Aerial Tram Ride

[Rick03Ultra]

My DW and I are going on Princess cruise that stops in Limon, Costa Rica. They have two different excursions to different locations with aerial tram rides. One is at the Braulio Carrillo National Park and the other is a new facility at Veragua rainforest. Does anyone have any experiences with either location. The Veragua is about one hour closer to Limon.

[RTanner]

My DW and I are going on Princess cruise that stops in Limon, Costa Rica. They have two different excursions to different locations with aerial tram rides. One is at the Braulio Carrillo National Park and the other is a new facility at Veragua rainforest. Does anyone have any experiences with either location. The Veragua is about one hour closer to Limon.

We took the aerial tram at Veragua in April. I wouldn't get too excited about the tram ride. It's about a half mile long and just goes up and down a hill, but it is pretty high up and the view is great.

 

Our guides were absolutely fantastic. We had one to and from the rain forest, a bus driver, then we had one who was an employee of the park. All were knowledgeable and did everything they could to make the trip enjoyable and educational. They have an eco-biological lab at the rain forest and they showed us a new species of frog they had discovered that morning! (Looked like any other frog to us but they seemed excited about it?)

 

We feel it was a day well spent.

[Rick03Ultra]

Thanks for the information. Still can't decide what to do. Have to decide soon, leaving in less than 5 months.

[marspalm]

We took the aerial tram at Veragua in April. I wouldn't get too excited about the tram ride. It's about a half mile long and just goes up and down a hill, but it is pretty high up and the view is great.

 

Our guides were absolutely fantastic. We had one to and from the rain forest, a bus driver, then we had one who was an employee of the park. All were knowledgeable and did everything they could to make the trip enjoyable and educational. They have an eco-biological lab at the rain forest and they showed us a new species of frog they had discovered that morning! (Looked like any other frog to us but they seemed excited about it?)

 

We feel it was a day well spent.

 

The other tram excursions I have looked at say the tram ride itself is about 75-80 minutes is the Veragua one significantly shorter? The others also seem to include a 1-2 hour bus ride. Which, if its worth it is fine. But I do not want to spend an hour or two on a bus for a 6 minute ride in the tram. Thanks for your help, we're traveling in a large group with 5 kids (12-18), so I don't want to be trapped on a bus with them for hours with no pay off ;)

[sunsetbeachgal]

I am doing the Veragua (or however you spell it!) Rain Forest in late November-will post a review of this when I return. I also did not want to spend hours on a bus to go to the one farther away, and this one got some very nice reviews.

[Rick03Ultra]

Thanks Sunsetbeachgal, will be waiting for your review.

[Nukesailor]

Hi, Folks!

We just got off the Island Princess today; five days ago we did the Veragua Rain Forest tour. The tram ride lasts only about 10 minutes each way, up and down a hill. The tram cars, two at a time, seat 8 people each, plus a guide and are open. Minimal cover on top, so if it's raining, you'll get wet (it is a rain forest, after all). We saw some toucans and a couple sloths. Don't forget to look down, if possible, to see the flowers growing below.

When you get to Veragua, you will have a choice of one of two trails. The one we took is a boardwalk/stairs down to a waterfall. This has some steep sections. It ends at a platform overlook of the waterfall, then you go back the same way you went down. The other trail (we didn't go on this one) is supposed to be flatter and goes through giant trees. This one should be good for mobility-challenged people. We saw several people with walkers at the cafe.

Some warnings:

The bus ride takes almost an hour not because of distance, but because the roads are poor. During the ride, they will stop the bus to show you things like sloths (they seem to be everywhere) and various flowers, trees and fruit. We even got to try some cocoa beans right out of the pod. You don't eat the bean, but you suck on the coating on the bean (ok, it's slimy). The flavor is interesting - like lychee nut and yogurt.

This is a rain forest. Be prepared to get wet. It rains every day.

Some of the concrete floors in the cafe and the wooden stairs and walks can be very slippery when wet, and they will almost always be wet.

There are some critters that can do you harm. Watch out for bullet ants on the wood railings - they're called bullet ants because if one bites you, it feels like you've been shot. The ants are about 1 inch long.

 

We got wet, we got dirty, we had things crawling on us. It was great!!! One of the best tours!

 

Art

[ioneblair]

Nukesailor, I'm glad you gave such details of this tour....your post was very descriptive and very useful to me.....

 

merci beaucoup :)

[Lsimon]

We did one of these last March and I really enjoyed it - I did a breif review on an older thread on the subject - here is a copy:

We did this trip a few weeks ago. When I researched it I didn't see a lot of positive comments and was a bit leery. We ended up going anyways to join some good friends on the excursion. We had a great time.

 

I was leery about the bus ride but there was a guide on the bus who gave a great narrative about Costa Rica, the countryside we were passing, information about the banana and pineapple industry (we passed a lot of plantations) and about life there in general. It made the time go fast.

 

On arrival we split up into groups of about 15 or so and were each assigned a guide for a 40 minute walk through the rain forest. The forest there was fantastic and the guide was very good. I've been to other rain forest areas and this area of Costa Rica was what I've always imagined a rain forest would look like. The walk seemed to pass very quickly.

 

After the walk we were loaded on the tram. The tram traveled slowly and stopped, or slowed down, each time they unloaded a car. You travel about a mile on one level, about the middle of tree height for about a mile. Then you travel back at a level about the height of the tree top canopy.

 

After this the there is a very nice buffet lunch with some nice local fruits, juices and salads as well as hot dishes. There is a gift shop there which seemed a little pricey but it had some very nice items.

 

If I had any advice it would be to dress warmer than you'd expect it to be. We were comfortable in shorts and polo shirts but would have been more comfortable in long pants. I guess the area is at higher altitude than the coast. Also if you have any light rain gear, like a jacket or poncho, bring it along. Also bring some insect repellent - a small can or some wipes would do. It is a rain forest so it does rain often (very short showers). If you don't bring something you'll probably buy a cheap poncho there - I think they were $10 or $15. We bought some and ended up being in only a short light shower. We didn't use any insect repellent and did not get any bites which surprised me as we did see a few mosquitoes and I'm very prone to getting bitten when they are around. Event though we didn't get bitten I thing I would have felt a bit more at ease if we'd had some repellent - especially after I saw our guide using some.

 

Again - I really enjoyed this trip and I'm not easily pleased with touring type trips as opposed to water/beach activities.

 

There are some photos here:

http://simon-pics.smugmug.com/gallery/7889855_RRT2s#511615759_faApY

 

I'm believe this was at or near the Braulio Carrillo park. It was a cruise line excursion.