Zip-lining and night-time creepy crawly tours in Bahia Drake

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
8
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
1
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
10
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
9
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
2
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
4
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
77 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
72nd/460
Top 20%
continent
North America
country
Costa Rica
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$60 (typically $40 - $80)
Time of year visited
April
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Jungle Wildlife - Spiders Zip-lining
All Tags
Adrenaline rush Beaches Boat trip Wildlife - Monkeys
Wow Factor
Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100.
⭐⭐

Summary

If you’ve made your way to this part of Costa Rica, chances are you’re here for the country’s premier wildlife experience, Corcovado National Park – which is fantastic and  I’ve written an entry for some tips on 2 great days inside the park itself in Camping in Corcovado National Park.

But do make sure you also give yourself a day for Bahia Drake, and in particular the zip-lining canopy tour which features 12 platforms, 2.5km of line and all roughly 30m / 100ft up in the canopy.  The height gives you a different view of the monkeys and other wildlife that that you obviously won’t get in the park.  Plus, chances are you will probably need to spend the night in Agujitas before heading into the park anyway.

The other fun thing I’d recommend is to head off on one of the night-time walks through the jungle with one of the local guides.  Its equally amazing and scary just how much wildlife they can spot right under your noise.

Agujitas is the town you’ll most likely stay in.  Nothing to write home about as it is very basic – although it does have its own charm in that it is so remote due to no roads linking it with the rest of the country.  A full day there and get rested up before heading into the park should be enough.

Highlights

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#1 Zip-lining through the canopy, seeing families of monkeys and generally getting a view of the jungle that you can't when in the National Park

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#2 Seeing the creepy crawlies of the jungle night trip - its genuinely amazing just how much stuff is out there when shown by a local guide

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#3 Taking advantage of the remoteness of the Bahia Drake area to be able to see a whole range of local wildlife

Experiences nearby

Wow Factor Score Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100. LowHigh
  • Elite, unmissable
  • World-class, downsides
  • Meets the Wow Factor
  • Worth it
  • Meh
  • Gash

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Zip-lining and night-time creepy crawly tours in Bahia Drake
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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences - from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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