from other hotels. He continued telling us the history of San Jose and Costa Rica as we headed across the central divide through Siquirres and on to the ‘port’ of Caño Blanco, where we caught a river bus that took us circa 35km through the mixture of natural and man made canals to Tortuguero. The plan was to have lunch and then go on a river tour to see wildlife but as we were running late the itinerary was switched and we went on a nature trail walk in the extensive grounds of our Pachira Lodge that afternoon and our boat safari was switched to first thing (5:45am) the next morning. This was a far better time to see the wildlife. Our guide Manfred and our boat driver seem very knowledgeable and spotted loads of birds, bats, iguana, some caiman and a Jesus Christ lizard. The zip lining was excellent and great fun. We felt that the village tour was longer than necessary and that an hour and a half would be better than 2 hours, unless you want to have a long cool drink or a coconut in one of the many local bars. That night we went in our own jungle night walk on the Lodge trail seeing a nine-ringed armadillo. For our last day we decided to go on a 3 hour private tour at 6am of the canals with Castor Hunter in his small canoe. Although we did some paddling, for most of the tour we were driven along absolutely quietly by his electric motor boat engine. This is definitely the best way to see wildlife in Tortuguero. Castor has been guiding for 48 years and his father was the first person to take visitors out to show them the canals and wildlife. He spent his childhood camping in the jungle with his father learning about all the flora and fauna and escaping snakes and bugs in their tents. We saw many birds again and 3 different types of monkey - spider, howler and white faced cappacine monkey. We see a nest of 4 baby caimans, a couple of iguanas, a Jesus Christ lizard and a river otter. After lunch we decide to have a second walk around the lodge’s rainforest trail. We spot some spider monkeys and a toucan high up in the trees. When we get back to our room we see the troop of about 6 Howler Monkeys (that had woken us up at 04:30 that morning with their very loud calls), moving slowly through the trees behind our room. A very special three night stay in this very special place.

Nice lodge. Costa was an excellent and knowledgeable tour guide. Enjoyable canal boat trip. Not much to see in the town itself.

Guapiles Food was excellent Staff were friendly and smiled. A great litte stop off, with nice butterfly garden and facilities.

This was a very special experience. Something not very many get to be part of. Great service, so remote, lots of animals, and a great nature experience! Loved it!

Wow!!! Amazing! Words cannot express how great my experience in Tortugero was. If you go to Costa Rica you must go there. Stay at Laguna Lodge and have Carlos Arceyut as your tour guide. The views during the boat ride there was breath taking. If you want to relax, enjoy nature, bird watching, and much more you have to go to Tortuguero. Laguna lodge is beautiful and the staff is very friendly. The food is amazing and authentic. They have 2 swimming pools and plenty of space to roam around. You'll see all kinds of birds, Iguanas, there's a little frog garden. The beach is literally your backyard while staying there. Enough said! Just go there already. Carlos will make sure you get to see everything you would expect and more.

This place was beautiful. And I was able to see the turtles. Amazing!

Great place to see the turtles. Town is quite basic, but perfectly serviceable.

I loved Tortuguero. It was the least tourist-dense part of our trip and filled with the most wildlife. I would certainly return.

We actually saw a jaguar along the bank of the canal. Got great photos and video.

We loved the wildlife here and the people were very nice as well.

Rugged nature at its best. Remote for sure but amazing experiences. We saw sea turtles coming out of their nests and running to the sea. Awesome. And some new birds too.

Oh, what a beautiful place this is! The boat tours and guides were incredible. We will be coming back to this area as soon as we can, and we will definitely be asking for Mario as our tour guide. What an amazing way to experience nature. We saw toucans, 3 varieties of monkeys, and hatching sea turtles. It was so peaceful and filled with opportunities to experience nature. I wouldn't recommend this to families with young children, but we have definitely been recommending it to everyone else!

Completely amazing! Tortuguero is a must visit.

I think our favorite place to eat was called natural foods. The chaps at the tourist information were very helpful particularly Leonardo and Oscar. We went on a canoe and guided walk with Juan who was also good. Our accommodation at Tortuguero Natural B&B was clean and adequate. Jose our host was very attentive and helpful. Security was also good here.

