Jul 10 - Jul 19, 2024
2,899
2,399
Costa Rica
From Monkeys to Macaws: Colorful Costa Rica With Your Grandchild
Program No. 3636RJ
Fly a little south of the U.S. to discover a world of chatty macaws, playful monkeys, industrious leaf cutter ants and butterflies as you explore Costa Rica with your grandchild.
Enroll with Confidence
We want your Road Scholar learning adventure to be something to look forward to—not worry about. Learn more
Protecting the Environment
We offset a portion of the emissions created by your travel. Learn more
Prefer to enroll or inquire by phone?
800-454-5768
Age 9 - 11
ROOMING OPTION PRICING
The figures below indicate the rooming options available.
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| DATES | ||||
Jul 10 - Jul 19, 2024
| - | 2,899 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| 3,199 / Adult
2,399 / Child
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Jul 18 - Jul 27, 2024
2,899 2,399 | ||||
Jul 18 - Jul 27, 2024
| - | 2,899 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| 3,199 / Adult
2,399 / Child
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Filling Fast! Aug 2 - Aug 11, 20242,899 2,399 | ||||
Aug 2 - Aug 11, 2024
| - | 2,899 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| 3,199 / Adult
2,399 / Child
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Aug 5 - Aug 14, 2024
2,899 2,399 | ||||
Aug 5 - Aug 14, 2024
| - | 2,899 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| 3,199 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| |
Age 12 - 14
ROOMING OPTION PRICING
The figures below indicate the rooming options available.
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| DATES | ||||
Filling Fast! Jul 12 - Jul 21, 20242,899 2,399 | ||||
Jul 12 - Jul 21, 2024
| - | 2,899 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| 3,199 / Adult
2,399 / Child
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Jul 17 - Jul 26, 2024
2,899 2,399 | ||||
Jul 17 - Jul 26, 2024
| - | 2,899 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| 3,199 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| |
Filling Fast! Jul 23 - Aug 1, 20242,899 2,399 | ||||
Jul 23 - Aug 1, 2024
| - | 2,899 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| 3,199 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| |
Filling Fast! Aug 4 - Aug 13, 20242,899 2,399 | ||||
Aug 4 - Aug 13, 2024
| - | 2,899 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| 3,199 / Adult
2,399 / Child
| |
Full Inventory Jun 17 - Jun 26, 20252,999 2,599 | ||||
Jun 17 - Jun 26, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
Full Inventory Jun 23 - Jul 2, 20252,999 2,599 | ||||
Jun 23 - Jul 2, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
Jul 10 - Jul 19, 2025
2,999 2,599 | ||||
Jul 10 - Jul 19, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
Full Inventory Aug 3 - Aug 12, 20252,999 2,599 | ||||
Aug 3 - Aug 12, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
Age 8 - 11
ROOMING OPTION PRICING
The figures below indicate the rooming options available.
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| DATES | ||||
Jun 14 - Jun 23, 2025
2,999 2,599 | ||||
Jun 14 - Jun 23, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
Full Inventory Jun 27 - Jul 6, 20252,999 2,599 | ||||
Jun 27 - Jul 6, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
Full Inventory Jul 7 - Jul 16, 20252,999 2,599 | ||||
Jul 7 - Jul 16, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
Jul 18 - Jul 27, 2025
2,999 2,599 | ||||
Jul 18 - Jul 27, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
Full Inventory Jul 26 - Aug 4, 20252,999 2,599 | ||||
Jul 26 - Aug 4, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
Full Inventory Aug 1 - Aug 10, 20252,999 2,599 | ||||
Aug 1 - Aug 10, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
Age 15 - 17
ROOMING OPTION PRICING
The figures below indicate the rooming options available.
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DATES | ||||
Full Inventory Jul 5 - Jul 14, 20252,999 2,599 | ||||
Jul 5 - Jul 14, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
Full Inventory Jul 23 - Aug 1, 20252,999 2,599 | ||||
Jul 23 - Aug 1, 2025
| - | 2,999 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| 3,399 / Adult
2,599 / Child
| |
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10 days
9 nights
26 meals
9B 8L 9D
3
Chocolate Farm Visit, River Rafting
Sarapiqui
9
Outrigger Canoe Paddling, Free Time
Punta Leona
At a Glance
A scarlet macaw swooping overhead. A trek through the green rainforest. A large crocodile gliding unnoticed in the river. Postcards simply won’t do Costa Rica justice – you have to experience it for yourself! Alongside your grandchild, search for truly amazing animals, like sloths and howler monkeys, as you march through the rainforest, sail along the rivers, kayak the warm waters and zipline over the jungle on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure together. On this week-long journey, you’ll learn about all the colorful landscapes on walks through nature and across hanging bridges as you both go wild in Costa Rica.
Activity Level
Keep the Pace
Walking up to 1.5 hours a day over uneven trails in hot and humid conditions, zip lining, swimming activities, and getting in and out of boats and buses. Elevations up to 5,000 feet.
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.
What You'll Learn
- Keep your eyes peeled for sloths, iguanas, monkeys, crocs and more as you float along the Sarapiqui and Tarcoles Rivers with an expert naturalist.
- Hold onto your helmets as you zipline over the jungle and walk over hanging bridges to view a large volcano.
- Explore a local farm where silly macaws fly about and learn how the locals are trying to protect them.
General Notes
Program is for grandchildren ages 9-11 or 12-14 or 15-17, depending on the date. This program allows participants to explore a number of Costa Rica’s eco-systems in a relatively short amount of time. Bus travel is a necessity for an up-close experience, but program activities help to break up travel time. Local road conditions, weather, traffic and elevation are factors in determining time of travel.
