Day 1 - Arrive in San Jose, transfer to
La Posada del Duende.
Pick up at the airport and transfer to La Posada
del Duende, a nice tiny hotel in the mountains
of Coronado with great food and sweeping views
of San Jose.
Day 2 -Warm up ride around "The Coronado"
Mountains.
Today we will take it easy and go for a warm
up ride, in the mountains around La Posada del
Duende.
The mountains around Coronado where the hotel
is located are famous for its dairy industry.
The ride will a mix of dirt roads, double track
and short pavement climbs with some "Cow
Dung" on the way.
It will be an easy ride to fine tune bikes and
legs, to get ready for what is still to come.
In the afternoon we may go take a look to the
City of San Jose.
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Day 3 - Ride Volcan Irazu to The Orosi Valley.
This morning we'll ride from Costa's highest active
volcano at 3432 meters. Often, the volcano can be
seen smoking
don't worry, the last eruption was
back in 1963. Today's ride will take us from the edge
of a crater, where we can look into the 300-meter
deep hole before plunging down the slope on our bikes
for a 7000-foot descent on singletrack, doubletrack,
rough road and a little pavement to "The Orosi"
valley one of the oldest towns from the colony in
the country.
There we will stay at the Hotel "Rio Perlas",
a beautiful place in the mountains with some nice
revitalizing "Thermal" pools. Bring your
swimsuit
Day 4 - Ride from Cartago to Santa Maria de Dota.
After breakfast and loading all the bikes and gear
in the van, we will drive for about an hour and a
half to the town of Cartago. From there we will ride
to the town of Santa Maria in the "Dota Valley"
(an area known for having one of the best soils on
the planet to grow coffee). The ride is kind of an
"Up and Down" with a long double track climb
on the first half (some small descends, but up mainly)
and then on the second half a long singletrack descend
with a couple of short "hike a bike" sections.
Estimated time of the ride 3.5 to 4 hours. Stay at
"Cabinas Doña Cecilia". A small home
style Inn, with comfortable rooms and the best food
in town.
Day 5 - Ride Cerro Vueltas to Providencia.
The trail down the Cerro Vueltas to the town of Provindencia
is one of those secret jewels that we will ride on
the trip, an old hiking trail used by the founders
of Providencia to communicate with the town of Copey
(another tiny town in the Dota area). This trail,
is so good that is illegal
After driving for
about an hour from Santa Maria, at 3000 meters on
the Interamerican Highway we will unload the bikes
and quietly jump over a gate (without being caught)
to start riding up for half hour to hit one of the
best Back Country XC trails in the country.
A pure Jungle Adventure ending up in the small town
of Providencia. The trail have a bit of everything
with ups and downs and some push a bike sections that
combined with the altitude can be a little punishing,
but the reward is huge: a solid descend from 3000m
to 1800m of continuous singletrack all the way to
Providencia, where a warm and healthy lunch will be
waiting
for us. Estimated time: 4 hours. Once everybody is
relaxed and recovered from the ride, we will drive
back to Santa Maria and stay at Cecilia´s again.
Day 6 - Ride from Santa Maria to San Isidro de
Dota.
In the next 2 days we will ride across the "Los
Santos Reserve" an 80000 hectares primary forest
reservation, to end up in the pacific coast in the
Manuel Antonio National Park. On the first day we
will ride from Santa Maria to the community of San
Isidro, taking some very technical trails with epic
views on countless waterfalls along the way. This
will be a very demanding ride with lots of ups and
downs in the most remote area that we will be on the
whole trip.
We will spend the night in a small hostel in the middle
of the mountains, which only can be accessed by horse
or hiking.
Horses will bring our gear to the hostel. Estimated
time: 5-5.5 hours.
Day 7 - Ride from San Isidro to Manuel Antonio.
We will leave our hostel very early in the morning,
to start riding to Manuel Antonio National Park and
hopefully see a nice sunset by the end of day. The
ride will start going down a technical and steep descend
followed by 5 mountain passes on a double track road
and a long descend to a place called "London".
From London is a 15 km flat ride to Quepos, followed
by a very steep 3 km paved climb and a 3 km descend
to Manuel Antonio National Park.
This last section of the ride is usually very busy
with cars since is the only way to go to the National
Park.
Estimated Time: 4.5 Hours. We will stay at Hotel Playa
Espadilla.
Day8 - Stay in Manuel Antonio.
Today everybody have a full day to explore the Manuel
Antonio Beaches and National Park.
Day 9 - Drive from Quepos to San Jose, Ride "La
Platanilla" Optional.
After checking out the beach in Manuel Antonio, we
will drive back to San Jose. Half way the 4.5 hours
drive to San Jose, there is an optional ride at Finca
"La Platanilla" in the town of San Mateo.
La Platanilla is private reserve with some very fun
singletrack loops that could be a nice dessert after
all the riding we have done over the last days.
(Entry fee to La Platanilla not include)
Day 10 - Fly Home.
ABOUT THE TRIP:
What's included?
- The country's best ridding!!
- All accommodations during the trip.
- All meals except lunches and one dinner the day
of arrival. Lunches are not included to have a more
relaxed schedule, concentrate more on the riding and
not being on a rush to go for lunch at a certain time.
- All transportation during the trip, Including transfers
to the airport.
What is not included?
- Airfare To and From Costa Rica.
- Lodging before and after the tour dates. If you
come earlier the start of the tour, or you wish to
stay longer after the tour is done, that lodging is
not included.
- Any replacement part, that your bike may need during
the tour.
- Entry fees National Parks or extra tours.
- Personal Items purchased during the trip.
Lodging and Food:
We will stay in small and comfortable hotels and
local lodges along the way. We feature lodging that
will expose you to the famous "Pura Vida"
Costa Rican lifestyle. Local foods and culture will
be celebrated as part of your experience. You'll have
plenty of opportunity to practice your Spanish!
Climate:
Our dry season (summer) goes from December to April.
This time of the year is usually very Hot and dry.
However this is not a guarantee that is going hot
and sunny all the time. Costa Rica have one of the
most diverse climates in the world and being on the
tropics means that sometimes a storm can show up for
a couple of days. We recommend bringing some warm
waterproof riding clothing as well as a pair of Board
shorts or Bikini and a good Sun block Lotion.