Published on Jun, 2024
This was an amazing day! Our tour guide, Donald, was knowledgeable, professional, and attentive. Our driver, David, was safe and the tour bus was clean and comfortable.
I‘ll admit I thought the stop in Sarchi was going to be an unnecessary tourist trap, but it was a lovely little artisan town and we only spent just enough time there to learn the history of the ox cart’s significance in Costa Rica and to visit the gift shop at the ox cart factory, where I absolutely wanted to buy something made by local woodworkers, who were there working while we visited.
The lunch at Selva Rustica was incredible, and the restaurant was beautiful.
The tour only spends about 20 minutes at the overlook of the Arenal volcano, which I wished was slightly longer but there really isn’t anything else to do other than look at it, and it is a long day that others may not want to be made longer just to keep looking at a (majestic) volcano.
Visiting the hot springs was a wonderful experience. I paid the extra to go to Ecotermales and was happy with that decision (even though I don’t know what I missed at Baldi, where the rest of my group went); it was quite private until 5 PM when it quickly got pretty crowded. The dinner at Ecotermales was also absolutely delicious, and the staff there were wonderful.
The drive home was long, as we were warned and couldn’t be avoided. We did get to stop for a bathroom break. Everything went according to schedule.
I almost decided not to go on this tour at the last minute based on limited and some questionable reviews of the Baldi tour with this company, and having had a bad experience with a different touring company the previous day, but I am so glad I did. In future visits, I will plan to book again with Expediciones Tropicales and highly recommend them and this tour. Thank you for the wonderful experience!