Selvatura Adventure Park — Attraction in Tronadora

TL:DR: Loved everything about the place except getting there. The drive is not for the faunt of heart. But if you can stomach getting there it's worth it.

I absolutely loved this place. The sloths, the staff, the ziplining, all top notch. But it sucks getting here. We are staying in Tamarindo so knew it was going to be a long drive (4hrs). But I don't like signing up for a bus tour because it's always an hour plus picking everyone up and the lady from Iowa is always late. And we had a rental car. I paid a little extra for 4- wheel drive and it's the best money spent if you're going here.

Anyway. We left early because the traffic thru Liberia isn't great. It's a couple hundred km so pack a snack. On paper it should be a 2 hr drive. But Google says 4. That's a hint. The last 10 miles takes well over an hour and I like to drive off road. It's a mix of single wide bridges around hair pin curves and washboard dirt gravel that will make your wife reconsider marrying you. And we are at the end onmf dry season. The last half mile was 10 mins and you can walk some sections faster. Without 4 wheel drive, some will not make it.

Having said all that, once you're here, it's a great tour. EVERYONE is amazing. Friendly, knowledgeable and super professional. We started with the sloth tour. It lasts 30-45 mins. They have 12 sloths and you see all 12. Our tour was at 10am and most of them were active. They sleep 17+hrs a day so the guide said we were lucky. Several were climbing around and also eating. You can't touch, but you're within a couple feet of all of them. The guide knew his stuff and answered all our questions with solid answers. Was really amazing.

Next we did the ziplines. We bought the photo add-on and it's one of the few photo packages anywhere that I think is worth the price. There are like 13 zip lines. I lost track. Some are pretty short including the first 2. But it's a nice intro. There are several that are super long. One in our group has done ziplines before. And you would do one and then wait for everyone before doing the next. Not here. You land on a platform and 30 seconds later you're flying again. They have them grouped into 3 blocks so you do get a breather. Overall a great experience. They have it dialed in and focused on safety. I always felt comfortable.

The only downside is there is a fair amount of walking and climbing trails and stairs. If you're in average shape you should be fine but you'll be tired. If you're a little out of shape or older, it can be tough. We had paid for the suspension bridge package but 2 of our group tapped out after the ziplines.

I did do the suspension bridge tour. It's self guided and a little over 3km. There are about 10 bridges and the views are crazy. But again there is a lot of up and down and even in pretty good shape, I was feeling it by the end of the day. My steps, stairs and intensity mins were checked early in the day.

Overall I absolutely recommend. But the drive really is not for the faint of heart. If you don't have a confident driver or if you get car sick it might not be for you. I drive and my wife tells me what I'm doing wrong. So it works for us. But she was clear i did...

Did the zipline, butterfly garden & hanging bridges walk. The zipline circuit is incredibly fun and the bonus Tarzan swing is not to be missed for the more adventurous types. The walk through the forest across the hanging bridges is very easy and peaceful. If you hit it early enough, you'll be lucky to see more animals, however if you head out on it after running through the zipline circuit first thing in the morning, you'll just be enjoying the fresh air and greenery around you.

The butterfly garden has many different types of butterflies, but the most interesting thing was the cocoon hutch they maintain, for all the catepillars that are transforming. So many different shapes and colours!! They almost look like ornate earrings just hanging on a display case. If you're lucky you'll get to see some newly hatched butterflies emerging. Didn't do the sloth sanctuary as I saw them at another park.

The restaurant was a welcome respite in the middle of our day. Pumpkin soup was yummy and filling! The office staff were very helpful and efficient and there's a full souvenir shop should you be so inclined. Useful to note they have rain jackets and hoody's on sale, should you luck out on the weather and not come adequately clothed. Given the altitude, even on a sunny day it was still quite cool on the zipline, wearing something that will keep you warm but still breathable is advised. Zippered pockets on clothing will come in handy here, otherwise you'll have to leave all that stuff (phone included) behind in the lockers. Bathrooms were kept very clean throughout the day.

In terms of add ons - There is a photo package you can get of stills taken at specific points along the zipline circuit. You can preview these before deciding to buy, if you wish, instead of taking the package up front. Photos are provided digitally and you have a month to download using an access token specific to you/your group. Prints are available should you wish. There is also an option to rent a gopro type device to use on the zipline (wasn't mentioned to us as we didn't indicate we were interested in getting the picture package up front, but be sure to ask about options ahead of deciding for yourself). Lockers (and locks) are available to store all your things while you're on the zipline, for an additional cost.

Spent a good 7hrs there, from pickup at the hotel at 8am, to...

We've been several times before with family years ago. The zipline canopy tour is still amazing, but they jammed so many people into the course at the same time that we arrived just before 8:30am for our reservation but didn't finish it until around 11:45am. That means we spent 4 x 30 minutes waiting in long lines on the course with the kids. This is having spent $900 for a 5-person reservation to do the "All Day" experience. Little did I know it was really going to be "All Day" waiting in line, having paid as much as Disneyland (where you also get to pay a fortune to stand in line). It could be better managed by encouraging folks to do the hanging bridges, reptile, butterfly, or sloth tours first rather than just cramming everyone onto the canopy trail to wait in line. There were a half dozen large buses in the parking lot---maybe we just needed to arrive at 7:30am to beat the crowds.

Lunch was definitely a highlight. We got tasty hot chocolate and the meals were good.

The hanging bridges in August were still interesting, but there were very few blossoms. Either the rain closed them up or it's just not as pretty as other times of the year when I've been before (January, June, etc.).

The sloth sanctuary was really neat, but sloths aren't active during the day, so it was mostly just a bunch of sleeping balls of fur.

The reptile exhibit was probably the best---very interesting snakes. Go to the Ranario in town for frogs.

The butterfly garden apparently is best when it's warmer---butterflies aren't that active in cooler weather. So maybe skip this one. I went to one in Alajuela, west of the airport, years ago that was 10x cooler than the one here. Maybe it still exists.

Finally, we enjoyed the torrential downpour in the afternoon. We all got wet shoes and enjoyed that part of the adventure, even if it was a little uncomfortable. You don't get to choose the weather, just your attitude. :)

Overall, I've felt like Selvatura was a 5-star adventure in the past, but today when I returned with my family, given the sky-high price and experience that was delivered, it was a 2-3 star experience. Next time I'll opt for just the canopy tour and skip the rest. Or, maybe the time of year will deliver better results.

All that said, the guides did a fabulous job at making the most of our visit, so we got some pretty...