Puntarenas Highlights Shore Excursion

Fair value

Tour leader and driver both exceptional. Wildlife too far away or would rate higher. Would reduce river timento and I crease town time.

Don’t go.

Don’t go! Giotours may be great for some, but if you plan on sitting comfortably for 8-hours, this IS NOT the excursion for you. They overfilled the bus we were on and someone had to literally sit on the floor, packed between people’s knees and feet. Although the bus was air conditioned, there wasn’t a set place to stop for wildlife - meaning there were frequent stops on the side of roads where the door is opened and the bus unloaded. This excursion started out roughly…. And only got worse from there. Pablo was our tour guide - he did the best he could with the situation he was placed in, however, you WILL receive pictures airdropped to your phone of said tour guide at the end of your tour, dispersed among the blurry pictures of wildlife or Google downloads. I would not recommend Giotours.

River Cruise, Fruit stop, Lunch, & City Tour

Pablo was our tour guide, who took great pride in showing his areas highlights, with a great sense of humor, and information. We saw several toucans, howler monkeys, alligators, iguanas, and lots of birds. Easy to find tour because he had a sign with name of company. Picked us up at the cruise dock. Our tour had 8 other ship people, and 7 people from the ship didn’t show after a 20 min wait…..we should have left earlier. The lunch stop which was cafeteria style and was very good. Fish was fried, but delicious and not over cooked. Loved the plantains and whitish square veggie! He even made a stop at a drug store for someone!

An excellent day with Pablo in Puntarenas

Very personable tour with Pablo And driver, Christian. Pablo was very knowledgeable in all aspects of our tour. Was very excited for finding Tucans and Macaws and would go out of his way to help make sure all of his guests were able to see. We also saw lots of 🐊! We would highly recommend Pablo’s services to everyone!

River Tour with Pablo C. Was excellent.

Excellent trip with Pablo. He is so knowledgeable and friendly. Trip was as advertised and more. Saw crocodiles, moneys , and an amazing set of birds. The buffet lunch was very good. Christian, our driver, was very friendly and professional. Well worth the price.

Costa Rica Trip

Pablo was an excellent guide. Very knowledgable. Lots of time drivng was a downdside, but did see wild life. Lunch was good too.

Best of Costa Rica was just the BEST !

We have just done the Best Of Costa Rica with Gio tours (booked through Shore Excursions) from our cruise port stop in Puntarenas . Our tour guide Pablos was honestly one of the best guides we have experienced on a tour.His knowledge of local wildlife was incredible and he was such a lovely, entertaining guy. We saw so much wildlife on our crocodile cruise along the Tarcoles River ( apparently its the most densely populated river with crocs in the world ! ) . included were great tastings of local fruits at the markets and a generous lunch at El Jardin. Can highly recommend this , great value for the $ .

Great day in Puntarenas!

The company was so easy to work with! Our arrival time was delayed, and they were so accommodating! We had a wonderful time on this excursion! Our tour guide Pablo made sure we were able to see as much wildlife as possible. We saw parrots, toucans and many animals on the Tarcoles River. Lunch was great, and the shop had a lot to offer.

Informative and fun.

The guide, Juan and driver Carlos were fun and informative. The bus was too small and uncomfortable. It was listed as not accessible but someone can that needed it to be and it held up the group a few times, so stick to the rules.

Randall and Juan superb experience

Randall and Juan were terrific and very knowledgeable. Our group got a long very well and the Crocodile Safari was amazing! Highly recommend!

Excellent!

Our tour guide Pablo was so funny and knowledgeable! We would this tour again. It’s nice to see different places in Costa Rica , you get to experience seeing monkeys, crocodiles, and birds and we got to eat lunch too. I would highly recommend this tour.

Great day excursion

A nice cruise excursion. Easy to find guide at end of pier by where all the non cruise line buses were parked. Packed day seeing the white faced monkeys first, river cruise in small boat looking for birds and crocodiles, finishing with seeing Macaws and lunch/shopping. Only one toll road in/out of town. I guess we spent a couple hours just driving but your mileage will vary based on traffic.

Great Tour!

Good intro to Costa Rica. A lot of variety. The guide was knowledgeable and flexible. We recommend this tour if you are in Costa Rica for a short day trip

Great Excursion

The monkey stop was amazing. The monkeys would come right up to you. We enjoyed the river cruise. The lunch was delicious, with many choices. Highly recommend

Most Wonderful Experience

Best excursion ever!!! Pablo is a very knowledgeable, entertaining, and generous guide. We loved all the places we visited and wildlife we saw, including the capuchin monkeys, crocodiles, shorebirds, and macaws.

