Costa Rica is the perfect backdrop for fun, unforgettable and invigorating multi-adventure corporate events. Discover the best team-building activities this tropical paradise has to offer!
The land of wild rivers and volcanoes, jungles, beaches and a thousand waterfalls is an obvious choice for corporate events. Costa Rica is a hands-on country, which means its tropical wilderness is there to be thoroughly enjoyed. With its many world-renowned outdoor activities and a nearly endless array of itinerary options, Costa Rica makes it insanely easy to plan a team-building getaway your team will NEVER forget.
Where to go and what to do?
That’s what you’re about to find out!
Plan Your Team-Building / Corporate Event in Costa Rica
Ideas for corporate events in Costa Rica
When planning a team-building event anywhere, five main goals should always be considered. Activities should be varied and focused on:
- Building mutual trust
- Encouraging adaptability
- Reigniting motivation
- Enhancing communication
- Fine-tuning problem-solving skills
Group sports like whitewater rafting are ideal for achieving all these goals in one unforgettable day on a wild Costa Rica river. Group sports such as these demand cooperation and communication among the crew, organically building mutual trust and respect. Now turn that one day on the river into a multi-day adventure, with overnight camping in pristine wilderness, and you’ll naturally enhance adaptability and camaraderie.
Yet any outdoor adventure in Costa Rica that entices an adrenaline-rush, and is enjoyed together as a group, will do the trick. Even more so when talking about hair-raising activities like canyoneering, mountain biking, horseback riding, and zip lining.
Formative activities, like camping and rafting, elicit stronger team bonds than a hobby or social activity like dinner out or happy-hour drinks – StrategyBusiness
From experience, we know that any intense experience shared by a group in Costa Rica can build high-performing teams. This is especially crucial in 2022, after two years of working remotely, either mostly or partially. If your team hasn’t shared the same space for a while, this is how you get them back on the same wavelength.
In Costa Rica, intense shared experiences come in a variety of ways. It can be a mesmerizing wildlife spotting night tour, enjoying sundowners on a breathtaking seaside resort on the Pacific, or quietly paddling around remote islands and wetlands searching for endangered leatherback turtles.
Bonding adrenaline rush in this beautiful country!
Plan Your Team-Building / Corporate Event in Costa Rica
5 top corporate events/activities in Costa Rica
The best team-building activities in Costa Rica nurture cooperation and understanding. Not everyone will be great at every activity, yet supporting and helping one another through a tricky obstacle course gets teams to the finish line. Neglect one member who isn’t performing at their best, and the team fails.
A pretty poignant and valuable lesson to impart, right?
Rather than fabricating uninspiring games or giving boring lectures, team-building activities in Costa Rica are all about facing fun challenges together. The country’s pristine wilderness is unpredictable, which means that despite all the ‘perfect’ planning, sometimes, things go sideways. Having to face last-minute and unexpected hurdles is godsent on corporate, team-building events. Sometimes, rafting teams need to haul out and carry a raft over rocks because water levels are low, or they need to think fast to face a particularly hairy rapid.
That’s the kind of stuff that gets the blood pumping!
Whitewater rafting
Whitewater rafting is the poster child for team-building events in Costa Rica and is the one activity that never fails to deliver. The best part of this outdoor pursuit is that, while it is a team sport and requires everyone to pull their weight, there’s still one guide in charge. Everyone must work their butt off to face rapids yet still do what the guide tells them to.
Unless you have a world-class rafting guide amongst your employees, this will come naturally to everyone! Moreover, there will undoubtedly be spills and laughs. Everyone will help get team members back on the raft and recover, so they can continue on their exhilarating journey.
Perfectly safe yet challenging enough to get the adrenaline pumping, whitewater rafting is the best team-building activity in Costa Rica.
FUN FACT: National Geographic first-named Costa Rica one of the world’s best whitewater rafting destinations more than a decade ago. The Pacuare River remains one of the top-10 rivers for whitewater adventure – not only for the quality of rafting but particularly for the incredible wilderness that lines its shores. Come to Costa Rica and you’ll find no better place for extraordinary team-building adventures.
Here’s a comprehensive guide to Costa Rica’s best whitewater rafting & kayaking
Zip Line/Canopy tours
Zip line and canopy tours put Costa Rica on the adventure-travel map decades ago. The sport was born and bred here and remains one of the country’s most popular outdoor activities.
