misse336
Full Member
Posts: 220
Feb 24, 2020 2:57:43 GMT
|
Post by misse336 on Mar 13, 2024 2:00:12 GMT
In the starting phase of planning a trip to Costa Rica. I've been reading reviews of hotels, places to visit and tours. Not thinking of doing super high adventure things - seeing wildlife, volcano, waterfall, beaches, etc. were what we were thinking.
Would love recommendations from people who have actually been there about what was worth it, what they'd skip if doing it again, where to stay, etc. Also, did you go with a tour company or plan everything yourself? Not sure about the best way to do it.
Has anyone been there between May-December? How rainy is it?
|
|
caangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,442
Location: So Cal
Jun 26, 2014 16:42:12 GMT
|
Post by caangel on Mar 13, 2024 2:39:49 GMT
It's been almost 20ys since we went there but it was the BEST Zipline experience ever! My IL planned it almost (family trip) and not sure what would still be around or at the same quality at this point.
|
|
paget
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,742
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:39 GMT
|
Post by paget on Mar 13, 2024 2:49:16 GMT
My dd went this year and last year in January for the month. Not a month you were asking about but I don’t think there was much rain (if any) while she was there. She mostly did beach stuff and explored on her own and with friends- I think she did one tour. She loves Costa Rica! She is lucky to be able to work remotely so she takes a week or so off and the rest of the days she’s working and has the afternoon/evening to do what she wants. **She also zip lined and loved it.
|
|
misse336
Full Member
Posts: 220
Feb 24, 2020 2:57:43 GMT
|
Post by misse336 on Mar 13, 2024 10:19:29 GMT
Adding zip lining to the possibility list.
|
|
|
Post by Sharon on Mar 13, 2024 12:00:05 GMT
We've been several times. We've stayed at the Grand Papagayo. It's an all-inclusive resort. The first time we went we took a day trip to Nicarauga. We got to look down into a volcano. You could see the smoke rising. We also did an excursion down a river and got to see all the crocodiles sunning on the sides.
|
|
anniebeth24
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,543
Jun 26, 2014 14:12:17 GMT
|
Post by anniebeth24 on Mar 13, 2024 12:16:30 GMT
We used Horizontes travel for a trip in 2017 based on a recommendation from my brother. We started by telling them our general priorities (yes to wildlife and ziplining, not interested in fancy spa hotels or golf) and our budget. They custom designed an itinerary for us which was quite different from my brother's who had a bigger budget.
We flew into San Jose (not worth spending a lot of time there in my opinion), then traveled to the Arenal volcano area, then to the coast for the beach and Manuel Antonio national park, then back to San Jose. I think 7 days total.
One extra we added was private transportation. Our family of 3 was driven in vans by ourselves from/to the airport and between the various hotels. No waiting on a bunch of others.
One of my favorite trips ever. Happy planning!
ETA we went in late June. Rained some, but didn't affect our adventures overall.
|
|
misse336
Full Member
Posts: 220
Feb 24, 2020 2:57:43 GMT
|
Post by misse336 on Mar 13, 2024 23:14:55 GMT
Taking notes about your experiences.
|
|
pilcas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,907
Aug 14, 2015 21:47:17 GMT
|
Post by pilcas on Mar 13, 2024 23:28:34 GMT
If you want to see several places then a tour is great for that. Caravan tours is good and not overly expensive. If you want to just stay in a resort you can do that easily on your own. The roads to get to the beautiful natural places are bad, lots of potholes, slow going. You do not want to rent a car.
|
|
misse336
Full Member
Posts: 220
Feb 24, 2020 2:57:43 GMT
|
Post by misse336 on Mar 14, 2024 0:19:50 GMT
If you want to see several places then a tour is great for that. Caravan tours is good and not overly expensive. If you want to just stay in a resort you can do that easily on your own. The roads to get to the beautiful natural places are bad, lots of potholes, slow going. You do not want to rent a car. We do want to see different places. I know we won’t be able to do all of them but would like to go to the national park, one of the volcanoes and one of the waterfalls. Need to figure out where to stay somewhat central to that as I’m reading that due to the roads it takes a while to get places. Adding that tour company to the list.
|
|
|
Post by 950nancy on Mar 14, 2024 0:31:05 GMT
We went at the end of May and beginning of June. It was over 15 years ago, but it was THE MOST amazing vacation I've ever been on. We've traveled a fair bit too. My SIL was a travel agent and set it up. Flew into San Jose and took a 6 hour drive. We stayed in Manuel Antonio at the Paradisio, took a van to Monteverde rain forest (dive hotel-do not recommend) but the rain forest and zip lining was better than any other we've tried. Took a boat/car ride to Arenal (volcano) and took several day trips, (can't remember the name of the hotel, but it was gorgeous and had all glass walls facing the volcano. Then took a longer drive to Tamarindo and stayed on the beach for 4 days. Lovely hotel (had the name Tamarindo in it) with lots of beach activities. We were right next to a Pizza Hut. We went horseback riding, sailing, white water rafting, zip lining, hiking (day and night). It was the dream trip. We had rain maybe parts of three days. Not bad at all. In Monteverde, the cloud forest, it will be damp. If you get close to Manuel Antonio (national park, I believe), do the tour. We saw so many sloths and amazing birds.
