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Target List Trek

10-Night, 11-Day Trip

About This Birdwatching Group Tour

Focus: Birdwatching

Tour Highlights

Professional private birding guide
Strategic multi-habitat exploration
Varied viewing experiences: Gardens, forests, trails, and feeding stations
Comfortable lodging in prime birding locations
Boat tour through Tarcoles River Estuary
Blend of popular birding hotspots and lesser-known gems

Trip Overview

Day 1:

Arrive San Jose

Days 2-3:

Caribbean Lowlands

Days 4-5:

Caribbean Foothills

Days 6-7:

Monteverde - Highlands

Days 8-9:

Pacific Lowlands

Day 10:

San Jose

Day 11:

Return to the SJO Airport

Overview
What's Included
Itinerary
Additional Info
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Discover Costa Rica's Premier Birding Destinations: An 11-Day Birder Watchers Journey. Immerse yourself in Costa Rica's most celebrated birding regions on this carefully curated 11-day expedition. From the vibrant Caribbean lowlands to the mystical cloud forests and Pacific coast, this comprehensive tour traverses five distinct ecosystems, each offering unique opportunities to observe Costa Rica's remarkable bird life. Your journey weaves through the country's finest birding locations: the lush rainforests of Sarapiquí, the dramatic Arenal Volcano region, the ethereal Monteverde cloud forest, and the dynamic Pacific coastal habitats. Experience world-renowned sites including La Selva Biological Station, Tirimbina Reserve, Arenal Observatory Lodge, and Carara National Park, each chosen for its exceptional birding opportunities.
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Costa Rica Target List Trek Scheduled Group Birding Tour Map

What's Included in Your 10-Night, 11-Day Target List Trek Tour?

  • Small Group Tour – Birdwatching

    On a group tour with a private guide, the guide is with you from your arrival to your departure. You not only bird at the hotels, parks, and reserves on your itinerary, you also have the flexibility to stop with the guide at local spots, and places that only the guides know. You have an expert with you every step of the way. Guests with a Private Guide can expect to see at least 50% more species than guests using local guides.

    Pros and Cons of a Scheduled Group Trip

    Continuous expert guidance throughout the entire trip

    50% more species typically observed

    Access to off-the-beaten-track locations

    Flexibility for impromptu stops

    Daily species recap with guide

    Species identification from your guide during and after your trip.

    Fixed travel dates

    Less individual flexibility

      Ideal for

    • Serious birders aiming to maximize species sightings

    • First-time visitors wanting constant expert guidance

    • Birders interested in off-the-beaten-path locations

    • Travelers who value having all meals and services included

    • Birders who enjoy shared experiences with like-minded travelers

    • Travelers looking for easy, seamless experience

      • Target List Trek Itinerary Details

      Day 1: Welcome to Costa Rica

      Upon arrival at Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) in San José, you will be greeted by your private driver and transferred to your hotel.  Enjoy the hotel gardens and later this evening meet your fellow travelers and your private guide for a welcome dinner and introduction to your tour. This evening, your guide will provide an overview of the exciting journey ahead. Overnight in San José.

    • Lodging

    • Explore

      Hotel Bougainvillea Gardens

    • Day 2: San Jose to Sarapiqui

      Depart San Jose for the Sarapiqui region. En route, visit Cope’s Gardens for excellent birding opportunities. Continue to your lodge, your home for the next two nights. Spend the afternoon exploring the rich biodiversity of Tirimbina Reserve with your guide.

    • Lodging

    • Explore

      Tirimbina Reserve

    • Explore

      Cope’s Gardens

    • Day 3: La Selva Biological Station

      Enjoy a full day of birding at the renowned La Selva Biological Station, one of Costa Rica’s premier birding destinations. This lowland rainforest reserve offers incredible opportunities to spot numerous tropical bird species. It’s also a wonderful location for mammals, insects, reptiles and amphibians.

    • Lodging

    • Explore

      La Selva Biological Station

    • Day 4: Sarapiqui to Arenal

      Journey to the Arenal region, stopping at the famous Cinchona Feeders, fantastic for hummingbirds, barbets, and the Emerald Toucanet. Next visit Bogarin Trails & Feeders before arriving at Arenal Observatory Lodge. Spend the afternoon exploring the lodge’s gardens and feeder stations.