The first benefit of canopy tours as a team-building activity is immersing people in a wildly different and stunning setting. Enjoying being this close to Costa Rica’s wilderness has untold benefits on people’s stress levels, so you may want to consider planning this for the first day of your corporate event.
No matter how high or fast the course, canopy tours and zip lining don’t require special skills. Only an adventurous spirit and desire to try something new and exhilarating. These activities will undoubtedly push some people (just) outside their comfort zone, creating shared memories and boosting spirits.
That’s the kind of crazy fun stuff teams will chat about for months and even years.
Plan Your Team-Building / Corporate Event in Costa Rica
Canyoneering
Strap your team into a harness and hard hat and catapult them down a magnificent waterfall (with a safety rope, of course), and you’ll see everyone come alive right before your eyes. Canyoneering is arduous teamwork and involves many challenges, including scrambling over rocks, abseiling, rappelling, swimming, crossing a river, hiking and jumping into pools. It is seriously the best fun that can be had in nature and requires coordination among team members. The result? A bonded team and ear-to-ear smiles for days!
Never heard of canyoneering? You’ve been missing out! Find out the answer to the most FAQs right here.
Horseback riding
Like mountain biking, horseback riding may seem to be an individual sport at first glance. Yet, when undertaken as a group, these activities organically bring together an array of people with widely different skill levels. Some will need no convincing, whilst others will require coaxing and encouragement.
Together, the team will overcome obstacles and learn to communicate. The less experienced will take heed of others’ tips whilst the most skilled will understand to slow down and be patient. This is especially useful if groups comprise managers and employees alike. You’ll be amazed at how inclusive and formative even a leisurely horseback riding excursion can be!
Sport Fishing
Get those competitive juices flowing by organizing a sport fishing competition on your Costa Rica corporate event. The marvelous thing about this country is that offshore fishing options, although aplenty, aren’t your only choice. Look inland, and you’ll discover a bevy of rivers and lakes that make for fantastic fishing excursions. Next, divide your team into groups and hand out prizes for the biggest catches!
For added fun and to enjoy the spoils of this competition over an open fire, you also can include a night out camping.
More than 20 adventure activities can be included in a team-building event in Costa Rica. Each one requires its own distinct skill level, yet the country is revered for offering various options for people of all ages, agility and fitness levels.
Some of the other unmissable activities include:
- Hikes to waterfalls or volcanoes
- ATV excursions (the crowd favorite!)
- Snorkeling & SCUBA (the latter is particularly great for trust-building)
- SUP boarding (a great way to plan a competitive and entertaining race on calm water)
As a side note…
Costa Rica may offer an abundance of high-adrenaline experiences, yet balances out the exhilaration with plenty of options for R&R. The country’s hot springs resorts and yoga retreats allow you to inject plenty of relaxation into your corporate event itinerary.
Why is Costa Rica the perfect corporate getaway destination?
Costa Rica is a global powerhouse for adventure vacations. The country’s world-class tourism infrastructure and outdoor activities make it the ideal choice for corporate getaways.
The logistics of taking your whole team abroad are made easier by an impressive array of short and affordable flights from North America and a wide choice of accommodation options. Whether you’re working for a multi-million-dollar company or a family-run business, you’ll find the perfect team-building event to suit your budget and team size.
Yet if there’s one aspect of planning a Costa Rica corporate event that clinches the deal, it would have to be the year-round idyllic climate. No matter what month you plan your trip, you will find several regions of their country at their best. That rainy season most tropical countries have to contend with is mitigated by a unique topography. The east (Caribbean coast) has a dry spell when rains fall on the west (Pacific). And vice versa!
This unique attribute makes Costa Rica ideal for team-building events at any time of year. It also means you can juggle dates to get the best deals and the most comprehensive range of choices. If booking a corporate event for large groups, planning a Costa Rica corporate event during the Green Season translates to huge savings and a broader option cache for accommodation.
You can find more about what makes Costa Rica ideal for corporate events (and mistakes to avoid!) right here.
And don’t worry, you need to figure this all out on your own!
At Costa Rica Rios, we’ve perfected the art of planning unforgettable Costa Rica corporate events. We do all the planning, so all you have to do is gather your crew and come have the team-building experience of a lifetime.
Newsflash: All COVID-related entry restrictions have now been dropped! Planning that corporate event in Costa Rica just got easier!
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