Costa Rica

mscearce

The husband and I are going to costa rica next May for our one year.

Has anyone on here been?

Things to do?

Thoughts?

Any advice, thank you

hutchsl

We went for a belated HM. Do you know yet where you are going? We wanted to avoid crowds and really enjoy a beach so we decided on Nicoya Peninsula area on the Pacific and flew in to San Jose.

We stayed at Ylang Ylang Beach Resort in Montezuma. Booked directly on their website. Did a romance package which upgraded on dinner to a 3 course meal on the beach just for us. Highly recommend this. Since it was our HM we stayed in a bungalow on the beach. The town is an easy 10 minute walk. When you arrive they will pick you up in town and drive you to the hotel, same for when you leave. Breakfast and lunch are included. There is nothing to the east of the hotel for about a 1 hr walk. That far away there is a waterfall that drops into the ocean. We took a horse ride to the falls - arranged thru the hotel. The hotel does have other rooms and a sister property in town that is a lot cheaper. Guests of the sister property can use the beach facilities - pool, hammocks...

We spent 4 days in Arenal before heading to the beach. Since it was HM we stayed at Tabacon Hot Springs Resort but in their least expensive rooms. Food not included in room price. We spent 1 day lounging around the hot springs. Two of the days we took tours. First was through DesafioCostaRica.com for a raft trip on Rio Toro a class 3-4 river. It was fantastic! Highly recommend this. Found discount coupon on puravidaeh.com. Also did a combo tour but requested it without the spring since we were staying at Tabacon and spring access is included in room rate. Booked through anywherecostarica.com. The tour was the hanging bridges, hike to a waterfall and hike in Arenal National Park. It was foggy and we never saw much of Arenal (was November).

Booked transportation through AnywherCostaRica.com. Did private transfer on arrival and departure day to ensure we got our flight. Between Arenal and Montezuma we did the shared transport. They help you take the ferry. Advise - buy food from vendor on mainland side as food on ferry is not that good or many choices. Roads are not well marked and full of potholes. Only concern I really read about was vehicle breakins.

A lot of people on TN stay in Manual Antonio. Hotels here are not on the beach. (Maybe one or two are.) It is more crowded and more popular. Depends on what you are looking for.

I recommend going.

 

Meeshe

We went last year for our 10th anniversary.  We did something totally different and stayed in the Arenal region (not near the ocean) at the Nayara Resort.  The resort is 100% amazing!  It has been rated one of the most romantic resorts in the world, best service, etc., etc.  Our whole trip was only 5 days so we couldn't combine it with a beach portion (kids and all).  I highly recommend you consider it.  It's really worth way more than what we paid to stay there.

Meeshe

Oh also while we were there, we did a ziplining tour (which I hated, but that's just me, nothing to do with the tour) and whitewater rafting which I loved.  The food at Nayara was great and we wanted to relax the rest of the time so we ate at the various restaurants there.  The wine pairing meal at the wine bar was fantastic!

Justarebelheart

We spent our HM there in October. We spent 2 weeks in Playa Conchal at the Westin. The resort was beautiful and all food and drinks were included. After arriving we do wish we had broken up our time between to regions or hotels as we got a bit tired of the food and area after 13 days. Regardless it was a fantastic experience and we are trying to convince family and friends to go back to Costa Rica again. Everyone in Costa Rica was so friendly!

We booked tours at the Westin through Swiss Travel. We did Ziplining, hot springs, horse back riding, waterslide, ATVs, a river tour and more. We could not say enough good things about Swiss. The tours were great, not obscenely expensive and every tour guide we had was fantastic. I would definitely recommend going to Costa Rica.

Tips:
- Make sure to book your airport transportation before hand as it was a bit overwhelming to walk out of the airport with everyone trying to sell you a ride, etc. Book it before and just look for your name.
- You don't need Colones. Nearly everywhere we went took USD.
- Whatever you do, DO NOT do an exchange of currency at the airport. You're better off going to the ATM in the baggage claim and getting colones there if you really think you need them.
- Drink the coffee and often - it's DELICIOUS.
- Don't forget their is a departure tax that you need to pay in cash (unless you want to pay a large fee for CC). They do not take any coins only bills.