Visit Tortuga Island with Lunch from San José
Alajuela, Costa Rica
- 12 to 15 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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What's Included
- Lunch
- Air-conditioned vehicle
- All Fees and Taxes
- Snorkeling on the Beach
- Fresh Fruits
- Coffee with aperitif
- Dolphin watching (conditions permitting)
- Tip
- BreakfastBreakfast cost $8-$10
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting points
Select a meeting point
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Arranged start time
Confirm time with the local provider in advance of your experience.
- 11/01/2023 - 04/26/2027
Monday - Sunday : 4:00 AM - 6:00 AM
Itinerary
San Jose (Pass By)
1
Orotina
50 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Tortuga Island
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Puntarenas
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Infants must sit on laps
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 30 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
AnnaLeah_N
Our tour guides are the best! I love how we were at the nice perfect spot on the island. The ambience is great, our guides are very accomodating.
Reviews
4.3
based on 77 reviews
AnnaLeah_N, Dec 2025
Our tour guides are the best! I love how we were at the nice perfect spot on the island. The ambience is great, our guides are very accomodating.
noah_e, Aug 2025
Tour was fun! Got to see amazing fish snorkelling including a pufferfish. We also saw dolphins and a humpback whale, and our guides would follow the animals a little so we could see them. We also saw a crocodile on the way back. It did feel a little disorganised but other than that it was pretty good. If you have dietary needs they will try their best to adhere to them!
Yes the toilets do cost, and so do the beach chairs. I think it was around $8 dollars for the chairs and around 500/600 colones for the toilets. It wasn’t extreme prices but just know this before booking so you have money on you.
kelvin_g, Sep 2024
Everything about my stay was absolutely wonderful. I plan on coming back. Very soon. The food, the people and the country is absolutely beautiful.
Jonathan_M, Sep 2024
It was an okay trip. The food options were not great (bland tasting) and some instructions were left out until we already heading to the beach (e.g. couldn’t bring your own food onto the bus or should have a change of clothes). The best part was sitting on the beach but the beach setup felt touristy. Spent most of the day on the bus or boat getting to the island. Wouldn’t recommend doing this trip.
Brittany_M, Aug 2024
We had such a great time! Percy our tour guide and his team were absolutely amazing! Percy was so knowledgeable, he took the time to learn everyone’s name, something about them and actually remembered. The bus was very nice and comfortable, boat ride to the island was great, we made a few stops at other islands to see some pretty cool stuff. Snorkeling was great, lunch and snacks were delicious. We stayed the perfect amount of time on the island, there was plenty todo. Would definitely recommend.
Ayesha_I, Apr 2024
What a way to kick off a wonderful visit to Costa Rica. From the speedboat ride with dolphin sightings to the 5 hours of absolute chill time on the isle complete with yummy mock-tails and absolutely regenerative sands and ocean water. Our guide, Percy, was very knowledgeable and personable, attentive to everyone’s needs and interest. Luis/ Pepo very experienced and conscientious driver of a new comfy lux bus.
Would absolutely book this excursion again. 🫶🏽🇨🇷🏝️🦜
Pura Vida
David_B, Apr 2024
The experience was good. Only complaint would be we only snorkeled for 25mins. Wish we had a bit longer.
Aki_M, Apr 2024
The tour leaves VERY early but I think we were the second group to arrive at the island out of many, which was nice to have plenty of chairs to choose from and some time to swim before it got busy. The bus was the nicest bus I’ve ever been in which made the 2 hour ride comfortable. We stopped at a really nice place for breakfast (you pay) that offered many options and a huge souvenir store. When we got closer to Puntarenas our guide told us more about the area including local agriculture. The boat to the island was one of the nicer ones of all the tour boats I saw later arriving at the island, and provided life jackets which many other tour boats didn’t. They provided fruit as a snack and a typical Costa Rican lunch that was good. The beach was very nice and generally clean, there are some rocks in the water to watch out for. During the 20 minute snorkeling session, I saw about 10 different types of fish and some sea urchins.
Things that cost extra on this tour are: breakfast, Special drinks on the island, it costs $1 each time to use the bathroom on the island, lounge chairs are $10/chair/day.
Overall a very comfortable ride, enjoyable tour with good tour guide, and 5 hours at the beach. Overall tour ran from 4:45 am until 5 pm. I would definitely recommend it for those who want a beach day but need transportation from San Jose!
