Avis TURISMO CURU AGENCIA DE VIAJES Refugio Nacional Curú

Muy bello, increible lugar.

Muy bonito, limpio, seguro y ordenado

We booked the whole-day package including snorkeling at Tortuga Island + boat transfer to Quesera Beach + bioluminescence boat ride (in total: 44k colones per person, does not include park admission for ~8k pp). Note that you can get information on the tours in the office in Paquera (location: "Turismo Curú" on Google maps), but the tours start at the main area inside Curú Wildlife Refuge.

Our opinion in short: Nice trip, but not worth the money. The park itself, however, is highly underrated: gorgeous maritime forests with palm trees, mangroves and more, lots of wildlife (we saw coatis, cappuchins, aras flying above us, and deer), very cool trails featuring a short hanging bridge and awesome make-shift wooden walkways over the water, and not busy at all!

Thus, in hindsight, we would recommend to only go into the park, enjoy some walks there and hike to Quesera Beach (maybe with the boat transfer back if walking both ways is not what you're into).

More detailed pros & cons:
+ Quesera Beach is absolutely gorgeous and not very busy, we definitely recommend to go! Remember to get a permit in the park office (where the gift store is inside Curú Refuge), it is free of charge but they limit visitors to the beach to keep it less busy
+ after snorkeling for 40min, it is part of the snorkeling tour that they take you to a beach on Tortuga Island, it was nice to go to the beach next to the main touristy beach so that we felt a bit more secluded
+ part of the bioluminescence tour are the boat ride during sunset and also in the dark with a beautiful star lit sky above
+ you do not have to book in advance, you can just be at the counter inside the Refuge at the right time and buy your tickets there (paying by card comes with a surcharge compared to cash)
+ the lady at the office in Paquera spoke perfect English and provided helpful recommendations the evening before our tour
+ she was also present at the counter on the morning of our tour and explained the practicalities and kindly advised us to change our timeline and go snorkeling in the morning as the visibility would get worse during the day
+ the guide on the snorkeling tour spoke perfect English

- all the other employees did not speak much English, especially on the bioluminescence tour (sometimes, the guide kindly translated parts into English, but often he would just interact with the people fluent in Spanish, so we felt left out since we only understand basic Spanish)
- communication in general felt inattentive (except mentioned lady at the office): For instance, we were told the bioluminescence tour starts at 5 and we should be there at 4:50. But when we were there, none of the present employees greeted or even spoke with us. It was only at ~5:20 when they handed us life vests and told us to step on the boat (without explaining the delay). We were also told beforehand that we would see the sunset on a beach, but (perhaps due to the delay?) we saw it from the boat, again noone commented on that change of plans (the view from the boat was very nice too, it was just the lousy communication that frustrated us)
- Regardless of tour operator, we would not recommend the snorkeling spot. Admitting, on the day we went the visibility was really bad due to the high tide, but still, if you have some experience with snorkeling (and went in Egypt, Canaries, or south-east Asia for example), it is not that special and definitely not worth the money in our opinion. If it is your first time, you may be happy though because yes, you do see smaller fish & schools. On the other hand, we found the conditions not suitable for beginners: The guide told us to go into the water near a big rock and said we could swim around the rock without mentioning any difficulties, but on one side of the rock, the water was really shallow above spikey rocks and the waves were really powerful, so a beginner/not so strong swimmer may have been smashed against the rocks (note that this was during high tide, so this may be different in better conditions)

Mi esposa y yo pagamos el tour a Isla Tortuga y nos gustó mucho. Los guías fueron muy amables y nos llevaron a una zona de snorkel muy clara para que pudiésemos ver los peces. Se preocuparon siempre por nuestra seguridad y la de las personas que nos acompañaban. Nos explicaron a detalle sobre lo que estábamos observando en varios puntos del recorrido en inglés y español. Muy bonita experiencia. Y aunque no tomamos el tour de la bioluminiscencia la muchacha que nos atiende también nos brindó información muy importante sobre el mismo para cuando vayamos a adquirirlo. Excelente experiencia.

Nous étions vraiment ravi d'aller faire une belle journée de plongée avec Curu Turismo. D'abord pour accéder à la plage de départ qui est dans une réserve, il faut payer 50$ sans en avoir été informé. Ensuite Luis, le patron, avait perdu notre caution et me l'a réclamé la veille de la plongée... Enfin l'accueil est épouvantable: la patronne nous demande de payer en cash 240$ pour ne pas avoir à les declarer. Quand je lui demande de payer en carte Visa, ça devient 270$. A ce moment le fameux Luis arrive et se met à nous invectiver violemment en disant que si on ne veut pas payer en cash, on peut partir et qu'il va s'occuper des autres clients!

La plongée est un plaisir et partout dans le monde la philosophie est l'accueil et la sympathie. Il faut venir chez Curu Turismo pour découvrir l'exception : un patron qui ne pense qu'à l'argent et est immédiatement odieux avec tout le monde. A la tête de ses employés, nous avons vite compris que c'était usuel de recevoir ainsi les clients plongeurs. Difficile après ça de profiter de la plongée...

Je déconseille vivement ce centre !

We were really delighted to go for a great day of diving with Curu Turismo even though Luis, the boss, had lost our deposit and asked for it back the day before the dive. First surprise: to access the departure beach which is in a reserve, you have to pay $50 without being informed. The reception at the center was terrible: the owner asked us to pay $240 in cash so as not to have to declare them. When I asked him to pay by Visa card, it became $270. At that moment the famous Luis arrived and started to insult us violently, saying that if we didn't want to pay in cash, we could leave! Of course, he didn't say that either... We couldn't say anything and we got yelled at (that was for free).

