Hey Marcus!
It’s always great to connect with fellow members of the international rafting community. Whereabouts did you used to guide?
Quick question before I get to which river I’d recommend you visit… whereabouts in the northwest are you planning to visit? I ask only because some people mean the true northwest and plan to stay up near Nicaragua, some people call the Guanacaste province (the northern Pacific coast) the northwest, and others consider La Fortuna to be the northwest since it sits northwest of the capital city of San Jose.
If you’re planning to stay at a beach town along the northern Pacific coast, or anywhere in the Guanacaste province including the Rincon de la Vieja area, I’d recommend going with the Tenorio River option simply because of convenience. Though we love the Sarapiqui River, it will require an additional 3-hour drive (roughly) beyond where you’d meet for the Tenorio River option, which would require an additional 6 hours of driving in total. Unless there was something specific you wanted to experience the Sarapiqui River for, I’d recommend sticking with Tenorio.
If you plan to stay in La Fortuna (or someplace in the northern inland region), from a distance standpoint, you could go with either river. It takes a little over an hour to get to the Sarapiqui River from La Fortuna, and about 2 hours to get to the Tenorio River from La Fortuna, so either is doable.
From a scenery perspective, both rivers are beautiful, but if we had to go with one over the other, we’d select the Sarapiqui River. This river is set in rainforest that nears the Braulio Carrillo National Park and it tends to be lusher than the Tenorio River’s setting, which is part rainforest and part dry forest. The dry forest does tend to be lush and green during the rainy season, though, which is when you plan to visit, so this point may not factor much in your particular case.
From a rapid perspective, both rivers are class III/IV. You’ll get about 40 rapids on the Sarapiqui River versus about 20 rapids on the Tenorio River. To help make up for its fewer rapids, the Tenorio River provides an opportunity to raft over a fun 12-foot drop.
From a logistics/value standpoint, you’ll get similar inclusions either way, including transportation to/from the river, equipment, a snack, and lunch.
With respect to your specific question about the rain, this is a tough one to answer as one night’s rainfall can impact (and potentially cancel) the next day’s tour. In general, the Guanacaste province receives less rain overall than any other province, so in theory, you’d be less likely to run into a tour cancelation if you went with Tenorio. The tour operators of the white-water rafting tours run on class III/IV sections of the Sarapiqui River and the Tenorio River also run safari float tours on class II/III sections of the Sarapiqui River and the Tenorio River, so it may be an option to experience either one of those tours as a fallback option if your white-water rafting tour happens to be canceled due to rain (assuming the safari float section is still safe to run).
In proceeding from here, I fear I may have only confused you more since there is no obvious/easy answer here. 🙁 To sum up, if you plan to stay along the northern Pacific coast, we’d go with Tenorio. If you plan to stay in La Fortuna, and rain isn’t a concern, we’d go with Sarapiqui. Since there’s no way to know if rain will or will not cause a rafting tour cancelation on the day of your tour, you can either take your chances with a tour on Sarapiqui and hope for the best or else go with a tour on Tenorio which, statistically, would be less likely to be canceled due to rain.
Pura vida! 🙂
