Tours and days out from Sámara

Two dives in one morning, with a dive guide and the full set of equipment. This one asks for a certification card, it is not a first try in the water, and two people are enough for the boat to go out.

What turns up changes with the day. The sites off Sámara bring turtles and tight schools of fish, and now and then something bigger passing through, a ray or a shark out in the blue. Around three hours from start to finish.

The day opens on the water, kayaks along the bay, close enough to the coast to watch what moves around you, with the breeze doing most of the work on the way back.

Lunch is local and unhurried. Then the day turns inland to the Sámara Trails, where a guide leads you up through the forest to a lookout over the whole bay, the same water you paddled a few hours earlier, seen from above. Eight hours, ages four to seventy-five.

A guide picks you up near where you are staying in Sámara or Carrillo, and the group gathers down at the southern end of the sand, where the captain and crew are waiting. There is a welcome drink as you push off, then the coast, with dolphins and turtles turning up often enough to keep watching.

The boat anchors near Isla Chora for snorkeling; gear is on board, and the spot changes with the tide and the sea. Afterwards there is food from a local cook, and then the part everyone came for, the light going orange over the water on the way back in.

You meet your instructor on the sand at Sámara beach; there is no pickup with this one, so it drops neatly into a morning already spent by the water. The lesson is semi-private, two people or more, and can be booked fully private instead.

The bay is sheltered, so what reaches the beach is small and forgiving — the reason children start here from about five. The hour begins on the sand with the basics and then moves into the water, with your instructor alongside you for every wave.

You board one of the two catamarans in mid-afternoon with a drink in hand and sail out along the Sámara coastline. The captain anchors near Isla Chora so anyone who wants to get in the water can, pool noodles and all.

On the way back the music comes up, fruit, snacks and cocktails come out, and the boat is set facing the sun as it goes down. It is an eighteen-and-over trip that needs six people, so it suits a group rather than a couple.

The whole hour belongs to you and your instructor, so the lesson starts wherever you actually are: first time on a board, or a turn that still is not landing. Corrections come in the water, as they happen.

Rash guards are provided, and there are outdoor showers to rinse off when you finish. Sámara bay forgives a lot while you learn. From age five up, and one person is enough for the lesson to run.

You board at the south end of Sámara beach and the catamaran runs a few miles up the coast, while the crew keeps watch for dolphins and sea turtles. In whale season, humpbacks pass offshore too.

The boat then anchors near Isla Chora, a protected island, for time in the water with snorkel gear. There is fruit and something cold to drink on board, and pickup in Sámara and Carrillo is part of it. Which spot they use depends on the tide and the sea that day.

It begins on the sand: your guide covers how to stand, how to fall and how to read the water, so no one needs to have paddled before. Then you set off along Carrillo, the next bay down the coast, at whatever pace the group finds.

There is a stop partway for fresh fruit and cold drinks before heading back. Departure follows the tide rather than the clock, so the exact hour comes with your confirmation email. Pickup in Sámara and Carrillo, with a certified boat captain alongside the group.

The boat takes five people at most, so it stays an unhurried three hours rather than a group outing. A guide runs it and fills in what you are looking at along the coast on the way over to Isla Chora.

At the island you get in with mask and snorkel, gear and life jackets included, and the guide picks the spot according to the sea that day. Fresh fruit and something cold afterward. Departure follows the tide, so the time is confirmed with your booking rather than fixed.

You are dropped near the shore at Playa Sámara, fitted with a vest and a kayak, and given the short version of how to paddle before setting off toward the island. Where you snorkel depends on the sea that day; the guide picks the clearest spot.

Afterwards you land on the white sand of Isla Chora with fruit and cold drinks, and nobody hurries that part. Start times move with the tide, so the confirmed hour comes with your booking. Guide, boat captain, gear and pickup from your place are included.

The tide sets the hour, so your exact start time comes with the booking confirmation. The crew meets you on Sámara beach for a short briefing, helps you onto the board, and then it is a steady paddle across the bay at whatever pace you set.

At the snorkelling spot the guides hand out the gear and point out what you are seeing below you. Afterwards there is fresh fruit and something cold on the shore of Isla Chora, and time to wander the island or get back in the water before you paddle home. Pickup and drop-off in Sámara and Carrillo are included.

Barra Honda sits inland on the peninsula, so the pickup is early. Most of the day is on foot: around eight kilometres through tropical dry forest, with the guide naming trees and medicinal plants and watching for coatis, agoutis, anteaters and monkeys.

The centre of it is underground: you go down into one of the caverns with your guide, where stalactites and other formations have been building for thousands of years inside an old karst landscape. Rated intermediate to demanding, so bring at least a litre of water each.

The drive goes inland through Nicoya, one of the oldest and most storied towns in this part of the country, and carries on to the Tempisque river. From there the tour is on the water, following the boundary of Palo Verde National Park.

A naturalist guide reads the riverbank for you. These are among the largest wetlands in Costa Rica, and the birdlife is what most people come for. A casado, the everyday Costa Rican plate, is served before the ride home. Around six hours door to door.

