My son and I went on this excursion. They let me pick my own horse and he was big and beautiful. The river was quite a thrill w much excitement. The lunch was delicious and healthy. We were a peaceful group and I feel like everyone was enjoying there day. I felt very fond of Douglas on the Beach at Occidental and would love 💗 another chance to do an excursion through him. They also set us up w a surf guide that I felt very relaxed in booking with. Louise was awesome. Douglas was so handsome.

My husband and I did a private kayak tour with our tour guide Anthony. We went up the river near Langosta. It was a 2 hour morning tour. We saw beautiful birds and it was just so beautiful and peaceful. We also saw a small baby crocodile. Anthony was so knowledgeable about the trees and wildlife on the river.

We booked an all-day 4 adventure with Leo (outside of Coast Beachfront and Occidental Hotel. Leo is a scam-artist! He booked 8 couples on the same shuttle. We all assumed we were going together on the same tour (waterfall, horseback ride, water tubing, and zipline, lunch included). It was supposed to be a 5-hour tour, w/ 2 hours travel time total. It ended up being a 10-hour day. Eduardo (shuttle driver) dropped off one couple (2 hours away), then continued to drop off each couple to different tours. Eduardo LEFT me and my 16 y/o daughter off to do the zip line, etc. However, it rained, and all tours were cancelled. Eduardo came back 2.5 hours later (from picking up another couple). it was just awful. Leo never refunded our money ($300 for two), nor would he answer our phone calls. Everyone on our shuttle were pissed. We never even got the lunch bc Leo didn't pay for any of us. He just kept our money.

SCAM!!!! We built a custom package and each paid 120.00 US Dollars for a hike to waterfall, lunch, hot springs and tubing. A van picked everyone up for the hike, when it was time for lunch the place had not been paid. Leo who we booked our package through was given a call. He said he just didn't get around to paying them and if we would just pay the $400 + in cash to them he would get it taken care of. After 3 calls back and forth we realized we were scammed. We grabbed the bus back and caught Leo who said he would give us each a $75.00 refund back on Tuesday. He didn't show up on Tuesday. Wednesday he said he would be there all day and was going to the bank. Thursday when we left we caught him, he assured us he was going to bank again. No refund, it was all lip service. When they say go to guest services in your hotel do it!

An absolute SCAM, we paid leo $1440 for a full day excursion for our group. We got done with our first adventure only to receive a call from Leo to pay another $500 so we could “continue” our plans- after much consideration, no cell service, and not wanting to hand over more money as we paid already - we asked for a refund to which he agreed to MULTIPLE times. He even went so far as to pull over a few couples from our group to say that we would be getting our refund to PayPal soon. Then the next day it was “my wife is coming to get me to take me to the bank” - only to disappear from the beach for the day. Day 3 another promise of a refund, nothing. Day 4, early morning, again walks up to 2 of us saying I will get you your money. Lies, it would have been done if it were to happen. Stop saying things that are untrue. We didn’t let you ruin our trip but it was sure disappointing to know that there are companies that don’t take pride in keeping their word - we trusted you and to take advantage of that - shame on you!

We stayed at the Occidental Tamarindo and booked with Side by Side for the volcano hike and the waterfall! We worked with Leo and Douglas to book and they were very informative and helped me and my husband to help us narrow down what my husband and I wanted to do in Costa Rica during our stay. Our tour guide during the hike, Edgar, was incredible as well. We saw so much wild life. Edgar was very patient with us, explained so much to us about Costa Rica and the animals we saw. Edgar knew so much about the animals, plants, and the volcano. He was so great! 10/10 can’t wait to come back see you guys again Pura Vida

We stayed at the Occidental Tamarindo and booked with Side by Side for the ATVs. We worked with Leo and Douglas to book and they were very informative and helped me and my husband to help us narrow down what my husband and I wanted to do in Costa Rica during our stay. Our tour guide during the ATV trip, Bernal, was incredible as well. We saw monkeys, rode to a couple beaches and ate at a local restaurant, Soda las Playas (10/10 food), and even practiced our Spanish with him! Bernal was very patient with us, explained so much to us about Costa Rica and the places we visited, he took pictures of us and sent them to us. Douglas, Leo, and Bernal were so good to us and so helpful to us during booking the ATV tour and the actual tour itself. We went back and booked a hike around Rincón de la Vieja and the waterfall with Douglas and Leo too and Edgar was our tour guide and was absolutely amazing as well. 10/10 can’t wait to come back and see you guys again! Pura Vida

We were offered a combo tour with the Palo Verde Jungle Boat Tour, a trip to swim in the water fall and then to the sloth sanctuary. We were told we would leave at 6 am, and then it was changed the night before to leave at 7:30 am. We were told we would be back around 5 pm. What we were NOT told is that only about 2-3 hours of that was actually spent touring. The rest of the time, we were in a van in horrible traffic without any water or offers for breaks. We ended up skipping the waterfall because we just couldn't stand being in the van any longer. I think both of those trips are good, but NEVER try to do them both in one day. The delay in departure made it worse as well, as the traffic would not have been as bad earlier in the day. Our guide, David, and his father Willy were great, but the van time put a damper on what could have been a much better day.

