Sarchi
- Address:Highway 118, Sarchi
- Admission:Free
Sarchi Reviews
We've found 14 Sarchi reviews from Viator.com travelers and members: what they loved, what they liked and what they think could be improved. It's all here to help you make the most of your next trip.
The tour was nothing to write home about. The plantation was pretty much empty. Our tour guide demonstrated all the stages of the process by himself. I thought we would see actual plantation workers, but none were present. Drive was LONG! Vehicle small and uncomfortable. Grecia was just a town with an iron church. Nothing to get excited about. Sarchi (the 'artisan' town) was just a town with a big colorful oxcart and a glorified souvenir shop. All in all, tour was...OK. Tour guide was interesting. Spoke English and Spanish...sometimes with a curious, rapid mixture that sounded like 'splanglish'. Food (lunch) was pretty good, though. All in all the tour was...OK. Not great, but not bad.
I really enjoyed our tour guide and I liked being able to see different parts of the country - especially Grecia -a great little town. However, I thought that the coffee plantation tour would be more in depth which is the only reason that I did not give it a 5. However, it was raining so maybe they cut it short because of that.
Also the Sarchi trip to artisan area is not like a mercado in other areas. It is a woodshop with really cool stuff, but is just one vendor and everything in Costa Rica (and this place) is very pricey. I loved our tour guide - he was super friendly. Spoke clear spanish and english!
Great trip! I confirmed a week before and received an email the next day confirming the pickup time. A van arrived with a driver and bilingual guide. The drive from San Jose to the volcano took about 1 hour 20 minutes. Along the way the guide was very friendly and talked about Costa Rica. It's not much of a hike to see the volcano, easy 10 min walk from the parking lot. After viewing the volcano we drove 10 minutes to Doka Estates for the coffee tour - excellent, samples of coffee and chocolate covered coffee beans, butterfly garden, and great buffet lunch with local costa rican food. Sarchi tour is ok, stop at the workshop where oxcarts are made, 15 minute presentation, and then we had 45 minutes to browse the souvenir shop. Overall, it was a great deal through Viator.
First: You demanded us to confirm via email but you did not answer you had got our confirmation. Therefore we were anxious that no-one should pick us up. It is very important that you answer emails especially when we asked for an answer!
Second: We were pleased with the tour. We were lucky to see the volcano in sunshine. The guide was nice and ambitious.
This tour was split into three main parts and I will give my reviews on each - some were better than others.
1) The Doka coffee tour - the highlight of the tour. We were driven from our hotel to the Doka plantation, high up in the hills outside San Jose. We were greeted by a friendly member of the staff and given an hour long informative tour about coffee beans - how they're grown, processed and sold. And of course the opportunity to buy their product.
2) Grecia - a gothic-style church constructed of brick-red metal panes, built in Belgium and shipped to Costa Rica in the late 1800s. We had 20 minutes to walk around the church and take photos. Definitely worth doing.
3) Sarchi - billed as an 'artist's cooperative', this was the part of the tour I was looking to most - I imagined a bazaar-style setup with the artists there in person selling their items. What we got was a stop at a glorified souvenir shop (even stated on the sign in front). It was about 10% quality crafted items, and 90% mass produced cheap junk (T-shirts, cheap magnets, little trinket boxes, etc.) VERY disappointed here and didn't buy anything. I don't have a problem with souvenir shops per se, but I think there it could have been explained to us better.
The Sarchi stop is why this review is 3 stars instead of 5. But overall the tour is still worth doing.
This tour was superb! The Poas Volcano was beautiful! We enjoyed the coffee tour at Doka Estate as well. The Sarchi Arts and Crafts were remarkable! We recommend this tour!
Guide was very informative about coffee. I felt that we had ample time to ask questions and explore Grecia and Sarchi.
The tour and tour guide were excellent. The only problem was we were told to be at hotel at 10:15 AM and bus did not show until after 11:00 AM.
great trip, except for the Sarchi Arts and craft, all that is is shopping, Coffee and Volcano excellent, driver AL was excellent!!!!
The tour guide and driver were very informative and friendly. This tour is a great value for the money.
The tour guide and driver were very informative and friendly. This tour is a great value for the money.
Very good tour. The guide (Paula) was excellent.
My first tour in Costa Rica. A great start I will never forget. Nature at it's best and great historical towns with lots to see. Simply beautiful.
The guide was excellent and we enjoyed the day. It would have been nice to spend more time actually seeing the cities - possibly the markets.
