Private Tour guide Tamarindo

Okay I am traveling with a party of 6 adults. We would love to see a waterfall maybe a volcano and some wildlife for our camera enthusiast. Maybe a cool dip into a nice pool. I am looking for a recommendation for a personal guide who knows the area and wont cost us a fortune. At 6 adults even the cheapest trip will be in excess of $750.00. We want to have a fun day and not feel like were just cattle being herded about. We have our own van.
Surely some local would like to make a couple hundred dollars and show us gringos some cool sights

If you have your own van, then you don't need a tour guide, the problem is, Tamarindo is not close to any waterfalls or lakes or hot springs.

Tenerio/Celeste Waterfalls is about 2.5 -3 hours from Tamarindo. Rincon is about the same...

Arenal and the hot springs are close to 4 hours.

You don't need a van at the beach, rent the van for 2 days and do a overnight to one of these places, and get a guidebook, like MOON, LP or Roughguide.

Cool sights? There are many National Parks and natural wonders, the issue is Tamarindo is a surf beach, and in the middle of Guanacaste, which is cattle/ranch country. Hit a rodeo in Santa Cruz...about 1 hours drive, a tad more...

thanks for the reply mrmoto, i looked at the Tenerio/Celeste Waterfalls unfortunately they wont allow swimming in them. After a hot day of hiking what a bummer to go and find this out. Is there another place your aware of that will let us go swimmming??
Again Thank you

You can swim in the Rio Celeste...its cold as heck though. You just can't swim upstream of the falls, that areas is protected, as the two rivers flow into one, then hit the falls. Just downstream from the main waterfalls, you can swim as the currents are not bacd and the depth is maybe 2ft in areas, but there are also thermals underwater with very hot scorching water coming through the river bed, the locals have usually built a small wading pool with a circle of rocks to sit in near the thermal, where its not too hot...bliss.

Rincon you can swim in the river near one main waterfall, but again, man its cold.

You should be able to find a tour guide that will do Rincon adventure day for $90-$100 / person, you might be able to work a better deal with 6, and this would include horse back riding, river tubing, zip line, buffet lunch, hot springs and mud bath. You can also request that your guide take you to the nearby rocks where you can jump right next to a waterfall into the refreshing (cold!) water. This includes transportation as well. I recommend this tour to everyone that visits as it is a very full day with a lot of adventure and fun. For parts of the trip you are part of a larger group and for other parts you will go at your own pace. Rodalfo at Tamarindo Transfer and Tours adds on the waterfall to the trip. You also could shuttle yourself to the site and just pick an activity or two and hike yourself to the waterfalls.

There is also a long ATV tour that leaves out of Tamarindo and goes all the way to Brasalito. I have not done this tour, but you might check it out when you are in town. Again some more adventure and you'll get to see a bunch of different beaches and areas.

Be careful in rivers, you have bull sharks near ocean river mouths and crocs too...and strong currents. You also have poisonous snakes and snapping turtles...

Well isn't that something. Its sounds just like Florida where I am from.
Seriously thanks for your feed back, I think I will give Tamarindo Travel and Transfer a shot
Namaste

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.