Tortuga Island Full Day Tour from San José with Lunch

Use another tour agency 0/10

This tour is a scam. Do not trust this vendor. They took my money, didn't pick me up for the trip, and refuse my calls and won't answer for any sort of refund or reschedule.

he tour guides were amazing and took care of every detail

The tour guides were amazing and took care of every detail making it a pleasant trip and experience. Highly recommended for a day trip from San Jose.

Snorkel, nice view, nice and warm water

Fantastic trip, it is a no miss! The long trip from San Jose can be tiresome, but once we arrive in the island, we forget about it. At the beach, we noticed a concentration of waste from nature and few packages remains in one of the sides, they claimed that tourism was too high and they didn't have time to clean it up. Still, it was a beautiful place to visit and enjoy.

Excellent

The staffs are very friendly and have a lot experience on the road (traffic is very bad during holiday season).

Excellent and well-organized beach day trip from San Jose

We recommend this tour for families staying in San Jose looking to visit Isla Tortuga. This tour is operated by Inside Tours Costa Rica. Alonso was a pleasant and knowledgeable guide. We particularly enjoyed the snorkeling; the water was clear and we were able to see 5-6 different species! Steven was a particularly adept snorkeling guide; he dove deep to show us cool species (including a starfish), always made sure everyone was comfortable, and did his best to make sure we saw all kinds of fish. Lunch was decent (we all got the fish, which we liked). Here’s everything we wished we had known before going on this tour: It may be helpful to pack multiple towels: at least one for the beach (I think our guide mentioned that there are no rentals available at Isla Tortuga) and at least one for the shower afterwards. It will also be helpful to bring two bags: one for the island and one to leave on the bus. You should also bring water (we didn’t see any available for free on the island, but it may have been available for purchase). You may also want to pack some snacks for after your shower and before you board the bus back (it’s a long day). The island accepts cash and credit (US dollars or Costa Rican colones). You cannot eat on the bus. The bus stops at a rest station for breakfast. As of Dec 2024, a “tipico” breakfast here seemed to cost about $8 USD and coffee about $3 USD. You are also asked to change into your swimsuit at this time. Before you board the boat, you will be asked to leave everything you do not need for Isla Tortuga (e.g. tennis shoes, clean clothes to change into after swimming, clean towel, etc.) at the bus. These bags will then be placed in the undercarriage. You will also then be informed that they would like you to “shower” (rinse off the saltwater) before boarding the bus. This is where two bags and multiple towels are helpful (see above). The pickup/dropoff stops are not “first in first out”; I think they are actually “first in last out”. Knowing that Puntarenas is to the east of San Jose was helpful for predicting the order of the stops (they are also announced on the way back).

Great day at the beach!

Our guide, Victor, was terrific. Very kind and really went above and beyond. The trip was well organized; with a stop for breakfast and chance to change into swimsuit before getting to the boat to go to the island. The boat crew were great and made sure everyone safely boarded and unboarded the boat. The boat’s captain spent a lot of time taking us to where other boats had spotted bottle nosed dolphins and then to cliff with trees where we saw spider monkeys. We had an overcast day, but the water was warm enough for snorkeling. Didn’t see too much while snorkeling, just a few bright colored fish. Victor and the boat crew really emphasized safety and also the crew were so helpful to give a hand to help people get back on the boat. There are private toilets and it was 600 colones (about $1.20 US) per use, but you wash your hands with water and the toilets, for being so primitive were clean. The drinks on the island were strong, we had a Coco Loco (coconut water, coconut milk, and rum with ice served in a coconut. The pins colada was amazingly tasty and strong. There are wild pigs on the island that came alongside people’s beach chairs and stole the coconut shells. The beach chairs were 10$ US to rent for the whole day, but the group also has a pavilion with picnic tables that were under tarps. The lunch that was served was tasty, freshly grilled chicken or fish, some pan fried potatoes, salad and white rice and iced tea to drink. We left the island right before a storm rolled in and it was truly a great day at the beach.