False Description

Tour was to start at 0800. We were on the bus by 0745. At 0830 the bus had still not left, so we got tired of waiting and gave up. Also the description said it was "steps from the ship" but yet it involved about a 15 minute walk. False advertising.

Totally Not Worth the Money

I thought this tour was really lame and a waste of a vacation day. The only fun part was going out to watch and feed capuchin monkeys. The river trip to see alligators was a bust, they then took us for lunch at a very mediocre and crowded tourist buffet. Afterwards we went to a supermarket. Really? They thought that was interesting? It ended with a boring bus ride around town that you can walk on your own.

Good short excursion of city and wild life.

Our tour guide was terrific. Unfortunately, the traffic was horrible due to Easter and we were not able to visit some areas as scheduled.

Good shore excursion in Puntarenas

The bus is nice and clean. Jose the driver is very accommodating. Pablo our guide is very caring, fun and communicated well. The boat ride to Tacoles River is very good. We saw crocodiles and different birds. Fun expedience with the monkeys. We did get to see different fruits . We spent a lot of time in the traffic due to some accidents so we were rushed and late for lunch. If ever we get back in Puntarenas, I will still use this company but maybe reserve a private tour.

Horrendous traffic

The whole trip was a disaster traffic horrendous so the main part of the trip on the river didn’t happen. We spent several hrs waiting in traffic for the guide to decide in order to get all the cruise passengers back to the ship on time the trip couldn’t be completed.

Stuck in Traffic?

The booking process was simple and communication was great, the transport (coach) was waiting for us was very nice with welcome air con. The tour started well with a trip to see the monkeys, we followed this up with a visit to the fruit store with welcome free samples, great selection of fruit some of which I have never seen before. This is where the tour ended due to the volume of Easter traffic. We sat in traffic for over 2 hours before the decision was made to abandon the tour and head back via a welcome lunch stop. Pablo, the guide and Hose’ the driver tried really hard and made what was a difficult situation better than it could have been. I guess it was no-ones fault or was it? I think this could have been predicted, we have Easter every year and I’m sure the traffic increases during this time as families head towards the coast. Why not head away from the traffic, surely there must be tourist attractions worth seeing as opposed to the inside of a coach for hours on end. Whilst I would probably book this tour again but NEVER during a public holiday. Oh and I do expect my entrance fee & boat trip costs refunding…

Costa Rica tour

Pablo is the greatest tour guide we have had. We highly recommend him. We had a wonderful time on the cruise. He was very personable, had a great sense of humor and was very knowledgeable about the area.

Highly recommend great guide

The bus accommodations were clean and new The guide was extremely knowledgeable and s spoke great English The nature boat tour on the river was perfect

Fantastic

The crocodiles were prehistoric, the howler monkeys cute and the scenic overlook was gorgeous! Pablo was a great guide-patiently answering questions and helping us shop/explaining the various fruits and coffee. Andrea’s kept us safe!

Transportation made it less than fun.

The tour guide did not make good use of our time. He waited 30 min for someone who never did show up. We then had a 45 minute delay due to road construction which he couldnt do anything about, but further made bad decisions by not leaving lunch earlier, even if it meant shortening the gift shop time. The delay for construction this time was just over an hour which would really push us to get back to the ship. Then some fool didnt use the restroom at the restaurant and the bus stopped just so he could go spend 9 min in the bathroom while the rest of us sat and waited. The boat tour for crocs and birds was really good, but the stress of not knowing we would get back to ship on time was not good for many of us.

Good Crocodile boat trip but no monkeys

The Viator tour description said we would go to a private area to see monkeys....didn't happen. The bus barely slowed going past a forested area where the guide said sometimes you could spot one. The fruit stop was a big open-air market, not the farmers who grew them....but it was still interesting. The boat trip to see the Crocs and birds was the best part of the trip for me. The boat captain found crocs, fed them chicken to give us a show and was very entertaining. We saw birds too. Then we went to lunch at a restaurant serving cafeteria style. There was a long line as it appeared several tour groups were eating there. The souvenir shop was attached. The Viator tour description also said we would go to a real Costa Rican supermarket but that stop didn't happen either. The bus driver and tour guide were fine, especially helping me get on and off the bus (I have difficulty with stairs). I really wish we had seen monkeys and stopped at a supermarket as described on Viator. Probably the biggest disappointment was the very long, long walk along the pier from the ship to the meeting point. Other tour busses pulled onto the pier next to the ship but not ours. After we got to the guide and bus at the meeting time, they delayed the start of the tour at least 30 minutes for missing passengers who never showed. At the end of the tour we again had the long, long walk on the pier from the drop off spot to the ship. Overall it was an okay tour that would have been much better if the tour had actually followed the description on Viator.

