Pacific or Carribean side of Costa Rica??

Old Jun 30th, 2015, 03:21 PM
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Pacific or Carribean side of Costa Rica??

hi all, need some help with my Costa Rica trip. My boyfriend and I will be arriving on 8/7 at 11:30a.m into SJO and departing 8 days later on 8/18 at 12:30P.M.

I know for sure we want to go to La Fortuna for all the activites we wanted to do: the hanging bridges, water rafting, water falls, hiking, volcano, zip lining, hot spring. We are staying at a hotel that has the hot spring on site, so that is taking cared of.

If anyone got any tours they have done and raved about, please let me know.

So, I was thinking of heading straight to La Fortuna right after we land, we are thinking of renting a car, is that a good idea or is it not very safe to drive in CR?

My second part of our vacation is where I am very torn, I want to go to both the Carribean and the Pacific side, but of course we don't have enough time. I have been researching for a while and still can't decide, Please give me some of opinions if you preferred the Pacific or the Carribean side?

We are from San Diego, so we do have plenty of beaches here, but the water is too cold for my taste, so I don't really go to the beaches. I am looking for some warm, turquoise white sandy beaches. I would love to be able to snorkel or dive if possible and if not, it wouldn't be the end of the world.


would it be possible:
3) nights in LA Fortuna,
2) nights in Guanacaste or Manuel Anotonio
2) nights at Puerto Viejo - drive to the airport on Tues EARLY a.m for our 12:30 afternoon flight??
OR 1 night at Puerto Viejo and one night at SJO to fly back to the U.S?

Thanks for all your help,
Kate
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Old Jun 30th, 2015, 06:03 PM
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I would check to see what time sunset is at that time of year. We went in February and landed at about the same time. By the time we collected luggage, got through immigration, and rented the car, changed a flat, and drove to La Fortuna, it was after dark. Not fun for a first night. You might want to stay near the airport and drive up fresh and rested the next day. Of course if sunset is later, you might still have time.
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Old Jun 30th, 2015, 06:58 PM
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You should be fine to go to La Fortuna if you get in at 11:30. It's about a three hour drive. A lot of people drive themselves. If you don't want to though, you can take the Interbus shuttle or hire a private driver through your hotel. If you drive yourselves, you might consider getting the GPS since things aren't always well marked. You don't really have time to do both the Caribbean and Pacific sides, so you just need to decide which one is a better fit for you. Manuel Antonio will have more in the way of infrastructure, the national park, lots of hotel and restaurant choices, and tons of wildlife. We haven't really found great snorkeling in CR; we go to Belize for that.
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Old Jul 1st, 2015, 05:02 AM
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You might want to look at www.puertoviejosatellite.com to get an idea of what the Caribbean side is like. What I like about it is that it is very laid back, and you can bike all along the coast with rain forest on one side, and the sea on the other. You can stop at any beach along the stretch. It isn't built up at all, but there are a lot of small boutique hotels along the stretch, great restaurants, and many opportunities to see wildlife.

One fun option is that you could leave your car in La Fortuna and transfer via rafting the Pacuare River. Exploradores Outdoors offers this. You really don't need a car on the Caribbean side.

The downside of going to the Caribbean is that you would probably want to return to the airport area the night before your flight.
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Old Jul 1st, 2015, 08:33 AM
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Agree that you only have time for 2 locations. CR is not the place for snorkeling. That time of year is the sea turtle nesting in Tortuguero, so you may want to look into that., combined with Puerto Viejo/Cahuita on the Carribean side. You will have to spend your last night near the airport as travel is slow and road conditions can change for the worst at any time.

It is dark at about 5-6 pm year round due to proximity to the equator.
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Old Jul 1st, 2015, 09:20 AM
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We've gone to the La Fortuna/Areal area a few times; we've used both Sunset Tours and Desafio for tours, and they're both excellent. Sky Trek is great for ziplining, and Eco Termales and Tabacon for hot springs if you decide to explore those outside your hotel. The Cano Negro tour is great for seeing wildlife. We did our rafting with Rios Tropicales and really enjoyed it. There's nice hiking at the Hanging Bridges and waterfall. Hire a guide for the Hanging Bridges if you want to increase your chances of seeing wildlife. We did it on our own and only saw ants, but went another time with a guide and saw howler monkeys and a toucan. A good guide can really help spot things you might walk right by. Manuel Antonio is very pretty, but for the most part Costa Rica does not have that turquoise water that you're envisioning. There tends to be a lot of sediment in the water.
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Old Jul 2nd, 2015, 02:50 PM
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Volcanogirl, thanks for all the tour advices, for sure i will look them up.

If we take a tour and they drop us off at Pacure river, i wonder how we will go back to SJO for the airport.\

It sounds like most of you prefer the Carribean side??
Is it because it's more low key??

i looked at the Puerto Viejo satalite. and still not sure.. which side is the best side to visit for the first time..

so it doesnt look like i can do both:
i wonder if we should go to la Arenal, and also get our water rafting done here, the tour company can pick us up here and get all our activities done here.

Then go to the beach, i am looking at either: Guanacaste, Manuel Anotonio and or the Carribean side.. such a difficult decision
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Old Jul 2nd, 2015, 05:41 PM
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The rafting company will bring you to the river, then when you are done, take you to your next destination, so you can do the rafting either on your way from Arenal, or back from the Caribbean to San Jose.

I have never been to Manuel Antonio, but have been to other parts of the Pacific side. I like it all for different reasons. Have you looked through any guide books? They can help, even if it's an older version from the library.
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