A Manuel Antonio jungle tour is a guided walk through lowland tropical rainforest — either on the trails inside Manuel Antonio National Park during the day, or on private land outside the park after dark. There is no single product called “the jungle tour” here: the park closes at 3:00 p.m. and stays closed every Tuesday, so the daytime jungle is the park and the night jungle is somewhere else. This page separates the two, gives the real prices we charge, and tells you which one fits the day you have.
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It is a naturalist-guided walk on rainforest trails, normally 2 hours of guiding, with a spotting scope used to find and show wildlife that you would walk straight past on your own. The jungle around Manuel Antonio is secondary and primary lowland rainforest pressed right up against the Pacific, which is why the same trail can give you howler monkeys, a sloth and a beach in the same two hours. Our guides are ICT-certified and bilingual, and they carry a Swarovski scope; the photos and 4K video they take through it are sent to you afterwards at no cost.
What it is not: a zoo, a sanctuary or a guaranteed sighting. We never promise a specific animal. What a guide changes is the odds — where to look, what sound to follow, and how to get a three-toed sloth 25 metres up into a phone screen.
Both, and the difference decides your whole day. Inside Manuel Antonio National Park you get the protected forest, the marked trails and the highest concentration of wildlife — but it opens 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Wednesday through Monday, and requires a ticket bought online in advance. Outside the park, on private rainforest and the mangrove edges, there is no closing hour and no SINAC ticket, which is what makes night walks and Tuesday alternatives possible.
If what you actually want is the forest after dark rather than a daytime trail, the Manuel Antonio night tour covers the full night walk: species, timing, prices and the nine Tuesdays it runs while the park is closed.
Four real options, and the only thing that changes between them is logistics and who walks with you — the trails and the guiding standard are the same.
| Option | Price / person | Group | Guided time | Hotel transport | Park ticket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic | $30 | Shared, max. 10 | 2 hours | No — you meet us at the point | You buy it on SINAC |
| Premium | $65 | Shared, max. 10 | 2–4 hours | Yes, round trip from Quepos / Manuel Antonio | You buy it on SINAC |
| Classic Private | $69 | Only your party | 2 hours | No — you meet us at the point | You buy it on SINAC |
| VIP Private | $100 | Only your party | 3–4 hours | Yes, private vehicle | You buy it on SINAC |
Add the park entrance on top when you go inside: $18.50 for adults over 12 and $5 plus IVA for children. That is a government fee, not ours, and it is not included in any of the four options.
Yes, and this is where most jungle-tour plans break. Manuel Antonio tickets are sold only online at serviciosenlinea.sinac.go.cr and they are not sold at the gate. SINAC opens the calendar in a rolling window of roughly two months, so a December 2026 date becomes buyable around October 2026 and a January 2027 date around November 2026. If you are reading this more than two months before your trip, you cannot buy yet — put a reminder and buy the day the window opens, because high-season mornings sell out.
The national park is closed every Tuesday. For the season most people are planning right now, that means December 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 of 2026, and January 5, 12, 19 and 26 of 2027. On those days the park trails are unavailable to everyone, guided or not. It is the single most common planning mistake we see, and it is also why a Tuesday is the best day to book a mangrove boat tour, a waterfall or a night walk instead.
There is, and it runs outside the national park because the park shuts at 3:00 p.m. A night walk is a different animal entirely — literally. Kinkajous, tree frogs, snakes, tarantulas, owls and insects that are invisible by day become the show, and the forest sounds louder than anything you heard in the morning. If you only have one evening, a night walk is the option that does not compete with your park morning; you can do both in the same 24 hours.
On a typical morning walk in the park, sloths, white-faced capuchins and howler monkeys are the animals guests see most often, with squirrel monkeys, agoutis, iguanas, raccoons and a long list of birds behind them. Nothing is guaranteed — this is wild forest, not an enclosure — but the first hours after opening are when animals are most active and the trails are least crowded, which is why we push everyone toward a 7:00 a.m. start.