Kevin_J, Mar 2024
Such a great experience the team was very nice and helpful, my only note is not to book a 6 in 1 tour with a group that only does one activity so they won’t have to wait for everyone else overall we had a blast!!
Suki_C, Jan 2024
Can someone please call me? My mother in law left her purse in the
Van which had a passport and she leave monday
Carsha_O, Dec 2023
We had to be up and ready at 4:45 AM. Let me start with that. The bus ride to the boat was not bad we were able to go right back to sleep once we got on the bus lol. The stop for breakfast was okay. The food was not that tasty, but it was good enough to satisfy you until you arrived on the island. I am giving this tour 3 stars because although you pay 125$ per person you end up paying even more for chairs, drinks, using the bathroom, etc. on the beach. I feel like the price was pretty steep for it to only cover transportation to the island and lunch. The chairs we paid 8 dollars to rent were not clean. Please clean your beach chairs so people and lay and sit on them comfortably. The bathroom situation was interesting, to say the least. The drinks were good. The lunch was great! lots of rocks on this island but some beaches have more rocks than others. This one was pretty rocky so wear water shoes. Overall, we had fun as a family because we always find the positives wherever we go. We played volleyball on the beach and the banana boat. I just wish we did not have to pay for almost everything on the beach and the quality was not nice.
Response from Host, Jan 2024
Hello, thanks for your comment.
But as we specified before your tour, on the island we only have one stand with benches for lunch, the beach chairs and bathrooms belong to the island administrators and are a separate service.
We will talk to the island administrators so that they double their efforts with the cleaning of the chairs.
Thank you for visiting Turtle Island with our tour.
Cora_C, Nov 2023
The island is quite and peaceful, worth to visit. Also can do 30-40 minutes hiking to hill top, there is wonderful view at hill top.
Love it.
All team services good, lucky us can see some dolphins that day!
Eduardo_R, Oct 2023
Enjoyed the island nice tour and helpful took care of everyone highly recommended hope they email or send text on pick up time in the.morning
Lamar_M, Oct 2023
Greatest experience ever great tour guilds who helped me a lot since I didn’t understand Spanish. I recommend if you visiting Costa Rica you use them for the greatest experience ever 😁
Medina_Z, Sep 2023
This was the tour and spot I was most looking forward to before my trip to Costa Rica, but it was my least favorite part outside of the boat ride to the island. The tour leaders were amazing, but I didn't really like the beach and found it dirty. In their defense, we were warned if the weather wasn't great (raining, etc.) it wouldn't be clear and snorkeling would be affected, but I just didn't get the hype of the island. I much much preferred Manual Antonio Beach and found that one to be one of the best in the world. I did have a great boat riding experience and had great conversations, but the area itself was bleh. The tour company was great, though. I just wouldn't recommend a trip to Tortuga island on short time in CR.
Jonathan_S, Aug 2023
First and foremost, the day was amazing. The only thing that wasn't 5 stars was the food. It wasn't bad just the typical tour rice, beans, chicken or fish. For me it was fine considering everything else was perfect. The ride out is not on a party boat. It is a regular 30-40ft dual engine boat. I loved the ride out. You are right on the water and we were able to see dolphins and even spotted 3-4 different whale breaches. I wasn't expecting this part and it added a nature aspect to what is basically a tourist tour.
The snorkeling was good. Visibility was decent you can see lots of small colorful fish and even some medium sized as well (9-12"). After snorkeling you go to the beach and it is truly paradise (watermelon and pineapple provided). My daughter and I spent most of the time exploring the rocks and swimming out to the point just for the incredible views. If you are a good swimmer I highly recommend. You will feel like you are in the middle of a tropical paradise. You do have to pay for everything on the island (drinks - lounge chairs - kayak), but I didn't care. The day was perfect and Diana did a great job of keeping up with 30 people by herself. Diana stays in one location while on the island so if you want to walk around or venture out and don't feel safe leaving your valuables she will watch them.
Even with 30 people in our tour we were able to make it feel like it was a private tour and that was great. FYI they do stop for a sit down breakfast on the way from San Jose so don't worry about eating so early in the morning. You will get a chance on the way and the souvenir shop there is great as well. There was also a quick stop on the way back for snacks at some local street vendors.
bridget_e, Aug 2023
We really enjoyed this excursion. The tour guide was very friendly and helpful. Lunch way great. We got to see dolphins and sea turtles for the first time. Great memories
Patricia_P, Aug 2023
The ride to the island was a little tougher than what I expected and I was disappointed with the lunch offered. The bathroom on the island is not free and there was no section to rinse off the salty water while there. However, the tour guide was very nice.
