Monkey Ride - Shuttles & Private Rides
Monkey Ride - Shuttles & Private Rides
Monkey Ride - Shuttles & Private Rides
4.5
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See what other travelers are saying
- Cammie Tooley1 contributionPerfectWe always love our time in Dominical. And we love Richard & his whole crew. They have taken care of us for the last many years. We never bother to try to find another ride. They're always in San Jose to pick us up on time and deliver us back to the airport w/o any issues or delays. They are the best. Not only for rides but info regarding the area, places to eat, things to see. Thanks Richard, hope to see you soon!Visited January 2021Written February 16, 2021
- cdr0513Des Moines, Iowa15 contributionsprofessional, helpful and efficientThe folks at Monkey Ride are the best! We were visiting Costa Rica for my mother-in-law's 91st birthday. They helped me arrange a private shuttle to get my of 7 to the house I had rented near Dominicalito from the airport and back to the airport again. This included getting us to Dominical, and transferring us to 4x4 vehicles so we could get up the very rough road to the house. They also helped us arrange to have a rental car delivered to the house and picked up when we left (To be clear, we didn't rent the car from them, but they helped us with all the arrangements). Their office staff are super and their drivers where efficient, pleasant and safe. Their level of service is superior to any other I have used in Costa Rica, the US, and just about any other country I have had the chance to visit.Hello Dear, Our goal is to help make your getaway memorable and that means that we will handle the travel logistics so you can sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. For us, it was more than an honor to have assisted you!Written March 12, 2020This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.Visited January 2020Written January 30, 2020
- Izabal4 contributionsGreat experienceMonkeyRide (Dominical) organized our transportation from San Jose to Sierpe and another one from Sierpe to Manuel Antonio. Both trips were a professional experience. Anthony and Carlos were courteous, safe drivers who made us feel comfortable at all times. Amanda at their office replied quickley to my emails before the trip and payment was easy to make. We decided not to rent a car for our trip in Costa Rica and found that private transportation was the best solution. The cost is comparable and you will be enjoying the drives in comfort, especially if you use MonkeyRide for this area.Visited November 2022Traveled as a coupleWritten November 17, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
68 reviews
Excellent
57
Very good
1
Average
0
Poor
3
Terrible
7
Rhiannon
1 contribution
Mar 2020
I do not recommend MonkeyRide and I feel it is my responsibility to post about my experience to save others from having a bad one. Below is the message I sent to the person who was in charge of scheduling my trip:
"Hello,
I was debating whether or not I should message you about my experience with MonkeyRide but I feel that I must. First, as a single female traveling alone, it was pretty scary to get in an unmarked car with someone who was just holding a sign that said “MonkeyRide”. Anyone could have done that to trick a solo traveler to come with them, but because I didn’t have any other option or any cell phone service, I decided to take the risk. I was also not made aware that there was going to be a transfer of vehicles, so the entire time I was left wondering whether or not this might be someone other than MonkeyRide trying to harm me. Thankfully, Andres was VERY nice and I really enjoyed having him as a driver. He was helpful, kind, easy to talk to, and a safe driver. However, I cannot say the same for Jimmy. The entire time I was in Jimmy’s car I was scared for my life. His driving is terrible and unsafe and I would not be surprised if he was driving drunk. He was consistently driving into the opposite lane of oncoming traffic, which forced those drivers to swerve in order to not get hit. Other drivers were honking and trying to get as far away from his car as possible. He was not keeping his eyes on the road and instead was borderline harassing me and making jokes about me taking off my shirt. He also fell asleep at the wheel at a construction stop where I had to wake him up to tell him when it was our turn to go. At several points I almost asked to just get out and hitchhike. Luckily, Jimmy got me to my location without injury. But there were numerous close calls and I will never use MonkeyRide again. I will also never recommend it to anyone and will actually warn everyone I know and meet against using it because of the complete lack of communication and professionalism I experienced. I am not being dramatic when I say that I was scared for my life and that my ride with Jimmy was the worst experience I have ever had as a passenger in a car.
Your website states: "At Monkey Ride Costa Rica our goal is to provide an affordable, reliable and safe transportation service, whether you are requesting a shared ride or private ride to the beach, mountains, airport or to a city… Combined, we offer over 25 years of customer service. Our expertise in travel and transportation, combined with personal knowledge and experience in Costa Rica allows us to comfortably offer our customers a safe and positive ground transportation experience - whether it be ground transfers, shared shuttle or private ride.” My experience was not comfortable, safe, or positive. Thank you for reading."
I am blown away by how bad my second driver was and I cannot believe he has not killed someone by now. Never again! Book with another company.
