Chocolate Tour in Sarapiqui Rainforest: Make Your Own Bar

Walk Sarapiqui’s longest hanging bridge to craft and taste fresh rainforest chocolate

A private chocolate-making class at Tirimbina Reserve in Sarapiqui takes you across the region's longest hanging bridge to a traditional cacao plantation, where you taste beans at every stage of production and craft your own chocolate bar with local ingredients. The seven-hour experience includes a naturalist guide, lunch and hotel pickup from the Central Valley.

Step-by-step itinerary

Chocolate tour and rainforest exploration

• Pickup from hotel
• Drive through Costa Rican countryside
• Visit Tirimbina biological reserve
• Walk across longest hanging bridge
• Explore cacao plantation
• Taste cacao bean stages
• Make your own chocolate bar

What’s included

• Private deluxe transportation from your hotel.
• professional naturalist guide in English or Spanish.
• two-hour chocolate tour at Tirimbina Reserve.
• tastings of cacao at every stage of production.
• ingredients and tools to make your own chocolate bar.
• lunch.
• bottle of water.

Times

• Every day 07:00

Another time? ›

Before you book

Group Private 5 group tours ›

Live guide English and Spanish Another language? ›

Meeting point and pickup Hotel pickup included.

Book up to 18h before

Ages Adult (13 to 80 years) · Child (4 to 12 years) · Infant (under 4): free

Cancellation and refunds Free cancellation up to 24 h before the start. After that, no refund.

Good to know

Low physical effort Infants must sit on laps

Operated by Greenway Nature Day Tours

Prices and times updated 8 days ago

Traveler reviews

4.71 ★★★★★ Excellent 17 verified traveler reviews

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The experience

Tirimbina Reserve sits in Sarapiqui's lowland rainforest beside the Sarapiqui River, two hours from San Jose. Your private drive there crosses the Costa Rican countryside in air-conditioned comfort, and the reserve itself holds the longest hanging bridge in the region. A suspension crossing that carries you over the river and into the old cacao plantation where the chocolate work happens. The biological reserve protects the steep terrain and lush vegetation that make this corner of the Caribbean slope so dense with plant and animal life.

The chocolate tour is hands-on from the start. You taste cacao beans raw, fermented and roasted, following the actual steps of chocolate production. Then you move into the making itself: selecting from local ingredients, grinding, tempering and shaping your own bar to take home. A professional naturalist guide walks you through both the rainforest ecology and the cacao process, so you understand what grows here and why it matters. Lunch is included, and the guide speaks English or Spanish.

The seven-hour day settles the logistics that usually complicate a rainforest visit: hotel pickup means no rental car, no navigation, no guessing about timing. You arrive back at your hotel with chocolate you made yourself and the knowledge of how it got there.

Top questions

What languages is the tour guided in?

Live guide in English and Spanish.

Can children come?

Yes. Ticket types: Child (4 to 12 years); Infant (under 4): free.

What is Tirimbina Reserve and what makes the hanging bridge part of this tour?

Tirimbina is a private biological reserve in Sarapiqui that protects rainforest beside the Sarapiqui River. The longest hanging bridge in the region crosses the river and carries you directly to the old cacao plantation where the chocolate-making class takes place, so the bridge crossing is both the route and part of the experience itself.

Do I actually make chocolate, or just watch someone else do it?

You make your own chocolate bar. The tour is interactive: you taste cacao at different stages of production, then select local ingredients and craft your own bar using the plantation's tools and techniques. You take it with you when you leave.

What does the naturalist guide explain during the tour?

The guide covers both the rainforest itself (the plants, animals and steep topography of this part of the Caribbean slope), and the cacao process from bean to finished chocolate. The guide speaks English or Spanish and is included in the tour.

How long is the drive from my hotel, and what is the total time for the day?

The drive from the Central Valley takes about two hours each way. The full experience is seven hours total, including the drive, the hanging bridge crossing, the chocolate tour at the plantation and lunch.

What is included in the price, and what should I bring or plan for?

Hotel pickup and return, private deluxe transportation, the two-hour chocolate tour at Tirimbina, a professional guide, lunch and a bottle of water are all included. Bring an appetite for the chocolate tastings and the meal. Tips for the guide are not included.