KENYA_F, Jul 2023
An amazing experience with breathtaking scenery. Our tour guide, Percy, was very professional, knowledgeable and fun.
Thomas_R, Jul 2023
Cool place but tour was poorly ran. Had me meet the bus at 4:30 then wait 30min for the next group. Driver didn’t seem to know where he was going and drove in circles a lot. Better organization probably could’ve had us meet at 5:30 and make just as good time with an extra hour of sleep. First stop was breakfast (extra $10, not a big deal) at a neat tourist spot. Gave us 30min to get breakfast, change clothes and buy water. Barely enough time, could have used 45min to look at the store a bit and we probably had it since everyone rushed to the bus to make it in time then had to sit and wait while the driver chatted with a clerk. Got to the boat, very cool ride, stopped to see crocodiles and dolphins. Got to the island for snorkeling. This was the best part of the trip but was limited to 20min for some reason. Next was beach time, 4hrs… WAY too much, 2hrs would have been fine. Lunch was fine but portioning was all over the place, my piece of fish was less than half the size of the people before me. On the way back we stopped at a fruit and snack stand that didn’t seem to be able to handle a small bus full of people at once and apparently didn’t have working bathrooms. Struggled to get an employee to take my order, seemed more interested in helping bus driver with his avocados. They ran out of decent hot food pretty quickly. Got on the bus at the time the guide told us then sat and waited while he ate one of the only empanadas available and chat with the employees. Had to make multiple stops on the way back to find a bathroom. Finally got back after 7:00, tired, hungry and sunburned.
Elizabeth_R, Jul 2023
Although this tour began with a long drive, I am so thankful I had the option to be picked up from my hotel in San Jose. We stopped for a break along the way where some people chose to get a quick breakfast; I enjoyed wandering through the souvenir shop. Then we were back on the road to Puntarenas to get on board a boat to the island. While on the boat ride, the captain stopped to point out some dolphins in the area and then later we slowed to see two sea turtles. Such fun!
We got to the island and snorkled for 30 minutes; I saw several different kinds of fish and enjoyed this quick experience. We then were taken to the island where I rented a beach chair ($8) and then bought a fantastic fresh pineapple drink ($10). The beach is beautiful white sand and there was a wonderful breeze. A delicious lunch was included with this tour (choices of chicken, fish, or vegetarian). We stayed on the island until 3:00 and then headed back to Puntarenas on our travel bus. We made a quick stop in downtown Puntarenas and were introduced to the most refreshing ice cream treat. Yum!
Again, the drive back to San Jose was long (traffic was almost stopped for an hour), but I was safely delivered to my hotel with many wonderful memories of this perfect tour in Costa Rica.
Sheena_P, Jun 2023
Amazing from start to finish bus ride is lengthy because we were first to get picked and and last to get dropped off,but worth it very helpful and informative loved everything about the tour.
Tiffany_H, Jun 2023
Just pretend picking up everyone did not happen..because it happens to everyone who chooses to take this tour and probably many other tours with large amounts of people. This is the long and hard part..good things come to those who wait and Tortuga Island is worth the wait!!!
After picking everyone up the bus took us to Orotina which is around the half way point. In Orotina you can choose to have a wonderful breakfast that’s not included. The breakfast was very good and affordable. Get the fresh squeeze orange juice. Super fresh!!!
After breakfast we headed back to the bus to drive another 40-45 minutes to the dock where you will catch a boat to Tortuga Island.
It took about 35 minutes to get to Tortuga Island from the dock. When you get to Tortuga Island you can snorkel (which is included) in the tour at no extra cost. I did not snorkel since I don’t know how to swim or care for snorkeling. I rented a chair on the beach to sunbathe. The chair cost $8 per chair. They also have pina coladas, coco loco, mojitos, and other drinks you can buy while you relax. Some bars take only cash..some bars take card and cash..so bring both cash and card to be safe.
I HAD SUCH A WONDERFUL TIME. I did not feel like any activity or stops were rushed.
Throughout the tour I felt like Diana made sure everyone in the group was okay. She was awesome!!!
