Don Rafa Adventure Tours — Hotel in Curubandé

My wife found this while browsing the area and looking for a small tour that would be run by a local guide. Her dad has lived here in Costa Rica all her life so when we come back to visit he tries to show me a some of the local cultures.

With that being said this was by far the best experience I could have had. There are many other businesses in this area that have tours to the same place, but those are all either American or German owned. Those are run by people who come to profit off what Costa Rica has to offer and return very little back to the locals. Ask anyone native and they will say the same.

At Don Rafas, they do have an employee named Michael who speaks very good English. I do not speak Spanish and had no issues communicating with him or anyone else. So if you're an English speaker ask for Michael and they will get someone who you can talk too.

They offered us 2 different hikes. The first and longer one goes through bat caves and a few other attractions, but ends up at the La Leona waterfall. This one is a bit more expensive and longer but is for those who want to see more. The second one is the one we did which takes you to La Leona waterfall and is about a 3 hour hike round-trip with spending time at the waterfall. It was not a hard hike at all (moderate to some). Little elevation change and a few watercrossings (with ropes to make it easier) and you'll be at the waterfall in no time.

They also offer river tubing, swimming holes, camping, hikes, food, bike trails, and much more.

After our hike we got to shower in their bathrooms and then sat down to have a Costa Rican typical lunch. Ill post a picture down below.

What this place has:

•On site bathrooms with showers, urinals, and stalls. It is a big bathroom that is unisex so there might be males and females in there but the showers are stalls with doors so that's not a problem.

•English speaking employees

•River tubing

•trails and hiking to swimming holes or waterfalls

•food

•bike trails

•a dog named Lucy who guided us the entire time

All at a very affordable price.

The road there is very up and down but can be done in small cars. We saw many people in cars making the drive with no problem. If you aren't comfortable then call the number below and they will come pick you up. They are very nice people and will do what they can to accommodate you!

If you want to call for information we called, 85881563 and talked to Maikel. He was very friendly and accommodating especially with me only speaking English.

Check out the pictures below and decide...

My family went here in December; 3 adults, 3 kids ages 9, 11, 11. We had Cesar as our guide, and he graciously spoke English Spanish with me even though I still have lots to learn. Heads up: sometimes the payment system is down, so it's a good idea to have cash just in case.

We felt safe the entire time, but we didn't go quite as prepared as we could have. You will be walking along and through the river towards the waterfall and under the tree canopy, with many opportunities for jumping, sitting, and sliding in the river, either intentionally or not. I recommend wearing swim shorts and a t-shirt so that the rocks don't chafe your hips and your lifejacket (mandatory) doesn't chafe your skin. I also recommend sturdy water shoes or secured sandals such as Keens. Your feet will be wet for at least an hour. I wore hiking boots and they took 2 days to dry. You don't need a hat or even sunglasses, but if you want to take pictures or carry your wallet or car keys, a small dry bag that you can sling across your body would be the way to go. We didn't take water bottles (which I usually carry everywhere) and I wasn't too upset about it in the end.

The hike itself wasn't particularly strenuous, but you do need a fair amount of swimming ability and/or upper body strength to pull yourself along the rope that helps you get into the cave where the waterfall is.

Thanks for a great...

Absolutely amazing. An absolute must if you're even remotely in the area. We booked a waterfall hike + lunch for 65$ pp - best decision we made our trip.

Our tour guide was JUAN. Absolute legend. Great energy, patient, attentive, kind, knowledgable, can't say enough good things about our tour.

The waterfall, river, and greenery was unbelievable, it doesn't get much better than this. Learned so much about plants, rivers, and animals thanks to Juan.

The only con I can muster up is that it wasn't clear to us where to meet the tour guide to drive us to Don Rafa Adverture Tours, I had to ask around in the town. Also, don't try to drive to this place in a 2WD or a small car because you will very likely damage the vehicle. Super steep climb and very uneven, rocky road filled with potholes.

As far as the lunch was concerned, upon arrival to the Rafa Adventure Tour area we were asked to pick what food we wanted after the tour, we picked steak. When we got back, our food was freshly made and consisted of rice, steak, beans, carrots, avocado, and coleslaw. The food was very good, basically a restaurant dish which was GREAT after a pretty intense hike with swimming in cold water.

All in all a MUST when visiting the area and I can't stress the friendliness and professionalism enough. Thank you Juan and the rest...