Manuel Antonio is famous for its national park, and the park earns it. But the hills, rivers and coast around it fill a week just as easily, and most of it starts a short drive from Quepos. Here are seven days out, each with its own page if you want the details, and every one something our concierge team can book for you.
Zip-lining through the rainforest canopy
A canopy tour is half a day spent moving between platforms built high in the rainforest, clipped to a line the whole way. The lines suit a first-timer and still hold a repeat visitor, and pickup from the hotel is included. It is the quickest way to see the forest from above rather than from a trail.
White-water rafting, gentle or wild
The rivers inland from Quepos give you a choice. The Savegre is the gentle one: about six hours on easy water that suits children from about six, with time to stop, swim and look around. The Naranjo is four hours of Class III and IV through a steep jungle canyon, and the one most people mean when they say rafting here. For those who have rafted before, El Chorro runs Class IV and above through narrow gorges, and only in the dry season.
Snorkelling and scuba diving
Under the water off Manuel Antonio there is rocky reef and coral rather than one great reef system. The water is usually clearest in the dry season; in the green season, river runoff and swell can cloud it.
Divers get two guided dives on the volcanic reefs offshore, where more than a dozen sites sit minutes from the Quepos port, so very little of the day is spent getting there. If you would rather stay at the surface, the sunset catamaran stops to snorkel a sheltered cove.
An ATV into the hills
The ATV tour spends four hours inland on unpaved tracks, through plantations and across rivers to waterfalls you would not find on your own. Ride a machine yourself or share a double, and the pickup at the hotel is included.
Waterfalls in the hills
The national park is beaches, forest and wildlife. The waterfalls are inland, in the hills behind the coast, and each of these is a full day.
Nauyaca is the big one: two stacked falls, roughly two kilometres in on foot, with a pool at the bottom wide enough to swim across. Eco Chontales is the quieter walk, through the forest to a waterfall and its pool. And the three-waterfall day visits three separate falls with lunch in between; at eight and a half hours it is the most demanding of the three.
In the green season, stay out of river pools during or shortly after heavy rain upstream, and go with a guide.
A sunset catamaran
The sunset sail leaves Marina Pez Vela and runs along the Manuel Antonio coast. It stops to snorkel a sheltered cove, serves lunch on board and comes back as the sun goes into the Pacific.
Dolphins often swim with the boat, and humpback whales pass this coast on their migration in season; ask us which months when you book. Nobody can promise either, which is part of the fun.
The Damas mangroves
Near Quepos, the Damas estuary is a maze of mangrove channels. You can paddle them by kayak with a naturalist guide, about four hours with a snack on the river and lunch, or let a covered boat do the work. The tide sets the time, so we confirm it the day before.
After dark the same channels become a different trip, with lamps on the banks, by boat or by kayak. Both run on the tide, so not every night.
Planning your days
Most of these pick you up at the hotel, and the catamaran leaves from Marina Pez Vela, just down the road. Our concierge team can book any of them, put two on one day where that works, and add them to your trip plan before you arrive. Message us on WhatsApp at any hour.
If the national park is on your list too, book it early: entry is by time slot, and we arrange the ticket on its own or with a naturalist guide.
