When people write to us, the first question is almost always the price. The second is what that price actually covers. Here is the whole picture, with nothing left for later.
The weekly rate
One week is $950. Every extra week lowers the weekly rate by $10, and the lower rate applies to your whole stay, not just the extra weeks.
| Length of stay | Per week | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 week | $950 | $950 |
| 2 weeks | $940 | $1,880 |
| 3 weeks | $930 | $2,790 |
| 4 weeks | $920 | $3,680 |
| 6 weeks | $900 | $5,400 |
| 8 weeks | $880 | $7,040 |
Prices are in US dollars, per student, and include Costa Rican taxes. The rate is the same all year. There is no high season.
What the $950 covers
- 20 hours of Spanish class, one-to-one or in a small group of up to five at your level, with a certified teacher. Your material is written the evening before, around what you did that day.
- Seven nights with a Costa Rican host family: your own room and three meals a day, every day, weekends included.
- Four afternoon activities a week, each led by a local instructor: horseback riding, farm work, cooking, hikes and more.
- Use of the family’s laundry room, and someone from our team to call, in English or Spanish, for your whole stay.
What is not included
We would rather you hear this from us than find it on arrival.
- Printing your class material: $25 a week. Your teacher writing it is included. You pay the print shop in the village as you go.
- Airport pickup, if you want it. From Liberia: $100 one way, $200 round trip, about an hour’s drive. From San José: $300 one way, $600 round trip, with a $125 deposit in advance to hold the driver.
- Flights, and your own travel and medical insurance.
- Weekend trips and anything you buy for yourself.
A worked example: four weeks
| Four weeks of the program | $3,680 |
| Printing, 4 × $25 | $100 |
| Round trip from Liberia airport | $200 |
| Total, before flights and insurance | $3,980 |
To hold your dates you pay a deposit of $50 per week by PayPal, so $200 for four weeks, and it comes off the total. The rest is paid here, week by week, by card, cash or transfer. If you cancel at least 48 hours before you start, the deposit comes back in full.
How to compare us with other schools
Weekly prices are easy to compare. What they buy is not. When you look at other programs, check:
- Private or group classes? A lower price usually means group classes.
- How many meals? Many homestays include two a day, not three.
- Are activities included, or is each one an extra?
- Is anything written for you, or do you work through the same book as everyone else?
- Who picks you up, and what does it cost?
Add those up and the gap between programs usually gets much smaller than the headline price suggests.
Ways to spend less
- Come with someone. Two or more people booking together get a discount, written into your quote before you pay anything.
- Stay longer. Every extra week lowers the rate for the whole stay.
- Fly into Liberia. It is much closer than San José, so the pickup costs a third as much.
- Take the bus. From San José, Pulmitan de Liberia runs direct buses twice a day.
Where the money goes
Almost all of it stays in La Fortuna de Bagaces: with the family who hosts you, the teacher who writes your material, the instructors who lead your afternoons, the print shop and the village shop. We are a small family program in a rural town. There is no city rent and no agency taking a cut, so what you pay buys teaching and time.
Want your own number? Tell us your dates, how many weeks and your level, and we will send you a written plan and price the same day.