San Jose: Tropical Rainforest and Chocolate Adventure

Visit Tirimbina Rainforest Center for a chocolate tour and discover the wonders behind one of the world’s most tantalizing foods — chocolate! The cacao tree originated in Mesoamerica and has a rich and extraordinary history. En route to this amazing place, we will make a stop at La Virgen del Socorro (a private reserve) and lunch at the local restaurant owned by Doña Marielos.

This San Jose tour will get you up close and personal to nature and noms, with a hike through the rainforest and a chocolate tour of the local cacao plantation.

Take private transportation through the Caribbean lowlands and Braulio Carrillo National Park to the Sarapiquì area, one of the best spots in Costa Rica to experience the many wonders of the tropical rainforests. Your certified naturalist guide will lead you through the highlands to La Selva Reserve – one of the best birding spots in Costa Rica. Part of a UNESCO Biological Reserve and with over 400 bird species spotted in the area, you’re sure to see some incredible little fliers.

For an extraordinary experience in bird-watching and photography, head to the La Selva Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS). La Selva has been a pioneering site in education, research, conservation, and ecotourism in Costa Rica since 1963, and is one of the first private protected areas in the country, and together La Selva and the Braulio Carrillo National Park are part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

After you enjoy the amazing natural history of the tropical rainforests, flora, and fauna, you’ll head off to discover the secrets and marvels of one of humankind’s favourite foods – chocolate. With its origins in Mesoamerica, cacao has a rich and extraordinary history in this part of the world. Your San Jose chocolate tour will include a visit to a cacao plantation to check out forest and wild species of cacao, as well as understanding the process of turning cacao into chocolate. Enjoy a chocolate tasting of cacao and other organic chocolate products all made by the Association of Women Amazilia del Caribe, a local organisation. After indulging in all that chocolate, visit an ant farm to discover the secrets of the most organised society in the Costa Rican rainforest - a leaf cutter ant colony.