Featured Expert
All trip experts
Erick Miranda
Erick Miranda hails from Costa Rica’s historic Heredia, a region dotted with coffee plantations and forests. As a young boy, he dreamed of becoming a naturalist guide. He attended a prestigious research center where he studied natural history and honed his interpretive skills. Erick has been a licensed naturalist guide and group leader for more than a decade, as well as a personal cross-training fitness coach. He has traveled extensively within Costa Rica and wishes to start adding some international destinations to his travel list.
Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.
Erick Miranda
View biography
Erick Miranda hails from Costa Rica’s historic Heredia, a region dotted with coffee plantations and forests. As a young boy, he dreamed of becoming a naturalist guide. He attended a prestigious research center where he studied natural history and honed his interpretive skills. Erick has been a licensed naturalist guide and group leader for more than a decade, as well as a personal cross-training fitness coach. He has traveled extensively within Costa Rica and wishes to start adding some international destinations to his travel list.
Lizeth Alfaro
View biography
Lizeth Alfaro is a Costa Rican naturalist expedition leader, flower therapist, and bee keeper. She earned her qualifications in sustainable tourism and became a national guide by the time she turned 18. Growing up among the rich biodiversity of the northern Caribbean lowlands gave her an early appreciation for nature and awareness of local conservation efforts. In her free time, Lizeth enjoys bee keeping, painting, and herbology.
Andrey Acosta
View biography
Andrey Acosta is a certified Costa Rican naturalist expedition leader and a birding enthusiast. The ocean was his first love, and his fondest childhood memories involve swimming and playing with friends at the beach in his hometown of Puntarenas. He discovered the joys of birdwatching while studying ecotourism at the Universidad de Costa Rica. As cash-strapped students, Andrey and friends birded on a budget, assisting in bird counts and volunteering. He has been leading educational groups since 2015 and is also a licensed scuba diver.
Vinicio Viquez
View biography
Vinicio “Vinny” Víquez grew up in Heredia province in Costa Rica’s Central Valley. He studied biology at university, and began working as a naturalist in the 1990s. He considers himself an ambassador of Costa Rica. Each visitor presents an opportunity – not just to share favorite birds and amphibians – but also to plant a seed to spread appreciation of his diverse homeland. Vinny and his family live on a small coffee plantation in Costa Rica’s southern Pacific highlands.
Suggested Reading List
(20 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
From Monkeys to Macaws: Colorful Costa Rica With Your Grandchild
Program Number: 3636
Into The Volcano
O'Meara's lively, illustrated eyewitness accounts of adventures in volcanology include Arenal in Costa Rica, Kilauea in Hawaii and Stromboli off the coast of Italy. Geared for grades 5 to 8, this is a great introduction to volcanoes for the whole family.
Culture Smart! Costa Rica
A guide to local customs, etiquette and culture.
Costa Rica, A Journey Through Nature
Dividing the book by ecosystem and geographic area, BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Hepworth's color photographs showcase the diversity of Costa Rica's wildlife and habitats.
The Birds of Costa Rica
Built for the field, this great guide includes multiple illustrations for 820 species of birds.
National Geographic Costa Rica
This stylish, informative and up-to-date travel resource features 200 photographs, many maps and good information on the country's history, nature and culture.
Monkeys are Made of Chocolate, Exotic and Unseen Costa Rica
Ewing, founder of Hacienda Baru in southern Costa Rica, weaves tales of the rainforest, wildlife, ecology and conservation in these 32 marvelous essays for the whole family.
Eyewitness Jungle
Geared for ages 9 to 12, the hundreds of eye-popping photographs of birds, monkeys, towering trees, orchids and all manner of rainforest life will also appeal to the whole family.
Costa Rican Spanish
A pocket guide to understanding idioms, slang and Spanish as it is spoken by the Ticos.
The Wildlife of Costa Rica, A Field Guide
This guide includes 450 of the most common, interesting and charismatic mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and arthropods that you are likely to encounter. Each has exquisite full-color illustrations.
Tropical Nature
A lively, lucid portrait of the tropics as seen by two uncommonly observant and thoughtful field biologists. Its 17 marvelous essays introduce the habitats, ecology, plants and animals of the Central and South American rainforest
Nancy Drew, The Scarlet Macaw Scandal
Nancy and her friends head for Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park to relax and study monkeys when they stumble upon, naturally, a mystery to be solved.
The Most Beautiful Roof in the World
A tropical botanist and her sons climb among the ropes and walkways of a rainforest canopy in this photographic odyssey. For ages 9-12.
Wild Costa Rica
This beautiful, informative survey of the habitats, wildlife and protected areas of Costa Rica features 200 color photographs and chapters on natural history and conservation.
Costa Rican Wildlife
Put it in your pocket! This handy, fold-up card includes color illustrations of dozens of typical birds, mammals and reptiles.
Costa Rica, A Traveler's Literary Companion
A wonderful introduction to the character of the people, culture and land, this anthology brings together 26 stories by Costa Rican writers.
The Sea Turtle, So Excellent a Fishe
An appreciative and informative account of the sea turtle, its ecology and field work in Costa Rica by the man who did so much to promote sea turtle research and conservation, first published in 1967. Karen Bjorndal, director of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, brings the story up to date in a new foreword.
A Brief History of Central America
A good overview of the region’s economic, political and social history through the 1980s by a professor at the University of Costa Rica. Well-written, informative and concise.
The Field Guide to Rain Forest Animals
A unique children's guide to eight Amazon animals that includes photographs, illustrations, maps, fascinating facts and a diorama activity. Written for ages eight and up.
Volcanoes, Crucibles of Change
A complete primer for the volcano lover, this heavily illustrated book covers types of volcanoes and eruptions, worldwide distribution and the physics of their formation.
Costa Rica Adventure Map
A double-sided map at a scale of 1:500,000.