Sixth time with Costa Cat

This was our sixth time on this trip, and it never disappoints. The staff is absolutely amazing and so are the activities! Big shoutout to Aron and Tom!

excellent trip

It was a wonderful trip and the tour guide, boat & bus driver's were all excellent and caring. Plenty of time to stay on the beach and did not feel rushed at any point during the day. Highly recommended.

Island paradise!

This was my favorite tour in Costa Rica out of two years! So much fun, absolutely gorgeous… nice bus, great boat, excellent crew! I am vegan and they accomodated my needs, would bring breakfast of my own next time but lunch was amazing. Sangria and drinks were delicious and extremely affordable! Fun music and the live sax was great! Would go multiple times next time there!

My comments

The tour was very nice but above all I highly recommend Alonso who was a great devoted leader as well as Alex the driver. They are awesome you wont regret it

Great Adventure

This excursion was better than I had imagine. The guide was thorough and accountable. Made sure everyone made there and back safely.

loved it but the lunch...

loved it but the lunch could have been a little better. the tour was really fun overall. recommended.

Anything else would be better.

Alright, hopefully you've read the negative reviews because our review will be very similar. We're not going to talk about the snorkeling because it was done in deep water and my wife was comfortable doing that. The trip is far longer than it needs to be. Pickup is at 5am and they are strict because they definitely pulloff as a patron was getting out of their cab! Yosef was our guide and he give special attention to younger and/or single women. The breakfast like what you'd get at a cheap hotel except there are a ton of people forming a line to also get the same shlop with a 20 min time limit be back on the bus. You'll see wildlife on the way to Tortuga and there little pigs on the island. Speaking of the island, when you get there it'll be $10 for a chair, $1 each bathroom visit and about $6 to hike. The shallow water was relatively clear until you snorkel, then you'll be hard pressed to see 3ft in front of you. There's trash under there... Quite a bit. The lunch is a poor representation of casado. When the day is finally over at about 3pm it's a 45+min ride back where they expect you to shower before loading back on board the bus. Use the bathroom here too because you're not allowed to use the one on the bus and it'll be roughly 2hrs back to San José. To add insult to injury, you'll also pass by free beaches on the way back. Either look into other operators with a shorter day or cheaper price because this one ain't it.

Worth the stress

Would have given 5 stars but our day started off a bit rocky. The original pick up time was set for 4:30am. The day before the tour, I messaged Island Tours to confirm the early pick up time. No reply. I called the number multiple times through out the day and no answer. But we figured the email confirmation said 4:30 am so we made sure to be down at the lobby by 4:20 am. We waited and waited and waited. There was nobody there to pick us up. We waited well over an hour hoping they were just running late. We continued to call them but the calls went to voicemail. We called Viator customer service and they were super helpful. They were able to cancel the tour and requested a refund. Around 6:00am we were still on the phone with customer service trying to book a new tour, when our hotel phone rang. The tour guide was here to pick us up. Luckily we were already ready to go! (We canceled our cancellation with Viator) On the bus, we asked one of the other tourists if they were also waiting for pickup at 4:30 am and they told us they got a text that the tour pick up time got moved to 6:30am. It seems we were the only ones who were not notified! Other than our frustrating morning, the rest of the day was amazing! Yusef was super sweet and the island was gorgeous. We are so happy the tour worked out! Definitely one of our favorite activities in Costa Rica.

Definitely worth the money

Perfectly organized; professional guide; we were well informed about what is going to happen next. Sun and fun experience.

Not good

Food was really bad, tour wasn't great. Didn't seem like they put in a lot of effort. The guides were nice though. Overall, not worth the price. I went on a much better tour during my time in Costa Rica for the same price. At least the bus was clean and nice.

Well worth it. Long day

The guide, Percy, was fantastic! They could have done a little better with the snorkeling and the time on the island could have been shortened from 5 hours to maybe 3 or 4 hours. Overall it was really great experience!

