Costa Rica

Can anyone give me any info on Costa Rica?? DH and I are considering it for our annual summer vaca. We would be going in the beginning of August (I'm aware that it's their "winter"/wet season but it's when we can both get off from work).

I know there are different regions so any advice on where to stay? I love to be at the beach but DH can't sit still and just relax lol. We both enjoy adventure type activities (i.e. hiking in the rain forests, volcanoes, ziplining, snorkeling, etc.)

Do you think it is necessary to speak with a TA? I usually always research and book our vacas but I am lost when it comes to CR...never been anywhere in Central America.

TIA!!

eta: What is a good length of time to go? Is 7 days too short?

Message edited 3/23/2012 4:45:07 PM.

Re: Costa Rica

When I was looking at Costa Rica for our honeymoon, we were going to split our stay at different sides of the island. One part has the beautiful beaches and the other has not so great beached but the incredible rainforests.

It's definitely on my bucket list.

Re: Costa Rica

Re: Costa Rica

We went for our honeymoon 2 summers ago. We stayed 9 days (8 nights). We did the first 3 days 2 nights in Arenal. We did the next 5 nights in Puerto Viejo. The last night we spent at a bed and breakfast about 20 minutes from the airport. I wish we would have spent more time at the volcano and less time at the beach. We went in the first week of August. For us most of the rain was at night. It was beautiful during the day. Early in the morning we were able to see the volcano:) I planned our flights to arrive early and leave mid afternoon. I would strongly suggest a rafting trip as your transportation from your 1st to second destination. That was the BEST part of our trip!!!

Re: Costa Rica

Re: Costa Rica

i just came back from there (early March) and it was AMAZING!!! we stayed for 12 days

we did it as our belated honeymoon so we def stayed at some of the more expensive places. we booked through a travel agent bc we stayed at 3 diff parts and needed to get from place to place. i am so glad we did it all
here is basically our itinerary:

flew into San Jose
Stayed at el silencio it was about 2 hours from the airport and we decided to give it a shot bc many people told us not to bother spending time in san jose. the hotel was beautiful - but no tv or internet in the rooms. food was included (alcohol was not). there was not anything to do there, but for us it was a great way to start the trip (it was also a bit chilly in that part of CR)

we did white water rafting while we were there (about 1.5 hours away in the sarapiqui river which was class 2-3 and pretty calm

then we took a 2 hour transfer up to arenal tabacon and stayed there for 5 nights. the hotel is beautiful and the best part is the hot springs are on the property so you can go anytime (they have a daily admission fee for others that come to use the hot springs and are not hotel guests). the hotel upgraded our room and each night we got a little treat (one night a dozen chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine, one night some chocolate cake etc). no food was included and it was a bit expensive. it was a $20 cab ride to get to town. we did that one day but all that was there were restaurants and souvenir shops...we decided not to bother going there again.
while we were at tabacon we did a ton of activities:

zip line tour with ecoglide. it was amazing!


wild life tour - canyo negro

and my favorite activity water fall rappelling

then we took a 4-5 hour transfer and finished our trip in guanacaste at punta islita
this hotel was beautiful!!!! the staff was amazing! however, it is pretty secluded. we stayed at the hotel the entire time bc there isnt much to do.
we ended up taking a fishing charter out where we caught a 45lb mahi mahi and the hotel cooked it up for dinner for us! they have activities there (horseback riding, dolphin watching etc) but aside from that there isnt much going on...its more of a relaxing hotel which after our adventure was perfect!

then we had a 2 hour ride to Liberia airport

feel free to FM if you have any questions...as you can tell i am in love with CR and happy to share my experiences!!!

Message edited 3/26/2012 1:34:33 PM.

Re: Costa Rica

We went to Costa Rica in 2009 and just loved it. We rented a car and spent time in three different regions.

First we drove to Arenal and stayed in Hotel El Silencio del Campo. It has its own hot spring. In arenal we did the hanging bridges, white water rafting, zip lining and got massages!

Then we drove to Playa Granda and stayed at Hotel Las Tortugas. This is a surfer hotel. we enjoyed the beach and pool here. We also went on a fishing trip arranged by the hotel.

Last we drive to Nosara (my favorite place) and stayed at Harbor Reef. Nosara is a quaint town that is very remote. the road to get there is unpaved....but so worth it.

Here we took surfing lessons and enjoyed the beach and local restaurants.

Mostly I am telling you what we did to give you an idea of lesser known areas that we found amazing. We did not use a travel agent because our friend recommended the two beach hotels and I researched and found the hotel in Arenal online. We thought driving in Costa Rica was fun but it isn't for everyone. I think renting a car and hiring a car/driver could be about the same price.

Let me know if you have any questions and I can give you more details.

Good look and Pura Vida!

Re: Costa Rica

jams and FHmomma...

Thank you soo much--you both made me so excited! I spent hours researching this weekend and Arenal is def on my list of areas to stay in--then from there I wasn't sure. Maybe the Central Pacific Coast or the Caribbean side (but I think it's rainier there and we are going in wet season).

The excursions I came across during my research that I def wanna do are the waterfall repelling, wild life tours and white water rafting. We went ziplining in Fiji but would probably do it again in CR. Also the hot springs and mud thing look cool too! Thanks again! jams, I may take you up on that FM offer once I really start planning