The drive out to Punta Islita ends at the Macaw Recovery Network, where a guide meets you and explains how the scarlet macaw was returned to a coast that had lost it.

You walk the reserve trails while the released flock goes about its day overhead, red and loud, and visit the breeding centre that cares for injured and rescued birds. More than fifty macaws now live wild in the area. Guide, water and cold drinks and transport from your place are included. Three hours, from four people up.

You meet the horses first and get a short lesson before setting off, so no previous riding is needed. The route goes through the dry forest behind Carrillo, quiet enough that wildlife shows itself, and stops at a lookout where the whole bay opens up.

The last stretch is along Carrillo beach with the horses at the water's edge. Guides are bilingual, safety gear and insurance are included, and pickup is arranged in Sámara and Carrillo. Two departures, morning or mid-afternoon; riders need to be twelve or older.

Pickup is in the evening and the drive goes to whichever beach is active that month, usually Corozalito or Ostional. Your guide starts with the ground rules for being near nesting turtles: where to stand, how to move, how to leave the beach as you found it.

Then it is a slow walk on the sand, watching for females hauling out to dig. The guide explains the conservation work at both beaches and the life cycle of a sea turtle, from the nest to a hatchling reaching the water. Sighting equipment and the ride back are included.

You put in on the Río Ora, where the guides run through paddling and safety before anyone sets off. From there the route slips into narrow channels roofed by mangrove, quiet water where herons, monkeys, iguanas and crabs turn up without much searching.

The paddle ends at Camaronal Beach for a break with fruit and cold drinks, then you turn back the way you came. Departure depends on the tide, so the hour is confirmed ahead of your date; guides are bilingual, and pickup in Sámara and Carrillo is included.

Your guide collects you from selected hotels and rentals, then leads you out across what was once a cattle farm, through an old mango plantation and into the Werner Sauter Biological Reserve.

Dry forest is open rather than dense, which is why animals are easier to pick out here than in rainforest, and this is one of the last stretches of it left. Over three hours your guide names the birds, mammals and trees along the path, and fills in the older history of the valley — the people who lived on this land long before Europeans reached the Americas.

Pickup is early and the drive inland is comfortable enough — air conditioning and Wi-Fi in the van. At the river the guides go through paddling technique and safety before anyone gets in a boat, and the equipment is fitted there.

The run holds more than twenty rapids, and the one people talk about afterwards is the twelve-foot drop at Cascabel Falls. Lunch follows, then the ride back to the coast. Ages thirteen to sixty-five, and the whole day takes about ten hours.

It opens with the canopy surf: you ride a board slung under the cable, out over the dry forest with the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. Then a short walk to the first platform and nine cables, the longest close to two thousand feet.

There is a vertical rappel, a break for water and whatever fruit is in season, and trail walking between stations where monkeys, iguanas and birds turn up. The last line is the Superman, flown face-down and horizontal.

You start standing up, on a board that runs along the cable and takes you out over the treetops with the ocean in the distance. A short walk reaches the first platform, and from there five cables cross the dry forest, the longest close to six hundred metres, plus a rappel down.

Halfway through there is a break for water and seasonal fruit while the guide talks about what lives in this forest. The last cable is the Superman: face down, arms ahead, flying level through the canopy. Gear is provided; wear closed shoes.

You clip in at the first platform and cross the forest on ten cables, with a vertical rappel to finish. Between runs there are trails to walk, and the view opens out over the hills toward the ocean. Monkeys, iguanas and birds turn up on their own schedule.

Halfway through, the guides stop for water and whatever fruit is in season. The platforms are built from recycled wood, and the operation has been running since 1999. Bring closed shoes, repellent and sunblock; the rest is handed to you there.

The route leaves the coast for the hills behind Nacaome, where river, forest and mountain run into one another. The track is narrow and thickly overgrown, the sort of ground a quad reaches and little else does.

You stop at a waterfall, clear loud water falling onto rock, and again at a lookout that opens onto three beaches with the ocean behind them. Three hours in all, four riders minimum, and suitable from eight years old up to seventy.

This one takes the whole day. You leave Sámara before seven and drive up into Monteverde, and the first stretch is on foot, crossing hanging bridges strung above the forest floor, where the light comes through in pieces and there is time to look for what moves.

Then the Sky Tram carries you up the mountain, and the way down is by zipline, fast enough to make the forest blur. Lunch, entrance fees, the guides and the transport back are all part of it. Best for children six and up who can hold out for a long day.

The van leaves the coast at half past six and climbs inland until the dry Guanacaste heat gives way to cloud forest. At Monteverde you are fitted with the gear and sent out over the canopy, cable by cable, treetops below and views opening up between platforms.

Lunch comes after that, then a slower walk on the trails with a naturalist guide who spots the sloths and explains how they live up there. Equipment, entrance fees and bilingual guides are included, and the same van brings you back to Sámara or Carrillo.

Pickup is before dawn for the drive to Arenal Volcano National Park. The morning goes to the trails, walking at the guide's pace to find sloths in the branches, along with frogs, insects and the birds you hear long before you see them.

