Cinchona – Colibri Cafe Birding & Photography

Cinchona's Colibri Cafe — officially Soda y Mirador Cinchona — is one of the best-known bird photography stops on Costa Rica's Caribbean slope. The original restaurant was destroyed in the magnitude-6.1 Cinchona earthquake of January 2009; the family rebuilt it smaller and more rustic on the same steep hillside overlooking the 250-foot San Fernando Waterfall, and it has since become a pilgrimage site for bird photographers thanks to fruit and hummingbird feeders set just a few feet from the tables. This full-day tour departs La Fortuna at 6:00 AM with a photo stop at the La Paz Waterfall roadside viewpoint on Route 126, arriving at Cinchona around 8:00 AM for breakfast already surrounded by feeder activity. Two dedicated photography sessions (8:00–10:30 AM and 10:30 AM–12:00 PM, split by a coffee break) cover the feeders and the waterfall mirador before lunch and the return to La Fortuna. Expect hummingbirds such as Violet Sabrewing, Green Thorntail, Coppery-headed Emerald and Purple-throated Mountain-gem at point-blank range, alongside Red-headed and Prong-billed Barbets, Northern Emerald-Toucanet, Silver-throated, Crimson-collared and Scarlet-rumped Tanagers, Red-legged Honeycreeper and Black Guan. Minimum 2 guests; small-group (2–4) and mid-size group (6–10) formats available at the same per-person rate. Private guide and transport included throughout — no shared departures.