If you like wildlife, we saw crocodiles, sloths, gorgeous four foot lizards, monkeys for miles, a purple snake (one of their deadliest), a Jesus Christ lizard doing his running, ant hills taller than we were, tarantulas, giant stick bugs, birds of all kinds, and my favorite was seeing an enormous toad on our way to the beach one night. Like the size of a head. When I looked at the picture the next morning, he/she was sitting right next to a big ol crab. I'd like to think they were unusual friends. Not dinner.
We didn't want to do the tour since there were things we didn't want to see and spend more time with the things we really wanted to see. We were there for 14 days.
My friend did a tour a few years ago and she said it was pretty good.
ETA: Since Tamarindo was closer to Liberia, we took a flight out of there to avoid the long drive back to San Jose.
|
|
|
Post by scrappinheather on Mar 14, 2024 12:39:30 GMT
We’ve been twice and used desafio to plan our trip. It was all independent but they arranged all of our transportation and booked all of our activities. They were amazing. We went to arsenal, Monteverdi, Corcovado, Manuel Antonio and the other beach area whose name is escaping me.
Arsenal is amazing if you like adventure. But may not be for you if don’t like it. We stayed at the springs resort one time and the other another amazing resort whose name escapes me at the moment. We loved hanging out in all the different hot springs at that hotel. We went river rafting which is incredible in Costa Rica. Nice warm water. We went canyoning which is repelling down waterfalls also awesome in arenal. The company picked us up from the airport and transported us everywhere. We also stayed at the treehouse lodge which was quite fun and beautiful to stay there. Delicious breakfast too. We did a trip up north to cano negro which is in the border with Nicaragua. Saw beautiful animals floating down the river.
We went by boat, horseback and van to Monteverdi which was fun. Being in the cloud forest was beautiful and we saw the quetzal both times. Beautiful butterfly garden. We also did the tree canopy and zip line there which is awesome. You really only need 2 days there. It’s a small area but beautiful.
Corcovado is hard to get to but amazing. The middle of nowhere. We got there by boat and had to wade ashore with our luggage. We saw macaws flying in the wild, tons of monkeys, a puma within 5 feet of us, a tree where you could watch the entire life cycle of a butterfly, amazing night explorations to see lots of bugs, toads, etc. it was a really fun experience. We flew from there back to San Jose.
Manuel Antonio has awesome beach and the national park is beautiful. Sloths, monkeys all the animals. We stayed in a hotel right next to the park and always had monkeys visit us. We went kayaking on the mangroves too and saw lots more monkeys. We also went atving.
The beach town whose name is escaping me was lovely to relax at. Huge wide beach. There was another beach close by made entirely of shells which was cool to visit. Have fun!
|
|
|
Post by hop2 on Mar 14, 2024 12:54:43 GMT
Seeing the volcano was worth it to me. BUT 1/2 our group did not see it and it’s never guaranteed that you will. The weather & cloud cover at the volcano change rapidly. When we got to the volcano it was cloud covered. So a portion of our group decided to take a nearby walk/ hike. Me, being lazy, and really wanting to see the volcano, stayed there. I took a picture of the cloudy lack of vision, fog or whatever. The clouds suddenly cleared we got great pictures of the volcano. 5 minutes later covered again visiblity nothing. The rest of our group came back to not seeing the volcano again. It did not clear again before our ride was leaving. And you can’t tell from outside the volcano if you can see, it can be perfectly clear outside but foggy/cloudy inside the volcano.
Long story short, be patient, but be prepared to not see much if it doesn’t clear.
|
|
misse336
Full Member
Posts: 220
Feb 24, 2020 2:57:43 GMT
|
Post by misse336 on Mar 15, 2024 3:19:07 GMT
I knew peas would have some advice/recommendations. I'm writing them all down to research this weekend.
|
|
|
Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 15, 2024 3:38:45 GMT
We've been twice and really love it! Our first trip the kids were 8 and 10 and we did the very active trip - we planned all ourselves. Started at the Osa peninsula, the southern Pacific side and one of the most biodiverse areas of the world - it was amazing with birds and monkeys and more. We hiked and road horses on the beach and did a waterfall rapelling thing that was super fun. Then we went to the Arenal area - where we mountain biked, zip lined and white water rafted - and some hot water springs for mom and dad! We ended on the Guanacaste coast for some beach chilling.
Interestingly, I just pulled up my spreadsheet and I conveniently forgot our trip to Monteverde between the Osa peninsula and Arenal - I know the whole cloud forest vs rain forest is a thing and we did a delightful chocolate making event, but if there is one thing I'd cut that's it - it's a rough, rough drive and we have a kid with motion sickness and it just wasn't unique enough to justify the travel.
DM me if you want specific hotel info - keeping in mind it's been 10 years, we went back to the Guanacoast last year with much older kids who were way more interested in sleeping in and napping on the beach!
|
|
|
Post by lesserknownpea on Mar 15, 2024 8:34:47 GMT
We spent a week in Tamarindo, and it’s a lovely, relaxed beach town. We were doing it on the cheap, found a small, inexpensive hotel with a little patio that looked straight out on the beach. It was just what I wanted. Surrounded by all kinds of wildlife, howler monkeys crocodiles , colorful birds.
|
|