Monteverde Lodge & Gardens / Optional Activities

Have you thought about the optional activities that you would like to do while you in Monteverde?

There is so much to do in Monteverde, it's worth taking some time to review the activities that are available and plan your days. Below you will find descriptions and prices for many different activities.

These activities are chosen to give you the best experiences available in the region. The best time of day to do these activities varies from month to month. Once you know what you would like to do, fill out the Online Reservation Request and in the comment box that is provided, let us know which tours you would like to do. When your Travel Planner confirms your reservations he/she will make suggestions so that you get the maximum benefit of each experience.

If you don't want to pre-book these tours, we are happy to make reservations for you upon check in at the lodge.

Don't hesitate to let us know if you have any questions.

Horseback Riding In Monteverde
Morning, Early Afternoon or Sunset

The El Rodeo stable is among the best stables for horseback riding in Costa Rica. Their healthy horses are great looking and well taken care of; they are also quite well trained. You will be met in the lobby of Monteverde Lodge for the 10 minute drive to the stables.

After signing a release form and being fitted for your helmet, the stable manager will pair you to your horse. There is a long string of rides to choose from. Meet Somoza (former dictator of Nicaragua), Paloma (Dove), Trueno (Lightning), Betun (Shoe Polish) and Macha (Blondie) after a sniff and a look into each other's eyes the Stable Manager will know if it's a match.

After a short lesson, you are off to the Finca. Originally a dairy farm, Finca El Rodeo has extensive pastures, coffee and banana plantations, panoramic views of the Gulf of Nicoya and patches of secondary forest. Ride for approximately 1.5 hours and return to the stable for the short drive back to Monteverde Lodge.

This experience is available for all levels of riding ability.

Ecological Sanctuary (Entrance Fee Only)

Walk just 10 minutes through the forest from Monteverde Lodge to the Ecological Sanctuary. This small privately owned reserve is part of a biological corridor, located in a transitional forest that goes from tropical moist forest to tropical dry forest.

A favorite birding site, the Sanctuary is known for the multitude of wildlife that makes the Sanctuary its home. Among the often seen residents are the Long Tailed Manakin with active leks during the months of April to July, Three Wattled Bellbirds, Chiriqui Quail-Dove, Two-toed Sloths, Prehensile Tailed Porcupine and Agouti.

Ecological Sanctuary Twilight Tour

Meet your Naturalist Guide in the lobby of Monteverde Lodge where you will have short introduction and get your flashlight for the evening. Begin your night hike in the extensive gardens of Monteverde Lodge where many creatures make their home. With your guide make your way to the Ecological Sanctuary and continue to explore. Kinkajou, Porcupine, Night Jar and Wholly Opossum are just a few of the species that you may be lucky enough to see.

Monteverde Butterfly Garden Tour

The Monteverde Butterfly Garden experience is based on hands on education. Highly educated guides will help you learn about spiders and insects from all over the Monteverde region. Tours take about an hour and fifteen minutes and a guide is included with the price of admission.

Your tour begins in the nature center to give you a general overview of spiders and insects. This includes up close and personal experiences with scorpions, spiders, and all kinds of insects. The Butterfly Garden philosophy is to educate guests about the great biodiversity of the Monteverde region. After the general overview the tour continues into 4 butterfly gardens. Each of the 4 gardens represents a different local habitat including the hot lowlands, mid-elevation forest edge, deep forest and cloud forest.

Your guide will not not only teach you about butterfly natural history but also help you locate and observe as many butterflies as possible. The tour finishes at a special exhibit on Leaf Cutter Ants, one of Costa Rica`s most outstanding insects. While it's easy to watch them working away in the forest, we provide a way to see them working underground. After the tour you can enjoy a 20 minute film on the butterflies of Costa Rica or go back into the gardens for more pictures or check out the medicinal plant garden or bird watch from the balcony.

Don Juan Coffee Tour

Don Juan Cruz was born to one of the first pioneering farming families that arrived to the Monteverde area.  For the most part of his life he has been associated with coffee and for sharing his history and the culture of this land with frequent visitors to his small farm.  Monteverde is a good place to learn about the process required to create a great cup of coffee using authentic techniques that date back a few generations.  Aside from learning about the coffee process and sampling the end result, there will be time to sample typical foods and snacks.  An authentic home-made lunch is available at an additional fee.

Monteverde Coffee Tour

At an elevation of 3,000 - 4,000 feet, the cloud forest offers ideal growing conditions for great coffee. This special coffee is locally grown, processed, roasted and retailed all within the Monteverde region. Established in 1989 as the first sustainable coffee project in Costa Rica, Cafe Monteverde is 100 % pure, sun dried coffee. The Santa Elena coop produces the coffee. The Coffee Department consists of approximately 80 coffee growers.

This 3 hour tour begins explaining the history of the area and how the region evolved into a community of farmers, scientists and conservationists. You will visit a working farm where your guide will explain the process of cultivating coffee. Walk through a coffee farm where you will explore a diversity of crops which include not only coffee but bananas, plantain, orange & lemons.

Finally, visit the coffee mill where the coop receives the beans from the farmers, here you will witness the roasting and packing process. The tour ends at the retail coffee shop where you will be invited to taste the variety of roasts.

Serpentarium

This amphibian and reptile zoo is a perfect place to learn about the fauna of Costa Rica. The facilities are spacious and care has been taken in recreating the natural environment for animals. Here you can appreciate more than 40 species of snakes, reptiles, lizards, spiders, iguanas, amphibians and land-turtles.

Monteverde Trapiche (Sugar Mill) Tour

The Monteverde Trapiche or Sugar Mill tour is run by a local family who will show you the process that was used at the turn of the century to grow and process sugar.

Your bilingual guide will walk with you through this small farm, where you can feed the tilapia fish, pick coffee when in season and ride in an ox cart. You will also have the opportunity to try sugar cane juice or lemonade, eat picadillo de arracache (a typical Costa Rican hash made from a root vegetable) and make candy out of sugar cane; everyone gets to make their own candy.

Children's Eternal Rainforest - Bajo Del Tigre Trail

With a unique and rich diversity of flora and fauna, Bajo del Tigre, a small area of the Children's Eternal Rain Forest of Costa Rica is in a transition zone from pre-mountain wet forest to pre-mountain moist forest. Its location and specific altitude on the Pacific slope make it a unique habitat distinct from other reserves in the area, home to a range of unusual flora and fauna, including thirty species of trees recently identified as new to science as well as toucans, mot-mots, white faced-monkeys, and agoutis among others.

It offers a 3.5km system of trails, particularly suited for families, a visitor's information center, store and children's house with various environmental education activities.

Monteverde Bat Jungle Tour

This exhibit provokes a new appreciation for the often misunderstood creatures of the night. The Bat Jungle exhibit is the culmination of 40 years of research conducted throughout the world by Dr. Richard LaVal a long time member of the Monteverde community.

At the Monteverde Bat Jungle you will learn about the diversity of bats, the abundance of bats, where bats roost, what bats eat (including such things as fruit, nectar, insects, frogs, fish, birds, lizards, and mice), bat wings compared with bird wings, echolocation, the fantastic faces of bats, vampire bats and baby bats. The bat jungle has more than 40 live bats of 7 species in a huge flight space (about 52 square meters) that is designed to look like a tropical cloud forest at night. You can watch the bats visit the bat feeders for fruit and nectar all from inside of a Bat Habitat from behind a glass enclosed viewing area.