Immerse Yourself in a Tropical Adventure
The Flying Banana Tour is designed for the casual birder who also enjoys learning about a different culture through culinary exploration and customized excursions. Costa Rica is known for its rice and beans (particularly gallo pinto), but there is so much more to its cuisine! We will learn all about Costa Rican mainstays like coffee, bananas, and chocolate. We will also try a variety of tropical fruits as we tour the central market and an organic farm. We will eat in local sodas (small, family-run restaurants) and also in some of the most contemporary dining establishments. We will even get to help prepare a meal for ourselves in the home of a Costa Rican! Taste the historical influence of Spanish, Caribbean, and indigenous cultures and also note the fusion tendencies from more recent international influences. Become a foodie if you aren’t one already!
Costa Rica is also one of the top birding destinations in the world, with many different ecosystems and elevations to explore. Starting at our hotel in San Jose, we will provide opportunities for daily birding walks at the places we are staying as well as at nearby birding hotspots. Expect to see more than one hundred species of tropical birds over the course of the trip, including spectacular ones like the Yellow-throated Toucan, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Montezuma Oropendola, and Green-fronted Lancebill. Some of our guided walks will focus on more than birds: a night hike at Selva Verde Lodge, a morning at the world-famous La Selva Biological Station, and a natural history hike at the Mistico Park Hanging Bridges. Take your birding to the next level with us: enthusiasm is required, but birding experience is not!
Tour Highlights
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Trip Details
Trip Details
Price
- $4100/person double occupancy
- $4850/person single occupancy
Departure time
- Meet at Hotel Bougainvillea in the late afternoon of January 10
Meeting point
Hotel Bougainvillea
Availability
January 10-20, 2026
Duration
10 nights
Group size
10-12
Participation requirements
Ability to handle uneven walking surfaces and heat and humidity.
Included
Lodging, transportation, tours, entrance fees, food, and guides.
Not included
Flights, alcoholic drinks, trip insurance, and personal expenses like souvenirs, laundry services, etc.
What to bring
A packing list will be provided to all participants.
Number & type of staff for tour
David Rupp, owner of IndiGo Birding Nature Tours, and Lali Hess owner of The Juniper Spoon, will lead and coordinate this tour. Both have spent significant time in Costa Rica. Various Costa Rican guides with specific expertise will lead the hikes and activities.
Good to Know
While the itinerary is our plan for the tour, many times situations arise where we are not able to do a specific activity. Weather, logistical challenges, and more can impact the tour. Please note that we might not be able to do all that is outlined here, although that is the goal.
This tour is designed to provide an immersive experience through nature, culture, and food discovery. If you like birds and food and have a spirit of curiosity, this is the tour for you! However, if you want a complete tropical birding tour, I recommend that you look at our other tour options. Likewise, if you aren’t interested in birds, this isn’t the tour for you, as we will spend hours most days observing our feathered friends. Please note also that there will be time incorporated in our schedule for rest and relaxation, usually in early afternoon.
Frequently Asked Questions
IF WE CANCEL a tour due to low attendance, severe weather, COVID-19, or other unforeseen event, participants may either move their payments to another trip of their choice or receive a full refund.
IF YOU CANCEL your place on this tour more than 90 days from departure, a full refund will be available. If canceling within 90 days of departure, no refund will be given UNLESS we are able to fill your spot(s) with another participant. In that situation, $250 will still be withheld for administrative purposes, but the rest of your payments will be refunded. We highly recommend that you purchase trip cancellation (including medical emergency) insurance to cover your investment in case of injury or illness to you or a family member prior to or during a trip.
Most of the walks will be short (less than 1 mile) with some inclines/declines at times. The footing can be uneven and slippery in places. If you have balance issues, we recommend bringing a hiking stick.
What You’ll See & Do
Join IndiGo Birding Nature Tours for the inaugural birding and food tour of Costa Rica, a treasure chest of biodiversity and emerging cuisine. Because the Keel-billed Toucan has been nicknamed the Flying Banana (with its long, yellow beak) and because Costa Rica is a major banana producer, we thought the Flying Banana Tour would be a fitting name for a trip focused on both the foods and birds of this Central American country. Over the course of this 11-day tour we will spend our mornings in search of toucans, macaws, and hummingbirds and then visit unique restaurants and farms that provide a tasty, immersive experience for new and savvy travelers alike.
Don’t miss out on this unique trip, a carefully selected mix of activities that will make for a delightful vacation of birding, tasting, and enjoying the tropics. Pura vida!
Itinerary:
Day 1 (January 10, 2026)
Arrival in San Jose
Welcome to Costa Rica! Schedule your flight to arrive in the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) on the 10th. A shuttle will be available to take you across town to Hotel Bougainvillea, where we will gather in the evening for a welcome meeting and dinner. If you arrive early, you can enjoy a walk and some birding in the lovely gardens on-site.
Day 2 (January 11)
Intro to Costa Rican food
Enjoy breakfast and a bird walk at Bougainvillea before checking out. Our main activity today is a customized tour in downtown San Jose with San Jose Urban Tours. Our guide will show us the city market and introduce us to many of the specialty fruits and foods of Costa Rica. He will then take us to a nearby house and guide us in cooking up a Costa Rican feast! We then depart the capital city and drive to Finca Luna Nueva Lodge, a working farm and ecolodge, where we will spend four wonderful nights.