Very well paced and well...

Very well paced and well organized tour. Our guide Pablo and driver Jose did everything possible to make this an enjoyable experience for their guests.

Don’t waste your money.

Was not as advertised. A waste of money. No private wildlife area. One fruit stand and buy your own. Did go to the Tarcoles River. Not much to see that day. Went to a Supermarket??? We did have a good lunch. No monkeys (not even in the distance). Few birds and alligators. That’s the short form.

A memorable experience.

Excellent tour! Our guide Pablo stopped the bus whenever he saw some interesting wildlife and we all jumped out to view it, all 9 of us. The Tecoles River crocodile tour was the icing on the tour. Terrific small group tour with lunch included and there were plentiful bathroom stops.

Nice Scenery

Great guide, Pedro. Interesting scenery. We didn't see monkeys and only a few crocodiles. We saw lots of birds. It was the dry season so apparently animal sightings are not as plentiful. That said, it was an enjoyable excursion through Costa Rica.

Amazing Tour!!!!

Pablo was amazing even gave us a tour of Puntarenas local areas after the tour.The lunch was amazing authentic Costa Rican food and fruit tasting(pineapple/ papaya) I got a chance to buy Souvenirs while I was on the excursion.

Puntarenas not "The best of Costa Rica" tour

Puntarenas, Costa Rica tour with Giotours agency. Before taking the Emerald Princess cruise during the December 2022, we reserved the "Best of Costa Rica" tour as it was offered by the Cruises Only agency. Similar tours were offered by the cruise line, but we had much smaller group (just twelve passengers) and a better price as well. We were delayed from leaving on time. Our guide Pablo was gracious to give extra 33 minuts waiting time to a couple late passengers to join us, but they did not show up anyway. It took a long time to reach the first stop - fruit stand, where we were treated with large variety of of known and not so known fruits. And this happen to be the highlight of the whole tour. Continued to the crocs river tour. We were delayed at the bridge where traffic slowed down in order to observe crocadiles on the river bank below. It happened to be the best chance to see crocs from far away. During the following one hour crocadile river boat tour we were entertained by the boat guide and that was it. We were able to see just a few very small crocs and ones spotted for a few seconds a head of a larger crocodile. Did not have a chance to spot a single monkey. Was it a good value for the whole day tour? It was good to spend time outside of the ship, not so good for the observation of the wild life of Costa Rica. Good Travels.

Comfortable and informative

Our guide and driver, Juan and Rosco were exceptional. They were highly tuned into spotting moneys and scarlet macaw along the highway. Crocodile tour was interesting and informative. I would highly recommend this tour.

Great tour and GREAT guide.

Pablo was terrific. We saw everything we hoped to see. Monkeys, macaws, toucan, and big Crocs. Lunch was provided and was very good.

Amazing Costa Rica experience

Our tour was fantastic, way better than we’d expected. It was a huge plus being picked up in the tour coach. Pablo, our guide, was informative, super friendly, and extremely knowledgeable about the plant and animal life, and the culture and economy of Costa Rica. We learned a ton and ate great food along the way. I highly, highly recommend this tour!

Very nice tour, would do again

Guide (Pablo) and driver (Carlos) were friendly, cheerful, patient, and very informative. Our guide was terrific at spotting wildlife and then getting us close enough to take good pictures. It was a rainy day, so the tour route had to be changed because of road conditions, but it was a comfortable van, fun boat ride, and we were just a couple of feet away from the crocodiles!

Viator Punta Reynas Excursion

Sing crocodiles on the river. Searching for and finding white faced monkeys. A good lunch of local food

Loved our tour! Saw crocs...

Loved our tour! Saw crocs and macaws and monkeys. Our guide made a special effort to find these animals. Well done

The Best of Puntarenas-MUST SEE

Unable to rate higher however the tour was excellent!! Pablo was our guide. He was extremely knowledgeable, friends and entertaining! Would highly recommend this tour and Pablo.