VERY PLEASURABLE! Very scenic ride to Tortuga Island

What a great day to spend my birthday on! This trip started off at a 4:30am pick as I was the first and we ended up picking 16 others. After pick up, we ventured to a small town with a local shop where we had time (30-45 min) for breakfast and then there is a place to change into your swimwear as the next stop was the marina. The Van was very clean and AC provided and comfortable for the trip. Once at the marina, you get into a 'Costa Rican speedboat' and take a 40 min ride to Tortuga Island. We did see dolphins and were able to stop for pictures. Once on the island you can rent a chair ($10) and there are drink stands that provide tropical drinks and beers. The water was great and the beach was not overly crowded. Lunch was served at noon and choice of Chicken or Fish and water and tea are provided. We left around 3:00 and once back on the marina, you must take a shower (8 are available) to get the sand off as they want to make sure the van is kept clean. Our group had German, Polish, Canadian and Americans on it and we ALL had a great time. The tour guide does the presentations in Spanish and English and was great in addressing any questions we had. Make sure you take you own towel and I suggest sandals or watershoes for island. Snorkeling is included but I did not do. One thing to address: Traffic after 2:45pm in Costa Rica is crazy. I went on a Friday so dealt with AM and PM traffic issues so I'd suggest booking on the weekends as traffic should be a little lighter. Great trip and guides and cooks were very good. I'd do this again as it was just perfect and the guides timing was perfect for everyone. Enjoy this excursion!

Avoid "Inside Tours" of Costa Rica and Viator

The details of the trip are not provided clearly up front by tour operator Inside tours. We left the island at 2.45 pm and the tour bus still has to go to 3 more hotels in this busy traffic and the projected time for my dropoff is 8.45 pm. This is 6 hours and not acceptable and not disclosed upfront. When asked for a reason, tour guide Yosef started shouting in front of all customers. This tour operator is doing this every single day but has not come up with an efficient and fast way to drop off passengers. He could have taken a less congested Does he have to take a very clogged road and change his route based on traffic pattern seen in Google maps. People should avoid inside tours of Costa Rica and viator as a booking company

The guides were great!...

The guides were great! The boat ride to the island went smoothly and it was a beautiful beach with a ton of friendly pigs!

I met the best guide,...

I met the best guide, Joseph, I never saw such a wonderful people to help everybody. Excursion was nice but lunch too light

Great location- mediocre company

There were good and bad things with this tour. On the plus side the island was great, we had a blast. On the boat ride ww saw dolphins, monkeys a crocodile. Snorkeling was fun, just a ton of people in one small area and then later it was totally empty. Seem like they could have staggered the groups going. The vans were nice, although the driver made me nervous. Communication with the company was bad. They didn't respond to messages asking about pick up times. Overall it was a good day - I just might choose a different local company to work with.

Very average

It was not for me. Solo traveler living in Miami . This tour is for people that want to stay the day the beach where everybody is at the same spot. Long drive for that No interests for me . Guide was very average. When many other tours are to discover the beautiful Costa Rica.

Nice day trip to the island with transportation

I had so much fun that I wish I had more time at the island. Our bus transportation was very nice with AC, USB ports at each seat, and a designated suitcase section. Snorkeling was very beginner-friendly with the safety guard pulling tubes for us. Fruits and lunch were quite tasty. I ended up getting sunburnt so make sure you put enough sunscreen on. The bathrooms at the island are not clean/modern and $1 each use. The breakfast place we stopped by had good latte. Overall had a great experience!

Too rushed for my taste

Experience overall is average, I felt like we spent way too much time traveling than actually enjoying things. Everything was too rushed for my taste, from the breakfast (around 20 mins because we had to wait a huge line to order) to everything from there to the island and back. Maybe a better organization can lead to actually enjoy the time in the island. There are few to none things to do in the island, everything is paid (bathroom, wifi, etc) but attention of locals is great.

Good couple relaxed time

Yosef was a great guide switching back and forth from English and Spanish. It was a nice tour. Beautiful beach, snorkeling was fun. The portion of food for lunch was rather small. I wish they gave us more water with the meal.

Great Experience, will...

Great Experience, will return soon! The stuff is very nice and has a lot of knowledge. The way they treat you is amazing.

Great

Good. Nice guide and staff. The beach is nice. Will come again. The tour guide , driver, chef and team are nice

Incredible experience!

The tour was incredible! From the comfortable buses that brought us to the location, to the amazing tour guide, to the beach and more! I’ve been on many versions of this experience in other countries and this one was my fav!