7:00 a.m., when the park opens. Between 7:00 and 9:00 the air is cooler, the animals are feeding and moving, and the trails are quiet enough to hear what the guide is pointing at. By midday the heat pushes most mammals up into the canopy and into stillness, and the same trail gives you a fraction of the sightings. If you can only go in the afternoon, go — but go knowing the trade-off.
Plan on 2 hours of guiding inside the park, about 2.5 hours door to door when hotel transport is included, and 3 to 4 hours on the VIP Private option, which walks further and slower. The trails are dirt, roots and some gentle climbs. You are standing and walking for two hours in tropical humidity, so closed shoes, water and insect repellent are the three things that decide whether you enjoy it. It is not a technical hike; children and grandparents do it regularly.
Yes. There is no published minimum age, and the trails are walkable for most children who can manage two hours on their feet. The park entrance is $5 plus IVA for children rather than the $18.50 adult rate. Families usually do better on Premium or VIP Private, because the hotel pickup removes the 7:00 a.m. taxi problem and a private guide can set the pace around a five-year-old instead of a group of ten.
A jungle walk is the wildlife option: slow, quiet, scope-based, and the only one where you will actually be shown a sloth. ATV and canopy are adrenaline options that move too fast and too loud for wildlife. Waterfalls are a landscape option and mostly a half-day drive away. If you have one morning in Manuel Antonio, the guided walk is the one that uses the park; if you have three days, the walk goes first and the adrenaline goes on the Tuesday the park is closed.
Closed walking shoes, water, insect repellent, a light rain layer in green season and a hat. Leave the drone at home — they are not allowed in the park. You do not need a camera: the guide photographs through the Swarovski scope and sends you the 4K files afterwards, which is the only way most people ever get a usable photo of an animal 25 metres up.
Message WhatsApp with your date, your group size and whether you want the park morning or a night walk, and we answer with the available start times and whether the SINAC window for your date is open yet. Rain does not cancel a jungle tour — this is a rainforest, and wet mornings are often the best wildlife mornings because the heat drops. We only move a tour when conditions are unsafe, and then we move it, not keep it.
During the day, yes — the daytime jungle in Manuel Antonio is the national park, and the guided walk on its trails is what people mean by a jungle tour. Night jungle walks run outside the park because the park closes at 3:00 p.m.
Four options: Classic $30 per person (shared, max 10, 2 hours, you meet us at the point), Premium $65 (shared, adds round-trip hotel transport), Classic Private $69 (only your party, 2 hours) and VIP Private $100 (only your party, private vehicle, 3–4 hours). The park entrance of $18.50 for adults over 12 and $5 plus IVA for children is separate and is bought on SINAC.
Yes. Manuel Antonio tickets are sold only online at serviciosenlinea.sinac.go.cr and are not sold at the gate. SINAC opens the calendar in a rolling window of about two months, so a December 2026 date becomes buyable around October 2026.
Every Tuesday. For this season that means December 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 of 2026, and January 5, 12, 19 and 26 of 2027. The park is open Wednesday to Monday from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Yes, and it runs on private land outside the national park, because the park closes at 3:00 p.m. Night walks show kinkajous, frogs, snakes, tarantulas and owls — animals you will not see on a morning walk.
Most often sloths, white-faced capuchins and howler monkeys, with squirrel monkeys, agoutis, iguanas, raccoons and many birds behind them. Nothing is guaranteed: this is wild rainforest, and a guide changes the odds, not the outcome.
About 2 hours of guiding inside the park, roughly 2.5 hours door to door with hotel transport, and 3 to 4 hours on VIP Private. The trails are dirt and roots with gentle climbs — not technical, but two hours on your feet in tropical humidity.
Yes. There is no published minimum age and the trails are walkable for most children who can manage two hours. Children pay $5 plus IVA at the park gate instead of the $18.50 adult rate, and families usually do better on Premium or a private option.
Ready to lock a date? Message us on WhatsApp at +506 8514 1361 with your dates and group size, or open the December booking page and pick your day. Every booking includes a USD 2 donation per person to Kazan Karate for Kids, a local program in Manuel Antonio. Full pricing and start times for the whole Manuel Antonio National Park tour are on that page.