3-Days Arenal Volcano Tabacon Resort - Monteverde - Manuel Antonio

My husband and I just took this tour and found it to be a very mixed experience. So I will start with the good and follow with the bad. The best thing is the value. For all that is included, it is a very economical way to see a lot of Costa Rica without having to drive around on all the windy, unfamiliar roads. The tour did include transportation, breakfast, lunch, and hotel for 2 nights. The food was good. We ate traditional Costa Rican food for all but one lunch in La Fortuna - a fairly good Italian restaurant with lots of wine choices. Any alcohol bev's were not included; but it was nice to always have the option of beer or wine along the way. We were lucky enough to meet very nice people on this tour. The best time had by all was Monteverde Cloud Forest bridges (included) and optional zipline (ticket not included $55) followed by an excellent, fun and informative coffee/chocolate/sugar cane tour (optional $35) at Don Juan's. Manuel Antonio Park and beach was nice - we saw Capuchin monkeys along the trail up close, a sloth far up in the tree and howler monkeys in the distance. Not as many jungle sounds/birds/butterflies as I was expecting - hardly any! Arenal volcano/La Fortuna was super rainy. OK now the BAD: We were at the mercy of our driver and his choice of cousin's hotels which I would NOT advertise as local. The amount of driving was RIDICULOUS and unorganized. The hotels were sub par. One would have been nice had the drapes not been moldy. Our main guide spoke some broken English. The driver and one of our other guides speaking VERY limited English and one driver spoke no English! When we asked questions - like how far are we going, or when we will get to the hotel - we NEVER got a straight answer. We arrived at the hotels too late to eat or swim, and tired after driving an hour or more out of the way (on the way for their drive back to San Jose; I suppose). If I did it again - I would do the research, rent a car and do the tour myself since it was mostly self guided anyway! I would get to a local hotel and skip all the excess driving.

The tour operator went out of his way to accommodate my personal timings and likings for this 3 day trip in Costa Rica. Nice hotel stay, excellent food, guide speaking English about the sub-cultures of the country, all in all an enriching experience for me. Strongly recommend this.

We, a group of 6 people took this tour from August 29th through September 1st 2019. Our tour guide was Yojhan and the driver was Juan Jose. Even though Yojhan cannot speak English fluently he did his job in an excellent manner. One way or the other he conveyed his messages and plans to us. Whenever there is a jungle animal or bird on the roadside he tells the driver to stop the van let us watch them. The fist night stay was in Cabins in La Fortuna and the second day it was in a budget hotel at Manuel Antonio. Kudos to our driver Jose who did a marvelous job by driving through the zip-zap mountain roads. We highly recommend this tour. Thanks to A&E Tours Travel and Viator.

Words cannot describe the exhilirating 3 day Arenal and Monte Verde and Playa Manuel Antonio trip. Apart from the spectacular sights, our driver Juan Jose and guide Yojhan were 5 star, exceptional gentlemen who ensured that we did all that we wanted to do and more.

Viator assained A&E tours and asked me to contact the tour company by providing a local costa rica Phone number. I tried several times to contact tour companu without any answer. I contacted Viator at least 3 times regarding at what time tour guide pick us uo at hotel where we are staying in. Until last minute Viator or Tour guide gave us any reply. On the day of the tour one gentleman named Yojhan Esquivel came in a car to take us to tour. He is nice gentleman but he is not a tour guide. he does not know much English and also he doen not understand well also. On the last day he put us in a dinky small hotel in Manuel Antonio with out AC and very small room.

Great experience with yojan and Jose. Fantastic tour guide and driver. Our family truly enjoyed our vacation , each trip was made very special and lots of information about the Country of Costa Rica , the history, the dedication to keep the culture was very good to know

Our driver Juan José and our guide Yojhan were indescribably wonderful. Easy going, helpful, warm, knowledgeable, safe - we were a group if 10 and Juan José and Yojhan were incredible. I highly recommend them and am so grateful for their considerate handling of the arrangements

Yojhan (like Johan) and Alvaro were absolutely fantastic guides on this three day trip. They picked us up at our hotel near the San José airport and we drove to the Arenal Volcano. Great hike and Yojhan really knows the local fauna and animals. Afterward we enjoyed local hot springs and then hopped back in the van and drove to Monteverde. The next morning we had a good breakfast and headed to the Cloud Forest. The hike was very cool as you moved in and out of different types of forest and the clouds blew in and out. It looked like time lapse photography, but in real time. A good lunch and then back into the van to head to a hotel just outside Manuel Antonio National Park. At one point Yojhan and Alvaro stopped to buy Mamones, a fruit that looks like Dragon Fruit, but taste like pear/pineapple/cherry with the consistency of grapes. They also stopped at a bridge to see crocodiles who were lined up like trucks at a weigh station. The last day we toured Manuel Antonio and saw a sloth, two kinds of monkeys, iguanas, fish, and lots of crabs. There is a nice beach. One last meal and we were off. Our family had planned to ride back to San José and then catch a bus to Jacó to go surfing, but Yojhan and Alvaro simply dropped us off at our hotel in Jacó. They really went the extra mile. The hotels were very clean and had great breakfasts. The hikes were challenging and Yojhan was a great guide to each park, pointing out interesting plants and animals, like the Quetzal we saw in Monteverde. My family and I are bilingual, so our tour was in Spanish, but Yojhan said it was his first tour in Spanish in four months (all others were in English). Alvaro was the driver and he had interesting conversations as we drove, pointing out interesting sites and stopping whenever my daughters needed a restroom In sum, a worthwhile adventure with really great guides.