Manuel Antonio National Park Guided Tours

My fantastic tour of Manuel Antonio NP.

Jimmy was the best guide, very informative and I saw a number of different wildlife that I would never have seen by myself.

Sloths, monkeys, snakes and more!!!

Delia was fantastic! She showed us many things that we would have never seen on our own. She was knowledgeable, so sweet and enjoyable! We would highly recommend using this tour company.

Meh - probably OK if you’re not that interested in anything but snapping photos of a few things.

Both of us in our party of 2 are science nerds and love learning everything there is to know about the flora & fauna in a location. The guide was nice enough and we got some great pictures, but in between spotting critters to take photos of, there was very little conversation. Would have loved to hear about the types of trees, natural history of the area, etc. This was made all the more annoying in that in a group of 11 for an English speaking tour, we had 2 Spanish speaking participants that seemed to be getting a great tour while the other 9 of us just trailed along. If you really want to learn about the ecosystem, hire a private guide!

Excellent Manuel Antonio Tour

My wife and I took a private tour of Manuel Antonio Park with Wilberth. He was extremely friendly and knowledgeable of both flora and fauna, and was patient and helpful as we took photos of the many animals he spotted. We never felt rushed and throughly enjoyed this experience.

Enjoyable trip

Josue was a great guide! Lots of interesting information and we saw a lot of animals! We went as a multigenerational family and had a great time.

No Monkey Business but saw a lot of monkeys

Amazing trip. Our tour guide gave us the 5 star treatment! Everyone had an amazing time. We saw so many monkeys and sloths and other animals, however the lovely walk in nature was worth the price of admission alone.

Josué was fantastic!

Manuel Antonio National Park was beautiful. We are so glad we hired a private tour and were fortunate enough to have Josué as our guide. He was extremely knowledgeable about plants and insects and knew where to find birds and animals. We saw everything we were hoping to and left with a wealth of new information. We appreciated Josué’s sense of humor, photography skills, and passion for nature.

Excellent tour with Nathan

Haad an exceptional group tour with Nathan. He spotted loads of wildlife that other guides hadn't seen and explained everything to us in perfect English. We've done several tours in Costa Rica and Nathan was by far the best guide we've had. Would highly recommend him.

Incredible experience!

We had an amazing time on this tour where we explored the beautiful national park! Our guide Jimmy was excellent. He is very knowledgeable and great at spotting wildlife. He helps you take amazing pictures using your phone through his scope. He also doesn’t rush and gives people enough time to ask questions or take pictures. Overall, it was an incredible experience!

Great guide with beautiful pictures at the end of the tour!

What a great experience! John Pierre was such a great guide and made our tour such a memorable visit. With his watchful eye and great scope, we were able to see all the great things this park has to offer. In addition, he took beautiful pictures of all the things we saw along our way and provided at no cost. Highly recommend so you get the most of this beautiful place!

Great tour with Nathan!

Nathan was our tour guide walking us through Manuel Antonio National Park. He was very knowledgeable. We would have never seen things without his eagle eye. He has a telescope so we could look at things from a distance. It’s a beautiful park! Highly recommend!

Very knowledgeable and personable guide .

Our guide, John Pierre was so informative and passionate. He spotted a small lizard from 20 yards away and was just as excited about that as the sloths , howler monkeys, ant birds and crabs. The pictures and videos he took for us with his telescope are incredible. Tour lasts about 3 hours. Park is a bit crowded. Fruit bowls that are included were a delicious surprise. Had time to explore beaches on our own. Town outside of park entrance has several good dining options. Try to avoid the coconut water vendors as you exit.

Get the best

We had the best tour guides, they had such experience, and made our tour so educational and fun. Nathan and Paul were so good at finding all kinds of things we would have missed if we were going alone, you MUST get a guide.....we saw so much.

Terrible pre booking experience!!!

Actually, quite a horrible experience in booking the Manuel Antonio guided tour for 6 people. We booked 3 times because after booking, a day or two later we were abruptly cancelled! 3 times this happened! They were quick to say I would not be charged for THEIR cancellation each time, but that doesn’t count the hours spent trying to recover trying to rebook. On the 4th try, it was booked but still had bad communication with the guide company, repeat providing different time and pickup locations. Very frustrating. The actual guide and tour was fine, even good- but would never use Viator again. Love Trip Advisor but their “related “ Viator is, xx?!x

Awesome Tour

This was awesome tour. We saw moneys, sloths, and birds. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and knew where to spot the animals. We had about an hour to swim in the beach too before heading back to the resort. Definitely recommend!!