    • Lodging

    • Explore

      Bogarín Trails & Feeding Station

    • Explore

      Cinchona Feeders & Trails

    • Day 2: Arenal Observatory Lodge Reserve

      Dedicate a full day to exploring the extensive trail system and gardens of Arenal Observatory Lodge, where the backdrop of the volcano creates a stunning setting for birdwatching.

    • Lodging

    • Explore

      Arenal Observatory Lodge Reserve

    • Day 6: Arenal to Monteverde

      Travel to Monteverde with birding stops at La Peninsula and Lake Arenal. Your guide will share some of the “hidden gems” of Costa Rica today. Arrive at Hotel in the cloud forest and spend the afternoon birding the surrounding area with your guide.

    • Lodging

    • Explore

      Lake Arenal

    • Explore

      Montana de Monteverde Lodge Trails

    • Day 7: Monteverde

      Explore the mystical Monteverde Cloud Forest and Curi Cancha Reserve, two of Costa Rica’s most celebrated cloud forest birding locations, each offering unique species and habitats. This is Quetzal country, your guide will be after this species along with many others. 

    • Lodging

    • Explore

      Montana de Monteverde Lodge Trails

    • Day 8: Monteverde to Central Pacific

      Transfer to the Central Pacific coast, with birding stops at La Ensenada Road and Chomes Salt Ponds. You’ll feel the change in temperatures as you leave the cool highlands and arrive at the warm Pacific coast. Settle in at your lodge and enjoy afternoon birding on the property.

    • Lodging

    • Explore

      Cerro Lodge Trails

    • Day 9: Carara National Park

      Spend a full day exploring Carara National Park, one of Costa Rica’s most biodiverse protected areas and home to numerous endemic species. Carara is one of the most successful Scarlet Macaw rehabilitation sites. The park is excellent for Trogons, Antbirds, Raptors, and much more. 

    • Lodging

    • Explore

      Carara National Park

    • Day 10: Tarcoles River & Return to San Jose

      Begin with a birding excursion along the Tarcoles River Estuary by boat. This tour takes you through interesting habitats, including the Mangrove. Birding here is exceptional.  After your river tour you’ll head back to the Central Valley. Check in to your hotel and enjoy final afternoon birding in the hotel gardens with your guide.

    • Lodging

    • Explore

      Tárcoles River Estuary – by boat

    • Day 11: Departure

      Today you return to the San Jose Airport with your private driver  for your departure flight, taking with you memories of Costa Rica’s incredible bird life with you.

        "Simply the best!"

        We can’t say enough about how pleased we were that we went with Costa Rica Focus, and thoroughly recommend them in every respect.

        From the very onset, it was a pleasure working with our contact Jess. She always promptly addressed any questions or concerns we had and tailored the vacation to suit our needs and requests. The entire vacation from pick up to drop off was flawless and the various locations gave us a wonderful opportunity to experience the diversity of birds, plants and other wildlife in Costa Rica. …

        As for our guide and driver Andres, what can we say? If a review sheet had a plus and minus column, we would request a third plus-plus column. He was absolutely amazing in every respect.  We arrived to meet Andres as a stranger only to leave two weeks later feeling like we just left our best friend behind. He was the most knowledgeable guide, an extremely careful and diligent driver, plus a delightfully thoughtful fellow in every respect. Nothing was too much trouble and any questions or requests were answered or taken care of immediately.  Many before we even asked the question. His main concern always was that we had the best experience in every respect.

        Without hesitation we highly recommend Costa Rica Focus.

        Richard and Donna,
        San Diego, California.

        Richard B

        San Diego, CA

        "Costa Rica Focus made our first Costa Rica experience perfect."

        What a vacation this turned out to be. I’ve had the best vacation of my life, and a big part of this is down to Costa Rica Focus. Thanks a lot, and I want to recommend this company to everyone with a wish to visit Costa Rica. A thoroughly professional company, which gave my first-time birding experience with the American continent another dimension.

        The drivers brought us safely between the sites. The local birding guides did an excellent job, and I were satisfied to discover the guides were equally nerdy as me. The guides knew bird-ID, song/calls and sites very well. I ended up with a species list of nearly 300, but would certainly have struggled reaching 220-230 without the help by the local birders from Costa Rica Focus. They also included my not-so-nerdy wife in a brilliant way, which made her happy as well.

