Palo Verde Boat Tour: Wildlife and Cultural Experience

Embark on a thrilling boat tour inside the Palo Verde National Park and explore this amazing habitat, where hundreds of species of birds, animals and trees coexist, then discover the richness of Costa Rica Traditions with the best Cultural experience & Rum tasting.

Recommended for elderly people and families.

Handicap friendly.

Duration: 8 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Palo Verde National Park - Enjoy an expedition on a comfortable sightseeing boat that will slowly sail along the banks of the Tempisque River and take you into the heart of the Palo Verde Wetlands in search of its impressive fauna and flora. Then, visit an old hacienda built in 1881 and where you can learn about the entire process involved in…
What's Included
  • Professional guide
  • National Park fees
  • Lunch
  • In-vehicle air conditioning
  • Local taxes
  • All activities
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off (selected hotels only)
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
Additional Information
  • Child rate applies only when sharing with 2 paying adults.
  • Children must be accompanied by an adult.
  • Infant meals not included.
  • Infant rates apply provided they do not occupy a seat.
  • This tour requires a minimum of 6 people to run it.
  • Minimum numbers apply. There is a possibility of cancellation after confirmation if there are not enough…
Location
Palo Verde National Park
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
3.7
(9 Ratings)
5 stars
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1 star
Mique_v
Nov 14, 2022
Palo Verde And Liberia Excusion - The guide provided by Swiss Travel, Abel Ramirez, was excellent. He was very knowledgeable about many topics, very personable and pleasant. It was great to know there is a conservationist movement in Costa Rica which Abel explained to us. He went over and beyond to make the tour very interesting and special. He is a true asset to the company he works for. The driver provided was also very helpful and courteous. The boat guide was very knowledgeable and pointed out the wildlife during the excursion and also some interesting historical information. All three of them were local from nearby communities. The city tour was amazing. They arrived promptly and followed the schedule. We were very pleased with the entire experience.
Review provided by Viator
Maria_g
Aug 13, 2022
Great trip! - Great trip! We have seen a lot of animals, monkeys, alligators and birds. Our guide Rafael was amazing. Best experience!
Review provided by Viator
Therealjohnyack
Mar 26, 2019
Amazing Wildlife - Fantastic tour, we saw more wildlife in it’s natural habitat than we saw in the wildlife sanctuary. Just absolutely stunning from owls to monkeys to bats to toucans to reptiles. The boat tour did not let down. Then the city tour was informational, and we stopped at a gift stop that only sold items from Costa Rica. A+ tour
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mark
Feb 16, 2018
Great tour of the area and the river! - Swiss tours was great led by our guide Saul. Very knowledgeable on many fronts including the National election that was taking place that very day. Very interesting mix of culture, politics and nature. The river cruise was well worth it, saw multiple crocs, iguanas and even saw some capuchin monkeys at the end of tour. Little bit of a bumpy ride there but that was to be expected. Great way to spend a half day! Ask for Saul!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lindak998
Mar 31, 2023
Beautiful way to see it all - Great day with a mix of urban and country. Hosts very informative and made us feel like family. Great food at the lunch stop.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lindak998
Jan 19, 2020
Great day and good food - The drive was long but the organization of the shuttle pick ups were fantastic. We saw more than we expected and learnt lots. Highly recommend this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Christig2
Dec 29, 2017
The tour guides and staff are stellar, fantastic, but actual tour is just OK - I wanted to see the wild life and I know that it can depend on the timing, but honestly, I saw more exotic wild life at my resort. We were there the first week of November, so maybe that was not a good time of year. We saw a LOT of iguanas, some birds, some alligators, and an ant eater (way up in a tree and barely visible). We were also supposed to stop in the city, which we did, but we had very little time there. I would have liked to spend more time in the city and less time on the river, because I didn't see too much wild life on the river.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Linda
Jan 9, 2023
Good day with a horrible ending - The trip on the boat was really good and we saw lots of wildlife, crocodiles, birds, bats, iguanas etc. The guide was good at telling us the species of bird and had a book which showed the variety of type of bird. Lunch at the hacienda was limited for us vegetarians, again just salad rice and beans. There were 2 types of meat as well as fish. For the cultural activity I would have liked to have a choice of tortilla making or rum experience. We were put on the rum experience not knowing of the alternative. We don't drink spirits so would have preferred the other. But the worst thing is on the way back the driver ran over a dog on the road and didn't stop to help the dog. The incident was preventable as he was driving fast and didn't slow down when he saw the dog, just honked his horn. He slowed down at the last minute by then it was too late. We were left traumatized. The guide made excuses and shrugged his shoulders and tried to placate us. The irony was at the outset of the tour he spent time saying how drivers and guides are licensed and professional and take care of wildlife and the environment. By the way we passed a vet practice en route so know help could have been available for the dog.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aprilm08
Aug 19, 2019
We were DUPED! So disappointing! - We were in Tamarindo, Costa Rica in July 2019 and booked 2 tours with Swiss Travel. The first one was great and as described. The second one was not and we are so disappointed and displeased with it. We were looking for tours with short distances and that a toddler (22 month old) could withstand the drive and he could participate in. We were told that the Palo Verde River Boat tour was only a 45 min drive each way and that we would see exotic birds like macaws and parrots and that we would be close enough for monkeys to come out on the boat. None of which happened. It was well over 2 hours EACH WAY, we were only on the boat for an hour and we didn’t see any exotic birds and there were monkeys, but none ventured out on to the boat, in fact, we didn’t even get close enough for that. We left at 7:45am – we were supposed to leave at 7:20am and Joel was supposed to have some breakfast boxed up for us from the resort, which he clearly didn’t arrange. Then we were supposed to be back to the resort by 12:30pm – for lunch – but we didn’t arrive back until 2:45pm! NO meals were served at all, only fruit one time - once we got to the park. So we all (7 of us!) went ALL DAY without eating a meal, including my 22 month old grandson! He only had the rest of his snacks that we packed for him. We were lied to and duped for this tour. We contacted the company to inform them of experience and that we were unhappy with this tour and they had ZERO desire to make it right as it took them OVER a month to get back with me.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $199
up to 15 guests
2 Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).