I will definitely do this tour again when I am in Costa Rica!!!
Response from Host, Jun 2023
Hello,
Thank you for your appreciated comments 💚🇨🇷
Allison_H, Apr 2023
Tortuga Island is the kind of place that makes you want to build a hut, grown your own food, fish in the sea and stay forever! Beautiful!!! Our tour guide Hector was a very respectful nice guy and did his best to accommodate everyone. The lunch was delicious! I saw a few in our group that forgot to bring cash to the island and that is very important! Only downside…it is a very very long day of travel! I got picked up at 4:45 am and didn’t make it back until around 8-9 pm. It is a holiday weekend, so traffic was crazy.
Mahmoud_H, Apr 2023
This trip was so much fun! The island didn't disappoint...beautiful beach, views, great waters, excellent lunch and breakfast (breakfast is not free), and amazing pineapple and coconut drinks available for purchase.
Bring towels, soap, shampoo, and sunscreen.
Alan_B, Feb 2023
Our tour guide Gaia was phenomenal, and very knowledgeable. She was a pure delight and really cared for each of us . I lost my phone somewhere on the beach and she was able to locate it !!!!!!!
Susanne_B, Feb 2023
Wonderful tour Guide and Chauffeur - Great Team ! All very well Organized and very Kind vibe!
The Island is very Touristic (Many ! People) but if you ok with that this is a Great day tour!
Snorkeling was amazing! Only wished the trip to the Island was by catamarán (with more time and less soeed) and Not by Motor Board.
Maybe you could offer this versión (as Alternative).
Keep on the Great work and wonderful Spirit!
David_D, Feb 2023
The most memorable leaving me in a hotel and not picking me up, waited from 5:00 AM to 6:30 AM. The most unorganized company I have ever dealt with. Then had to come back stop the charge to the credit card, so I wouldn't get ripped off.
I negotiated to take another tour with the operator and Chargeback would not respond to the credit card card company, I negotiated in good faith. Trying to release the credit card company. Good luck getting paid, I will fight.
Response from Host, Feb 2023
Don David, as we have clarified many times, we are the operator (Inside Tours) We are the ones who have offered you the opportunity not to lose your tour and your money and we gave you the option to reschedule your tour despite not getting to the point departure indicated when you book.
You always received the service and as we saw you were satisfied, I'm sorry you had a fight with your bank but it's not with us.
Jennifer_K, Jan 2023
Great time, lots of activities available for cheap at the island and lots of affordable drinks available for purchase
Response from Host, Jan 2023
Hello dear customer!
Thank you for booking your tour with us and taking the time to leave us a review is very important to us.
Jasmine_A, Jul 2022
I recommend this excursion for families with children who love the beach. No other day trip will allow you so much beach time! Our day began with a pickup time around 5am. My daughter (5) and I were greeted by our guide April, who, in addition to being incredibly beautiful proved to be very kind and caring and informative. The bus we rode in was super comfortable and it took about 2 hours to get to the dock. We stopped halfway at a restauant for breakfast (not included, but it was only $9 for my daughter and I) and to change into our swimsuits. When we arrived at the dock, our boat Emergente arrived and we were taken to the island. The ride was about 30 minutes and very beautiful! On the way we saw dolphins and turtles! We arrived at the island at about 8:30 am and immediately went snorkeling which lasted about 40 minutes. I will say that while we enjoyed the snorkeling, the water was way too dark to see anything. All we saw was water.... The crew on the ship were very friendly and courteous too. After snorkeling we enjoyed the beach for several hours! There were places to purchase a pina colada in a pineapple or a coconut drink in a coconut, there was a shaved ice stand, and a bar. The servers actually came out into the water to hand-deliver drinks, collect empty drinks, and take orders! For those interested you could also rent kayaks or ride a banana boat. Lunch was served at 12:30; there was an option of grilled fish or chicken with rice and sauteed vegetables. There were only 3 things I didn't like about the beach: 1) They charged $1 per person to use the restroom. We were there for 7 hours so we had to go twice and it cost us $4. 2) There were a ton of rocks everywhere! When playing in the water I hit my foot on several large rocks, and also the sand itself was super rocky and rough. 3) The water was sooooo smelly! I had to wash my swimsuit twice to get the fishy smell out. We got back on our boat and left the island at 3:30pm and once back at the dock we were able to shower and change before getting back on the bus. We arrived back at our hotel around 7pm.
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