The cost of your trip will depend on

(1) what activities (beyond daily access to our horses)

(2) what hotels you’ll be using,

(3) whether or not you’ll want to stay in one place, like the remote hacienda with indigenous workers, or you choose to move from place to place

(a) by public or tourist buses,

(b) internal scheduled air flights,

(c) using a private "transfer only" mini-bus service (a driver and vehicle that transfer you from one location to another combined with other tourists wanting similar routes), or

(d) with one of Centaura's bilingual horse experts/Costa Rican experts as your guide, leader, horseback companion, using a private vehicle (usually 4-wheel drive).

We do NOT recommend using a rental vehicle to move yourself about, as most of the locations are not marked and getting there may be more adventure than you are ready to accept. Not to mention, Costa Rica is a difficult country to drive because of poor roads and poor markings. So unless you are good at asking directions in Spanish, thisz is not a fun way to see our country.

The cost, per person (traveling as a private, self-formed group with a minimum of four people) will normally vary from $2550 to $2900 for a seven-night, eight-day experience. The variation is dependent on the variety of options listed above. For two people the cost would be about $4,000 per person.

We've published several private horseback riding vacations (with prices) so you can see how we put together our horseback travel.

We can organize horseback travel using Centaura's horses (near Arenal volcano) for a few days combined with renting horses from companies in tourist locations. The rental horses will not have Centaura's high standards of training, breeding and care, but the reduced price may make it attractive for you. The cost for this style of travel would be $1900- $2000 per person, minimum of two, for 7 nights/8 days.

Staying for at least 5 days in a rustic hacienda in the Talamanca mountains, on a working cattle and horse farm, would be $220 per day, including meals.

We offer a beach-only option, with lovely beach front accommodations, for $2300 per person for six nights/seven days, two person sharing one double room. This includes hotels, transportation for you to and from San José, plus, of course, our great horses and excellent variety of places to ride.

Some people really only have one day -- such a shame!

Join us at the stables for a day. Ride in the countryside on dirt roads, through pastures and sugar cane, small villages and up into the hills, crossing rivers... in effect, becoming a Costa Rican campesino (country person) for a day. You'll be riding with one of Centaura's vaceros (roughly translated as a "cowboy", but meaning a person who knows horses) who can take you all over the area close to our stables.

You are welcome to spend part of the day learning to dance a horse from our expert instructor. The beauty of the tope horse is both the horse's training and the rider's skills. This is a chance to learn both sides of the dance.

The cost for such a day with Centaura is $250 for the first person, and $120 for each additional person. If you wish us to arrange transportation from San José, Fortuna, or elsewhere we would add the transportation cost to the above.

Centaura will not put you into a “group”. If you want to form your own “group” (we often work with families, sometimes even four generations.) we can handle everything you'll need or want while in Costa Rica (including one of our exceptional guides). Centaura can handle up to 22 persons at one time.

We apologize in advance for not creating horseback "tours". But our experience has shown us that people’s expectations are so different, and horse experience varies so widely, that someone in such thrown-together groups will not be happy.