Wees getuige van de spectaculaire Arenal-vulkaan tijdens een begeleide wandeltocht

With so many tour operators in La Fortuna, you should pick one who cares about their customers. Desafio doesn’t. We booked the volcano hike for our last day in La Fortuna. We knew it was supposed to rain and we were disappointed that we wouldn’t see the volcano, but we decided to do a guided tour so that we would at least learn about the history of the area, as well as the flora and fauna. Unfortunately our guide, Pablo, obviously did not want to be there. He didn’t even try. He clearly wanted to get out of the rain as soon as possible. He was rushing way ahead of us on the trails and only spoke to us to give very brief answers to our questions. It was worse than visiting without a guide, since we felt so rushed and didn’t get to enjoy the forest at all. The only wildlife we saw was spotted by me (then reluctantly identified by Pablo, who had to backtrack to find us since he had gone so far ahead). The tour ended more than an hour before it was supposed to. It was a really disappointing end to our time in La Fortuna. We of course knew the guide couldn’t control the weather, but he could control his attitude and effort. He chose to mail it in. Bad went to worse when we told Desafio about our experience. We went to the office immediately after the tour to tell them about what had happened. After talking to the manager (who never actually did us the courtesy of speaking to us themselves), one of the employees told us that we would get a 50% refund. We accepted this offer since we figured it was the best we were going to get. We waited for quite a while in the lobby for them to complete the refund. Finally we asked what was going on, as we had to catch our transfer to Monteverde. Once they knew we were leaving La Fortuna, they went back on their promise and told us there would be no refund. The employee said the manager had spoken to Pablo, who said he did explain things, so they were reneging. We were shocked by this. I still don’t know whether Pablo lied to his manager or if he merely bent the truth (since, as noted here and as we told them at the time, he did answer direct questioning). But either way, we were shocked that after being promised a refund for the unacceptable experience caused by the guide, the company would just go back on their word like that. There are a lot of companies in La Fortuna. And most are less expensive than Desafio. Pick a different one. PS - Desafio is now doing the volcano hike at Mirador El Silencio, which is very inexpensive to visit yourself. Despite Desafio’s claim that there is better wildlife viewing here, an insider told us that the lower entry cost is the real reason why Desafio switched locations — they can make more profit this way. Skip the guided tour altogether and just go solo. If you do want a guide, don’t pick Desafio.

Bellissima passeggiata .. abbiamo fatto il percorso giallo.. una parte sulle pietre laviche.. in mezzo dell'erba alta.. punto panoramico.. un'ottima esperienza.. da fare!!

Bernie is een echt gepassioneerde en vriendelijke gids. We genieten erg van deze familiewandeling met onze 11-jarige dochter. Het is een makkelijke wandeling met als afsluiter een heerlijke snack.