San Jose Walking Nature Tour: Sloths, Birds and Trees

Name: San Jose Walking Nature Tour: Sloths, Birds and Trees
Brand: Oropopo Experience
SKU: 158476P1
Price: 33.00 USD
Rating: 5.0 (444 reviews)

Badge of ExcellenceSan Jose, Costa Rica

Looking for Sloths butterflies and birds in the Urban Jungle

2 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

Overview

Get a dose of Costa Rica’s signature nature without leaving San Jose or fitting in an extra day trip. Led by a local biologist, you’ll traverse the city looking for (and finding) tropical birds, slow-moving sloths, exotic plants, wild berries, and more. Just steps from downtown San Jose lies a green world of adventure, if you know where to look—and with this tour, you will.

Follow a trained naturalist through San Jose's wildest spots
Binoculars/telescope provided for optimal viewing
Witness Costa Rican nature with just a few hours free time

What's Included

Telescope or binoculars for bird and sloth watching
All Fees and Taxes
Local English speaking guide

Food and drinks
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Sunscreen
Insect repellent
Rain jacket
Closed-toe shoes
Water

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Ondina Café & Restaurant
Centro de investigaciones Agronómicas, C. la Cruz, San José, San Pedro, 11503, Costa Rica
This is a family-owned Cafe with benches and tables in the front yard, you can use a promotional code: promo-Oropopo to get discounts, use the bathroom or refill your water bottles. Closed on weekends. Please arrive at the meeting point 10min before the start. The tour begins on time.

End point

Parada de Autobuses UCR-Cartago
Jose María Muñoz, San José, San Pedro, Costa Rica

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 10 hours of travel. In this case confirmation will be received as soon as possible, subject to availability
Not wheelchair accessible
Service animals allowed

Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 10 travelers

Operated by Oropopo Experience

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Rasaratnam_L

We had a wonderful experience on this walking nature tour around the university. The guide and her assistant shared a lot of insightful observations about the different birds, sloths, and trees in the area. Since they carried a telescope, we were able to clearly see the species, and they answered all of our questions. Overall, an excellent tour.

Reviews

5.0

444 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 444 reviews

Excellent urban nature tour!

MarlaMeyer, May 2024

Sara was a fantastic guide. She showed us everything from plants to insects, birds and mammals. We were very lucky and saw 6 sloths (one was a very young baby), motmots, an armadillo and more. I highly recommend this tour!

Unexpectedly fun experience

Zackery_B, May 2024

Very fun experience our tour guide Sarah was very knowledgeable. Got to see three adult sloths and one was holding her baby.

Nice tour

Katrin_K, May 2024

Really cool to see so many animals just in the city! Would definitely do it again and can recommend.

So much to see where you don’t expect it

David_D, Apr 2024

I honestly just wanted to see a sloth and got that and more! The tour was mainly walking through the University of Costa Rica campus but our tour guide (Sarah who was great) opened my eyes to so many things that I never paid attention to such as insects, plants, etc that I take for granted. Oh, and we got to see three sloths hanging around (4 actually but we don’t talk about that one)!

Sarah gave us a great...

Greg_A, Apr 2024

Sarah gave us a great tour, very informative and fun exploration of the University of Costa Rica campus

Surprising nature tour in the city!

Thomas_P, Apr 2024

Sara was a great guide. Very informative and passionate about nature. Easy to understand, both in Spanish and English, making science accessible to all.

Momma and baby sloth 😍🥰❤️

Miguel_T, Apr 2024

Mellisa has such great energy and was a great guide! Would recommend her! Learning about the Univeristy was a great bonus!

We saw a sloth.

Ryan_S, Apr 2024

Really enjoyed the tour. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable about nature. We really learned a lot and saw 2 sloths. Not a lot of walking but your neck will get tired lookin up to search for sloths.

Ecotourism at its best!

Amorette_M, Apr 2024

Extraordinary! I never imagined I’d see so much — and learn so much — of Costa Rica’s flora and fauna without ever leaving San Jose. Our guide, Raquel was an extremely knowledgeable biologist and true naturalist. Her passion, energy, and respect for nature was contagious! Fun and intimate! Oropopo is clearly a special company — a model of true and responsible Ecotourism!

Beautiful Flora, Birds, and Sloths!

Kristen_G, Apr 2024

Melissa was an awesome and engaging tour guide! I love how passionate and excited she was about the biodiversity on the university campus. I learned so much while on this tour. I had been doing a lot of wildlife tours so it was great to hear something new. I recommend doing this wildlife tour over going to a wildlife refuge, as the wildlife on campus is all authentic. We got to see 3 sloths on the afternoon tour, all of them curled up in a ball and sleeping.

Informative and interesting

Jade_D, Apr 2024

Sarah was very knowledgeable and passionate. I enjoyed learning from her about the plants and their fruits and the many birds we could see. And of course the sloths, we saw 3!

Educational Walking Tour

Kim_N, Apr 2024

Thank you Sarah for such an educational walking tour through the University of Costa Rica. My family enjoyed the observation of the flowers, butterflies, and sloths. We had a different tour the day prior in the rain forest and we did not spot any sloths. We were excited to see three sloths with Sarah. Do the tour, it's worth it!

Amazing Nature Tour

Rasaratnam_L, Mar 2024

Really enjoyable tour

Maria_B, Mar 2024

It was really enjoyable tour. Very knowledgeable guide, we learned a lot about local nature and saw beautiful birds, and of course slots.

Amazing walking tour!

Ben_R, Mar 2024

Incredible tour, amazing how much natural beauty exists right in the middle of this city. Saw a variety of flora and fauna, including native birds and sloths. Sara was an awesome guide through it all - knowledgable, engaging and passionate about Costa Rica's natural resources.

Highly recommended

Lawrence_W, Mar 2024

We had this tour after visiting Arenal Park and Mountverd, but still were amazed by the richness of plants, birds, and surroundings. The biologist tour guid was excellent.

Great tour and great guide

John_M, Mar 2024

A great tour with a great guide. Sara was very helpful in showing us how we are able to see nature anywhere and how we interact with it. They work hard to find the animals and make it a great experience

Amazing!

Jessica_S, Mar 2024

Great experience. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and patient with the group. We were able to see sloths and enjoy nature

Great tour in the university campus

Petra_S, Mar 2024

I enjoyed this 3h walk in the university campus very much. Our guide was friendly and enthusiatic about showing us local animals and plants and telling us about Costa Rica. We saw beautiful oropendula birds, six sloths, and much more. I recommend this tour!

Yes there are sloths!

Jessica_B, Mar 2024

Rigo was an amazing guide! I learned so much about the plants, trees, and animals that share the city. He was kind and funny and unbelievably knowledgeable. And of course, what everyone wants to know….were there sloths? YES!

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