Description
Some tours show you a landscape; others tell you the story of a region. The 7 Villages route belongs firmly in the second group. Over roughly four hours and nearly 100 kilometers, your ATV carries you from the foothills above Jaco into the rural heart of the mountains, along roads where locals still wave at every passerby.
The first stretch shares the trail of our La Paz route, climbing through the Agujas range almost as far as the hamlet of Las Delicias. There we park the ATVs and walk a few minutes to a 35-foot waterfall, where you can swim in a cool pool framed by ferns and bromeliads. From there the track rises above the primary rainforest canopy to the crest of the mountains.
Just past the summit, a lookout throws open the horizon toward Manuel Antonio, the Nicoya Peninsula and the Gulf of Puntarenas. Then the scenery shifts completely: we ford rocky rivers and roll past cattle pastures, family farms and tiny villages, each with its church, its soccer field and the occasional hidden bar where time seems to have stopped. This is the authentic Costa Rica that rarely makes it onto postcards.
The terrain is varied but beginner-friendly, and your guide sets a pace that keeps everyone comfortable and smiling. To finish in style, we sit down to a traditional Costa Rican lunch at a local restaurant, with rice, beans, sweet plantains and fresh fruit juices. It is a long, dusty and deeply memorable ride for travelers who want more than just a quick spin.
