Balsa River White Water Rafting class 2/3 in Costa Rica
Recommended by 99% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
La Fortuna, Costa Rica
- 5 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
Why travelers loved this
·
Overview
Enjoy a thrilling yet gentle day of white-water rafting down class II and III rapids on the Balsa River. This active adventure includes transfers from La Fortuna, equipment, instruction, a safety briefing, and ends with a delicious lunch in a local restaurant. Feel the thrill as you bounce and glide 6 miles (10 kilometers) down the river flanked by lush the jungle filled with monkeys, tropical birds, and sloths.
- Paddle through moderate class II and III rapids
- Enjoy a traditional Costa Rican lunch plus bottled water
- Handy transfers from hotel in and close to La Fortuna are included
- Towels are included so you don't need to bring your own
Sample Menu
Main
Costa Rican Casado Lunch
What's Included
- Professional guide
- Transportation from hotels located less than 6 km away from our main office
- Bottled water
- Towel
- Lunch
- Pick up time may vary up to 20 min depending on hotel's location.
- Souvenir photos (available to purchase) at the end of the tour.
- Pick up service at hotels located over 6 km away from our main office
Meeting and Pickup
You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup
Start time.09:20
What To Expect
1
Arenal Rafting
2
Rancho Mi Tata To Go
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- A minimum of 2 people per booking is required
- Minimum age 5 years old
- Maximum weights 220 pounds
- Near public transportation
- Please bring changing clothes, water shoes, clothes to get wet
- Not recommended for travelers with back problems
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Travelers should have a strong physical fitness level
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 100 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Such an awesome day! Well organized. All of the guides were kind, helpful, and fun. Our raft guide was Carlos and he was the best! We came as a group of 5 who had never rafted on rapids before and we had a blast. Cannot recommend this activity and company enough.
Reviews
5,0
based on 2 092 reviews
Sort by: Most recent
What a fun trip! Our guide Roberto was amazing! We were a group of 7 women aged 28-57 and all of us had a great time. The guides are real pros and we felt safe the entire time. Highly recommend this adventure with Arenal Rafting!
We had a great time. Alan was so much fun and knowledgeable. He pointed out animals and birds along the river. This was our first time rafting and we highly recommend it.
We had the best time! This was an amazing experience. We traveled with a party of 7 including 3 kids. The class 2/3 was perfect for the whole family. The kids had a blast! And out captain Colon was awesome! Spotted lots of wildlife while floating on the calmer areas of the river also which was a cool bonus! The fruit stop was delicious and the food provided in our tour was amazing also! If you want to do any rafting in the area I highly recommend!!!!
Response from Host, Sept 2026
Hello,
Thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful review! We’re thrilled to hear that your whole family had an amazing time on the river and that our Class II/III adventure was a great fit for your group.
It sounds like you had the full Costa Rican experience — exciting rapids, wildlife along the calmer sections, delicious fresh fruit, and a great traditional meal to finish the adventure! We’re especially happy to hear that Captain Colon helped make the day even more memorable. We’ll be sure to share your kind words with him.
Thank you for choosing Arenal Rafting and for recommending us to other families looking for an adventure. We hope to see you all back on the river someday!
Pura vida!
It's an incredible experience we had lots of fun, ft very safe and all the guides were supe4 fun but the best one was Colon are raft guide
Response from Host, Sept 2026
Hello,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us! We’re thrilled to hear that you had an incredible time, enjoyed the fun atmosphere, and felt safe throughout the adventure.
We’re especially happy to hear that Colon stood out as your raft guide and helped make your experience even more memorable. We’ll be sure to share your kind words with him!
Thank you for choosing Arenal Rafting. We hope to welcome you back for another adventure in the future!
Pura vida!
Such a fun excursion, we took our 5 year old and our guide Jefferson was great with her and ensured she was safe but was also having a fun time.
Response from Host, Sept 2026
Hello,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us! We’re delighted to hear that your family had such a fun time on the river and that Jefferson helped make the adventure special for your little one.
Safety is always our top priority, especially when rafting with young adventurers, so it’s wonderful to know that she felt comfortable, safe, and still had plenty of fun along the way. We’ll be sure to share your kind words with Jefferson!
We hope to see your family back for another adventure with us in the future.
Pura vida!
Very good. Only down fall was the Balsa River only open when dam is open and it was not open by the time we reached there so we had to go to another river so ended up being a long day and lots of time driving. Wish they had checked before we went or given us maybe some of our money back. But it very good and a thrilling adventure.
All of these staff were the best. They were happy to take us down the river and made it very memorable. Shout out to Yader and Fabricio for showing us the time of our lives.
We had a very good time with our guides Juan and Tom! The river was a great combination to be adventurous but still save enough for beginners and children. A must to do in La Fortuna!
This is an amazing experience and one of the best tours that we did in Costa Rica. The tour included hotel pickup and drop-off, really exciting rafting on a beautiful river, a break for fresh pinapple and melon, some wildlife sightseeing from the raft (we saw several sloths) and a very tasty traditional Costa Rican lunch after the rafting was finished. Our guide Tom was excellent throughout the tour, he was a lot of fun but took our safety very seriously and really put the beginner rafters on our boat at ease. This is a great tour, it is very professionally run and I would highly recommend it!
AMAZING! Super fun experience 😊 Braulio was our guide and he was super high energy making the experience truly unforgettable! We felt safe the entire time. Everything was well organized. It was a great set up, from meeting at the office, driving to the river, hitting some rapids, fruit on the river and lunch back at the office. Everyone on staff was great. HIGHLY recommend Arenal Rafting!
we did this with our seven and 11 year-old, we all had so much fun! highlight of the trip. highly recommend. Tom was great!
