Upper Balsa River White Water Rafting Class 3/4 in Costa Rica

A one hour drive in a bus takes you to a river put in under a bridge. From there you take off and quickly hit rapids; we had two fall in quickly. But we were able to get them in easily. The rapids seem to be man made with a few different channels/difficulties. You then float in a wide open river and get to relax before hitting some bigger waves. There were a few dicey moments which is what we wanted (we asked for 4/5). We did however feel safe the whole time; the river has large rapids follow by low flowing flat water; so if you fall in you pretty quickly would be safe. We had two great guides: Mauricio (?) and Jabir (?). Upon existing we had pineapple and watermelon; which hits the spot. Then drove over the bridge to a river fronting restaurant with decent food and good outdoor seating. The company and people were great. I bought a plastic cover for my phone thinking I would be able to take photos; but you are too busy paddling.

Super fun - a really great activity for friends/family looking for something active, challenging, but safe and structured!

All the guides for the rafting were great. The shuttle ride to the river went by a breeze with Yader spotting sloths and telling jokes. Our raft guide was Roberto and he did a great job making the activity as a whole feel very safe, secure and fun. At first we were a little worried as it was our first time rafting, but Roberto made sure we were ok and also enjoying ourselves. He was very good at spotting wildlife, stopping to show us poison dart frogs, toucans and sloths. One of the highlights was the fruit they served, which to date is the best pineapple we have had ever.

Absolutely a blast!! One of the highlights of our Costa Rica trip. The guides were amazing and the Balsa river was a ton of fun! Our guide, Yader, was fantastic- lots of fun, ensured everyone felt safe, and checked in with our raft multiple times to determine how adventurous we wanted our ride to be (I’d recommend to say yes to all the extra adventure moments!)! One thing to know ahead of time- you can leave your valuables in the transportation van while you raft and the driver stays with the van, so it’s totally safe.

Great time, great crew , great river to raft on. Our guide Allen G. was great one the boat and gave us a marvelous tour of the river and creatures along the river while handling the raft. Would definitely reccomend.

As soon as I realized I would not be able to make the tour, which was 23h20 minutes before the tour, I contacted Arenal Rafting, to see if I could change my reservation to a different date. I was told to check with Viator as I’d booked through them. I did. Viator said I was within 24 hour cancellation window and they contacted Arenal Rafting for an exception. I didn’t receive any reply so I checked with Arenal Rafting. They said they did not receive any messages from Viator. I checked with Viator again and they said they did send a message to Arenal and the request for an exception was denied. I contacted Arenal again and advised what I found out. They started telling me that they have their policies and Viator has their policies and they don’t know what Viator’s polices are and that I should contact Viator. I explained again that Viator contacted them for an exception and asked them to confirm that they denied the request. They refused. They then sent me Arenal Rafting’s policy: “Date changes requested no later than 8:00 PM (Costa Rica local time) on the day before the scheduled tour may be processed without any penalty, subject to availability.” My request clearly fell within that window, 23h20 before to be exact. I explained that it was very simple, since I’d already paid, they could have said let’s touch base the night before I wanted to go, and if they have space available, they’d accommodate us since I already have a booking that I can’t change and their system doesn’t allow a reschedule. In response they sent me a cancellation policy, presumably of Viator: “No changes will be accepted if made less than 24 hours before the experience begins.” That’s a zero for customer service and zero for trustworthiness. Something as simple as this request, can be simply handled via a message: ‘ok since you already paid and can’t make a change on Viator, I’ll let you know if we have room the night before the tour and if we can accommodate you, we will, since you already paid.’ Done. It’s as simple and I’d be fine with that. Now they wasted my time trying to figure out for two hours how to contact Viator since I booked the tour on TripAdvisor. And a bunch of nonsense back and forth run around for a total of 4 hours. They gave themselves a bad name. Finally they admitted that my request was denied. They didn’t want to do it. It was as simple as don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. I’ve read reviews of other tour companies where people have gotten accommodated time and again for being late, showing up at the wrong date, etc. Thankfully I’ve never been late or missed a tour. But once in Sweden, for an aurora tour, the guide said it wasn’t looking promising that night and asked if we wanted to cancel. We agreed. He canceled our booking and refunded our money through Viator, hours before the tour. Everything is possible if someone is willing. Some companies have the capacity for excellent customer service and working outside the box, some don’t and can’t see past the dollar signs. A company’s greatness is not measured by how well they deliver a product when everything goes well, but also when there’s an issue and their customer service and care is put to the test.

This was an incredible experience. Our guide, Joseph, or Captain Joe, was truly the best! He made us feel like VIPs, he was very knowledgeable and hilarious. The rapids themselves were thrilling and despite this being the 5th time I’ve gone rafting, it was by far the best experience I had! I’d highly recommend if you’re looking for a fun adventure!

Great trip, great guides, great company. It was an adventure from launch to finish. Nice little stop on the way to launch at a small gift shop with changing rooms. Got to see a sloth and parrots at the stop. Our guide Pato was amazing. Spotted iguanas, toucans, bats, a crane, a Herring, vultures and found us a poison dart frog. Absolutely a must do adventure. Great lunch at the conclusion.

Jefferson was a great guide! He made the most of our rafting journey! We love the experience and service overall. We will do it again :)

Lovely staff, great day out and a real thrill