If you loved Costa Rica where else did you love (part II)?

We've been to many of the Carribean islands and to Mexico (Riviera Maya area) at least 6 times now, we've been to CR twice and are going back this summer as well. Last summer we finally made it to Belize and right now that would have to stand out in my mind as one of my absolute favorite vacations. It offers such a variety of experiences - from ruins and jungle excursions to beach, snorkeling and diving excursions. The people are very friendly and the resorts we stayed at were fantastic.

We went for 12 days and did a split between the Cayo district, staying at Chaa Creek and then the rest of the trip on Ambregris Caye staying at Portofino.

Most of our trip is outlined on my blog, if you go back to the archives from last year, September 2009

http://tripspicsandtales.blogspot.com/2009/09/youd-better-belize-it.html

I can't believe Thailand has gotten that high! Wow. I paid $570 a few years ago (granted that was a great deal, but still). So cheap once you get there though.

I'll tag along here to see what suggestions you get. I'm always interested as well, but I seem to start planning a trip to CR each time I return! Good luck.

Belize best for beaches in CA but rain in summer

www.belizefirst.com good info

Colombia and Brazil very exotic neat beaches less summer rain.

Of the 2 Brazil www.brazilnuts.com best vibe for me..

Might also consider www.visitperu.com some good beaches

www.vivamancora.com not as good as Brazil...

Happy Hunting,

Thailand is marvelous! Try EvaAir.com. They are a Taiwanese airline and have super coach flights (big seats, coach service) from the west coast for @ $1300 -- at least they did a few days ago. $1800 is very high for coach. And, like another poster said, once you get there is very inexpensive. ***** hotel @ $70/night. Happy Travels.

You might also try Peru. Lovely country with much to see and do. Beaches around Pacarus are like a step back in time! You might also enjoy the Amazon area in Peru as well as Machu Picchu and Cuzco.

Maybe a couple nights in Granada for some culture, great food and 2 nearby volcanos then some beach time & wildlife at Morgan's Rock.

Panama has lots of variety - including all the things you mentioned. Easy to get around - inexpensive to reach, cosmopolitan capital, beautiful mountainous hiking/nature areas, and also beaches. .. Interesting and diverse culture too - more so than Costa Rica. .

I personally vote for southern Mexico. My husband and I loved Costa Rica, but once I showed him the Mexico I loved (Patzcuaro, Morelia with monarch excursion, Guanajuato, Guadalajara/Tequila, San Pancho which is 1 hour north of Puerto Vallarta, then out from PV), he became a complete convert. We went last November, and it's all he talks about....
Food was great, history amazing, people incredibly kind, and we loved the beaches. Granted, you need at least 12 days and must be well organized to do a trip like this, but I really felt it was unparallelled, and so did the couple we travelled with.

You know I have heard really, really great things about Panama. In fact have met several people in Costa Rica who adore it. I've spent a couple trips in the area north of Puerto Vallarta and I'm sort of surprised with the above comments because I don't think it holds a candle to Costa Rica although it's a very lovely area. Guatemala and Belize would be on the top of my list of places to research with easy accessibility, culture and wildlife.

The Riviera Maya sounds like a good fit. Plenty of Mayan ruins, snorkeling, beach lounging, easy access via Cancun, adventure activities like ziplines, snorkeling/diving in cenotes (underground rivers/caves).

We are looking at Honduras for a future destination - splitting time between the mainland (The Lodge at Pico Bonito) and time on Roatan (undecided lodging). Not sure what it will offer as far as food and culture, but budget wise, it is less expensive than Belize. I read on another forum that many people who had been to both preferred Roatan over Ambergris Caye. Roatan sounds like it will be busier than spots in Costa Rica, but depending upon where we stay, we hope to avoid crowds.

