Selecting a Costa Rica Tour Guide an be a daunting task laden with much anxiety about selecting the wrong one or being ripped off. There are a set of guidelines you might want to follow in order to have the best Costa Rica adventure. By doing so, you can ensure that your safety will be taken care of, enabling you to have the best Costa Rica vacation you can possibly have. If you choose to do it on your own, you will still have a great time, but you will miss out on some of the hidden treasures of Costa Rica.

Step 1: Do you want a tour guide?

You need to decide whether or not a tour guide is for you. Some travelers like to explore Costa Rica on their own hoping to somehow come across well-kept Tico secrets about their country. This can be exciting like treasure hunting in Costa Rica, but in the writer’s experience, Costa Rica treasures were unlocked and are freely shared from the local tour guides. Some Costa Rica adventure travelers prefer to have a mix of exploring on their own and using a Costa Rican Tour Guide on day or weekend trips. You also have to concern yourself with safety. Although Costa Rica is the safest country in Central America, there are some areas where tourists might not be as welcome or areas prone to petty theft. A Costa Rica Tour Guide would certainly be able to set your lodging up for you or direct you where to stay or visit. You may feel safe in New York City, but there are some areas you want to avoid.

Step 2: Decide on your Costa Rica tour guide.

Once you have decided to use a tour guide, you need know how to select a tour guide in Costa Rica. There are literally hundreds of tour guides in Costa Rica, so you need to be able to decipher the good from the bad. The good tour guides will obviously have raving fans who recommend them and the bad will most likely not have any way of telling them apart with the exception of the obvious signs such as your immediate gut feeling that something is not right about him or if the first few questions they ask you is if you need any drugs. Although some travelers may be looking for such things, it does not speak well of your Costa Rica tour guide if that is the first course of business with you. If you have a way of getting good recommendations, then you should obviously take them. For the rest of us, we have to rely on the Internet for validation of their expertise and of other clients’ amazing experiences. See www.lovingcostarica.com as an example of a Costa Rica tour guide who has a huge amount of raving fans.

Step 3: Book your Costa Rica tour guide.

The best tour guides will be very busy so if you are planning on going to Costa Rica, call or email them immediately. Most of the great guides schedule their own tours and answer their own phones. Ticos (what the locals call themselves) have a great deal of pride and want to do things right so they do it on their own to do it right. You need to be patient because if they are doing a tour, it may take a few days to get back to you or get Internet access if they are in the middle of a Costa Rica rain forest. You should plan as far in advance as possible.

Step 4: Prepare yourself for an adventure.

The best Costa Rica tour guides are able to accommodate everyone from the traveler who is looking for an extreme adventure vacation the family who considers a well paved nature hike an adventure. Whichever you may be, after you have booked your trip and your tour guide, prepare your mind for the most amazing country and for the most memorable experience of your life. You will literally meet new friends from every corner of the planet that have come to enjoy the same Costa Rica adventure that you are about to experience.