Amazing trip!

10/27/24. This was an excellent trip. We highly recommend this tour. Our guide Marisela and driver were amazing. They were very personable and knowledgeable. Other trips we looked at were on a catamaran but this tour they transport you from the dock to the island on a speed boat. The ride was exhilarating. The island is beautiful and the pricing is fair. We stopped on the way for breakfast and then our guide and crew made our lunch. We are plant based and let them know and they prepared us a special lunch that was really good. My mobility was limited dude to a recent hip replacement and the entire staff worked to accommodate me and help me on and off the boat. When we return we will definitely do this trip again.

Would book again!

We had a great experience. It was a little difficult to purchase tickets, since we didn’t know the area and they will only pick up from certain locations. But I spoke with the company and they recommended a specific location. The pick up is EARLY, and you’re only allowed water to drink on the bus. (It’s okay to bring food for the island). They stop at El Jardin for breakfast, and I had the best gallo pinto I’ve had since being here. Tour guide, boat hands, and driver were great. They took care to observe people, and provide help when needed. Overall great experience.

I'm on a boat

Loved the boat ride. Picked us up early then had breakfast, then the boat ride, snorkel, beach time with lunch and ride back. Fun tour to do but you could see the plastic trash on the beach when you swim.

Nice One Time Getaway

Nice get away, easy to relax or go for a swim. The water was calm, though not super clean and snorkeling was not that great. Drinks are available, but I’d stick to beer, cocktails weren’t worth the asking price.

Solo Travelers Dream!

I cannot write enough good things about this Tour Group! I got far more than what I paid for. Jordan was also a tour guide through the whole experience and I got to learn about this beautiful country while having the day of my life. Every employee was so kind and willing to answer any questions you have. As a solo traveler I was nervous for my first excursion but this truly was the best experience of my life. Thank you for making me feel safe while having the most fun. For not speaking a word of Spanish I was able to get through with the Groups help. The food was incredible as well. I wasn’t expecting much as it had to be brought in with us via boat but the meal was great! They made us feel like family and I will travel back just to go on another adventure with these guys. Thank you so much Jordan & Friends!

Great experience

Josef lead us. Stopped for breakfast . Saw dolphins. Clean beach. Good snorkeling. They made it fun. Hike is not easy on a hot day. Bring $20-30 to enjoy optional items at the beach.

Tortuga island rocks!

Joseph our tour guide was knowledgeable and helpful. He was very clear and made sure everyone knew the itinerary. He set our expectations from early on.

A wonderful day tour from San Jose

We did our tour with Joseph Derman Joel and Steven. It was wonderful and everything was well organized. Thanks for a wonderful tour.

Tortuga Island trip a Must Do!!!

Joseph was our tour guide right from the beginning. Our transportation was a state of the art bus - very comfortable! Joseph was awesome as a tour guide - he was energetic, friendly and very informative! His shipmates Yoel, Stephen and Dermon provided a fun and fast, but safe ride to and from Tortuga Isle. Along the way on the boat, we saw dolphins and spider monkeys. Once on the island, we saw many different fish during our snorkeling experience and then wild pigs and deer on our island hike! Lunch was provided and a tiki type bar was open for business for a wide variety of tropical drinks, including drinks made in pineapples and coconuts. A great day and lots of terrific memories made. I would highly recommend this trip!

12/10 experience

I had an absolutely amazing, memorable time on this tour! Josef, Joel, Steven, and Derman were exceptional guides and they completely made my trip to Costa Rica. They were helpful, knowledgeable, and kind. By the end of the day, they felt like family. I am so thankful for this trip and for my time with them! Gracias por todo!

Great experience and good value!

Great way to spend a day out of the city, gorgeous beach and saw lots of animals! Highly recommend to both tourists and locals, as this is great value!!

Must do!

Everyone was so friendly, crew was GREAT and had really good food. Made some new friends. Please remember to tip the crew they work hard and take very good care of you. We saw monkeys, dolphins, native pigs, green turtles, deer and beautiful birds.

