Costa Rica Local Travel Experts

Our trip has been amazing. This is our third time in Sri Lanka and possibly my favourite trip. I am already planning my next one.

Hi Roberto, we had a wonderful time in Costa Rica, every day was an adventure! We very much enjoyed Tortuguero, so much wildlife and seeing the turtles nesting and laying eggs was spectacular. We also very much enjoyed the authenticity of the Tortuga Lodge. I am sorry, we could not meet to thank you in person for a wonderful trip. We will warmly recommend Costa Rica to friends and family, as well as yourself and the Rough Guide for planning an outstanding trip. A truly amazing journey. Muchos gracias and Pura Vida!

Wonderful Holiday Roberto was great sorting out our 12 days in Costa Rica. All the places and hotels were great and the local guides were all great as were our transfer drivers. All knowledgable and wanted us to see everything possible. The only thing which I would say is the itinerary day notes and the information when you went into the planned day info didn't all match up with what the local tour company did with you. It is confusing but with hindsight I would double check with rough Guides exactly what is included in the day. One of ours said hanging bridges actually included but when we got there they weren't. I know Roberto had we contacted him would have sorted it but with only 2 days in a place and other tours/transfers already booked by rough guides there was no time to fit it in the local company informed us. It was disappointing but we still had a fantastic holiday and would definitely use rough guides again.

Hi Roberto, we had a wonderful time in Costa Rica, every day was an adventure! We very much enjoyed Tortuguero, so much wildlife and seeing the turtles nesting and laying eggs was spectacular. We also very much enjoyed the authenticity of the Tortuga Lodge. I am sorry, we could not meet to thank you in person for a wonderful trip. We will warmly recommend Costa Rica to friends and family, as well as yourself and the Rough Guide for planning an outstanding trip. A truly amazing journey. Muchos gracias and Pura Vida!

The trip planning with the Rough Guides and their local expert Roberto went smoothly and with great recommendations for lodging and activities. the actual trip went all as planned and exceeded our expectations on lodging, places visited and numerous activities all well arranged by the Rough Guides group. We had a fantastic trip in summary. thank you Rough Guides and Roberto, i highly recommend these folks.

We spent a fantastic time with the family getting to know an amazing country!!! I want to say a special thanks to Roberto that was supporting us every day and hour, answering our questions and solving immediately any topic that came up :-). Definity Insight Guides is the right agency for my family, it matches our needs and wishes, so I'm sure we will continue in touch and is a reference that I often share with family and friends

Rough Guides really made it a special experience. Having access to ask questions any time I needed was definitely peace of mind too! Highly recommend!

Just wanted to say thank you. My son and his college buddy had the best time in Costa Rica! You set up an amazing trip for them, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Everything was perfect. I appreciate your quick response to them when they needed to rearrange things a bit on the third day. I will definitely recommend you to others who are traveling to Costa Rica.

Hi Roberto, Bob and I want to thank you so much for our beautiful trip. Costa Rica is a spectacular country! We are deeply impressed by the country's commitment to humanistic values and the preservation of it's natural environment. It is an example for the world and I hope we will bring some of the positive experience we had there back here in the form of positive change. You really gave us a wonderful trip. Thank You. Warmest wishes. Meg

The service did a great job, the excursions and accommodations let some things to be desired. The accommodations were less than “luxury” as represented , that being said they were adequate. We booked a night excursion to go see turtle nesting, and were told by the guides they had come and gone a couple of weeks earlier ... and it’s timed on the moon and ride, so why book the excursion. The snorkeling excursion was in a bay with very choppy water and therefore very limited visibility. Our guide stayed on the beach and told us where to go by pointing, didn’t matter as you couldn’t see anything. All that being said the trip was wonderful and the area and people were great. After our first experience, I didn’t feel the need to check up on them when booking. In hindsight some personal investigations would have led me to limit the excursions that were booked. Roberto did a good job, they should maybe look into their excursion providers a little more! Love , Love Costa Rica!

