Best ATV tour in Manuel Antonio: how to pick the right ride

Two departures, one waterfall, and the details the listings leave out

Article Toorizta Travel Made Simple · October 26, 2026 · 4 min read

Search for the best ATV tour in Manuel Antonio and you get a wall of listings that all read the same way. The choice that actually changes your day is narrower than it looks: whether the ride ends somewhere you can swim, and whether you take the morning or the afternoon departure.

The short answer

The ATV Jungle & Waterfall Adventure is the Manuel Antonio ride we book most. Three hours, two departures every day at 08:00 and 13:30, ten seats per departure, finishing at a jungle waterfall with time in the basin. It costs from $110 per person.

If that settles it, the rest of this page is the detail that tells you whether it fits your group.

What the three hours involve

You drive your own machine behind a certified guide, over river crossings and up ridge trails, to a waterfall where the group stops to swim. The ticket covers the guide, transport to the start and back, a helmet, a meal with fruit, and the entrance fee for the private nature reserve the trail runs through.

Two things are not covered, and both are worth knowing before you leave the hotel. Photos are not included, so whatever you want to keep you carry yourself, on a strap. Neither is a towel, and the swim stop is exactly where you will want one.

Morning or afternoon

The 08:00 departure gets you back for lunch and leaves the rest of the day open, which matters if you are also trying to fit in the national park or a beach afternoon. The 13:30 works better on an arrival day, when you have come in on a transfer that morning and do not want to be up early.

Rain timing shifts through the year, and it is the one variable that genuinely changes which slot is better. Message us with your dates and we will tell you what that week usually looks like rather than guessing from a brochure.

Who is driving

This is where most of the questions we get come from, and the answers depend on the operator's own rules rather than anything you can read off a listing.

Manuel Antonio or the Jaco ride

We sell a three hour ATV tour above Jaco as well, and travellers often compare the two. The deciding factor is usually where you are sleeping. Our own private transfer between Jaco and Manuel Antonio is scheduled at an hour each way, so booking the Jaco ride from a Manuel Antonio hotel adds roughly two hours of road to a three hour tour. If you are staying in Jaco, take the Jaco ride. If you are staying here, the local one gives you the same length of ride without the drive.

If you would rather not drive

Plenty of people want the jungle and the waterfall without the machine, or have someone in the group who should not be driving. Three alternatives we book in the same area:

Before you book

Each departure holds ten seats and the tour takes groups of up to twelve, so a family of six fits into one slot without splitting across the day. Cancellation is free up to 48 hours before your start time. Inside that window the booking is not refundable, which is the reason we ask about your other plans before putting you on a specific date.

Ask us first

If you are weighing this against the zipline park, or trying to work out whether your fourteen year old can drive, send us a message with who is coming and what else is on your list. We will tell you which departure to take, or talk you out of the ATV entirely if it is the wrong fit for your group. That conversation is free and it is how most of our trips start.