We enjoyed a couple hours hiking in this CR national park on our way to our primary destination in the Puntarenas Province near Dominical. We stopped as it was on the way from San Jose and were eager to start seeing huge rainforest trees and wildlife. You purchase your tickets online and they are inexpensive, around $10 USD each. The trails were easy walks with some of it paved or at least well marked. There were several platforms for viewing, rotting away and in disrepair, and some muddy trails, but it is a rainforest after all. We saw several poison dart frogs, lizards, iguanas, leaf cutter ants, centipedes and most of the wildlife at the river where we saw several white faced capuchin monkeys and an agouti (looks like a giant gerbil).

Our guide Jeison has given us an unforgetteble day! We got a lot of information about the animals, trees and history of the parc. We walked through the firest for 3 hours and he showed us beautiful and even pretty rare animals

We had an awesome tour with guide Maurice who was recommended by many others on Trip Advisor. We contacted him by whats app a few days in advance and he was very responsive. He met us at the entrance to the park and guided us around. He found so many birds, reptiles and insects that we would never have seen on our own. His binoculars are amazing and he got fantastic photos of everything we saw. He was determined to find a toucan for us and he did. I highly recommend Maurice.

Maurice gave us an especially awesome tour. He loves what he does and it shows through with his enthusiasm in spotting all types of wildlife, from the tiniest frog, centipedes, geckos and leaf cutter ants to hummingbirds, various other birds, and this guy knows his birds. He proves it by referencing page numbers in the Birds of Costa Rica book with memorized page numbers to provide proof of his knowledge. We would have missed so much without Maurice's keen eye. Maurice also has a fabulous sense of humor to keep us amused along the way.

Much less crowded than Manuel Antonio National Park, this place is known for birds, but that’s not all. We were fortunate to hire Mauricio as we entered, a well-informed guide with real enthusiasm for the Park and its wild denizens. We would not have seen much aside from greenery without him. He showed us poison dart frogs, a kingfisher, a tarantula taking a nap in a hiding place, a heron, macaws, and many other birds and butterflies, not to mention pointing out various trees and plants as we strolled along. Memorable and fascinating!

My wife and I saw a good reviews on guide Mauricio +506-8889-6061 . We connected with him and he quickly responded and we set up a meeting the next morning. The park is lush and beautiful and we found Mauricio was well worth the cost. As we walked, he had his binoculars out, searching the branches for small birds and other creatures. When he found one of interest, it would plant this tripod with the telescopic lens and allow us to view the creature up close in addition, I would give them my cell phone and it would take a photo of it which came out. Surprisingly it cleared and vivid. There’s no way we would’ve seen these creatures without his experienced eye. It was an enjoyable three hours, we learned a lot, and got some cool photographs of wildlife .

Lush, beautiful tropical forest with some of the most interesting fungi I’ve ever seen. Nice graded trail. My only disappointment was the lack of bird life, but I was with a small group, and perhaps we scared them all off. Lovely butterflies, and gorgeous vegetation.

We are a family of 5, with 3 young children, who was beating the completion of a 2 week wildlife and nature heavy trip in Costa Rica. All that remained was to see the Scarlet Macaws of Carara. Maurice Vasquez is an enthused, authentic, loving and full of energy guide. He knew exactly where the Macaws would be, even though they were not in the park during their rainy season visit. He brought us face to face with a group of 10 Scarlet Macaws! Was it not for him we would have missed the Macaws. Not only that but he also found us a rare yellow viper, a tarantula and multiple dart frogs in a 2 hour tour. His price was very fair. We would all heartedly recommend him if you want a naturalist that can spot the species every one wants to see. Just stay away from the local restaurant Fiesta Del Mariscos on the beach, as they are dishonest and the owner is very rude. Pura Vida! Maurice Vasquez 506 88896061 Mauriciovasquezpizarro@gmail.com

We pull into the park and we’re greeted by a gentleman asking if we had already purchased tickets and if not, if we wanted a private guide. Being that I got screwed from my last tour, I was skeptical and told him that I would think about it and drove and parked and went to the front desk to purchase tickets, we approached the front desk and we were told that we would have to scan a QR code to purchase the tickets, but I was unable to connect to the Internet even though I had local or international roaming on my phone. Thankfully, the nice lady inside the office shared her phone hotspot, which allowed me to register and purchase tickets for my wife and I. we were given directions and then took off on our journey into the park following the marked trail, which was absolutely beautiful inside. We thought we could do the trail ourselves and see wildlife more so then with a guide and save money however we were wrong. We ran into another couple who did the same way as us and they didn’t see much so we decided to turn around and get a guide, we hired a private guide, Jaro, and I was still skeptical until he took us to where we could see wildlife which was outside of the park and it was the best time ever with a local from the area to see what Costa Rica has to offer. I highly recommend after you walk the trail or if you walk the trail with a group guide get the private guide and ask for one of them and they will take you into another location outside of the park, but you will see so much more wildlife than inside of the park and it’s along the beach.

Carara National Park is a must see. The wide variety of trees, animals, and flowers is amazing. I have to say we hired AndreyJimenez as a guide and without his help we would have missed so much. He gave us great lessons about the trees, flowers, mushrooms, butterflies and pointed out animals we were lucky to see. He safely showed us a tarantula, a rare ghost bat and Red McCaws. His enthusiasm was contagious and his joy was infectious. There’s so much to see I recommend a guide and if possible, Andrey Jimenez. You won’t be disappointed.