Pacuare River Whitewater Rafting: Full-Day Adventure from San Jose

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Embark on an exhilarating full-day whitewater rafting adventure on the Pacuare River. Experience the thrill of navigating class 3 and 4 rapids, surrounded by stunning rainforest scenery. Suitable for beginners and experienced paddlers, this action-packed day trip is not to be missed!

Duration: 10 hours

Cancellation: 24 hours

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Highlights

Pacuare River - During this trajectory you will enjoy a combination of enthusiasm and extreme adventure. The Pacuare River is recognized worldwide for its beauty flanked by its green canyons bathed on both sides by its lush waterfalls. Within its abundant flora and fauna in sight: sloth bears, toucans, parakeets, coatis, a colorful fan of…

What's Included

Rafting equipment
Transportation from hotels in San Jos
Breakfast
Tour guide
Lunch

What's Not Included

Gratuities
Food and drinks, unless specified
Alcoholic drinks (available to purchase)
Souvenir photos (available to purchase)

Additional Information

Embark on an exciting one-day journey filled with thrilling whitewater rafting, remarkable waterfalls, and magnificent rainforest views. The Pacuare’s class 3 and 4 rapids cater to both novice and seasoned rafters aged 12 and above who are keen on adventure and stay physically engaged throughout the day. Your day begins with an early morning pick-up…

Location

Pacuare River

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings

4.8

(183 Ratings)

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Ericjx9395qu

Mar 28, 2025

Pacuare return trip after 30 years - This is my second trip rafting the Pacuare after 30 years and I took my 17yr old son on this trip. Awesome ! 3 hours drive to the remote site and 6 hours of rafting and 2-3 hours return from San Jose. Completely worth it. It is extreme in some areas so this is a serious trip but once in a lifetime. Our guide was from the US and she was great.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Stasha_b

Mar 16, 2025

Absolutely Worth It - This by far has been the most exciting activity I've done so far!! Our tour guide Kay was phenomenal, funny, and fun to work with. I met and made friends with the people of our crew. I will be doing this everytime I visit Costa Rica.

Review provided by Viator

Ronnie

Mar 14, 2025

Must Try Experience - This was really fun. We were looking for something to do in San Jose and thought that this would be a great option, and it absolutely was. They picked us up from our hotel, drive us to Límon for the water rafting, feed us breakfast and lunch, and drove us back. Our guide, Diego, was a lot of fun and keep the energy high. They also took photos while we rafted so we didn’t have to risk losing our phones. 10/10 experience. We were picked up at 5:40am and dropped off at like 5:20 So it’s like a 12 hour commitment.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

775josiew

Feb 5, 2025

Highly recommended! - Such an amazing experience! Kay was our guide and made sure we had the best time! I highly recommend this trip. We stopped for breakfast at a local restaurant In a small town on the way to raft and it was great! It is a long ride from San Jose so bring water and snacks for the trip. We rafted for about 4 hours and were offered to buy pictures at the end. The cost was extremely reasonable and you get to keep all pictures. Will be back! 10/10!

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Dylan_h

Jan 1, 2025

One of the top Excursion in Costa Rica - Please book this tour and no other rafting tour. I booked this tour without knowing this river is the top 10 river in the world for Rafting, and its beginner friendly! Operators were super friendly and constantly looking out for your safety. The drive take quite some time but is definitely worth the while.

Review provided by Viator

D5180qgnataliew

Dec 27, 2024

Do it, you won’t regret it - Almost didn’t go due to fear of the intense rapids - but oh boy I’m so glad I made myself go. You drive for a couple hours, end up at a cafe in someone’s house in the middle of nowhere - clearly a friend of the tour guides, where they make you a home cooked meal with the best coffee you’ve ever had in your life. You then continue onto the rapids, where they prepare you and then off you go ~20 miles down the river, only stopping halfway for a meal prepared by an indigenous tribe out of a handmade hut. Absolutely incredible. May be the highlight of my life.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Alison_m

Dec 4, 2024

Safe and fun activity! - Very fun day! I was scared being a solo female and told the main guide and he put me with a great team and made sure I didn't fall out of the raft. Highly recommend! If you need transportation to or from San Jose and Fortuna you can take this tour and they will drop you off in the city you need to go to. I didn't know this and would have saved a lot of money had I known beforehand. Otherwise, professional tour operators :)

Review provided by Viator

Adulac2018

Mar 25, 2025

Pacuare - Rafting - Great place to go rafting. The landscapes are beautiful. The organization was smooth and smooth. I only regret that we could not take the time to take some pictures and regain strength or swim for a few moments. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this activity.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Oliver_m

Mar 13, 2025

Disappointing experience, due to the low water level and poor guide. - Tour bus was 20 minutes late arriving at my hotel. After a 90 minute drive, arrived at the tour companies base for a basic breakfast of rice and scrambled eggs. This was very crowded and chaotic, with people from multiple tours all bundled together. After another 30min drive in another bus, we reached the start point. I felt our guide was unprofessional during the rafting. It was hard to follow his instructions since he was constantly shouting at other guides and locals the whole time. Everything was one big joke to him, and his arrogance was tiresome. 2 people in our raft fell out on different occasions due to his poor positioning of the raft and lack of “get down” instructions. The guide almost fell out of the raft himself when we smashed into a big rock, which he seemed to be aiming for. He kept taking us down rapids backwards and sideways thinking it was funny, but this felt far less safe and actually less enjoyable. I’ve done rafting over 10 times, and he was by far the worse instructor. Other guides from the tour company seemed better, and no other raft had people fall out. The best months for rafting this river is October to January. They still advertise this as class 4 rapids, but truthfully only 2 or 3 rapids actually are, with the river levels so low. (I had a much better experience rafting near La Fortuna 3 days earlier, as a massive hydroelectric dam releases a huge amount of water late morning to raise the river level.) You are in the raft a long time, with no proper break. The pineapple snack is quickly given out whilst still floating. Would be better if they stopped (like I saw other companies do) on the river bank to get out, stretch the legs for 10 minutes or so. Overall a long and disappointing day.

Review provided by Viator

Marina_v

Jan 16, 2025

Great ride, but after that awful - The ride was perfect but after the rafting when you are wet and cold the van with all your dry clothes wasn’t there and we had to wait freezing us for 45 minutes till it appeared. After changing my cloth for the dry one and decide to go for my lunch there weren’t any food left. Very disappointing

Review provided by Viator

Check Availability

From $121

up to 15 guests

1 Adult