Nice experience

Very motivated guide giving a lot of explanations during the tour. We would not have seen most of the wildlife without a guide.

Highly Recommend!

This tour was great and so was our guide, Jimmy. He was very knowledgeable, very pleasant and was genuinely interested in helping everyone get great photos. From start to finish, the process of booking the tour was pleasant and easy. They took care of everything.

One place you must visit

Gian Carlo was an excellent guide. Don’t know how he or the other guides spotted the tiniest of creatures. Saw howler monkeys, white faced monkeys & best of all, a two-toed sloth + a three toed sloth. Afterwords we went to the Manuel Antonio NP beach. It was beautiful, soft sand & the water was like taking a bath. Highly recommend

Awesome tour with Jimmy

Tour was great— we were going to go by ourselves but glad we didn’t. Looking at people’s complaints- this is a slow walk with a lot of people, so not a brisk hike for exercise. The guides bring scopes and we got a lot of great views of sloths, monkeys and some reptiles. (White tailed deer, too, though we have those in our backyard) Jimmy did an excellent job and was very knowledgeable and passionate about nature. Looking at the few negative reviews - If this isn’t your style - maybe don’t go to the park — it is crowded and without a guide the sloths are hard to see I think. But if you go, and I would, I’d strongly recommend Efrain’s!

Nice experience

The guide Nathan was very well prepared and nice, he even helped us to take photos of the animals. The shuttle was on time and we had plenty of time to stay at the beach.

Average.

Average experience. The guide shows you some animals but you can easily hike alone and swim alone. They give you refreshing fruits and drinks which is nice. Staff is nice. HORRIBLE PARKING. Advise to request their pickup/dropoff option. CAREFUL WITH THE MONKEYS THEY WILL STEAL YOUR STUFF.

Wonderful

Our guide was wonderful and accommodated our wish to swim, so he put the beach in the middle of our tour. He was very knowledgeable and we saw many animals.

Jamie was great. Saw...

Jamie was great. Saw loads of animals including Sloths, Monkeys, Iguanas etc. With hindsight so glad we booked as we wouldn’t have seen a fraction without Jamie’s expert eye and tripod. The two hours free time on the beach at the beach me of tour was a perfect end to our experience. Be aware that the beach usually closes at 15.00. Enjoy!

Informed and Friendly Guides.

Our guide, Jean Pierre, was superb! He kept great conversation and was very knowledgeable about the plants, animals, and history of the area. The tour provided fresh fruit and mango juice before trekking to the beautiful beach. The park itself is beautiful and worth the visit, but I'm glad we decided to take the tour, as Jean Pierre was able to show us animals in his telescope we would have missed otherwise. Many sloths, howler monkeys, iguanas, birds, bats, and snakes.

Great tour guide-so much fun!

We scheduled this tour through our Vrbo host, so we had no prior knowledge of the company. Our tour guide Jimmy was incredible. He was very knowledgeable and was spotting wildlife that even other tour guides were missing. He was patient with the younger members of our family, waiting for an extra bathroom stop or two, and not only shared his knowledge, but did it in a fun and humorous way. He also helped us get amazing photos by taking photos for us through his telescopic lens. Would definitely recommend!

Wonderful!!

This company was very easy to communicate with and I appreciate that they were able to accommodate us last minute. The guide was knowledgeable and we enjoyed our hike and that we were able to stay in the park for a few hours after our hike.

Our Efrain's guide Hubert exceeded all expectations

If you make it to the nature park entrance (ignore the people hassling you on the entry road) you will find Efrain's nature tours right at the gate. We would highly recommend Hubert as a guide, as he exceeded all of our expectations. Hubert could hear and see things that nobody else could. He explained the history and the species of plants and animals in detail, adding his delightful humor to every experience. Other guides approached him for assistance, and he kindly helped everyone. Hubert was able to zoom in on his telescope to take videos on our cell phone for us that are incredibly good quality. We felt so fortunate to have Hubert as our guide, and plan to return next year to go on the night time jungle tour with him. Very knowledgeable and professional, and speaks fluent English as well as other languages. Thank you Hubert and Efrain's. This made our vacation memorable.