Day 3 (January 12)
Birds, Herbs, & Don Rufino
Today we bird the grounds of Finca Luna Nueva and relax in the midst of tropical rainforest, dining on farm-to-table foods that delight the taste buds. Before breakfast, a local guide will lead us on an early morning bird walk on the property, where over 250 species have been recorded on nearly 200 acres. One highlight is the 35-foot tall canopy tower, which puts you eye-to-eye with some of the beautiful tropical birds. In the afternoon we will gather for an herbal medicine workshop. This activity will involve hands-on work with plants and herbs freshly harvested from the organic farm on-site. In the evening we will drive into the town of La Fortuna for a sophisticated dinner at the popular Don Rufino Restaurante, one of the best in town.
Day 4 (January 13)
Children’s Eternal Rainforest
The Children’s Eternal Rainforest is one of the most beautiful natural treasures of Costa Rica, created in 1987 through the efforts of children from 44 nations. It is the largest private reserve in Costa Rica and anchors a 250,000-acre expanse of cloud forest and lower-elevation forest habitat. At the Poco Sol research station you will hike through a mid-elevation rainforest, giving a possibility of seeing the famous Umbrella Bird, Montezuma Oropendola, multiple tanager species, and bubbling mud pits where geotectonic plates collide. The many trails offer a range of hiking challenges, and after your hike you can refresh yourself with a swim in the lake that fills the caldera of this extinct volcano.
Day 5 (January 14)
Hanging Bridges & Cooking Class
The mountains and rainforests of Costa Rica can be explored in many ways, but one of the best approaches is to hike the hanging bridges. We will go on a guided natural history and birding hike at the Mistico Park Hanging Bridges in the morning. Then we head into town for a cooking class in the home of Lali’s friend Giselle. Learn how to cook (and eat) like a Costa Rican! You will be given some time to explore and shop the town square in La Fortuna before heading back to Luna Nueva for dinner and the evening.
Day 6 (January 15)
Chocolate!
Time to keep exploring Costa Rica! After one final delicious breakfast at Finca Luna Nueva, we continue north. We will stop at Eden Organic Farm for a tour and chocolate-making demonstration, where we learn everything about the process of making artisanal and organic chocolate. We will also have lunch at Eden before heading to Natural Lodge Cano Negro.
Day 7 (January 16)
Cano Negro
The Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge is an international RAMSAR site, providing wetland habitat and important ecosystem services to the northern zone of Costa Rica. By staying at the lodge, we have easy access for outings into this unique area. We will go on an early morning boat ride–a guided expedition in search of Roseate Spoonbills, Black-collared Hawks, kingfishers, and other wildlife. We will spend the middle of the day relaxing and birding around the lodge before heading out again in the afternoon, this time exploring the area on foot. The lodge restaurant will be our dining destination, where we will enjoy locally-sourced and internationally-inspired cuisine that is sure to delight.
Day 8 (January 17)
Birds & Bananas
We will go on one more guided forest walk at Cano Negro before departing late morning. Our destination today is Selva Verde Ecolodge which serves as a haven for macaws and howler monkeys and much more wildlife. On our way there, we will stop at a local restaurant for lunch before a mid-afternoon stop for a cultural banana tour. Bananas have a long and ongoing history in Costa Rica with many current impacts on the culture. Can’t have a Flying Banana tour without this experience!!
Day 9 (January 18)
Organic Farming & a River Boat Ride
We start the day with a visit to the Finca Ecoorganica Sarapiqui for a guided tour of their farm. We will learn about and sample traditional crops like heart of palm, pineapple, passion fruit, coffee and more before they cook lunch for us. After an afternoon siesta, we will join Oasis Nature Tours for a boat tour on the Sarapiqui River, where we could see kingfishers, monkeys, and other amazing wildlife. We end the big day with a visit to a local restaurant for some more typical Costa Rican cuisine. Yum!
Day 10 (January 19)
Bird your way to San Jose
We pack up at Selva Verde and depart after breakfast, taking a short bus ride to meet our guide for a morning of exploring the rainforest at La Selva Biological Station, one of the top birding destinations in Costa Rica. While birds will be our focus, we will also explore the mammals, amphibians, botany, and general ecology of the area. After the hike, we start the drive up and over the mountains to San Jose. However, we will stop for lunch at Soda y Mirador Cinchona for a classic Costa Rican lunch, with specialty drinks and Olla de Carne among the numerous options. We will enjoy the spectacular view and the amazing birds at their birdfeeders while we eat. We then drive into San Jose, where we will stay at the Fairfield by Marriott by the airport. The grand finale to the tour is our dinner at Silvestre, one of Costa Rica’s premier restaurants, where a tasting menu awaits.
Day 11 (January 20)
Departure Day
The Flying Banana Tour has come to an end, but you should be departing with a full belly, many wonderful memories, and some new friends. Breakfast is included at the hotel at your leisure. Free shuttle transportation to the airport is also available, so you should be able to catch a flight at whatever time works best for your schedule and budget.
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