White Water Rafting in Costa Rica: Everything you need to know
White water rafting in Costa Rica is a must (along with zip-lining 😉). It is a great mix of adventure, nature and fun! Here you’ll read:
- Why should you go White Water Rafting in Costa RIca?
- Common Hesitancies to White Water Rafting
- Why I'll Brag about Arenal Rafting Company
- The Logistics of Rafting with Arenal Rafting Company
- For your Information: Cost, Length of the Excursion and more!
- What to bring on the Excursion
- white water rafting in Costa Rica will be a highlight of your trip!
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Why should you go White Water Rafting in Costa RIca?
When it comes to Costa Rica, there are LOADS of exursions and activities to do, and you will notice rather quickly that they all are a bit costly. If you start doing too many of them, the cost of your Costa Rica trip may sky rocket!
- Therefore, to keep costs at bay, you should do some research and really decide what is worth seeing and doing! White water rafting should be on that list!
We were on the fence about whether it would be on our list of activities, but after one local waiter said one thing we MUST do is white water raft and one friendly stranger told us that she had just gotten back from one of the most fun days on the river, we decided we HAD to add rafting to the list.
- Specifically, our stranger friend recommended rafting with Arenal Rafting Company because they had the time of their life. We took their recommendation and agree 100%! So, here is a complete guide to rafting with Arenal Rafting Company!
Common Hesitancies to White Water Rafting
Common hesitancies (many of which I had) to white water rafting are is the excursion:
- Too dangerous?
- Too boring?
- Worth the money?
- Worth taking up half of one of our days in Arenal?
Answer: NOT too dangerous, NOT too boring, worth the money and worth the time.
If safety is your concern:
There are different levels of rapids offered for the excursions, which helps to accommodate different levels of experience with rafting.
- We rafted the portion of the river made up of class 2 and 3 rapids; the rapids were in close succession at the beginning of the float and then died down toward the end.
- The rapids are exciting and fun, but no one fell out of the raft during the rapids.
- Also, the guide is great about educating you on what to do if you fall out and demonstrates how he will use the life vest to pull you back into the raft!
Why I’ll Brag about Arenal Rafting Company
The whole experience with Arenal Rafting Company was safe, smooth and fun!
- ARC is organized and the guides know their stuff, are fun and they ADDED to the experience, making it an even better.
- The guides take control of the raft but let you be a part of the paddling. To add fun to the rafting, they even teach you how to ride on the front of the raft like a mechanical bull 😆.
- Bonus: they will point out any wildlife they find! On our trip, they showed us a sloth (or peresozo ;)) and a poison dart frog along the way, which ended up being our only poison dart frog sighting of the whole trip!
The Logistics of Rafting with Arenal Rafting Company
Arenal Rafting Company has a storefront downtown La Fortuna where you can go in and book your trip. However, this is not where the excursion begins; they have another building a few blocks down the road where the rafts and buses are located.
- Pick up is offered at MOST hotels located in Arenal
- A ride is offered to and from their main building where the excursion begins/ends, making it easy and stress-free
- Bathrooms are available to change before and/or after
The beginning of the river is about a 45 minute drive from the main ARC building
- While on the bus, safety instructions and a demonstration of how to use the paddles are given
- They also take personalized lunch orders while on the bus (chicken, beef or fish).
- Along the way they stop at a local market where the guys of the company buy fresh fruits for the trip.
- It was obvious that the bus stopped there before each trip, and I loved the feeling of them supporting each others businesses!
The rafting lasts about 2.5 hours and you will be taken back to the main building where lunch will be provided.
For your Information: Cost, Length of the Excursion and more!
Here is everything to know about the Balsa River White Water Rafting on class 2 and 3 rapids with Arenal Rating Company!
- Cost: $68 per person
- The trip is about 4 hours long and the float is about 2.5 hours long
- Fruit is provided halfway down the river
- Towels are provided at the end of the float
- Someone stays in the bus with whatever you choose to leave behind; all of our stuff was safe and accounted for 🙂
- Lunch is cooked and provided at the main building after the excursion
- A photographer in a kayak comes on the trip and you get to watch a slide-show of your pictures while you eat your lunch!
- The photos can be purchased for $40- we split the price with everyone on the raft. WORTH IT.
If you want a little more action, you can book a trip on the Balsa River with class 3 and 4 rapids as well. The trip is about the same length of time, but is $85 rather than $68.
What to bring on the Excursion
- Waterproof shoes with straps
- Swimsuit with shorts- you don’t want to slip and slide on the edge of the raft
- Change of clothes for eating lunch after the excursion
- If you have a GoPro, bring your helmet attachments! (forgot mine)
- Cash for photos if you want to purchase them
- If you want to risk it for the biscuit, bring a sturdy, waterproof phone case/holder
- We brought one, attached the necklace to the life jacket and had no problems, but, obviously, this is a risk you have to decide if you are willing to take or not
white water rafting in Costa Rica will be a highlight of your trip!
After hiking around the volcano and hot springs hopping, we wanted to end the trip with a bang, and white water rafting definitely did the trick! Along with zip-lining, white water rafting was a HIGHLIGHT of our trip to Costa Rica.
*Rafting photo creds go to Arenal Rafting Company’s photographer!*
For our full 8-day itinerary, click here!
Click below to book the tour we did with Arenal Rafting Company!
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