45 minutes from the house
Arenal & La Fortuna
Volcano hikes, hot springs, waterfalls and rainforest. This is where most of our guests spend a day or two, and it's the area they cover in the most depth.
Who we recommend
Tours around Venado, Arenal and the rest of Costa Rica
Guests ask us all the time where to book things. The answer is almost always the same, so we made it a page.
We send people to Plan My Costa Rica.
It's a small Costa Rican company that puts local tour operators online in one place — volcano hikes, hot springs, waterfalls, ziplines, hanging bridges, rafting, wildlife trips — and lets you book them directly instead of through a desk that adds thirty percent for the introduction.
We recommend them for a simple reason: it's what we'd do ourselves. The operators are real, the prices are the operators' own, and the advice on the site matches what we'd tell you sitting on the deck with a coffee.
Why we point guests their way
Licensed, vetted operators
Every tour on the site is run by an independent operator registered with the Costa Rican tourism board. Small, family-run outfits for the most part — the same people we'd call ourselves.
Local prices, not tourist prices
You pay what you'd pay walking up to the operator's own desk. No hotel desk markup, no overseas reseller taking a cut in the middle.
Honest guidance
Straight answers on how hard a hike actually is, how long the drive really takes, and which of the famous tours are worth the money. That matters a lot out here where the map lies about drive times.
They sort the car out too
They handle 4x4 rentals as well, which is worth thinking about if you're heading up our road or out toward Río Celeste in the rainy months.
What you can book from here
Casa Venado sits in a quiet valley with a lot within an easy drive. Here's roughly how it breaks down.
Our side of the mountain
Río Celeste & the north
The sky-blue river in Tenorio, the caves, the quiet lowland rivers. The corner of the country we live in, and the one that's hardest to plan from a search engine.
The rest of the trip
Sixteen regions, coast to coast
Monteverde cloud forest, Manuel Antonio, the Osa, Tortuguero, the Caribbean side, the Nicoya surf towns. Useful if Casa Venado is one stop on a longer loop.
Book before you arrive
The popular tours around Arenal fill up, especially in the dry season. Sorting one or two out ahead of time means the rest of your stay can stay slow.
Go to Plan My Costa RicaPlan My Costa Rica is a booking facilitator. Tours are operated by independent operators registered with the Costa Rican tourism board (ICT), and your booking is with them.