We spent Jan. 09 in Roatan & thoroughly enjoyed our time there. We stayed at Casa Calico which reminded us of the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. We had a kitchen to cook in which was convenient. We walked around & checked out others like Half Moon Bay, & lots of other cute, colorful places. For upscale lodging, Anthony Key Resort was as lovely as you could find. We didn't rent a car. It was easy to walk into town & pick up fresh veggies & fruit. We loved eating out at various restaurants & visit with all of the people around. It was one of the friendliest places we've been. There is a water taxi to take you to West Bay. The snorkeling & diving are the best. We hired a taxi to take us around the island for around $60 for the whole day. It was a great adventure. The Carumbula Gardens are definitely worth seeing. It's a very reasonable place with lots to do.

any others have input? wanted to bump it up top as I am struggling with the next destination!

My first thought upon reading your initial question was Thailand--but then I see that you were considering it as well and I see your dilemma. That said, it IS so much cheaper once you're there. Wouldn't rule it out with a $5K budget for that many days. You could do it...

We also loved Roatan, but I thought it was more straight beach (and underwater) activities.

The Yucatan would be great, as others have said. Not the same wildlife diversity as CR, but a similar mix of activities. We loves the cenotes as well.

You might check out our travelogues: www.hitherandthither.net; we have one for each of those three destinations. Look in the column on the upper right of the homepage.

Have you already done Hawaii? Great beaches, hiking, volcanoes, snorkeling, etc. We love it, but don't know if you have your heart set on Latin America.

I really love CR but I also loved my trip to the Galapagos Islands. And Hawaii. And Honduras. If you go to Copan Ruinas, try Hacienda San Lucas. Have fun!

Look at Belize. Not the greatest beaches, but they are more than adequate. The snorkeling and diving are world class.

Several different cultures, Mayan ruins, jungles, caves, hiking, birding.

Easy to get around, the buses are reliable and dirt cheap (but they are old school buses, so not the most comfortable).

We took a bus from Belize City to Placencia last week. The ride through the Maya Mountains was beautiful. Some really stunning scenery.

Greece is nice too - not sure what the budget would be these days though. Also BVIs and USVIs.

Try researching Dominica (not the Dominican Republic). We really want to get there sometime. No wildlife, but the scenery looks beautiful, there are lots of hiking adventures available, and it is still somewhat "off the beaten path." In the northern part of the island, the beaches are supposed to be very nice.

I'm with RAC. Riviera Maya. But don't stay in an all inclusive. Splurge for one or two nights at the Tides Riviera Maya, just outside of Playa del Carmen. Then stay at a boutique hotel in Playa del Carmen (much cheaper) to be around the action. If you want to see the ruins, try the Club Med Villa Arqueologicas by the ruins. Then you can get up early and explore the ruins before all the buses get there. It's breathtaking.

San Juan Sur for beach and Ometepe island, lake / mountain / volcanoes. Nicaragua.

Tough question! Just took my first trip to CR last summer and was blown away.

However, Spain is my first love. I lived in Granada (south of Spain) for 6 months and was able to access beaches, culture and divine food for relatively cheap. At this time, airfare might be where you spend the most money but if you start tracking flights now (I recommend www.kayak.com), you can keep an eye on it.

For an added thrill - Morocco is only a ferry ride away..

Although we enjoyed Costa Rica very much, we felt like tourists there, probably because we did not have the good luck we did in Panama. So often travel is like that--you plan something great, and it's good. You take a flyer on something good, and it's great.

For our "flyer", we took a bus from San Jose and a boat to Bocas del Toro, where our host resort, Au Natural, picked us up for a 45 min. boat ride to their natural hideaway on a lagoon on Bastiementos Island.

From then on, we were lost in time. No need to dress up, but it is definitely not nudist, as its title could suggest. Although it's a resort, you feel more as though you have a tropical family cabana and your uncle, a fabulous French chef, is getting dinner ready.

By the time you leave, you own those hammocks down on the dock, watching the sunset. At night, wiggle your feet in the water to see plankton glowing back at the night sky. Sleep in--nobody else is up. Plenty of chance to explore, learn, hike, snorkle, picnic with your private guide, Nothing to buy.

I hear you can have similar experiences in Nicaragua, down by San Juan del Sur, at the eco-lodges. Check it out.