Luxury travel We had the most amazing Honeymoon in Costa Rica booked using Rough Guides. We had local guide Roberto and he was fantastic. He sorted everything from travel to hotels to trips and we had an unforgettable time. We were able to set our budget, alter things as we desired right up until nearly travelling and Roberto even helped us on the other side when the airline lost our luggage. The whole system is easy to use, you're kept fully informed and I loved the app used to help us follow our trip day by day. I highly recommend!" Well done :)

Flawlessly managed, all the activities were perfectly organised and on time. Roberto took care of every detail in our 15 days adventure in Costa Rica. It is hard to choose a favourite moment. We had an amazing time throughout. The rafting and the scuba diving is highly recommended. The most unique place was El Zota. It is a hidden jewel in the rainforest. I will recommend it to anyone who likes nature. The most romantic was Arenal Paraíso. The view of the volcano from our room was stunning, and relaxing hot springs. Wish the hike would have been longer/more challenging, but we understand we are a bit of an exception with our passion for sports! Drake Bay is a completely different vibe. More backpacking style, with scuba diving being the best activity. Massive turtles and small sharks are thrilling! He saved the best for last with El Parador. Kayaking was unique in the manglares. Thank you so much, Roberto!

I have always enjoyed Rough Guides (books) and this year I decided to try the customized travel itineraries. Our agent in Costa Rica was Roberto and he was excellent! We told him what we were looking for (bird watching and nature, with a couple of extra activities) and he put together a wonderful itinerary for us, visiting some of the beautiful natural parks. We had a lot of back-and-forth messages and he would always try to find a way for us to have the bext experience. We did a lot of things in two weeks and there wasn't a single one we didn't enjoy. We contacted Roberto a few times with questions and he was really helpful every time. It was a truly memorable vacation, with nothing to worry about and everything going smoothly. Even when we got evacuated from Tortuguero, Roberto reworked the plans with no hassle for us. Perfect!!!

I have always enjoyed Rough Guides (books) and this year I decided to try the customized travel itineraries. Our agent in Costa Rica was Roberto and he was excellent! We told him what we were looking for (bird watching and nature, with a couple of extra activities) and he put together a wonderful itinerary for us, visiting some of the beautiful natural parks. We had a lot of back-and-forth messages and he would always try to find a way for us to have the bext experience. We did a lot of things in two weeks and there wasn't a single one we didn't enjoy. We contacted Roberto a few times with questions and he was really helpful every time. It was a truly memorable vacation, with nothing to worry about and everything going smoothly. Even when we got evacuated from Tortuguero, Roberto reworked the plans with no hassle for us. Perfect!!!

I spent a month in Costa Rica; the first 4 weeks being in Nosara for Spanish studies and yoga. Roberto planned the final time of my trip to give me a fuller experience of the country. This landed me in La Fortuna with 4 days full of fun and wonder. It was a relief to not have to worry about the details, especially the travel from Nosara to La Fortuna and then back to the airport in Liberia. I had looked at doing that myself through the internet and was not having much success. It could have been sorted out once I was in Costa Rica but I prefer to have these sort of details lined up before I arrive. Rough Guides made the travel piece easy and stress free. The resort Roberto booked for me was great. It was individual bungalows in a most beautiful setting, close enough to town center that I could walk there in 5 minutes for meals, shopping and more. I also appreciate that Roberto used a variety of tour operators for my time in La Fortuna. I think it made my experience much richer getting to meet such a wide variety of people. It was so obvious how much love and pride the people of Costa Rica have for their country and their natural environment. From ziplining and rafting to amazing hikes, tours and hot springs soaks, the last 4 days in Costa Rica were everything I could have hoped for. Being a solo traveler, Roberto had to do some changes on the fly to make sure I could do the planned activities, and he did that with ease. My only regret was time. I wish I could have spent another week (or more) exploring other areas of the country. There will definitely be a return trip in the years to come and hopefully Roberto will still be working with Rough Guides.

I have been using the books for a long time for planning and preparing our trips, but I did not realize until now that they offer planning services online. I contacted them for my recent trip to Costa Rica and I found it extremely usefull to have someone locally to help me plan and book activities. Roberto did a great job at understanding our needs and interest. He was always available and responded quickly to our request or enquiries. He introduced us to local resources (Tour operators and private shuttle services) and booked everything for us. We made certain last minute changes once in the country. It was like having a personnal assistant available on demand. We enjoyed the activities and the tour operators were very friendly and professional. I will definitely call on their services next time I am planning a trip.

The planning was perfect for my family holiday