Costa Rica

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Booked a week's family holiday in Oct., looks like the Atlantic side has the best weather for this time of year.

Would be interested in hearing any recommendations form any Pelican's for places to stay, things to see, stuff to do etc

[Deschodt]

That's where my wife hails from, and I've been coerced into many visits... I'm sure people will tell you a lot of things but I have a few that left a mark..

1) Monteverde - 4x4 only, cool drive, and you are in the rain forest, walking on bridges suspended over the trees.... Over them !!!! How cool... And you can do the zip lines there, phenomenal...

2) Tabacon - there's a hot springs place where water comes out of the volcano and all those pools of water at different temps are there for you to dip into, with bars, at every pool....surrounded by plants... At night. Lovely...

3) I'm a sucker for the Marriott Los sueños - aptly named. Incredibly nice hotel with a super nice pool, next tothe surf town of Jaco. Good place to be at for a night or 2. On the way to Manuel Antonios park -also a must do....

4)Via Calletas: That is a hotel... It's got an amphithreater with a physics defying view of the ocean. the slope is so steep that your brain struggles to understand the angles of the perspective offered to you... Watch a sunset there, while drinking something, it's spectacular. 20 min from los sueños and you can go in and not sleep there.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

............. stuff to do etc

Assuming seminars on "How to effectively merge roof tile pigs" is out of the question?

[BeyGon]

Unless you are going for fishing or some surfing and nothing else I would go to the Pacific side.

[Craig T]

I go to Costa Rica once or twice year to surf, fish, and visit a friend who lives in Dominical, but have only been to the Caribbean side once. We stayed at the Mawamba Lodge in Tortuguero, just north of Limon. It was a nice self contained resort with jungle, river, and wildlife tours right out of the hotel.

When we were there it was super humid and HOT, and too windy to surf. I wouldn't go back, but we had fun. If you're going to stay in a resort on that side of the country you might like it, but I wouldn't go to that side to cruise around and explore. Limon is NOT a safe city. We drove through Limon on the way in and the way out and it has some rough areas. The crime rate in Limon is similar to Belize City and not a great.

I much prefer the Pacific side, as its less humid, a little cooler, and MUCH safer. I would avoid the dryer Tamarindo (Tamagringo) area. Arenal volcano, Monteverde Cloud Forest, and Manuel Antonio are fabulous vacation spots. I could live there. My wife...not so much.

[Craig T]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

2) Tabacon - there's a hot springs place where water comes out of the volcano and all those pools of water at different temps are there for you to dip into, with bars, at every pool....surrounded by plants... At night. Lovely...

.

+1 Tobacon is AWESOME. I love that place. Natural hot spring pools and streams you can lounge in, and beautiful rainforest. If it's clear at night, from Tobacon you can see the lava coming down Arenal.

[996AE]

Been going down at least once, many years two and three times since the early 80s.

Love CR. I surf and fish, love boats so its a warm water cool vibes place for me.

Stay out of San Jose in less, like we do stay at the Costa Rica Marriott Hotel Hacienda before flying home.

If your flights are booked into SJ already no worries its a super easy drive to Tamarindo from SJ.

Or, if can fly into Liberia on the pacific side.

First timers should go to Tamindo and day trip from here south for jungle, north for volcanoes and hot springs.

[gogriz91]

Check the Embassy's homepage for notices to travelers etc.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Apologies for not thanking everyone for their replies

Just arrived back from our trip this afternoon.........

What a place!!!! I've been very lucky and seen quite a bit of this world but Costa Rica is right near the top of my favourite countries. From our brief trip I can only say good things about the country, the people, the scenery and wildlife

We only had 8 nights so packed in as much as we could, ended up driving over 1000 miles, this was our route



First recommendation was for our local Costa Rican hire car company Wild Rider https://wild-rider.com
Easy, no fuss, friendly company, everything car hire companies are not!

First place was 2 nights at the Parador Resort and Spa, https://www.hotelparador.com/
great hotel, very friendly, perfect breakfast with world class view of the Pacific just north of the Manual Antonio national park.

We hired a guided for a tour of the park, the wild life was amazing before we had even left the hotel 3 bright red parrots flew over in formation and before lunch we'd even seen a baby sloth in the wild, 3 of the 4 native monkeys, an iguana, a bat, various birds, insects and a very cool, long line of leaf cutter ants

Next stop was 2 nights at the foot of the Arenal volcano, just west of Tabacon. The volcano here is what volcano's should look like ie Fred Flinstone style. The volcanic pools were a welcome relief after the 7hr drive. La Fortuna had a good feel to it too.
We took the long way around the east side of Lake Arenal, what a road that is, brand new smooth tarmac, not on par for driver involvement as a sweeping Alpine pass but it came very close. If I had the money I'd have my 964 shipped over just for this road.

Then straight down to the southern end of the Caribbean coast staying 3 nights in very comfortable hotel https://www.lecameleonhotel.com/ just to the south of Porto Viejo. A chilled out place in out of season but not sure I'd have enjoyed it so much in high season

First stop before the hotel was a beach restaurant in Punta Uva for cerviche, a cold beer and feel the sand between my toes. I grew up in the Caribbean so immediately felt at home

Visited the amazing Jaguar Rescue Centre for a tour, what amazing work they do and all staffed by volunteers so we felt privileged to e able to support their efforts
Jaguar Rescue Center - Puerto Viejo Costa Rica - Home

We drove on down to where the tarmac stops in Manzanillo and then back inland to explore as far south on the coast as we could. Got a bit lost in a banana plantation, so much so my phone send me a message 'Welcome to Panama'

Our hotel put on a morning walk about, so glad we did it as we spotted 18 sloths in an hour, all just hanging out in trees within a 1/4 mile beach front stretch tree's

Not many places I come away from and think 'you know what, I could easily live here' but this part of Costa Rica had it's own unique charm that really appealed to me. Mrs Ahab loved it too but didn't share my enthusiasm for buying a house to fix up over an extended stay Never had the chance to try surfing, still on my bucket list so I'm hoping we'll come back and spend a bit more time living life the 'Pura Vida' way

Last night at a coffee plantation near Cartago in the mountains about an hour south of the Irazu volcano. Didn't get to see the crater as it was too cloudy but the drive and views to the top were worth it so we didn't feel too disappointed

I'm feeling a bit jet lagged so will post up some pictures, observations and more recommendations once I'm back into UK timezone. Going back to work tomorrow is going to be real tough