Ziplining in Orocovis, Puerto Rico … [Toroverde Nature Adventure Park review]

Have I mentioned that I like zip lines? I’m going to put my affinity for them along with waterfalls and sky cars. Here is the list of the top 4 lines in the world and so far I’ve done #1, 3,4.

1. Pronutro zip 2000 : 2,000 meters/ 6,561 feet.
   It is located in Sun City South Africa. It descends 918 feet at a speed of 100 mph.
2. Hoonah Icy Straight Point, Alaska: 1,625 meters/ 5,330 feet long.
   The zip line in Hoonah Icy Straight Point, Alaska takes 90 seconds to complete a 1,300 foot vertical drop at 24 degrees.
3. La Bestia : 1,446 meters/4,745 feet.
   Located at at Toro Verde Nature Adventure Park in Orocovis, Puerto Rico.
4. Tu Ru Bari : 1,036 meters/ 3,400 feet.
   Located in Costa Rica in the Central Valley near the Pacific coast in the Tu Ru Bari Tropical Park.

Getting to Toroverde will require some driving or booking a tour, and it is definitely not going to be cheap either way but It is not hard to get to Orocovis from San Juan – the roads are quite good.. However, if you’re going to drive, it will actually cost you more in terms of gas than a non-subsidized tour price.

• Going with a tour will cost about about 150$ and it is a 8-6 tour, since it takes about an hour to get to Orocovis
• Going by car will require that rental or you can do it the way I did it, which would be hiring a driver from San Juan. If you can share the cost with some other people, then it would be somewhat reasonable but expect to pay $150 for a return trip to Orocovis

A couple things about Toro Verde

• It is a bit “industrial scale” versus other places I’ve been
• There is a big parking lot, bathrooms, food, and LINES, everywhere.

• There is a lot to do …you can rappel, go biking or ATVing along with your zip lining tour.
• The zipline tour is clearly more popular and probably you spend a lot of time queuing unless you go during the evening or non cruise ship day
• The guides put all your gear on you and give you a safety demo. They have won several awards for their topnotch safety

• Must be over 110lbs to do the tours….not for younger kids.
• They spoke both English and Spanish.
• The tour can take the entire day (we were there from 0830 until about 3pm).
• It is quite the drive to get their (twisty, winding roads) but the drive is worth the experience.
• The views are amazing.

• The Beast was the highlight of my day – it really does last a long time and it is a very comfortable harness.

  

From the picture above there are 8 different zip lines and The Beast. I could say a lot more and describe La Bestia to you in many words, but if a picture tells 1000 words, then think about what a 4 minute video will tell you about the ride.

Here is the pre prep to get on the Beast …

This is the flight … on such a long ride, they don’t want to risk you being stuck, hence you’re paired with one of the guides and you do a little race. This is one ride where the more mass you have, the better you will do.

TIPS:

• Going on any day where there is a cruise ship in town will condemn you to a shitty experience. The review from Trip Advisor is consistent with what I was told by the guides. On weekends and cruise ships days, it is super busy. I would hate waiting this much. On the day that I went, it was a bit rainy as you can tell … but there was literally no one there, so it was awesome.
• “We went on a Saturday. I booked very far in advance. We were told our tour would take 3-4 hours at most.. Honestly, I don’t remember much of the details other than our tour took 8 HOURS because there was literally SO MUCH WAITING. This establishment is poorly run and doesn’t give much thought to customer service. We waited at literally every single platform for at least 20 minutes, and the last three of them (including the superman/la beastia), we waited at for OVER AN HOUR..AT EACH LINE… ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????????? I literally wanted to tell them to forget it and let me go home but there was no way out..only the zipline. We had special dinner plans that night that we had to cancel because we were literally so exhausted from the long day/being annoyed. Nowhere to sit on certain parts of the course while we waited more than an hour. (We were supposed to get back to our hotel at 1-2pm.. we didn’t get back until after 6pm and our reservations were for 6:30)