Is G Adventures worth it? My experience in Costa Rica (2024)

When I think about group travel, I picture the huge buses full of people, all following a group leader waving a little flag, that have become synonymous with many popular tourist attractions. Basically, group travel never really appealed to me, because it didn't seem like my type of travel, which prioritizes experiencing local culture and following the freedom of my whims. But when a good friend told me about an amazing tour of Costa Rica that she took with a travel company, it made me rethink my preconceived notions about group travel. So, when the opportunity came up, I booked a ticket, and I went to Costa Rica with G Adventures. So was G Adventures worth it?

Background on G Adventures

G Adventures is a small-group travel company based in Canada that offers award-winning tours to over 100 countries. Their tours focus on relationships with local communities and aim to benefit the people and places they visit. They offer a range of activities on each trip so you can tailor your trip to exactly what you want to get out of it.

They also offer a range of tours geared toward different types of travel including:

• Local living

• Wellness

• 18-to-30 somethings (geared toward this specific age-group)

• Roamies (staying in Hostels)

• National Geographic Journeys, and Nat Geo Family Journeys (focuses on wildlife sightings and nature)

• Solo-ish adventures (trips designed to help solo travelers connect)

  
  

Each trip is rated by activity level, service level (type of accommodations) and sample itinerary.

Group of people in helmets

A rainbow toucan

3 people in front of waterfall

Itinerary for Costa Rica Quest

Costa Rica is an adventure-lovers dream. With so many opportunities for surfing, white water rafting and zip-lining, I felt a little overwhelemd for my first visit, and I knew I wanted to make the most of the adrenaline pumping fun the country offers.

I chose the Costa Rica Quest trip with G Adventures because it offers a great introduction to this diverse, beautiful country by showing you three of the most popular destinations on the Pacific side. You can see all the trip info on their page, but here's itinerary to give you an idea:

• Day 1: Arrive in San Jose

• Day 2: Travel from San Jose to La Fortuna. Stop at a local coffee plantation along the way for a tour and lunch.

• Day 3: Explore La Fortuna. Activities include a visit to the hot springs

• Day 4: Travel to Monteverde via bus and boat. Take a guided night walk to spot wildlife.

• Day 5: Explore Monteverde. Activities include zip lining, horseback riding or hanging bridges.

• Day 6: Travel to Quepos, home to Manuel Antonio National Park. Explore this little beach town or take a surf lesson.

• Day 7: Visit Manuel Antonio National Park. Relax by the beach or go kayaking.

• Day 8: Travel from Quepos to San Jose.

• Day 9: Depart at any time.

  
  

Bottom line: Is it worth it?

One thing I've learned from traveling is that there are so many different ways to do it, and people travel for different reasons. If you're looking for an adventurous, fast-paced way to experience Costa Rica that involves a little bit of culture, wildlife sightings and meeting new people, I think this G Adventures is well worth it.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• People to do things with.

  • Traveling by yourself can be so freeing, but it can also be lonely. I liked that G Adventures kept the group size to about 12 people, which made for a solid group of people to do things with. Most of the people on my trip brought a friend or a partner, but there were a few solo travelers who just wanted to meet other people.

• Local guides who can help you have interesting, authentic experiences.

  • I really appreciate that G Adventures employs tour guides or "CEOs" as they call them, who are locals and knowledgeable about your trip. We had a great CEO who had a ton of great recommendations from restaurants to activities that are not listed on the itinerary. He even helped a couple in the group get appointments for a massage.

• Not having to think about transportation.

  • This especially stands for Costa Rica, where traveling by road can be unpredictable due to traffic, closures and faulty GPS. It was comforting to not have to arrange this, especially becuase I'd never been to Costa Rica and my Spanish is only mas o menos. My friend who lives in CR has horror stories about Google Maps leading her to flooded roads or dead ends.

• Bridging the language barrier.

  • In the same vein, it can be really helpful to travel in a group when you don't speak much of the local language.

• There is some freedom to do your own thing.

  • While you are set to a particular itinerary per location, there is freedom to choose your own adventure each day. There are some included activities and some that you have to pay extra for, or you can do something else completely. I definitely valued having that flexibility. For example, I was working from home one day, so I sat out on the activities while others did things like zip lining or horseback riding.

Cons:

• You have to stuck to a set itinerary.

  • That being said, you do have to travel as a group when it comes to going to different towns. You must be on the bus at a certain time, and oftentimes the departure times were quite early.

  • It was also a lot of travel time on the road between towns. Often it took 3-4 hours between towns on our travel days.

• The fast-paced travel left me pretty exhausted by the time I got home.

  • This was definitely one of those trips where you need a vacation from your vacation. They pack a lot of ground in these 9 days, and that means early departure times, oftentimes with breakfast stops on the road.

Community Tourism

One thing I really like about G Adventures is their commitment to responsible travel. This means their tours highlight local businesses and give back to the local people. During our trip, we stopped at a local coffee plantation called Mi Cafecito. There, we took a tour of the plantation, learned about the process of growing coffee beans and got to try some ourselves. As someone who drank coffee for many years, I loved learning about the process and about the different roast types. (I had no idea that light roast actually has the most caffeine!) I really value experiences like this when I travel, where I can give back to the places I'm traveling to and learn something new.

Woman pours coffee

A horse in a hilly field

A couple drinking coffee