        I owe a more detailed explanation to those who want to keep up reading, to explain. I’ve been a Norwegian birder for well over 40 years, but my wife doesn’t share this hobby with me. She likes nature but is more interested in the culture part new places. With the possible conflicting interests in mind, I contacted Costa Rica Focus just to get some advice for a Costa Rica-tour we had talked about since even before we got married 27 years ago. We had an idea of which sites we were going to visit and just had a few questions of which order we should do the sites, and how to best move from between the places.

        Costa Roca Focus quickly responded, and gave us a few options, one of which was to set up a 12-days schedule. I silently asked for the 12-days-tour, and to my complete surprise, my wife accepted on the condition of getting a week on the beach after the Costa Rica Focus journey. I probably won the jackpot.
        This turned out to be the best decision we’ve made in a long time. I can’t praise the company enough, and the money was well spent. The standards of our hotels were around 3 (4) stars, and all breakfast included. About two weeks before our tour started, Costa Rica gave us a must-do-list, which included connecting to a Whatsapp-group, to download an app (Axis) which kept an overview of our schedule and name of the guides for the trip, and a list to remind us of what to pack. These were all useful to us. The contact with Costa Rica Focus during our trip was quick and easy, and through the WhatsApp-group the company always responded quickly to our questions. …

        Jørn Helge M

        Norway

        "Another home run by Costa Rica Focus"

        A 10-day birding trip with a photography focus. Great birding and photography with our fabulous guide Sr. Minor H. despite occasionally iffy weather. Locations were great, accomodations ranged from luxurious to very basic, food from merely very good to excellent, including some pleasant surprises like Pizzeria Los Colibries, on the road to Savegre where we ended up when our destination restaurant turned out to be closed due to a medical emergency in the owner’s family – really good pizza with near-perfect crust and hyper-local ingredients like local mushrooms, herbs from their own gardens, lettuce from their hydroponic gardens, etc. It’s the first pizza place on the right on the road down to San Gerardo de Dota from National Route 2. You can’t miss it:). Logistics were perfect, including arrival and departure.

        Not a lot ot add to the overwhelmingly positive reviews of Costa Rica Focus. This is the fifth trip I’ve taken with them in four years, including one to Ecuador in collaboration with Ecuador Birds Tours, and if I go again to a destination they offer, I can’t think why I would look elsewhere.

        rfichera

        Boston, MA

      Additional Tour Info

      This itinerary requires an intermediate level of physical activity. Guests will traverse a variety of environments, including well-established trails, narrow forest paths, gardens, feeders, and observation platforms. Participants should be comfortable walking at least 2 miles at a steady, relaxed pace without the need for frequent stops or rest.

      On the Trail

      Please note that some parks and reserves lack seating or designated rest areas once inside the forest. While most trails are relatively flat, certain locations may involve inclines, steps, or uneven terrain with minor elevation changes.

      Trail conditions will vary, and guests should be prepared to navigate narrow forest paths with natural debris such as sticks, leaves, rocks, and roots. In the event of rain, trails may become muddy and slippery, adding to the challenge.This itinerary is designed for participants with an intermediate level of fitness and mobility, ensuring a rewarding experience for those prepared for the natural demands of these environments.

      All guests should be comfortable carrying their own equipment and personal items in the field. We understand that everyone’s pace and energy levels are different. If you ever feel the need for a shorter day, a morning to rest, or time to recharge, please let your guide know. This is your trip, and we’re here to ensure you enjoy it to the fullest.

      This trip would not be recommended for a person with mobility issues.

      Accommodations

      For our group trips, we select hotels based on their prime locations for birding opportunities. Accommodations will range from basic, rustic lodges to mid-range hotels with additional amenities, always with the goal of prioritizing excellent access to birding hotspots.

      It’s important to note that not all hotels will have air conditioning, but all will feature private bathrooms, hot or warm running showers, fans, and Wi-Fi (available at least in reception or dining areas, though signal strength may vary). The level of comfort will align with the descriptions provided in the itinerary.

      In some locations, rooms may be a 5–15 minute walk from the reception or dining areas. If you have physical needs and would prefer a room closer to these facilities, please inform us in advance, and we will do our best to accommodate your request.