Costa Rica Travel Agents & Reviews

We had an amazing trip to Costa Rica and feel that, overall, the travel agency did an amazing job accommodating the needs/interests of our group of seven by finding fun and accessible excursions for us. 

All private transport was on time (or early) and the drivers were incredibly friendly. The accommodations were very nice and the tours were fantastic. We feel there was great value for the price we paid. This was a trip of a lifetime!

Ten of us went on a milestone birthday trip and had an excellent time. Everything went smoothly and it was tailored to our likes, with a good mix of activities and downtime. All of our drivers and tour guides were awesome!

Perfect attention to detail from start to finish. They were very responsive and prepared during the planning process. They offered a huge variety of activities to choose from. When we arrived, we were greeted by Alex and his team, and we received Costa Rican chocolates and a small painting from a local artist, which was such a thoughtful detail. All the details were looked after.

They tracked delays in our flight to manage ground transportation. When our luggage from the airline was delayed, the travel agency arranged for it to be delivered to our hotel, located hours away from the airport. We wanted to add some activities and they added them seamlessly. They listened during the planning process and the hotels were perfect for what I needed. The activities were limited to very small groups and it was such a charming experience.

I've worked through Zicasso for several years on multiple itineraries, including four just this summer, and I think I have to rank this travel agency as one of the best companies I've had the pleasure to experience. 

Muchísimas gracias to Sylvia, my travel consultant, who did a superb job from start to finish. She has a wonderfully charismatic personality that made our discussions over the phone, email, and WhatsApp a pleasure and effortless. When deciding between the two bidding companies, I was ultimately swayed by Sylvia due to several factors. 

First, Sylvia's planning conveyed original, authentic ideas that seemed genuinely tailored to match my personality and interests, not just some off-the-rack itinerary hurled at every customer. As a result, I ended up with an awesome scenic drive down the Pacific Coast straight from the airport to Uvita, where I got to fulfill a goal of seeing whales. After that, I got to travel to the Osa Peninsula where I had unbelievable luck in spotting dozens of species of flora and fauna, including two up-close encounters with tapirs (one in the forest and one, to everyone's astonished glee, inside my ecolodge!).

Second, Sylvia was fully transparent and honest in the advice she gave, even at the risk of her sale. When I commented that I wanted to travel to an ecolodge, but was fearful of spiders potentially entering my room, she immediately adopted the tone of a wise and straightforward auntie and told me that she couldn't guarantee that wouldn't happen and that such things were just a reality in tropical places like Costa Rica. But she also put the situation in context, explained how rare it was, the conditions under which it might happen, and steps I could take to protect myself just in case. She also frequently referenced her personal experiences and those of her niece when recommending ecolodges and describing the various places I expressed interest in traveling to. The fact that she herself had done what I sought to do lent her advice great credibility.

All of our communication was smooth and aside from a little hiccup with payment (we experienced a technical issue with their bank's transfer system), all planning and prep went well. 

Once on the ground, everything fell into place. I was greeted at the airport by my driver and driven to Uvita in a huge van with passenger windows as big as the windshield, which provided me with unobstructed views of the rolling green mountains and glistening sea along the way. My stays in Uvita and Drake Bay provided me the close encounters with nature I sought, along with effortless transportation between them by car, boat, and (tiny) airplane. My adventure was capped off by my guide, who provided me with a personal afternoon tour of San Jose. Overall, this was one of my better trips and best experiences through Zicasso.

We made a last-minute request for a long (16 days) and complicated honeymoon itinerary in Costa Rica. Mercedes and the travel company team moved mountains to make our honeymoon dream a reality. My wife and I decided on Costa Rica only after our wedding and days before our vacation window closed. Mercedes with the travel company had to reassure us and manage our stress as well as wrangle many unique reservations on a very tight deadline.

I normally plan my own vacations, but given the complexity and deadline we needed help and reached out to Zicasso.  We interviewed a few travel agents recommended by Zicasso and Mercedes was the most organized with her presentation of options and the overall plan. She was very patient with us as we established trust and added numerous requests and changes. Being willing to jump on video calls with us was key in building that trust. She was very helpful in explaining the options and reassuring us that our travel goals would be met. We’ve never spent anywhere near this much on a trip before.

Mercedes has the connections! She has done the tours and gone to the places. Everywhere we went our naturalist guides seemed to be the best at what they did for that location. In Manuel Antonio, our guide had to reschedule with us, and it was worth the time change to stick with him!   We loved all of the hotels that we stayed at as well.  They were all unique and seemed to become even more impressive as our trip progressed.

Mercedes herself even greeted us at the airport. I’m a bit of a nervous traveler and worried about being taken advantage of outside of airports. None of that was an issue with her there and introducing us to our first driver.  She provided daily itinerary details and updates on an app while in CR. Replies on the app were quick when we had questions or requests.

Drivers are on staff and so most of our connections no matter where in the country were made by the same person or someone else on staff. We got very emotionally attached to one driver especially. All the staff speaks English very well, but we especially enjoyed our driver’s patience as we practiced our Spanish with her and asked her touristy questions about what we were experiencing.

We usually rent a car on vacations, and really only accepted the hired drivers as a consequence of needing to plan this trip with help on short notice, but my views have changed.  Especially in a new country, I would recommend it, not even for safety on the road, but for the chance to meet new people and relax and view the scenery.   There is a lot of beautiful scenery to see in CR!!!Finally, Mercedes made sure that we had a true honeymoon experience.  Most of our hotel rooms were decorated in honeymoon fashion--flowers, fruit bowls, chocolates, and wine/champagne.  We really appreciated the details and the delicious fruits.  (Especially, the chocolate-covered strawberries at the hotel near Manual Antonio!!!