Tortuguero is an all-inclusive resort, so one restaurant/one bar, but it's perfect. Great variety for meals and drinks, lots of hiking trails, a wonderful beach, pools, and a frog garden with iguanas and red-eye tree frogs. Highly recommend for anyone who wants to just relax and enjoy themselves.

Loved the natural beauty and the jungle, very unique area, would have loved to be there when the turtles were nesting.

Tortuguero es un lugar bastante recomendable para las personas que gustan de la Naturaleza y quieren ver fauna silvestre. Todo es bastante bonito, desde el trayecto y el hecho de que tengas que navegar por entre los canales para poder llegar ahí. Los paquetes que venden son muy buenos ya que tienen todo incluido y el trato del personal es muy muy bueno.

The turtle guides were amazing! Two days is the perfect amount of time to spend here.

Highly recommend the turtle tour

Ricardo was a wonderful tour guide who educated us on the area.

Excellent service at Tortuga Lodge and Gardens. The staff were very kind and helpful. Being able to see the forest from the water was a neat experience. Though it rained during our entire kayak trip it was still a blast!

Wonderful - not very touristy, highly recommmend for nature lovers.

Fantastic place set on a peninsular of land with boat trips and wild life in abundance, I would not have missed this part of the trip. Mammals, reptiles and birds more than anywhere else on our trip. We were in walking distance from Tortuguero nice to be able to take the walk to have a beer in the town.

Our favourite. A must see! Unbelievable location. Loved the animals. People were amazing.

Felt very safe and it didn't feel touristy. I would definitely recommend this location to anyone and would go back in a minute.

We did not find too many American tourists. In fact, there seemed to be more tourists from Europe on this trip. Our guide Giovanni made this experience worth every penny. He was thourough, and very enthusiastic. We loved seeing the Sea turltes nesting! A chance of a lifetime.

We got to see a sea turtle on our night tour, which was fabulous. Also got to see a variety of animals and insects during the day - the most variety we saw on our trip. I LOVED seeing a Hercules beetle at our lodge! When we went to the village of Tortuguero, there were several tour groups there at the same time so it felt a bit packed full of tourists. Plus, the majority of shops were selling the same types of CR souveniers that one would expect. But we enjoyed going to the small grocery markets and restaurants.

I loved this destination. The tour guide was wonderful!! The day and night tours in the canals were spectacular!! We spotted a lot of monkeys and birds and reptiles on our tours. I enjoyed the interaction with other visitors also.

Again - WOW. This is an outstanding place to visit, couple or family.

Trip of a lifetime - thank you for taking us here.

My daughter, a biology student wants to look into the possibility of doing some research in Tortuguero. We just loved the place! My husband and I just want to go back and relax. He unfortunately was sick the one full day we were there, so he experienced all the tours only through our story telling.

Fun place with a ton of animals and a great little local town just a few miles of a walk along the beach. Good place if you like nature.

Very safe. Remote. Great for nature lovers. Great experience.

Tortuguero was a great experience. We felt safe, not too touristy, good place for nature lovers, good interactions with locals. You represented the area well in your descriptions.

Loved the boat rides in the canals. Appreciate the extensive knowledge of our guide. I expected to see more wildlife, but understand that because we were only allowed in a small part of the park, the animals were not visible. This is not a bad thing because the park is being protected for posterity. Impressed with the care and responsible way that everyone takes care of the environment.

Manuel our guide was charming! Turtle Nesting - watching the Green Sea turtles come ashore to lay eggs and return to the ocean was incredible!!! Very refreshing ride amongst the mangroves of the lush tropical rainforest canals!

Get away from all the crowd. Like a little Venice in Costa Rica. Beautiful'est' place. Go to Wild Ginger cafe to eat.

Tortuguero was our favourite destination in Costa Rica. It was not overrun with tourists, and had a very local feeling. All the locals were very friendly, and we felt completely safe everywhere we went.