Program Overview
Want to feel the wind in your hair, sand between your toes, and waterfalls cascading around you? Come explore Costa Rica with Travel For Teens and Imago Dei Academy! This Costa Rican cultural immersion and adventure features central, authentic accommodations, superb meals and adrenaline-inducing adventure activities. Start off the trip at the base of the volcano and connect with our community partners to learn about sustainability in Costa Rica! Trek through the jungle and take in the incredible nature around you.
Then we’re off to La Fortuna, our second community service location and favorite destination of many who visit Costa Rica! Meet our local community partners and work on renovating the community center so local teens have a place to enjoy their town. Before leaving La Fortuna, we will definitely make sure we visit the incredible La Fortuna Waterfall!
Our final destination is the seaside town of Sámara, where we will work with a local association that provides supplemental educational, recreational, and career opportunities for youth with limited resources in the rural beach communities of the surrounding area. We will help run one of their many programs that focus on academic and artistic education, environmental consciousness, health, and socio-cultural development. Projects vary but our service work typically consists of working on art projects with the children, reading to them, teaching them English, and general upkeep of the school such as painting and light maintenance.
Spend the week diving into the pura vida life of Costa Rica. Our days will be jam-packed with many service activities along side amazing adventure activities. The trip is open to all Imago Dei Academy students grades 9-12 and families. Join us today on a trip of a lifetime!
During this program, you will…
- Volunteer in three different communities for up to 20 hours of service
- Hike through lush forests and spot exotic wildlife, including monkeys, toucans and sloths
- Participate side by side with two local associations on various projects, including working with local children
- Rappel, rock climb, Tarzan swing, zipline and traverse hanging bridges through the jungle on our epic canyon canopy tour!
- Visit the incredible La Fortuna Waterfall and swim in the natural pool underneath it
- Take a surfing lesson at a beach famous for its waves perfect for both beginners and avid surfers
- Visit a small countryside town and drink rich Costa Rican coffee
- Swim and sunbathe while staying at a tropical paradise along the coast
- Hike through beautiful jungle trails and spot exotic wildlife
- Relax in the natural hot springs at the foot of a volcano
- Sea kayak over to a gorgeous island for an incredible snorkeling adventure
Trip Itinerary
DAYS 1-2: ARRIVE IN SAN JOSE > TURRIALBA
¡Bienvenidos a Costa Rica! We’ll kick off this adventure-packed trip by settling into our first destionation: Turrialba. Home to many of Costa Rica’s adrenaline-pumping activities, we’ll and one of the country’s most famous volcanoes, we’ll be sure to have a great time here!
After our first night at our mountain lodge, we’ll spend the next two days whitewater rafting on world-class rapids, rappeling down waterfalls, ziplining through canopy forests, and traversing hanging bridges. With our expert guides, we’ll be sure to spot the local wildlife and safely enjoy the active outdoors! We’ll enjoy local cups of incredible coffee, dine on traditional Costa Rican cuisine, and really get a sense of how incredible this country is!
DAYS 3-4: LA FORTUNA
Then we’re off to La Fortuna, where we stay in a comfortable hotel near the breathtaking Arenal Volcano – the 10th most active volcano in the world (don’t worry, it’s safe and very closely monitored!).
During our time in La Fortuna, we will zipline over the rainforest and have a thrilling view of the jungle from above. This activity is fun, safe, and just the right amount of adventure! In the evening we will relax our muscles at the natural hot springs formed by the volcano.
The next day we will hike down to La Fortuna waterfall, a 210-foot ribbon of water that gushes into a cool pool in the jungle. We’ll swim in the refreshing pool formed by the waterfall, relax on the rocks, eat lunch and head back to our bus for the next leg of our journey.
DAYS 5-7: SAMARA BEACH > CHORA ISLAND
After breakfast, the group will board a private coach to Samara Beach, a small surf town with breathtaking mountain views. Sámara is famous for its gentle waves (perfect for surfing) and wild horses that roam the beach.
Here, we will take part in our community service. Our work is with a local association that provides supplemental educational, recreational, and career opportunities for youth with limited resources. In the past we have done group art projects, helped teach English, worked on environmental tasks and more! It’s a great opportunity for us to connect more closely with the community and interact with the friendly locals.
Outside of our service work, we will make sure to enjoy the beach, soak up the sun, take part in our favorite TFT cooking class, swim and of course, take a surfing lesson! We will also spend our days taking kayaks out to Chora Island to snorkel and observe bi-color parrotfish and other colorful sea life!
Our trip would not be complete without our fancy final dinner, watching the sunset into the ocean as we reminisce about the amazing trip we just had!
DAY 7: SAN JOSE
On our final day in Costa Rica, we’ll get one last bit of the pura vida life and try our hand at surfing (a national past-time) before we head back towards San Jose. After we settle into our accommodation, we’ll be sure wrap up our trip with an incredible final dinner, where we’ll reminisce about the last week we’ve spent in Costa Rica!
DAY 8: RETURN TO THE USA
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Informational Meeting
A TFT representative will give a short presentation and answer your questions.
When: TBD
Time: TBD
Register for the webinar here
Travel with us and discover why we are consistently winning awards for Top Youth Travel Organization.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Travel For Teens?