Very rude manager, overpriced

Overpriced, very rude manager, telling his staff ‘ to send them (us) away as they have enough other customers’ definitely not worth the investment Guide Thomas did his upper best though

Great tour. Would highly recommend paying for a guided tour with a professional guide. You’ll see so much more.

We are so glad we took a guided tour. We saw so much more wildlife than going into the park on our own. Our guide Thomas was very knowledgeable and provided a brilliant experience and found so many animals, birds, reptiles and amphibians for us to see. And several sloths that we would never have spotted without him.

Fantastic tour!

Manuel Antonio National park is a wonderful of nature, and it’s a plus if you hired a knowledgeable guide to do your tour, like we did, Bryan was so skilled in finding all this so camouflage creatures all around park!! How he does that?!? He explained us everything about them in fun way, absolutely enjoyed observing and learning… I highly recommend this company!

Terrible

Absolutely waste of money. Wish I could get a refund for this trip. The time we spent looking at animals was only an hour. We saw hardly anything, and get explanations on what he spotted was ridiculous. You should be telling us what you spotted. I could have done the same tour myself without paying an arm and a leg. The beach was okay. Not worth doing this tour and not with this company. Walk the park yourself

Excellent guide service for Manuel Antonio

This park is insanely crowded. We came in what is supposed to be the "slow season" and it was still madness. Be warned that the odds of getting tickets to get in on the spur of the moment are supremely low. Your odds are much better through a tour company. Our villa concierge arranged for Efrains to come pick us up and we had our own private guide. I am married to a professional wildlife photographer and trust me when I say you need a guide if you really want to see things. Sloths are not just going to pose at eye level for you except in the rarest of occasions. Tip 1 is go as early as you can, both to beat the worst of the crowds and the heat. It is very very hot. You cannot bring in any food or disposable water bottles and you will be very dehydrated, so make sure you bring a water bottle. Tip 2 is a repeat. Hire a guide. A private guide is $40 more than a group guide but you get a lot more time to look at the animals and it does not feel like a cattle call. The guide we hired was excellent and I highly recommend asking for Wilber. He helped us spot things we could not. He also helped us navigate through the park entrance which is confusing. Pay a guide. This is a good company to work with.

Private Tour

We booked a private tour and got paired with our guide Tomas, who was an absolutely pleasure. He was extremely knowledgeable and professional, and we had great conversation as we walked around the park in search of wildlife. We saw so many animals, way more than I can even recount. I would highly recommend booking a guide for the park if you love animals!

Excellent guide for the national park

Excellent tour of the national park. Carlos was a knowledgable and friendly guide who took time to explain all about the flora and fauna. We saw a huge amount of wildlife - two and three toed sloths, fruit bats, many iguanas and lizards, the common potoo bird and more. Highly recommend and muchas gracias to Carlos for a great morning tour.

Great guides- better w a tour!

Great tour to Manuel Antonio Park yesterday. Our guide was friendly, knowledgeable and we got to see lots of wildlife with the scope that we would otherwise not have seen. Definitely recommend a tour as they know where they are looking and can set up the telescope to zoom in when the animals are a distance away. We saw sloths, lots of monkeys, cool birds and lizards…sloths weee the best…super cool!!

Wow, what an experience!!

We got to see everything in the park except the snakes! Really appreciated the team work between the guides to ensure you got a chance to see all the sloths, lizards, stick bird, howling monkeys, etc. must go early when they are most active, though it’s generally also crowded. I highly recommend a guided tour vs just walking around. You won’t get a chance to see many of them without a high powered telescope.

You don't need a guided tour to see the animals

Our hotel suggested that the tour was 3 hours, but from entering the park we only had 1hr 15 mins with the guide, and although he was very knowledgeable we didn't see very much due to the crowds of people. Anything we did see was far away. We stayed in the park for several hours and saw many more animals on our own and much closer. I suggest going to the park on your own rather than taking a tour.

Outstanding tour guide service!

The Efrain team went out of their way for us when we booked late and there weren't enough tickets for the 8 of us to enter the park. Be aware that you need to book early and have your passport information, otherwise, you might not get into the park. We had just driven an hour to get there and they worked with us to get in and once we did, the tour guide (Tomas) was amazing and showed us all the park had to offer from lizards to sloths to monkeys and everything else. He was very kind and social with our family and I would highly recommend getting a guide to see everything as if you just do it on your own, you will certainly miss most of the wildlife.