Hi Parkersunshine,

I read your CR trip report and used some of your ideas to plan my trip there. We like you guys enjoy some adventure, some pampering, local culture and good food.

Many suggestions you are getting are in Central America, but I was getting the feeling that you were looking for something vastly different culture wise.

We have been go Belize and felt that it isn't much of a difference from CR. Great snorkeling and some good inland jungle and wildlife activities. We did a day trip across the border to Tikal in Guatemala which was the highlight of our inland portion of the trip. We saw some similar wildlife there as we did in CR, but less of it. Accommodations in Ambergris Key in Belize are similar in price or even more than what you might pay in Manuel Antonio. We don't recall the food there being all that special though.

The Riviera Maya also offers good beach, good food, and some culture, but probably less on the wildlife front. But still not a huge departure from what you saw in CR, other than being more developed.

We have also been to Peru for 8 days, but didn't visit any beaches there or the amazon. We did a day trip to the Nazca lines from Lima and then went to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. Culture is noticeably different there from CR, but there are definitely some similarities too. Food is pretty good.

The Galapagos would be great, but that plus a couple days in Quito would be all that you could do in 10 days. May likely break your $5000 budget though unless you go on one of the really small boats. My friends got really sea sick for a day on one of those so I avoided it and went on one of the larger boats (Celebrity Xpedition), but the cost for our trip including international and domestic air was $10,000. Well worth it though!!

We have also traveled to Thailand a few years back. Probably cost us $5000 for 14 days including international and domestic air. Hotel and food here is much cheaper than all the above destinations (Great BnB for $30 a night and the Marriott in Bangkok was an oasis at just over $100 a night). We went from the interesting city and culture of Bangkok to the northern jungles and then ended in the southern beaches. I feel it really does offer a great blend of all that you enjoyed in CR, but with a completely different culture and food. Definitely a departure from Central America.

Look at different travel dates if you can to see if that alters the cost of your airfare. We spent $1000 for international air there. Last year we went to New Zealand during the Christmas holiday season though and air was $3000 per person. Yikes! Luckily we had a friend with an excessive amount of miles and we just paid him the general value of his miles which was half that. So I can understand how international airfare can scare you off. I think Thailand is calling you!!

My best place would be Borneo. The Borneo Rainforest Lodge is one of the most amazing places. After the rainforest there is extremely beautiful snorkeling in Malaysia. We also loved Ecuador, Napo Wildlife Center was so beautiful and very reasonably priced.

"koala" you are correct, we want to move away from Central America to expand our traveling footprint. Would have highly considered Argentina & Buenos Aires if only the seasons were different and we could have the hot heat we love.

"thisblonde" we were considering Spain as I read they have some nice beaches but I got lost in all the information of where to go etc. I am not familiar with Europe at all and became overwhelmed. If you have any specific information such as cities to see, and what to do while there and what beach is a must I'd be open to hearing about it!

I'm with VG...Try St. John and Virgin Gorda in the Virgin Islands. Both are off the beaten path and beautiful. I spent my honeymoon at Caneel Bay on St. John, but can't afford to go back now.

All three of my sibings have been recently to St. John, rented houses and had a fabulous time.

The Greek Islands are on my bucket list, but I can't speak to them!

Good luck!

I have one more comment! Heehee!

I spent 5 wks in Spain many years ago and loved it. Barcelona is magnificent and there are several beach towns on the way there from Madrid if you travel by train. Valencia was also great, but my trip was during college and my expectations for lodging were very basic. Only thing I required was a HOT shower. But I would go back in a heartbeat.

This may sound too simple, but we just returned from a week in Puerto Rico.

It was easy and inexspensive to get to, it is not too scary to rent a car to drive around and it has some diverse areas. The rain forest is not on the scale of Costa rica, but is a great experience.

We stayed in San Juan on the beach, but everyday took a day trip somewhere. When we ate at a real locals type place food was very inexspenve. $15-$25 for dinner for 3.

Tech, did you guys see any interesting wildlife there?