This was such an awesome experience. The company is very organized, had great communication and everything was perfectly on time. Our guide, Tucan, was a lot of fun and both of us and the kids had a great time. The meal at the end was also quite good, it was excellent value for the price paid.
Fantastic experience great time rafting on the river. Very friendly staff also helped point out wildlife as we went past. All finished with a lively lunch
My husband and I went with our 3 kids ages 18, 11 and 9. Our family had the best time ever!!! We have been rafting a few other places and this one really blew us away! Not only were the rapids super splashy and fun, Tugui was a phenomenal guide and ALL of the guides were so friendly!! Safety was a top priority but fantastic hospitality and loads of fun were close seconds! Highly recommend!!!
From pick up to drop off it was an incredible experience. Our guide picked us up our hotel and gave us the lowdown while we drove to our drop off pint. He went over all the safety features and fitted us with a life jacket, helmet and paddle. He gave us explicit instructions on what to do and what not to do. It had been raining a lot so the rapids were moving that day. Joseth made us feel very safe and guided us down without any issues.
After we finished the trip a delicious meal was waiting for us and we enjoyed looking at the pictures from our trip
A fantastisc experience, well organized and top guides! Good lunch and for 40usd you can buy the series of photos from your boat.
What an experience!!!! My husband and I were rafting rookies and we had such a great time. Exhausting. Exhilarating. We never thought we could do something like this…and they took dozens of pictures of our ride (87 to be exact)!
Yader made us feel welcome from the moment the shuttle picked us up, and Joseph was a fantastic capitano! Very patient and encouraging, focusing on teamwork.
I highly recommend Arenal Rafting! We are so glad we did it. Pura Vida!
From start to finish this was a wonderful trip. Our family of 5 enjoyed the exciting and busy river! Tain was our guide and he made sure we felt safe while having a wonderful time. The transportation to and from was easy and the lunch after was delicious. Highly recommend this company and this river!
Excellent rafting trip! First time taking our children aged 6 and 8 rafting and they had a great time. Our guide Carlos was very knowledgeable and great with kids. He made sure that they enjoyed the trip and wanted to go rafting again.
The four of us had a fantastic time! Toucan was our guide and he was great! We got the closest view of a sloth and her baby from a tree hanging over the river. We would do the rafting again if we get to come back to the beautiful Costa Rica.
We had so much fun! It was definitely exciting enough to keep us entertained the entire time. It was the perfect way to add a fun adventure to our honeymoon without taking up the whole day. The photos turned out great too!
This was our first time and it was so much fun! Different guides do different things like a leaf in your helmet, splash wars with other rafts, or just basic instructions while rowing, which makes a big difference. We could have did without the fruit stop in the middle but overall we would do it again. They provided towels and water plus food at the end which was good. The picture package was $40 and worth it as we had over 100 photos.
We were a family of 5, inc 3 kids (16,13,7yo) and we all had an amazing time.
The whole Arenal Rafting team were so friendly and fun as well as making you feel safe throughout. We had Julio on our transfer who was bilingual and Johnny as our raft guide. Both were excellent!
We did a II/III level rafting session and it was perfect for us all.
A great mix of crazy water rapids and swim/ float down river if you wish plus gentle journey with a chance to spot incredible wildlife
Booked this tour last minute and it was so much fun! Absolutely amazing experience all the way through. Great guides, customer service and a delicious lunch at the end. Tom was the best guide and made us feel safe the whole time while also giving us some thrills.
Marcelo/Joseph are hands down the best guides! This was the highlight of our trip, and we will definitely be doing this again if we ever travel back. Great experience and the provided lunch afterwards is amazing.
One of the best experiences in La Fortuna!! This tour definitely worth the money. Our guide Rasta Fox was amazing and made my first rafting experience safe, fun and thrilling. Highly recommended
Definitely a must do when you're in the area! It was a great experience. William and Wilbert picked us up at our hotel and took us to their main building where we got the rest of our group. We headed to the Balsa River and the staff quickly got us set up with lifejackets, helmets and paddles. The staff was efficient and very friendly. William ended up being our guide and we had a blast. We were up for a challenge and he didn't disappoint. He was so knowledgeable about the area, animals, plants, and history. Pineapple will never taste as good as Costa Rican pineapple. We were sad to have the trip come to an end but we were met by a crew with water and just as quickly as we got ready, they were able to get us set to head back. The towels were perfect to keep us dry. We also made a stop at a small market to buy snacks and souvenirs. Once we returned to the main building the staff served us lunch which was delicious. While eating we talked with others and looked at our pictures. Then it was time to head back to our hotel. We would recommend You William, Wilbert and all the staff to anyone looking for a great experience rafting.
Guides are very skilled and make the experience very fun and enjoyable. Would definitely recommend, very easy to learn. You could even be lucky to see some wild animals.
Absolutely amazing and so much fun! I have to admit I was a little nervous about this excursion as it looked a little more thrilling than I was up for. It was indeed thrilling but not scary! It's not easy but also not too difficult and the guides make it so much fun for everyone, regardless of skill and fitness level. Huge shout out to Braulio who was so good and accomodating with my daughter who did not like the rough parts. The entire crew was incredible. Our friends had Victor for their guide and loved him as well. Definitely a must-do while in La Fortuna!
Tom was the ultimate raft guide for our family (including daughters 13, 11, 6). We felt safe and had an absolute blast. Lunch was delicious and the photo service was well worth it. Would do it again in a heartbeat!
Member Pricing
From
US$76,00
per personWas US$80,00(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Balsa River White Water Rafting class 2/3 in Costa Rica
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