DAY    1            DEPARTURE FROM NORTH AMERICA - ARRIVE SAN JOSE
                          (4 NIGHTS)
We will be met at the airport by our tour manager/guide, where we will board our own private coach and transfer to our hotel in San Jose.

DAY    2            COFFEE PLANTATION TOUR & SAN JOSE
Costa Ricans call coffee grano de oro, the grain of gold, and with good reason. The humble bean lifted the nation out of obscurity two centuries ago, bringing wealth to countless farmers and to the country as a whole. This morning we will take a Coffee Plantation Tour where we will learn from experienced personnel the origins of coffee-growing, one of the major exports of Costa Rica. This very amusing and informative tour is a multimedia presentation for all ages, using actors to bring to life the coffee production experience. This afternoon we will take a guided San Jose City Tour. We will view all of the city's most important sights and landmarks including the University of Costa Rica, the Supreme Court, Democracy Square, the Metropolitan Cathedral, elegant residential homes, and many sights that display the finest in Costa Rican architecture. During our tour we will also visit the National Theater. Designed after the Opera House in Paris, it is considered to be Costa Rica's most important architectural landmark. Our afternoon concludes with a visit to the Museo del Oro, featuring an impressive collection of pre-Columbian golden treasures. Time permitting, we will also visit the Museo Nacional, in the former Bella Vista Military Fortress, which today houses pre-Columbian artifacts along with art, historical items, and natural science exhibits.

DAY    3            POAS VOLCANO & LA PAZ WATERFALL GARDENS
Our day begins with a visit to Poas Volcano National Park, an active volcano whose main crater is more than 1 mile wide and constantly active with fumaroles and hot geysers. Poás is surrounded by dense cloud forests, and we will hike some of the nice gentle trails. This afternoon we will visit La Paz Waterfall Gardens where we will hike a series of trails through primary and secondary forest alongside the La Paz River, with lookouts over a series of powerful waterfalls, including the namesake La Paz Fall. We will also explore an orchid garden, a hummingbird garden, and a huge Butterfly Garden which some claim is the largest in the world. We return to San Jose for the evening.

DAY    4            ZOO AVE & AERIAL TRAM TOUR
This morning we will visit Zoo Ave where we will view dozens of scarlet macaws, reclusive owls, majestic raptors, several different species of toucans, and a host of brilliantly colored birds from Costa Rica and from around the world. We will enjoy a stroll along the paths where we will get a close look at many birds, large iguana, deer, monkeys, and a 12-ft. long crocodile. Zoo Ave houses only injured, donated, or confiscated animals. This afternoon we will enjoy an Aerial Tram Tour through one of Costa Rica's most unique eco-tourism and research facilities. The tram takes us on a 90-minute, one-mile-long excursion through the rain forest canopy and reveals details of everyday life in the treetops where 75 percent of all rain forest species dwell. We will come eye-to-eye with monkeys some 200 feet above the forest floor and will view an abundance of plants and animals hidden at the tops of the tall rain forest trees. We return to San Jose for the evening.

DAY    5            SAN JOSE - OROSI VALLEY - LANKESTER GARDENS -
                          DOMINICAL AREA (2 NIGHTS)
This morning we depart San Jose and journey to the Orosi Valley. Our scenic driving tour will take us into a Shangri-la canyon edged to the south by the dauntingly forested flanks of the Talamanca Mountains. The rivers that drain into the valley have been dammed to form Lago de Cachi, around which the road and our tour will loop. Our tour will be highlighted by Mirador Orosi, offering amazing views over the valley; the village of Orosi, including the charming Iglesia de San Jose de Orosi; the shores of Lago de Cachi, which attracts large numbers of waterfowl; the rough-hewn Casa El Sonador (House of the Dreamer), a wooden and bamboo structure adorned with primitive carvings; the Presa de Cachi (Dam); and Ujurras, renowned for its ruined church, Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Conception, which dates from 1681. Next we will visit Lankester Gardens, created in the 1940s by an English naturalist, where no fewer than 800 species of orchids are on display. The University of Costa Rica now administers the gardens and their primary goal is to preserve the local flora, with an emphasis on orchids and bromeliads. We will walk along Paved Trails that meander from open, sunny gardens into shady forests. In each environment, different species of orchids are in bloom. After time to visit the Information Center, we continue to our hotel in the Dominical area.

DAY    6            MANUEL ANTONIO NATIONAL PARK
Today we will enjoy Manuel Antonio National Park, one of Costa Rica's most visited places and one of the most beautiful locations in the entire country. The park features spectacular beaches and its jungles are crawling with white-faced and squirrel monkeys, among other forms of exotic wildlife. We begin our morning with a guided Rainforest Hike, where we will go in search of the magnificent white-faced and squirrel monkeys, as well as many of other beautiful flora and fauna. Our walk will conclude on the idyllic Beaches within the park and we will spend the remainder of the afternoon soaking up the sun. Late this afternoon we will travel to a hillside Observation Point and gaze down on the blue Pacific. We will get postcard like views of the rocky islands that dot the vast expanse of blue, and in the foreground, the rich, deep, green of the rainforest sweeps down to the water.

DAY    7            DOMINICAL AREA - SANTO CRISTO FALLS - SAN JOSE
                          (1 NIGHT)
This morning we will explore the jungles just outside of Dominical, where we will take a Horseback Riding Tour to the impressive Santo Cristo Waterfalls, a two-tiered beauty with an excellent swimming hole. After time to swim and take in the beauty of the area, we will transfer back to San Jose. As a farewell this evening, we will attend a Tiquicia Dinner and Show that includes a show of native Costa Rican folklore dances and a buffet of local cuisine.

DAY    8            DEPARTURE FROM SAN JOSE
Our rewarding tour will come to an end as our tour manager/guide accompanies us to the airport for the return flight home.