Things to do in Turrialba
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Río Locos
A popular local company does rafting as well as other area tours.
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Costa Rica Ríos
Offers week-long rafting trips that must be booked in advance. It’s 25m north of Parque Central.
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Explornatura
This longtime outfitter runs recommended canyoning expeditions, among other tours.
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Catie
About 4km east of Turrialba, Catie consists of 1000 hectares dedicated to tropical agricultural research and education. Agronomists from all over the world recognize this as one of the most important centers in the tropics. You need to make reservations for one of several available guided tours through laboratories, greenhouses, a seed bank, experimental plots and one of the most extensive libraries of tropical-agriculture literature in the world. You can also easily pick up a map (or print one off their website) and take a self-guided walk through the gardens to a pond, where waterbirds such as the purple gallinule are a specialty. You can walk to Catie or get a taxi (₡1…
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Parque Viborana
About 10km east of Turrialba, in the village of Pavones (500m east of the cemetery), Parque Viborana is a small serpentarium run by a local family. Here you can see (and even handle) a variety of Costa Rican snakes, including some very large boas. A rustic visitors area has a small exhibit.
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Restaurant Don Porfi
Four kilometers north of town (and a ₡2000 taxi ride), this longtime local favorite whips up a mix of international and Tico cuisine, from grilled steaks to stacked seafood platters to chicken bathed in garlic. A wine list features a selection of South American vintages.
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Pastelería Merayo
Founded in 1928, this informal bakery produces made-to-order coffee that is strong and delicious, as well as some excellent pastries. Tip: anything with custard – crema pastelera – is guaranteed to be good.
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La Feria
This unremarkable-looking eatery has friendly service and excellent, inexpensive home cooking. Try the pollo a la milanesa, a crisp chicken cutlet served with cucumber-yogurt dipping sauce. Tasty!
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Bar-Restaurant La Garza
A Turrialba institution, this corner place has been serving traditional Tico dishes to locals and tourists alike as long as anyone can remember. It’s an excellent place for an evening beer.
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MegaSuper
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Tico’s River Adventures
A good local outfit offers all manner of rafting trips and runs a kayaking school.
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Río Reventazón
This storied rock-lined river has its beginnings at the Lago de Cachí, an artificial lake created by a dam of the same name. It begins here, at 1000m above sea level, and splashes down the eastern slopes of the cordilleras to the Caribbean lowlands. It is one of the most difficult, adrenaline-pumping runs in the country – and with more than 65km of rapids, you can get as hardcore as you like.
Tour operators divide the river into four sections between the dam and the take-out point in Siquirres. Las Máquinas (Power House) is a Class II–III float that’s perfect for families, while Florida, the final and most popular segment, is a scenic Class III with a little more white…
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Río Pacuare
The Río Pacuare is the next major river valley east of the Reventazón, and has arguably the most scenic rafting in Costa Rica, if not Central America. The river plunges down the Caribbean slope through a series of spectacular canyons clothed in virgin rainforest, through runs named for their fury and separated by calm stretches that enable you to stare at near-vertical green walls towering hundreds of meters above.
The Class III–IV Lower Pacuare is the more accessible run: 28km through rocky gorges and isolated canyons, past an indigenous village, untamed jungle and lots of wildlife curious as to what the screaming is all about.
The Upper Pacuare is also classified as…
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Restaurant Betico Mata
This carnivore’s paradise on the south end of town specializes in gallos (open-faced tacos on corn tortillas) piled with succulent, fresh-grilled meats including beef, chicken, sausage or pork, all soaked in the special house marinade. All go smashingly well with an ice-cold beer. The restaurant has a counter that faces the street – making it easy to park and pick-up a snack if you’re driving through town.
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RainForest World
Offering rafting trips since 1981, this company organizes multiday camping and rafting excursions, one of which goes into the Reserva Indígena Cabécar.
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