Dawn Smith, Holiday Architects(HA) Destination Manager – Latin America & Sri Lanka, organised an excellent first visit to Costa Rica tailoring it to our needs (2 people in mid to late 70s) and the brief we gave her. As we didn't hire a car, Dawn organised all tours and transfers. When final arrangements and timings arrived 48 hours before we were due to leave, it revealed a couple of unacceptable arrangements. We immediately contacted Dawn and to her credit she dealt with the issues we raised and the arrangements were altered by the time we arrived in Costa Rica. Very impressive!HA's local agent organised pick-ups and tours, subcontracted to other operators. Impressively, every pick up except one was within 5 minutes. One was just 10 minutes after the scheduled time. Their organisation was impeccable and all the tours were excellent.As to our experiences, we stayed in some great hotels and saw an abundance of wildlife which was our primary reason for going. Over 1,300 photos and videos testify to that. It will take a while to sort that lot out!We had great guides who were instrumental in both finding the wildlife and providing detailed information about the animals. We doubt one would have anything like the experience if one didn't have the guides. So again thanks to Dawn and HA for making this an enjoyable and educational experience. We did get some down time and enjoyed time on the beach, time by hotel pools and a great massage in one of our hotel spas.We did a great deal of research before going and sought answers from Dawn too. There are scores of YouTube videos covering the various national parks as well as the hotels and activities available. We are pretty well travelled but Costa Rica does have its own uniqueness and it is good to understand that in order that your expectations are met.Relatively short journey distances can take much longer than one might expect as roads can be narrow, windy, rough and traffic clogged; speed limits are low and the terrain hilly. Similarly, what may seem like an easy walk to a restaurant and nearby town may prove more challenging than one expected. If, like us, our wildlife ventures have been relatively limited, it is worth pointing out that some animals prefer hanging out high in trees and are difficult to spot and photograph. So set expectations appropriately and you won’t be disappointed.This was our second trip organised by HA and Dawn didn’t let us down.Pura Vida!
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Since launching in 2010 Holiday Architects has set out to really listen to our clients – we get to know you, we get to know your travel needs and we design the perfect holiday to match. By operating in this manner, and avoiding the standard off-the-shelf packages offered by many other travel companies, we’ve become one of the fastest-growing and most-trusted tour operators in the UK. Underpinning all of this is the expertise of our team: each committed to servicing their specialist destination, backed up with a dedicated country website packed full of unique hotels, quirky excursions and engaging holiday suggestions. Every one of our team has visited their destination many times (often even lived there), has many years’ experience in the travel industry and is carefully chosen to fit with our friendly and helpful team culture. This means when discussing your travel plans, you’ll have the peace of mind that you’re not only speaking to a genuine expert but a real person who cares about you and your holiday.
We believe we are better than anyone else at listening to your travel aspirations and turning them into perfectly designed holidays, but of course that is not always easy to substantiate, which is why we were extremely proud in 2019 to be named Wanderlust magazine’s ‘Top Tour Operator of the Year’, for the second year running, gaining a 100% satisfaction rating from their readers. Competition at these awards is fierce, so winning brings us a great deal of pleasure and pride as it means we have lots of very happy clients!See more