Absolutely. We can tailor your holiday in any number of ways. If you have specific activities or wildlife events you want to see then we can rearrange the trip to include those. If you want to combine Costa Rica with neighbouring Nicaragua, we can do that.

Costa Rica manages to pack an unbelievable amount of weather into a small area. That's why most people are confused as to when to plan their visit.

Essentially, the country has a tall spine of mountains running down the middle so there is near total separation of the Caribbean from the Pacific sides. When it's good weather on the Caribbean side, it's less good on the Pacific, and vice versa.

The best time for the Caribbean coast is July to September, but that doesn't mean you should avoid it the rest of the year. You should find the weather is still warm and sunny for large parts of the day most of the year, you'll just get a few more storms and showers out of peak season.

Christmas and New Year are peak season for travellers, getting quieter again in January to pick up in February and March, usually through to Easter time. After that point, things are fairly steady.

It should be said that the types of places we visit do not tend to get busy. However, the places we stay are small so it doesn't take much to fill them up.

Broadly speaking, Costa Rica has a tropical climate, so it is warm and humid year-round. The weather in Costa Rica is often described and defined by the dry season (December - April), and the 'green' season (May - November).

On the Caribbean side, sunshine hours are pretty consistent through the year and it's also more consistently wet than most of Costa Rica. The driest month (September) has an average of 150mm of rain where the wettest months (July/December) have 400mm.

As a comparison, London averages around 80mm of rain in the wettest months, 40mm in the driest. Up in the Lake District you have an average monthly precipitation approximately the same as September on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

Remember that rain in Costa Rica is warm. It also tends to rain heavily when it rains - no day long drizzle here. It's either raining, or it's not. The pattern tends to be that rains come later in the day so dry mornings, wet afternoons.

This is somewhat dependent upon when you want to travel, but it's best to get in touch as far ahead as possible to ensure availability.

Since we work with small independent hotels and lodges, we are sometimes able to secure accommodation when other companies have sold out, so feel free to get in touch and we'll see what we can do!

Total carbon generated on this trip: 3442kg per person or 6884kg total for 2 people

As Yvon Chouinard, of Patagonia, Inc. rightly declared: “To do good, you actually have to do something.”

Therefore, for every kilometre travelled by road, air and sea on your Pura Aventura holiday, we carbon balance it by a mile - i.e. by 160% of your trip's carbon, from your front door and back again, irrespective of whether we book your international travel or not.

This is one of the travel industry's most ambitious and innovative schemes and has recently been praised by Wanderlust, Condé Nast Traveller and The Independent.

Both options are available so it's entirely up to you!

Costa Rica is fun and safe to drive around with plenty of chances for impromptu pitstops along the way, and we'll always provide a modern 4x4.

On the other hand, if you'd rather sit back and be driven, our private transfer services are a reliable and comfortable alternative.

Having a modern 4x4 vehicle allows you to stay in more remote, interesting places, and to explore locally once you are there. Journey times between your overnight stays will generally be around three or four hours so comfortably fit into a morning - days are not 'lost' to navigating.

Roads in Costa Rica are a mixture of good tarmac, old tarmac with potholes and compacted dirt roads. As a rule of thumb, the further you get from the populous Central Valley, the less traffic there is and the bumpier the road. However, both main coastal roads are smooth and sleek.

Don't worry, we do not expect you to drive as you land in Costa Rica, instead we have your car delivered to you at your first hotel. Since these tend to be on the outskirts of the city, your escape into the countryside should be relatively stress-free.

By using Google Maps or Waze on your smart phone, you can easily navigate as you would at home without using any mobile data. We provide simple step-by-step instructions, don't worry.

Overwhelmingly so, yes. Costa Rica is famously a peaceful place, with no standing army. It is enormously unlikely that you will encounter any problems at all, if you do then it would most likely be theft from your vehicle so you should be sensible about your belongings but you need be no more concerned than you would be travelling to, say, Spain. Or London.

Absolutely, this would be a great trip for almost any type of group. Let us know who you're travelling with when you request a quote, as we work with different accommodations and activities and can tailor the itinerary to be even better suited to you.

We also offer a version of this itinerary specifically for families, with specially chosen accommodations and activities which are a little better for kids. So, if you're planning to travel with your family, check out our Costa Rica Caribbean Family Escape.

We've included a few activities here, but nothing that requires a high level of physical fitness or previous experience.

Everything can be tailored just for you too, so just let us know if you'd prefer a little more or less activity.

In Costa Rica particularly, we choose our accommodation very carefully since we want you to both be comfortable, and get a sense of the country hosting you.

The accommodation on this trip has a lot of character and comfort, but we do also have some upgrade options you might prefer if you'd like to push the boat out. Just speak to our team and we can tailor your trip just as you want it.

Yes. In Costa Rica you simply can't help that! When walking in forests, you should always wear closed toe shoes and long trousers tucked into socks. At dawn and dusk, make sure you have repellent on and wear clothing as close to colours of the forest floor as possible.

There are also snakes. No point pretending there aren't, however, they are terrified of humans so you are not likely to see any unless you go in search of them. They hear your clumping footsteps coming and are long gone. Avoid the temptation of rummaging around blindly in piles of leaves and you'll be fine.

We take a 15% deposit to secure your holiday, with the remainder due eight weeks before your departure.

Your money is 100% protected through our ATOL licence if your trip includes a flight booked through us, or through our ABTOT bond if it does not. Either way, this protection provides a cast-iron financial guarantee and helps you book with complete peace of mind. Because the contract between us exists here in the UK, you get this protection regardless of where you live.

There's a general and infectious sense of joie de vivre, Pura Vida, in Costa Rica.

Too many holidays to Costa Rica focus entirely on the wildlife with a bit of beach and activity thrown in. That's totally unfair to the people who live here and give it all colour - and who take such pride in their environment. It's not always obvious given the ramshackle appearance of many towns and villages but the environmental education and messaging here is remarkable and people are generally very proud of the lead their country takes in matters ecological.

But really, it's the day to day people watching that too many people miss. Lunch at a roadside 'soda' is an opportunity to see all of society eating side by side, doctors to farm labourers. Eating ceviche whilst watching the fishermen haul in their catch. Tucking into a huge plate of plantains, rice and beans as a pickup truck with a huge speaker strapped in the back goes up and down the street, blaring out the latest special offer at 'MEESTER CHICKEN!!!'

It's a fun, and funny, place.