"Hello,
I was debating whether or not I should message you about my experience with MonkeyRide but I feel that I must. First, as a single female traveling alone, it was pretty scary to get in an unmarked car with someone who was just holding a sign that said “MonkeyRide”. Anyone could have done that to trick a solo traveler to come with them, but because I didn’t have any other option or any cell phone service, I decided to take the risk. I was also not made aware that there was going to be a transfer of vehicles, so the entire time I was left wondering whether or not this might be someone other than MonkeyRide trying to harm me. Thankfully, Andres was VERY nice and I really enjoyed having him as a driver. He was helpful, kind, easy to talk to, and a safe driver. However, I cannot say the same for Jimmy. The entire time I was in Jimmy’s car I was scared for my life. His driving is terrible and unsafe and I would not be surprised if he was driving drunk. He was consistently driving into the opposite lane of oncoming traffic, which forced those drivers to swerve in order to not get hit. Other drivers were honking and trying to get as far away from his car as possible. He was not keeping his eyes on the road and instead was borderline harassing me and making jokes about me taking off my shirt. He also fell asleep at the wheel at a construction stop where I had to wake him up to tell him when it was our turn to go. At several points I almost asked to just get out and hitchhike. Luckily, Jimmy got me to my location without injury. But there were numerous close calls and I will never use MonkeyRide again. I will also never recommend it to anyone and will actually warn everyone I know and meet against using it because of the complete lack of communication and professionalism I experienced. I am not being dramatic when I say that I was scared for my life and that my ride with Jimmy was the worst experience I have ever had as a passenger in a car.
Your website states: "At Monkey Ride Costa Rica our goal is to provide an affordable, reliable and safe transportation service, whether you are requesting a shared ride or private ride to the beach, mountains, airport or to a city… Combined, we offer over 25 years of customer service. Our expertise in travel and transportation, combined with personal knowledge and experience in Costa Rica allows us to comfortably offer our customers a safe and positive ground transportation experience - whether it be ground transfers, shared shuttle or private ride.” My experience was not comfortable, safe, or positive. Thank you for reading."
I am blown away by how bad my second driver was and I cannot believe he has not killed someone by now. Never again! Book with another company.
Written March 2, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Rhiannon,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write a review. We would like to apologize for your recent experience. We are sorry to hear this and do not take these matters lightly. We pride ourselves on our safe and reliable transportation services and the high quality of standards we have maintained over the years.
Your comments have been discussed at length, with all of our staff, to ensure that all employees understand and continue to maintain a safe and professional environment for every guest. We value and appreciate all of our customer's opinions, even in a situation such as this and we would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention. While we wish we could have made this right for you, we could only offer a refund and credit when we discussed over email. But it is through your feedback that we can correct, improve and ensure that our services and employees are meeting our own expectations, after over 10 years of being in operation, as well as the expectations of each and every customer, every time. A situation like this will only make our company become better and grow stronger for the future.
Written March 6, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Whel0035
Ottawa, Canada15 contributions
Jan 2020 • Friends
Well I spoke to Monkey Ride first but they didn’t resolve my issues, now I want to make sure others don’t experience what I did.
All I can say was the ride to my destination-Dominical was great but it was during the day. I took the share ride option and didn’t have to wait too long for the rest of my passengers to join us. We left at 2 instead of the possible 3pm time on their website.
However, the ride back to the airport was one of the scariest unsafe rides of my life. I paid 209 US to get a private ride to the airport and The driver was crazy unsafe. Driving in and out of traffic, watching videos and texting while driving swerving in and out of lanes. I mean maybe because it’s a late ride and the company couldn’t find a reliable person to drive all night but then I thought “don’t offer the service”. I spoke to the company and they said we will look into it. No mention of any compensation back to me which considering I paid their highest price for the ride I assumed there would be. I couldn’t communicate with the driver and didn’t feel safe telling him what to do since it was just the two of us. I got car sick from his driving and spent the entire time closing my eyes praying not to die. He also stopped for dinner for himself at some local place and I felt very uncomfortable there too.
Certainly not great service. Next time I will travel during the day and not use this service.
Keep this in mind when booking your flights day flights are better.
All I can say was the ride to my destination-Dominical was great but it was during the day. I took the share ride option and didn’t have to wait too long for the rest of my passengers to join us. We left at 2 instead of the possible 3pm time on their website.
However, the ride back to the airport was one of the scariest unsafe rides of my life. I paid 209 US to get a private ride to the airport and The driver was crazy unsafe. Driving in and out of traffic, watching videos and texting while driving swerving in and out of lanes. I mean maybe because it’s a late ride and the company couldn’t find a reliable person to drive all night but then I thought “don’t offer the service”. I spoke to the company and they said we will look into it. No mention of any compensation back to me which considering I paid their highest price for the ride I assumed there would be. I couldn’t communicate with the driver and didn’t feel safe telling him what to do since it was just the two of us. I got car sick from his driving and spent the entire time closing my eyes praying not to die. He also stopped for dinner for himself at some local place and I felt very uncomfortable there too.
Certainly not great service. Next time I will travel during the day and not use this service.
Keep this in mind when booking your flights day flights are better.
