Nature
Villa Vanilla Spice Tour
A hands-on morning on a working spice farm. Vanilla, true cinnamon, cacao and pepper, ending in a tasting at the viewpoint.
Vanilla, cinnamon and cacao, growing where they belong.
Villa Vanilla is a working farm, founded in 1987, up in the hills behind Quepos at Villa Nueva. The tour walks you through the plantations where vanilla, true Ceylon cinnamon, cacao, black pepper, allspice and turmeric are actually grown, cured and processed.
It is hands-on rather than a talk. You handle the plants and smell and taste as you go, and the guide explains why vanilla is one of the most labour-intensive crops there is: every flower has to be pollinated by hand, on the one morning it opens.
Every vanilla flower is pollinated by hand, on the one morning it opens.
More about this tour
The walk ends at a viewpoint over the forest with a tasting made from the farm's own spices and cacao, and there is a shop selling what you have just walked through.
It is two and a half hours, the paths are shaded, and it is one of the few mornings on this coast that a shower does not spoil.
Here's how the 2.5 hours unfold.
Every step is planned so you can focus on the experience, not the logistics.
Arrive at the farm.
Up in the hills at Villa Nueva, behind Quepos.
Vanilla on the vine.
How the orchid is pollinated by hand, and how the pods are cured for months afterwards.
Cinnamon, pepper and cacao.
True Ceylon cinnamon, black pepper, allspice, turmeric and the cacao trees, along shaded paths.
The tasting.
The farm's own spices and cacao, at the overlook above the forest.
The farm shop.
Vanilla, spice blends and chocolate made from what grows on the other side of the path.
Everything that's included, and everything to bring.
What is included
- A guided walk through the vanilla and spice plantations
- The spice tasting at the viewpoint
- Access to the farm shop
What to bring
- Closed shoes for farm paths
- Insect repellent
- A light rain layer in the green season
- A bag, if you plan to buy spices
Photographs from this trip
Real photos from this tour. Click any image to open the gallery.
The local shortcut.
Same rate, no markup
You pay the farm's own rate. Our value is the coordination.
The one that works in the rain
Shaded paths and a covered tasting. When the weather closes in, this is the morning we move people to.
Good with children
It is short, it is hands-on and it finishes with chocolate. Children from three to twelve pay a lower rate.
One departure a day
It goes at 8:30 in the morning and places are limited, so we book it ahead rather than on the day.
Before you book, a few answers
Let us get you out there.
Reserve your spot, or message the concierge team with questions.