Pretty Puntarenas

Pablo, our guide and Carlos, our driver were charming, professional and highly informative! We couldn’t believe how good they both were at spotting wildlife, flora and fauna and telling us about them along with their environmental and/or health benefits. They both made the tour really fascinating along with our boat cruise pilot who knew where the big crocs were. WOW! We can’t recommend this tour company and our personal guide/driver enough! It was a fabulous day that we will be talking about for years. We even came back to the cruise ship looking for further information about what they told us… The best part was the smaller van that made getting around so much easier and faster!

Great intro to Costa Rica

Pablo our guide and Mauricio our driver were fantastic and did their best to help us see as many sites and animals as possible. The river cruise and lunch were the highlights of the day. Unfortunately we did not see any monkeys or toucans but it wasn’t from a lack of effort. Overall, a great day and a wonderful introduction to Costa Rica.

Puntarenas Shore Tour

Jesús is a fantastic guide. He and the driver Gio made our stay in Puntarenas memorable and exciting. We saw crocodiles, birds, lizards, and Bhrama bulls. Both tour guides spoke great English. Highly recommended! William

Our guide was AMAZING!

Nature - up close and natural, Wonderful guide who really made the trip fantastic. Jesus was so knowledeable - and we all felt like we'd seen all the possible amazing creatures that were in the area. Even the shopping stop was great - purchased amazing coffee. Thank you!

Amazing tour!

We are so glad we booked this tour. It was definitely one of the highlights of our Panama Canal cruise. We saw so many amazing birds, crocodiles and monkeys. I loved it all. Our guide was great! We stopped at an amazing gift shop. I saw so many things I wanted to buy. I strongly recommend this tour to everyone. I have some mobility issues which were not a problem for this tour.

Excellent Puntarenas highlight tour

Had such a great tour! Guide Jesus provided so much information, such a great ambassador for Costa Rica. Driver Leo's driving was spot on. River cruise operator Manuel got us up close to nature. Tour was a perfect day to spend our full day in port.

Wonderful experience- nice overview of Costa Rica!

Our guide- Jesus- was very knowledgeable and truly loves Costa Rica. He was great at spotting animals and stopping to capture great photo shots. This is a must do.

This was one of the highlights of our trip!

As arranged our guide, Pablo and driver, Carlos met us at the ship to start our adventure. We drove through the town of Puntarenas - which USED to be a vibrant fishing village until the fish were gone. Pablo explained how they are trying to make a come back, but it's hard. We did see a bunch of iguana there - just hanging out in a park. From there we drove out into the country, stopped by the side of the road and into the woods to find a group of white-faced capuchin monkeys. Very friendly and cute - Pablo knew how to encourage them to come close enough to touch. Then we drove to the river - where we were met by a boat (just for our group!) It wasn't exactly what I expected because it was a very open river - no canopy of trees. But we saw a LOT of wildlife - a couple crocodile, many birds and lizards. This was followed by a delicious lunch in a open-air restaurant. Next we again headed into the forest to look for birds - and saw macaw and tucan (along with a stellar view of the river and coast). We made a short stop at a fruit stand with an almond bush in the parking lot. Last stop was a HUGE gift shop - with great prices and free coffee samples. Pablo gave us enough time to make our purchases and helped us pick just the right coffee. We were returned to the ship in plenty of time. I just wish all excursions worked out this well!!

John

Our guide Pablo was one of the best ever. Friendly, funny and very knowledgeable of all the birds and animals we encountered. He made sure he included our 11 yr old daughter in everything to keep her interest. Highly recommend.

Puntarenas Highlights Shore Excursion

Overall I was pleased with the tour. The visit with the monkeys was disappointing. It was in a residences back yard cluttered with junk and the one toilet would not flush. The rest of the tour was excellent. Lunch was a full buffet with very tasty and filling selections. The tour guide was fluent in english and very knowledgable

Wildlife in Costa Rico

We booked this trip because none of the shore excursions through our ship seemed to include the many things that this one offered. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the history, animals and culture of Costa Rico. We visited the adorable capuchin monkeys at the monkey farm. We saw crocodiles in the wild, some as old at 60+ years. Lunch was a yummy Costa Rican buffet. We tasted fresh fruit and learned how sugar cane is pressed. It was a delightful day.