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Coffee & cocoa plantation tours

  • Costa Rica

Last updated: 05 April, 2024

Costa Rica produces fine coffee – smooth, mildly acidic (depending on altitude) and floral. Coffee haciendas (plantations) dot Costa Rica’s Central Valley, Pacific coast foothills and northern highlands.

A number can be visited – on day tours. You can learn how the beans are grown and harvested, taste varieties produced under different conditions, see the cacao fruit, and the process which turns its seeds into chocolate.

You can even stay in an upscale coffee hacienda as an overnight stop on your way in or out of the country. There’s a scattering of them near the international airport, set in beautiful semi-wild surrounds.

Recommendations

1

Finca Rosa Blanca

  • Heredia, Heredia Province, Costa Rica

close up of coffee beans on a wooden circular board

Experience

A boutique hacienda near the airport that produces excellent home-grown Arabica coffee – served throughout the day, at breakfast and after meals – alongside farm-to-table organic food. They organise their own tours around the coffee farm. Stay overnight for the full immersive experience.

Adult price: £30

Good for age: 18+

Logistics

Price from: £30
Minimum age: 0
Age suitable: 13+
When: All year around
Duration: 2.5 hours

Getting there & doing it

Coffee tours with companies like Northfields are easily organised from San José or La Fortuna (the town next to Arenal Volcano).

This typical small, family-run coffee and cocoa plantation offers tours, explaining the process of production from crop-to-cup. They’ll pick up from hotels within 20 minutes of Fortuna and Tabacon. There’s no minimum age – anyone can go.

The Finca Rosa Blanca boutique hacienda, near the airport produces excellent Arabica – served throughout the day, at breakfast and after meals, alongside farm-to-table organic food, and organises its own tours, including around the coffee farm. You can stay overnight here too.

When to do it

Plantation tours are available all year round. Times very by operator.