texstout

My husband and I are planning a 10 year anniversary trip in June to Costa Rica. While well-traveled in Europe and Asia, this will be our first Central American trip (albeit my Spanish is pretty decent.)

We will only be able to get away from the babies for 5 nights (landing in SJO by 11:30am on a Saturday and leaving on Thursday around 4pm). As such, I want to plan our trip to take advantage of our time and give us a introduction to Costa Rica.

Because of our short time, I was thinking we'd probably stay all 5 nights in one place (although I can be convinced otherwise). We typically like to stay in a bit off the beaten path locations, nice-to-excellent accommodations, access to a variety of activities, good food options and quirky culture. For this trip, we want to combine beach/pool relaxation with some wildlife, and outdoor activities (like surfing lessons, hiking, horseback riding, ziplining, snorkling --not necessarily all of course!) I'd like to be able to eat in small local places, as well as somewhere excellent. We do like ppl watching too and having drinks in local bars. I want it to be 'relatively' easy to get it - I was assuming we'd rent an SUV in SJO (although I guess we could take a short flight and also rent a car).

My initial research based upon my criteria was pointing to the Dominical/Uvita region (e.g., TikiVillas), but I would like to hear recommendations for either this area (things to do, places to go) OR somewhere else in Costa Rica that might be a great option for us. I've heard the beaches/park in MA are beautiful, but I thought it might be a daytrip for us as it sounds more touristy than what I want..(or maybe stay there our last night of our trip). I'd love to go to Arenal, but thought it would be too much for this trip.

All recommendations greatly appreciated!

Kinkazote

What you describe in your list of wants would be answered perfectly by Manuel Antonio. I, too, have heard that Manuel Antonio is "too touristy" but I have racked up many days there and found that it's very easy to avoid what *I* find to be objectionably touristy. Your list of things that you want to do sounds completely touristy to me, but not objectionable. These are the things that most tourists want to do. Perhaps if you described what you mean by touristy, people could help find a place in Manuel Antonio that would allow you to avoid a lot of what you don't want and enjoy all the things you do want.

tully

I think getting a place in Dominical may suit you a little better. You'd still have an hour drive to get away to MA for a park tour but not have to deal with the crowds so much. You'd also be with in a short drive of Hacienda Baru, the Nauyaca falls, Rancho la Merced, Ballena Park, and many excellent beaches. Look into Shelter from the Strom, they have 3 cool villas ranging in size and pricing with extremely helpful onsite owners Daryl & Donna. Food options are plentiful from small sodas to gourmet type places. You can rent a car in SJ and make the 4 hours or so drive, or fly to Quepos or Palmar Sur and pick up your car out there.

Houstont

I agree that the Dominical Uvita area is a great fit, I was there last year coincidentally at Tiki because of trip report here. With 5 days I would not look at staying in many places better to find on place and stick to it otherwise you will have a lot of travel time and not much down time. The area has all the tours mentioned and as you said MA can easily be done in a day trip, less than 1 hour by car, that’s what we did. I understand before there was a great divide because of the bad road, it used to be hard going to Uvita so its relatively undiscovered but getting more popular. Tiki – I can not say how glad I was to find the place and enough good things about them. They are relatively new run by a young couple and helped us with everything from tours to helping us sort out a problem with our rent a car. There is a small hike through a private reserve that is quite neat (Ask them if they can take you to the waterfall), we also went to Hacienda Baru zip lining and spent a couple of hours after hiking by ourselves. Also did the snorkelling tour of the park which was a lot of fun. Until now this was our favourite part of Costa Rica!

mlgb

I also like the Dominical/Uvita area. If you want to spend a lot of time swimming you may want to be closer to Uvita, ie to Ventanas Beach. Ojochal has some well-regarded restaurants.

I enjoyed Shelter from the Storm, but for meals you need to either cook for yourself or negotiate their steep gravel road/driveway (4WD must). Their Las Rocas villa has a fantastic view. (They do have A/C although also good cross-ventilation and fans).

La Cusinga is somewhere I would consider if I ever return to CR, since it's closer to Ballena and has trails and a path to the beach. I don't know if it's been "discovered" by Fodorites yet. (They don't have A/C).

I also enjoyed Hacienda Baru, they have some excellent guides. One thing I discovered is that most of the beaches are best at low tide, in fact you can't even access the Whale Tale at high tide. So you may need to chose between the horseback ride and the beach (chose the beach).

You don't really need to go into Manuel Antonio. You'll see plenty of wildlife outside the park.

Do not assume "safety" anywhere, take nothing with you when you go to the beach.