The hike

The guide pointed out the animals and took close up pictures through the telescope. Very cool. The beach is amazing. Don’t bring snacks. The monkeys will take them

Truly fantastic tour

This is a great tour. If you book request Mauro as your guide. His knowledge of the park the vegetation and the local history made the tour fantastic. His advice on where to park, where to meet and early purchase of park entry ticks was spot on. We left with photos of all the wildlife we viewed, photos of us and a larger appreciation of the beautiful history of the area. It is worth every penny.

Great guide. Great Park.

A great tour led by Juan Carlo? He took it slow and steady and pointed out so many things in the jungle. Other tour groups seemed to all speed passed us, which was fine by me. Took time to let us all use his telescope and is skilled at taking pictures through it. Finished with fresh fruit and a cold drink, then we had a few hours to enjoy the amazing beach. 3 species of monkey, sloth 🦥 , deer, land crabs, carnivorous plant, spiders, sleeping bats, lizard, iguana. Bag search at entry, which is great to keep the park pristine.

Great tour of Manuel Antonio

Booked a tour of Manuel Antonio with Efrain's through our hotel. Our guide was friendly and very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the park. We saw monkeys, sloths, snakes, frogs and reptiles that we definitely wouldn't have spotted by ourselves! Unfortunately I can't remember the name of our guide but he could tell us so much about the animals we saw and was clearly very enthusiastic about this. Would highly recommend!

So awesome!

Wow! This was an amazing tour! Our guide was so knowledgeable, experienced, funny, and kind. He showed us so many hidden gems that we would never have been able to see on our own. We even got to see a monkey (the "mafia") steal some food! So awesome, highly recommend!

Nice tour at Manuel Antonio national park

We booked the tour though our hotel reception the night before. Tomas, the tour guide came to pick us up a the lobby in the morning so we could start our tour. He is a very passionate guy and he really enjoys to share his knowledge with others so he nicely set the tone for the tour. Everything ran on time and as expected. The entrance to the park can be a bit challenging with the security guys searching the bags (No food, cigarettes or drinks other than water are allowed in the park) Tomas was very quick sorting our admission out as they need to go throughout passport and tickets details. Once inside we got to see so many different species and we were given a lot information about their behaviour and also some background of the park history. We stopped in the middle of our visit for a quick bowl of fruit and a drink that the tour guide has already organised for us and then we headed to the beach we’re our tour finished. Nice activity to do if you are in Manuel Antonio as in my opinion, visiting the park without being guided would not give you the same experience as most of the animals can be missed if you do not have a qualified guide with you.

Do this tour!

Absolutely amazing! Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and fun! Highly recommend! The scenery was great and our guide could pick out the littlest of things for us! Saw a baby sloth, so cute!

Efrain Brings The Park Alive

We took the tour with Efrain. He grew up in what became the park and his parents were among the first 5 Park Rangers. Edrain later became one himself. He was extremely knowledgeable and personable and had keen eyes and ears which enabled him to constantly identify interesting park creatures. Sloths, bats and monkees were just a few. The park is spectacular and Efrain brings it alive an even kept our 20 something kids interested.

Great time

Darriel was very knowledgable and was quik quick with that telescope. Didn't regret the tour, but i advice you bring a towel and be prepared to swim in the beach at the end. Water and area looked amazing

Highly Recommend!

Efrain's tour guides are the best of the best. Their experience and knowledge of the jungle animals is unmatched! We had the best time and saw so many amazing animals. Our guide was so funny, comforting and smart. We are so grateful we decided to book our Manuel Antonio tour with Efrain's Nature Tours! Muchos Gracias mi amigos! -Aurora

You don't need a guide

We had a guide who was very nice but there were hundreds of people and guides all together walking down a road with telegraph polls. We were herded along tripping over each other..just plain awful and then you get to the food and shops.It was anything but a natural experience. My advice. Go by yourself. When you see someone stopped, look were they are looking. We saw far more monkeys and sloths in the afternoon by ourselves. Beautiful beach.

New jungle sight

Efrain and his wife were amazing guides, they provided lots of facts and did an amazing job finding animals and insects.