If you book an excursion with Leo and Side-by-Side at the Occidental Hotel in Tamarindo, make sure you ask a few questions. One is how long you will be in a vehicle/taxi. We spent nine hours in the back of a minivan/taxi on an 11.5-hour adventure. That’s nine hours driving, with at least one-third of it on bumpy dirt roads. Make sure to ask how far away the adventure is from your hotel. In Tamarindo, it was a 2.5-hour drive to see the crocodiles on the Palo Verde Jungle Boat Tour. Our group was convinced to add on the Sloth Sanctuary Wildlife Hike which was a three-hour drive from the river. Three hours in that taxi again. Then the drive was almost three hours home. We were so frustrated and sick of sitting in the car that we removed the waterfall adventure that Leo convinced our group to do for an extra $50 each. So make sure you ask the right questions about long drive times and short adventures. Fortunately, Willie and his son were patient and kind taxi drivers. Next, it is a bit unnerving to see no less than four signs saying not to feed the wildlife at the river… on the front of the bathroom, on the back of the bathroom door, two signs on the boat. But that didn’t seem to matter as the crocs were fed raw chicken and the monkeys were lured on the boat and fed bananas while sitting on people’s heads. But maybe you’re Ok with that. Back to Leo, make him be absolutely specific on hours and hours of car time for a few extra $$$. He did tell those who signed us up in our group how long we would be gone, but he didn’t say that that was nine hours in a car. Bring snacks and water. You’ll want it. And, you’ll need to pay cash up front.

Our tour was canceled due to another party being sick. We were ready but tour operator changed date to Monday, May 13. Same time pick up at JW Marriott. No show from tour operator and no reply from them via email. It was the same email address they used to cancel on us. I hope we are not charged for a tour that was canceled by the tour operator not us.

Leonardo was very responsive in booking this tour, but unfortunately, our tour guide Antoni was not very personable. To his credit, he worked hard to find turtles nesting on the beach - it is the end of the season so there aren't too many around now. He did find two (with the help of another guide who drew us to the right location) and gave us some cursory information about the turtle's nesting habits. Despite there only being 4 of us in the group, we all had a bit of a hard time making out what Antoni was saying as he had a mumbling style. There was a lot of "down time" as we waited for him to scour the beach, which was to be expected, but when we finally found the turtles, there was a lot of time standing around when he was just chit-chatting with the guide from the other group instead of providing us with deeper insights about the natural phenomenon we were witnessing, which was disappointing. We also were given instructions to meet at a specific spot in Matapalo. The pick-up vehicle arrived 17 minutes late, stopped at a different spot around the corner, and was an unmarked car, which all felt a little bit sketchy. I'm glad we went but the information on the "tour" was not detailed enough, nor delivered in a clear manner.

This was an amazing excursion. The guys knew exactly what we wanted and made sure we got exactly what we needed. Highly recommend booking through. Happy to have these guys offering amazing experiences! We also booked Rio Celeste and it was just as fantastic!

Returned to the Occidental Tamarindo and was looking to go to Palo Verde to capture wildlife with my camera. Left early this morning around 7:30 am and took the hour and a half journey to the Cipancí Wildlife Refuge is a Wildlife refuge of Costa Rica, part of the Tempisque Conservation Area. I was hoping to capture a boat-billed Heron, and Kingfishers among other things and wasn't disappointed. Between crocodiles, Iguanas, lizards, we also came across white-face capuchin monkeys, a a sleepy howler monkey. Add to that several herons (blue, bare-throated tiger, green, and the boat-billed) we also saw a Amazon Kingfisher, a Northern Jacana encountering a small crocodile trying to make a lunch out of him.

Had a wonderful ride on the beach with Brian. It was so relaxing and when our horses spooked he handled it with ease. Great day.

Great experience! Waterfall was beautiful great little hike up to the top. Also did the Sloth Sanctuary & Lunch. Willy our driver was amazing very knowledgeable and friendly. Had a wonderful day with him! Sloth tour was more than we expected. Up close and personal with my favorite creatures. Lunch was delicious at a local restaurant! Would book with Side By Side again. Thank you for putting it all together and the communication Leo!