Diving is a pleasure and everywhere in the world the philosophy is welcome and sympathy. You have to come to Curu Turismo to discover the exception: a boss who only thinks about money and is immediately odious to everyone. At the head of his employees, we quickly understood that it was customary to receive diving customers in this way. It's difficult to enjoy diving after that...

I strongly advise against this center which is run by someone who understands nothing about tourism!

Muy pero muy bonito lugar

Un lugar que debes visitar! Increíble hacer snorkeling y bioluminiscencia con los mejores guías Andrey y Edwin ✅????

C’était une belle sortie en snorkeling et sur isla Tortuga avec l’équipe de « Turismo Curu » ! Très convivial et bel arrêt sur la playa tropical, nous avons adoré !

Exc . Pero los precios para nacionales deberían ser menor no solo en entrada . 10500 por persona para paseo en caballo por 1 hora lo vi poco accesible más que somos 5.

Schöne Wanderwege und wenig nicht überfüllt

Joli réserve de Curu, mais le tour Snorkeling de 3h annoncé dure en fait 40min de snorkeling et ensuite on est déposé en bateau sur l'île touristique de la Tortuga ou l'on passe 1h30. Nous n'avions pas pris d'argent car on nous avait dit que des fruits étaient inclus (ce qui était le cas). Nous nous attendions à un lieu reculé comme la fameuse plage Quesera pour la pause Fruits. Belle déception.
Le lieu de snorkeling était bien mais petit.

Excelente trato, todos son muy amables y atentos. Las lanchas están bastante bien, nos dan chalecos salvavidas desde el inicio. Los precios de los tours son accesibles e incluyen frutas y bebida: piña, sandía, coco, agua y Coca-Cola. Nosotros hicimos snorkeling, brindan el equipo limpio; en todo momento estuvieron pendientes de mí, ya que no sé nadar, me ayudaron con las corrientes, a subir y bajar de la lancha. Agradecemos mucho la atención.

If you wanna go to isla tortugas they are your best option, really good service.

Fantastic semi private tours and excursions

La playa esta increíble, super tranquila, el agua calentita, muy familiar, sin necesidad de adentrarte a la reserva, vimos varios animalitos, además salen tours para otras playas.

Un refugio hermoso, vale la pena pagar las entradas, comer ahí etc, ya que el dinero se destina para el cuido del mismo y se nota la dedicación de mantener el lugar presentable.

Love it

Increíble, playas preciosas, mar muy tranquilo y tours muy buenos. Hay duchas

Buen servicio, la atención fue amable, lo recomiendo mucho

Precioso y mágico lugar. Se ven animalitos en todas partes y los tour que tienen a la Isla Tortuga, playa quesera y bioluminicencia los recomiendo 100% la atención de los guías me encantó sobre todo de Sofía, un trato excelente con la gente ????

So this review is limited to the snorkling/scuba diving excursion we did at/with Turismo Curu. We weren't impressed with the process to get tanks and BCDs. We had our own wetsuits, masks, snorkels and fins, and I used my own BCD, so can't speak to that equipment. The BCD my husband used, as well as both octopuses and tanks did work well, but we didn't get to set any of it up. It was loaded on the boat already set up for us. Some might prefer that, we don't. Next reason for fewer stars is that the boat was ridiculously overcrowded with snorkelers and divers. Visibility was poor, really poor, and it was very challenging to see anything until you were right on top of it, and then if you spent any time looking at things it was a real challenge to find the guide again. Last reason for less stars was that the dive boat ran out of gas and couldn't get to us, so our surface interval consisted of us swimming back to the boat and waiting for another boat to come get us some gas. 3 strikes you're out, so I can't recommend this operator for snorkling or scuba diving.

Muy bonito

Great experience

Bonjour..
Nous avons vécu 1 expérience exceptionnelle. La bioluminescence est 1 phénomène assez extraordinaire.
Le parc autour est merveilleux. La plage , superbe.
Le tour , très bien organisé. Tt s'est bien passé sauf, à la fin où, pendant la plongée de nuit, j'ai perdu mon masque de plongée.
Le guide m'a donc dit que j'aurais 40€ à payer mais ue si je ne les avais pas, je pouvais en donner 30. Quelle ne fut pas ma surprise qd au moment de payer, ils me réclamerent 60 dollars, avec la menace d'appeler la police si je refusais. Finalement, j'acceptais ne pouvant faire autrement et ils m'ont facturé 70 € au final.
Bonjour l'arnaque

Magnifique expérience avec la bioluminescence !
La balade en kayak pour aller sur le site est très agréable au coucher du soleil . Ensuite on voit commencer le phénomène puis on peut se baigner pour encore plus en profiter . Magique !

It wasn’t cheap but it was worth it! I saw monkeys, iguanas, ant eaters, a gorgeous protected beach and had a great walk in the trails.

Lindisima experiencia, mi novia y yo lo disfrutamos al máximo, la visita a isla Tortuga genial, hacer snorkel una experiencia nueva, gracias a Turismo Curu y al guía Andrey Ruiz que nos guió y trato de excelente manera. Recomendado al 100% turismo Curu y claro quedarse en las cabinas de la reserva.

Fueron muy amables y atentos.
Nos ofrecieron adaptar uno de los tours en la mañana para que funcionara mejor con el plan que teníamos con otro tour en la noche.

Los guías buena gente, con ganas de ayudar, informar y responder cualquier pregunta q tuviéramos.

Fuimos a Playa Quesera en bote y después hicimos el tour de bioluminescencia. Ambos estuvieron increíbles.

Pura vida