Costa Rica Sun Tours (CRST) offers transformative, meaningful, and unique travel experiences. We understand the importance of surpassing your travelers’ expectations. With the right ingredients—a creative, enthusiastic, and detailed team, combined with a destination that has it all—you have a recipe for a fun adventure, no matter how you define it!
Add to this our carefully curated collection of fun, impactful, and unexpected experiences that can’t be found elsewhere, and you elevate your guests’ holiday that much more. We’re delighted to share a taste of what we offer.
“Social and ecological responsibility is paramount to our business, and we are committed to the communities and environments that host us. The following experiences allow our guests to delve into Costa Rican culture with respect and tread lightly as they explore.”
Through the decades, CRST has developed and cherished wonderful relationships with individuals and families throughout the country. What we’ve learned is there is nothing better than being invited into a local’s home to share a tasty homemade meal, swap stories, and explore exceptional gardens and landscapes. ¡Bienvenidos y buen provecho!
Doña Flory and Don Emilio are lifelong residents of La Paz. On any given weekend, just follow the aroma to their home and you’ll be treated to a delicious and typically tico meal by Doña Flory. In addition to working his farm growing coffee and sugar cane, Don Emilio runs the renowned Trapiche Los Hermanos Arias—a traditional sugar cane mill where he and his brothers
have been producing juices, natural sugar, and sweets for more than three decades! The property is also home to nature trails and beautiful birding gardens.
We love to include this lunch stop en-route north from San José — delicioso!
Visiting Pierella in Sarapiqui is a great way to support a local woman-run family business. Over the course of a few decades, Pierella has transformed her property into a five-hectare area that hosts a great diversity of habitats and wildlife—a true ecological preserve. The garden offers great birding trails, a butterfly farm, birdfeeders, a cocoa tour, many varieties of native and tropical fruit trees, sloth watching, and some of the best traditional food around!
A trip to Tortuguero would not be complete without a visit to Miss Junie’s restaurant, where you are promised a fresh meal with plenty of Caribbean influence. This little spot in Puerto
Limon, referred to locally as a ‘soda’ is a must on everyone’s visit. After a tasty lunch, we’ll introduce you to Miss Junie’s son Cloied, a local personality and spectacular storyteller. He’ll give you a ‘coconut tour’ and spin tales you won’t soon forget, making it a memorable part of your stay.
José Alberto Pérez, locally known as Cope, is one of the most recognized selftaught natural history artists in the country. Among his hundreds of drawings, you’ll find an amazing diversity of rain and cloud forest flora and fauna—from orchids to giant ceibas, from jaguars to monkeys, sloths, and lizards. Cope is especially dedicated to birds, with much of his art focused on hummingbirds, tanagers, toucans, raptors, owls, and herons to name just a few.
Cope is also an avid photographer, and he welcomes us to his home in Guápiles complete with special bird feeders meant for photography and the close up contemplation of birds and nature—an intimate opportunity to appreciate nature so lovingly featured in his art.
Only 20 minutes from Monteverde is a magnificent look out, situated within a private farm. Boasting some of the best sunsets and vistas of the Pacific coast in Costa Rica, this secret spot is just a short stroll from the road. With only the silence of nature around you and excellent views of Puntarenas and the dry lowlands of Guanacaste, we think it’s an ideal place to relax and enjoy! Let us take you to Cerro Pinocho with wine and cheese to enjoy after a great hike in the misty cloud forest!
El Camino de Costa Rica is a remote and unique experience that connects the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean with world-class trekking through the beautiful mountains of Costa Rica. Designed to attract adventurers looking to immerse themselves off the beaten path. Rural community involvement is integral to the experience and cultural exchanges are a daily occurrence through food, conversation, and the warm welcome at the comfortable lodgings. Join for a day or more!
Including community service or voluntourism into an itinerary with us is easy! Through our long-standing relationships country-wide, we can coordinate activities and facilitate donations in myriad ways— schools, sports teams, national parks, wildlife, orphanages, and the list goes on!
Costa Rica is home to so many jewels that need protection, and sea turtles are one of them. Every year Costa Rica welcomes several species including the leatherback, hawksbill, loggerhead, green, and Olive Ridley. We organize volunteer efforts to protect their nests, count and monitor individuals.
There are several opportunities to get your hands dirty with us—take part in studies in our National Parks, plant native trees for a macaw recovery project, or put your building skills to the test. Whatever the interest of the travelers, we’ll arrange an appropriate activity.
The ever-popular chance to work with local schools is always a win-win. Working together with local school associations, we can organize painting of classrooms, sidewalk construction, pick-up soccer matches (including donated soccer balls) and the like—each project ends with shared refreshments and new-found friends.
Our creative team has a stash of tips and tricks up their sleeves—they also happen to be experts in their field and well-connected! In short, if you are planning a surprise, we can help. We’ll brainstorm with you to ensure the experience is above and beyond. A few ideas to inspire you:
Rather than arranging a run-of-the-mill tour of the National Theater we prefer to buy tickets to the performance. Want a private gallery viewing? A sit down with an artist? We can do that too!
This is one of our favorites. We love to celebrate guests—a cake and boisterous rendition of happy birthday on a flight, a fully decorated van upon return from a walk—with balloons and treats at every event, we’ll make it memorable!
Here’s where we really shine. Our guides go above and beyond with the little touches on each trip. Sloths evaded you? A plush version may be given as a gift. Avid soccer fan? We’ll find the spot with the coldest drinks and large TV for the big game. A long day in the car? A night of salsa dancing is the answer!
