Don Olivo Chocolate Tour
Farm entryMax 15
The floor price and the fixed timetable. Two hours on a 1,600-tree plantation with departures at eight, ten, one and three, and a tasting that runs to fruit, spices, coffee and rum.
From $30 per person
Chocolate Tours on a La Fortuna Coffee Trip
Cacao is the crop this ground was made for, and it shows. These are the farm mornings that lead with chocolate rather than coffee — the cheapest, the shortest and the most hands-on way onto a La Fortuna farm.
Already decided?Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead on every one of them.
See the departuresWhat a chocolate tour here actually is
Two hours or less on a working cacao farm, with the whole chain in front of you. You watch a pod come off the trunk, taste the white pulp around the raw bean, look inside a fermentation box, handle beans off the drying bed and grind roasted nibs into paste.
Two of these farms then hand you the moulds. You pick your spices and toppings and make chocolates to take away, which is the part children remember and most adults do too.
Why cacao and not coffee?
Because this is the crop the ground was made for. La Fortuna sits at 253 metres on warm, wet lowland, which is under the bottom of Costa Rica's coffee grading scale and close to ideal for cacao. You get a crop grown properly rather than one grown to demonstrate.
It shows in the price and the pace. A cacao morning starts at the floor of the whole market here and gives all of its time to one chain rather than splitting it.
Cacao from thirty dollarsTwo hours, admission inside the fare, and four departures a day on one farm.
See the departuresThree things true of a chocolate tour and false of the others
- You make something. Two of these farms let you mould your own chocolates. No coffee-led tour here does.
- It is the cheapest way onto a farm. The cacao-only mornings start below every coffee-led option in town.
- It is the shortest. An hour and a half is enough for one chain, which leaves your afternoon intact.
Chocolate tour vs coffee and chocolate tour
The two-in-one splits two hours between coffee and cacao, so each half is compressed into an hour. A chocolate tour gives everything to cacao. If you already know you want the pod and the grinder, the single-crop farms give you more of both for less money.
| Chocolate tour | Coffee and chocolate tour | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 1 hr 30 to 2 hrs | 2 to 2 hrs 30 |
| From | From $30 | From $46 |
| Crops covered | Cacao only, in depth | Both, an hour each |
| Make your own chocolate | On two of them | Grinding, on one |
| Transport included | No | On one of them |
| Best for | Children, budgets, a spare afternoon | A first farm morning in Costa Rica |
Check availability — the cacao plantation
Who should choose something else
If you came to Costa Rica for the coffee, this is the wrong page. Book the one farm here that leaves cacao out and puts you to work picking, roasting and grinding your own — the comparison is set out here.
If you want wildlife as well, the three-hour combinations pair a guided sloth trail with a lighter tasting. And if your party cannot agree, take a two-in-one trail, which covers both crops in one booking.
What every one of them includes
Admission, a guide and the tasting. None of them asks you to pay at the gate, and none charges separately for what you eat during the tour. Every one cancels free up to 24 hours before you start.
What none of them includes is a meal. Several finish on a snack and two of these farms have a restaurant on the property, so plan lunch around the booking rather than inside it. The visiting page has the meeting points.
If it is raining, pick the covered one. One of these farms has cement paths and a roof from one end of the trail to the other, which makes it the safe green-season booking. What rain does to a farm morning.
How far ahead should you book?
Two to five days covers most of the year for a best chocolate and coffee tour in La Fortuna, and a week over Christmas and through the spring break. One farm publishes fixed departures at eight, ten, one and three; the rest set their times once you pick a date. All of them are on La Fortuna Coffee Tours.
Chocolate Tours on a La Fortuna Coffee Trip
La Fortuna Eden Chocolate Tour
Farm entryTastingsMax 30
Cacao only, for ninety minutes, ending with bonbons you mould yourself. The grounds run down to a river with a restaurant above them, so you can stay on afterwards.
From $39 per person
North Fields Cafe: Craft Specialty Coffee and Chocolate Tour
Hotel pickupTastingsMax 15
The fullest cacao half of any tour here, because coffee and sugar cane come with it. Hotel pickup is inside the fare, which no other cacao farm here offers.
From $46 per person
Coffee and Chocolate Tour in La Fortuna
TastingsMax 15
An hour of cacao on covered cement trails, with hands-on grinding and a tasting of dark, milk and white at the end. Rain-proof, and level throughout.
From $61 per person
La Fortuna: Don Juan Arenal Coffee and Chocolate Tour
Covered trailsTastings
The same covered trail, sold with transport excluded rather than hotel pickup. Two guided hours take cacao from seed to bar and coffee from seed to cup, with tasting sessions built into both halves.
From $61 per person
La Fortuna: Coffee, Honey & Chocolate Tour
Farm entryUnlimited tasting
Cacao tasted straight off the tree, then the coffee beside it — and, before either, several kinds of native stingless-bee honey. Unlimited at the tasting station.
From $56 per person
Sloth Observation, Coffee, Chocolate & Sugar Cane Experience
TastingsMax 15
Cacao as the second half of a three-hour morning, after a guided sloth trail. The tasting is lighter than a dedicated farm tour and the wildlife is the reason to book.
From $100 per person
Costa Rica: Sloth Tour & Coffee, Chocolate and Sugarcane
Transport includedTastings
Transport from downtown, then sloths, then the cacao, coffee and cane demonstrations. A bilingual guide throughout, and juice pressed from the cane in front of you.
From $99 per person
Frequently asked questions
How long is a chocolate tour in La Fortuna?
An hour and a half to two hours on the cacao-only farms, and two to three hours if you take one that adds coffee or a wildlife trail. Allow twenty minutes either side to get there.
Do you make your own chocolate?
On two of these farms, yes: you choose spices and toppings and mould bonbons to take away. On the rest you grind roasted beans and taste through the stages without moulding.
Is a chocolate tour better than a coffee tour here?
For most visitors, yes, and the reason is the altitude. Cacao thrives at 253 metres and coffee does not, so the chocolate half is the crop grown properly. What you taste, crop by crop.
What does it cost?
From $30 for two hours on a cacao plantation, with admission inside the fare. The tours that add coffee or a sloth trail run higher, up to $100.
Can children do it?
Very easily. The tours are short, the tastings run throughout and two farms let children mould their own chocolates. One offers infant seats and several take strollers on cement paths.