Tourist Scam

They overcharge for this tour. They 'offer' food and water, but not enough (I was hungry most of the day and we only got water during the lunch time, which is insane due to the weather in Costa Rica). I'm a traveller and I've done many many tours and I don' usually do any bad reviews unless I really think it's a tourist scam, which in this case I think it was.

Best Trip Ever!!!!!

This trip was amazing. Josef was a great tour guide and put on a great show 😎😎😎 Would def recommend to ANYONE wanting a beach day.

A beautiful & surprising trip!

Our hotel pickup was at 5:45 AM and we were actually the last ones to be picked up! However, the guides were friendly and fun from the very first introductions. Additionally, we met people from the US, Mexico, & Europe, which made the excursion all the more fun. It’s about a 2-hour drive from San José to Puntarenas, but the beautiful views of the rainforest and the small towns made it worth it. And, the tour bus was very comfortable. We stopped at a restaurant and large souvenir shop that had great eating options and tons of merchandise to peruse. Once we got to Puntarenas, there were bathrooms & changing areas to use before boarding the boat to Isla Tortuga. We even spotted a crocodile from the loading dock! Once aboard, it was only a short time before we spotted dolphins on our way to the island. We stopped by another island before Tortuga where guides called out for spider monkeys to appear, but they didn’t cooperate on this day. However, the tour quickly made up for it when we spotted a humpback hale with a calf at her side! We didn’t even know they were in the area, and it was a beautiful surprise. Near Tortuga, we stopped for snorkeling and saw thousands of fish, starfish, & sea urchins. The water wasn’t as clear as our trips thru Belize & Cozumel, but we learned that September is the time of year when ocean currents change with the temps, so the changing currents can bring more sediment in the water. Still, we really enjoyed the snorkeling and the guides were excellent at pointing out various creatures and simultaneously keeping everyone safe. The snorkeling area is only a few hundred yards from Isla Tortuga, so it was only a short boat ride from there, however, our boat captain spotted another pair of whales and off we went to check them out for a few minutes! Once on Tortuga, we found a beautiful spot to relax and the tour served up a great lunch! We spent 4 hours on Tortuga and enjoyed seeing some adorable little pigs running around the island! It was a beautiful beach and calm waters made for a great place to swim. It was very worth the early morning pickup! The way back pretty chill, with all of us tired from all the fun we had. We ended up making a new friend that we communicated with throughout the rest of our trip & beyond. Overall, we had a great experience and we absolutely recommend taking this excursion with Inside Tours!

Birthday celebration!

The views were amazing! And the people were very friendly and helpful. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and the boat crew was fun. The food that was included with the tour and served on the island was delicious ! I would just have to say be careful with the vendor on the island selling the jewelry, highly overpriced!

Day at the beach

I have to see some monkeys, whale, a wild pig. The beach was beautiful and calm. The ride was smooth. We enjoy the view around us.

Great day on a tropical island

Great excursion. Had a lot of fun. Plenty of relaxation time! Amazing scenery. Snorkeling. Hiking. Perfect all around.

Amazing experience

My partner & I had an amazing time on Tortuga Island—it exceeded all our expectations! The island itself was a tropical paradise, with a beautiful scenery that felt like stepping into a postcard. The snorkeling experience was equally fantastic, with a diverse array of marine life; with the help of Yosef & Steven, they dove deep to the surface to show us different starfish & food to feed the fish.Yoel served us an amazing Costa Rican platter that kept us full for the rest of the time being there. The exceptional tour guides, Yosef, Yoel, & Steven, were amazing; their enthusiasm, expertise, and genuine care for ensuring everyone had a memorable experience made all the difference. They were knowledgeable, fun, and went above and beyond to make sure we were comfortable and having a great time. This excursion is a must-do for anyone looking to explore paradise and enjoy top-notch guided adventure!

We had a great time at...

We had a great time at the Tortuga tour, it was AMAZING! and the tour guides were so knowledgeable about everything! I actually saw a whale! It was a great trip. The food however, could have been better, but other than that great trip! Thank you!

Great experience

Great trip! From pick up to drop off everything was smoothly done. We highly recommend. The drinks on the island were delicious and strong, and the vibe was very relaxing.