We are in our 21st year in the teen travel business and have emerged as the industry leader for teen travel in the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Oceania, and Africa. We operate over 100 programs in 47 countries on 6 continents.
Our philosophy: We offer genuine and authentic trips for travelers, not tourists.
Our goal is to engender a passion for learning about other cultures and places through living like a local in that place.
How much is tuition and what does it include?
Tuition for the trip is $3,595, which INCLUDES all meals in Costa Rica, airfare, all accommodations, Standard Trip Protection Plan, all ground transportation, taxes and tips, all activities unless listed as optional on the Map & Itinerary page.
Tuition does NOT INCLUDE (not meant to be an exhaustive list): meals not listed in the itinerary, beverages other than filtered water at meals, COVID testing and PPE equipment (as applicable), phone calls home, deviations from the itinerary, laundry, souvenirs, shopping, visas and visa application fees, personal and medical expenses, activities and admissions that are not program-related or referenced in the itinerary, excess baggage fees, damage to hotels, or additional expenses related to unforeseen circumstances (e.g. transportation delays/strikes or natural disasters)
How much is airfare? How do the flights work?
Travel For Teens will reserve a group contract for all participants traveling roundtrip from El Paso, TX to San Jose, Costa Rica
The official group flight route will be announced in May/September 2024.
Who can go on this trip?
The trip is open to all Imago Dei Academy students in grades 9-12 and their families. Space is limited and is awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis.
What is the payment timeline?
Deadline to register: TBD
Due at time of registration: $750 trip deposit
Balance due in four installments: TBD
After I register, what happens next?
Once your deposit of $750 is paid, you will receive an email that confirms receipt of your deposit and registration.
You will receive an email that contains your USERNAME and PASSWORD to MyTFT. All forms to be completed by parents and physician as well as packing lists, travel tips, travel insurance information, and other important information can be found on the MyTFT portal (hard copies of the essential legal/medical forms can be mailed to participants upon request). Our contract and release must be signed by all custodial parents (or guardians) and the participant. We will host a second meeting, via webinar, in May 2023 in advance of your departure to go over all last minute questions and details.
Where do we stay?
We will be staying in three-star hotels throughout the program. The names of the accommodations are available to all families once they have signed up.
Single rooms can be requested and will cost $300 additional per person per single.
Note: singles must be requested at the time of registration to be guaranteed.
Trip Emails & Photographs
PHOTOGRAPHS
We will take dozens, if not hundreds, of photos each day. The best photos will be posted as regularly as possible (ideally every day) to a private photo-sharing platform (Waldo Photos) where you can follow along with the trip. We will send you an email to alert you when we post new photos. Low-resolution photos can be viewed for free during and after the trip. All of your High-Resolution matched photos can be purchased and downloaded in real-time during the trip or after the trip for $50.
EMAILS
The Trip Director will be in regular email contact every 24-48 hours, internet willing, with our families. Emails will include fun detailed updates about the day’s activities and are a great way for families to follow along with the journey. Email will be the best way to communicate messages to the Trip Director.
Safety, Sickness & Communication
SAFETY AND SICKNESS
The safety of our participants is our #1 concern, which is why we have only experienced trip leaders running the show. We offer 24/7 communication throughout our programs and have detailed risk management and safety policies in place. Please review our policies here.
For information regarding our specific policies with Covid-19 please review our Covid-19 protocols page here.
What are the safety qualifications for our staff?
Our staff members undergo a rigorous hiring process. They receive the same background check as school educators, an extensive training process to go over all safety precautions and protocols, and are required to be certified in CPR and First Aid. We exclusively hire responsible, multi-talented individuals who are safety-minded and are as passionate about teen travel as we are.
What is the food like on a TFT program? Can you accommodate dietary restrictions?
In a word – delicious! At TFT, we believe food should be an integral part of the travel experience and always make an effort to eat at authentic establishments when we can. What better way to immerse yourself in the culture of a place than by sampling the local delicacies, and we encourage students to do so whenever possible! Just as we stay away from Americanized hotel chains, we try to avoid restaurants with menus that cater only to tourists because every good traveler knows the best food is found wherever the locals are eating!
We also love to have picnics al fresco and do this whenever possible, which is a great way to taste some local food while sitting out in the fresh air taking in the sights and sounds of our surroundings.
As always, we are willing and able to accommodate vegetarians, vegans, gluten allergies, and other dietary restrictions.
Do I need to speak the language?
No, our skilled staff members will help you get around and even teach you a few fun phrases!
Are participants allowed to have their cell phones on the program?
We do allow participants to bring their phones, but we ask that they use it solely as a camera when we are out and about during the day. We want everyone to focus on living in the moment and fully experience each new destination we are visiting without being absorbed in their phones. We ask that participants look at their journey with us as a way to disconnect. When we have downtime at our hotels in the evenings it is okay for participants to use their devices to connect with friends and family back home.
What is the activity level of this trip?
This is an active trip. The goal of the trip will be to maximize each day. We aim to achieve a good balance of activity and downtime. You will need to be comfortable walking about 5 miles a day in total.