Written January 24, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Anastasia L
Hollywood, FL2 contributions
Mar 2020 • Solo
I have used Monkey Ride about 7 times for myself and once for my son. They are the best. Always on time. Professional, kind and always a pleasure doing business with them. They are quick to respond and have helped me on several changes that have come up suddenly. Wouldn’t use anyone else. The BEST shuttle in Costa Rica for the pacific coast!!!! AVL
Written March 23, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We are incredibly grateful that you took the time out to leave us this note. Our company values put customer satisfaction as top priority and we are committed to our customers. Its customers like you that make our job wonderful. We look forward to serving you again.
Written January 6, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Tracy in la jungla
1 contribution
Nov 2020 • Solo
Over the last five years I have used the Monkey Ride many times for getting to and from the airport in San Jose. I know after I have booked my ride that I don't even need to worry about that aspect of my trip anymore. They are very prompt and that gives me a great peace of mind.
The drivers are always so courteous and go out of their way to make sure that my trip is a safe and comfortable experience.
It makes me happy to know that I am supporting a local family operated company and that they appreciate my business. I'm not just another "fare ". This is what these people do for a living and they put their heart into it. I highly recommend the Monkey ride shuttle service. They have never let me down.
The drivers are always so courteous and go out of their way to make sure that my trip is a safe and comfortable experience.
It makes me happy to know that I am supporting a local family operated company and that they appreciate my business. I'm not just another "fare ". This is what these people do for a living and they put their heart into it. I highly recommend the Monkey ride shuttle service. They have never let me down.
Written November 18, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We are incredibly grateful that you took the time out to leave us this note. Our company values put customer satisfaction as top priority and we are committed to our customers. Its customers like you that make our job wonderful. We look forward to serving you again.
Written January 6, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
lois244
South Bend, Indiana20 contributions
Feb 2021 • Friends
What an amazing company!! Richard has always gone above and beyond for us. Arranging shuttles for 18 people can be a lot like herding cats - but Richard and his guys got us everywhere we needed to be and took great care of us along the way. Every detail was taken care of which made the trip that much better. Until next time.....✌🏽
Written February 10, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jenn L
2 contributions
Jan 2021
Fantastic service at a reasonable price while providing local charm. While in dominical for 10 days we used Monkey Ride almost daily for excursions & rides to dinner. The staff is extremely pleasant & accommodating.
Written February 10, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Alexa F
Cape Cod, MA115 contributions
Jul 2023 • Solo
My husband and I were stranded in Liberia as the weather would not allow us to land in San Jose. Monkey Ride was to take us from San Jose to Dominical. We kept in touch as we took the 4 hour bus ride back to San Jose. Our driver,Joel, was waiting for us and drove us home. Amanda at the office was also helpful. If you ever need a ride I will definitely recommend Monkey Ride. They are a great business. Very professional and willing to help you.
A. Fox
A. Fox
Written July 19, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Gary
1 contribution
Oct 2022
Monkey Ride is an outstanding and reliable transportation service. I have used Monkey Ride numerous times and they are always professional, punctual and the vans are clean.
All staff is outstanding from the office to the drivers. They have always gone the extra mile to take care of my transportation needs.
All staff is outstanding from the office to the drivers. They have always gone the extra mile to take care of my transportation needs.
Written November 9, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tiffany
Hamilton Parish, Bermuda4 contributions
Aug 2022
If you are looking for assistance with airport shuttles or transportation - look no further!!
Fantastic Service! Traveling to Costa Rica from our hometown required a lot of planning. The Monkey Ride team were extremely helpful in arranging for our group to get from the airport right to our private villa (coordinating switching from the large shuttle to 4 x 4 cars). They were also helpful with arranging pick up shuttled for us to go wherever we needed throughout our stay.
Fantastic Service! Traveling to Costa Rica from our hometown required a lot of planning. The Monkey Ride team were extremely helpful in arranging for our group to get from the airport right to our private villa (coordinating switching from the large shuttle to 4 x 4 cars). They were also helpful with arranging pick up shuttled for us to go wherever we needed throughout our stay.
Written August 9, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Cwhee40
Gainesville, FL231 contributions
Jul 2021
We used them to go from Dominical down to Marino Ballena and they were very easy to communicate with. Our driver was professional, safe, and punctual. Didn't speak English, so it was fun to practice our Spanish. He used Google translate when we really needed it though. Price was very reasonable and the van was clean. Would totally recommend.
Written August 10, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Patricia C
3 contributions
I have a question, I do not find the option where I can book my rides from Manuel Antonio to Uvita, and from Uvita to San Jose Downtown, in their web page. Can I get some help?
Tanis W
Brandon, Canada113 contributions
Hi Patrica I used them from Uvita to San Jose. I contacted the Uvita Tourist Information Centre and they made a reservation for me. I suspect it you emailed the company directly that would work as well. Enjoy your visit
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Monkey Ride - Shuttles & Private Rides Information
Excellent Reviews | 57 |
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Very Good Reviews | 1 |
Monkey Ride - Shuttles & Private Rides Photos | 38 |