Jillshonestreviews
22 Feb 2026
Most amazing tour I’ve ever done-and I have done a lot! Unparalleled beauty, excitement, safety and fun. The guide, Fernando, was amazing. He kept us safe while being funny and entertaining. We even stopped at a waterfall and jumped in and swam. The equipment is top notch. The lunch was delicious. I can’t say enough about how much I loved this adventure. This is a definite must do in Costa Rica. We had to reschedule because of weather and they were so accommodating to make sure we could do it. We thought we had to drive 3 hours, but they helped us with a meeting point only 2 hours away-so worth the drive. They offer pickup but we were far away and had a car so we wanted to drive ourselves. They even provided lunch for my husband who didn’t go rafting but drove us the 2 hours each way. I’m 61 years old and had a blast! Amazing company, amazing activity!
It is with great concern that I write to report my experience with the company Adrenalina Rafting - in Turrialba, Costa Rica.
My ordeal with Adrenalina Rafting began in mid-October, when I used TripAdvisor’s information to contact the company. The communication was done via WhatsApp, as the company does not offer booking or payment through its website. It is important to note that no contract is signed and payment (USD 90) is made only in cash, with a 20% advance paid via PayPal. The Adrenalina Rafting representative stopped responding after some time.
I arrived in Turrialba two months after the previous contact without knowing whether I would actually be able to go rafting. On two occasions I went personally to the office, but it was closed. My messages continued to be ignored. Thanks to a local resident, I managed to get the contact information of a guide who works for the company. He promptly replied and agreed to take me rafting. At that moment, I thought my problems were over - how wrong I was.
On the agreed day and time, the guide showed up, but the vehicle was in no condition to transport passengers: an old van with exposed bodywork, no seat belts, and a terrible smell of burnt diesel. Considering that there was no contract, any accident on the road could have turned into a major problem.
After 1.5 hours of rough and unsafe travel, we arrived at the river. There were about 30 people on the tour, with 4 to 6 people per float boat plus a guide. On the very first rapid, one of the rafts had an accident. The float became stuck on a rock, two passengers jumped into the river while the other four remained in the boat, that filled with water, and one female passenger had to cling to the rocks. Five guides took part in the rescue, which lasted 34 minutes (recorded on Garmin) and was only possible thanks to two experienced guides. At that moment, I realized how problematic, unsafe and desorganized the company was. The group involved in the accident quit the tour halfway through, which was completely understandable.
Throughout the route, smaller incidents continued to occur: an elderly woman fell out of the raft, and a man became furious because one of the guides would not stop splashing water into his ear, even after he had warned the guide about his history of otitis.
After four hours, the tour ended—but the stress did not.
During the trip, a person identified as a member of Adrenalina Rafting took photos of the participants. The photos were shown, and customers were given the option to purchase them for USD 25 in cash - again, without a contract. A download link was supposed to be provided later that same day.
The link never appeared. The representatives and staff of Adrenalina Rafting completely ignored my Whatsapp messages.
As a last attempt of contact, a few days later I sent an email to the company and received as a response a phone number and a message asking me to call them.
The person identified himself as the person in charge of Adrenalina Rafting and said that the photos had been lost in a terrible accident and that they had been trying to contact me ever since. This story is hard to believe, since my phone was working properly and all the messages I sent were received and ignored. As a solution, he asked me to wait a few more days while they tried to recover the photos (the same ones that had supposedly been lost in the accident), if this was not possible, I would be reimbursed.
Months have passed, and, unsurprisingly, nothing has happened.
In light of everything reported here - the lack of a contract, safety issues, deception, customer vulnerability, and the bad faith of those involved - I strongly recommend DO NOT CONTRACT this company.