Then the harness goes on and the ziplines run across the canopy with the volcano in view. Lunch is included, and the day ends soaking in hot springs warmed by the volcano itself before the ride back. Pickup and drop-off in Sámara and Carrillo.

It is an early start and a full twelve hours, a good part of it on the road between the dry coast and the rainforest around Arenal. At Mistico the walking is gentle, a circuit of hanging bridges through the canopy with a naturalist pointing out what lives up there.

Sloths are what people remember, four to six of them on a good day, plus birds, frogs and the insects you would never spot alone. Afterwards the group soaks in mineral hot springs and sits down to lunch. Guiding, entrance fees, lunch and pickup are included; four people minimum.

You leave the coast early and trade heat for mountain forest. The walk crosses a run of hanging bridges strung through the canopy, with a naturalist guide reading the forest as you go; most groups come across four to six sloths, along with birds, frogs and insects.

After the hike there is time in the hot springs, and lunch is part of the day. Guide, equipment, entrance fees and pickup in Sámara or Carrillo are all included. Plan on being away around ten hours, which makes it a whole day rather than a morning.

A driver collects you early and heads inland toward La Leona, near the Rincón de la Vieja volcano. Your guide explains the route, then the climb up the canyon begins, partly on foot and partly in the water, between rock walls and thick vegetation.

The waterfall waits at the end, deep blue and cold, with time to swim before the walk back. Lunch follows, then the drive home to Sámara. Guiding, equipment and pickup from your place are included; it runs about ten hours and needs four people to go.

The van leaves before dawn and reaches Arenal Volcano National Park in the morning. The trails there are good ground for sloths, which is what most people come for, and a guide points out the birds, frogs and insects that would otherwise go past unnoticed.

The waterfall comes next, with time to swim, take photographs or just sit near it. Then lunch, then the hot springs fed by the volcano, then the drive home. Guide, equipment, entrances, lunch and pickup in Sámara or Carrillo are included; it runs about twelve hours.

An early pickup and a drive north to Hacienda Guachipelín, where the day is built from four things: ziplines and a rappel through the Río Blanco canyon, tubing down the Río Negro through class III rapids, and time on horseback across the ranch.

It closes with volcano-heated water, a steam room and a mud bath, and a Costa Rican lunch lands somewhere in the middle. The order shifts with the day and the group. Guides, equipment and transport from Sámara and Carrillo are included.

You leave early and drive inland to Tenorio Volcano National Park. The guided hike goes to the Río Celeste waterfall, whose colour appears where the Buenavista river meets Sour Creek and the two mix.

Lunch follows the walk. Then a stop given over to sloths, where a guide explains how the two-toed and three-toed kinds differ, what they eat and why they live at that pace. Twelve hours in total, with transport there and back.

The day starts on the water. The catamaran heads out along the coast to look for dolphins, then anchors so you can snorkel. Lunch comes with the tour.

Afterwards a guide takes the group onto the Sámara Trails, walking under the trees for wildlife and for the long views back over the bay. Eight hours in all, with both halves of the day close to town.

Mornings in the bay tend to be flat, and that is when the boards go out. You cross the calm water at your own pace with the whole coastline in view, close enough to shore to stop whenever you feel like it.

Then lunch, local and slow, and the afternoon moves to the other side of Sámara for the guided walk on the trails — dry forest, wildlife on the path, and viewpoints over the same bay you paddled that morning. Start times follow the tide and are confirmed with your booking.

The day opens on the water. After a short briefing you paddle along the coast towards Playa Carrillo, your guide talking through the stretch of shore you are crossing, and there is fresh fruit and something cold waiting when you land.

A local lunch follows, then the afternoon turns inland for the guided walk on the Sámara Trails: dry forest, wildlife along the path, and viewpoints back over the bay you crossed in the morning. Because the paddle depends on the tide, the starting hour shifts from week to week.

The boat goes first, running along the coastline towards Isla Chora and past coves that are awkward to reach any other way, with a guide aboard who knows the water and what lives in it.

Lunch is local and unhurried; the afternoon is the guided walk on the Sámara Trails, through dry forest with wildlife along the path and views back down over the bay. Of the three one-day combinations this is the gentlest, which is why it takes children from four and their grandparents. The tide sets the starting hour.

The Nicoya peninsula is one of the few places on earth where living well past ninety is ordinary, and this day looks at the habits behind that. You head inland to Hojancha and to Matambú, an indigenous community that has held on to its crafts.

Coffee comes first, followed from the seed through to the cup in your hand. Then a pottery workshop, where you work the clay yourself alongside people who have done it their whole lives. Lunch, entrances and pickup are arranged, the pace is easy, and children manage it well.

Diriá grows and roasts in the highlands behind Sámara, around Hojancha, Nicoya and Santa Cruz, and the visit walks you through the whole chain: how the fruit is handled, how it is roasted, then cupping and tasting alongside the baristas who do it daily.

The other half is the people. Your guides are Chorotega, descended from the community at Matambú, and they talk about how coffee sits inside their own history and the way they farm. It runs about four hours and works for almost any age.