mamaleone

Family of 5 in process of planning a 1st time visit to Costa Rica April 2014.
Kids ages: 7, 10 & 13.

Flying into San Jose on April 12th (arriving at 11am) and staying a total of 7 nights.
Flying out of San Jose on April 19th (departing at Noon)

Ideally, we'd love an upscale, mildly adventurous vacation filled with good food, fun and family time. Prefer to limit ourselves to 2 hotels (not a fan of packing/unpacking!)

Our preliminary thought is to head to Arenal for 3days/2 nights. The Springs Hotel looks amazing. Any thoughts/experience on that property? Would also love to hear suggestions on tours and/or activities while in the area. My 7 year old is a little on the timid side and not sure how she will handle the more intense tours. Do some tours offer a watered down version for less adventurous members of the family?

The next leg of our trip is less clear. We will likely be travelling by private driver.
One suggestion was to spend 5 nights in Manuel Antonio area. Perhaps at Si Como No or La Mansion Inn. Another suggestion would be to stay at the Marriott Los Suenos and do a day trip to Manuel Antonio Park in addition to other activities in the Los Suenos area. (My husband put in his request for deep sea fishing.)

We'd love to find a great balance of adventure and relaxation but not quite sure how to achieve that. Costa Rica is such a beautiful place and we are hoping to return again in the future but in the meantime want to plan a fun, carefree, relaxing family vacation.

Would really appreciate feedback and suggestions.

Thanks so much!

volcanogirl

We stayed at the Springs and loved it. We got a Groupon deal, so about half price. I saw that they just offered the deal again. Not sure when it expires, but you might check into it. The Springs is perfect for people who want to see Costa Rica but don't want to suffer - lol. It's got a.c., five restaurants, an awesome river where you can tube and kayak, horseback riding, tons of natural hot springs all over the property, and even a water slide. If you can swing the cost, it's definitely a place your kids would love. The rooms are very nice too; we had a great private balcony with a volcano view.

Manuel Antonio is great for families as well. I would stay at Tulemar Bungalows. It's hard to beat because they have their own beach with free boogie boarding and kayaking. The rooms/villas have a kitchen with frig which is so convenient, and we saw loads of wildlife there including monkeys and sloths. The national park has a beautiful beach and easy access to fairly tame wildlife. There are several good restaurants that are walkable from Tulemar; they'll also stock your refrigerator for you. I think most of the places come with a concierge. We had never had one before, but wow, he was really helpful. They'll book tours for you as well if you want them to.

mamaleone

Thanks, Volcanogirl. I saw that Groupon. Great deal!! Unfortunately not valid during our travel dates. The rate we were quoted from the hotel wasnt bad since they have a 2 level room that can accomodate the 5 of us as opposed to 2 adjoining rooms.

Will definitely check out Tulemar. I love the idea of a concierge

Thanks again!!

incabod

Great advice by Volcanogirl as always. The Springs is SWANKY, never stayed there but have visited the hot springs and they get 2 thumbs up form me. Runner up to that would probably be Tabacon. More for their hotsprings than the actual hotel (a bit dated) but still very nice. Both places have water slides which the kids will dig.

Personally I would skip Los Suenos. Nice hotel, not so nice an area. The beach there is rocky and the closest town Jaco can be a bit seedy. I would follow Volcanogirl and go a bit further south and stay in Manuel Antonio. Tulemar is awesome, private beach and good location. You can also check out Si Como No, Mariposa, Altos, all very swanky. Great fishing out of Quepos there as well.

mamaleone

Thanks, Incabod. I think we'll stick to MA area for 2nd leg of our trip.

Anyone have thoughts on Los Altos? Units look very nice.

incabod

Never stayed there but I know the property. Really nice place.

volcanogirl

Have not stayed there, but I always hear good reviews. The only negative I've heard is that it's a steep hike down to the beach, but that's true of most spots in MA. Tulemar has a shuttle that takes you down. Maybe check and see if they offer something like that.

Green_Travel_CR1

live in Costa Rica and I have three boys, when we travel they love Arenal Volcano and Rincon de la Vieja Volcano as well. The dates you are traveling are very busy but not impossible to find excellent accommodations that can please everybody expectations.

The children will be excited to do things like zip lines, floating tours, tubbing, and horseback riding and not to be miss the hotsprings, The hotel Borinquen in Rincon de la Vieja is a beautiful place to spend a great vacation with the family, you can stay there for 2 / 3 nights and then move to the north Pacific area, during the late April the North Pacific coast is great for catch sailfish, blue Marlin, dorado. The hotels in the north Pacific especially in Tamarindo, Papagayo Gulf organize fishing trips and the children will enjoy the kids club, another activity for them is surf classes, totally safe and fun!

The other combination that may work out for you is 3 nights in Arenal (the Arenal Springs may be sold out for those dates but there are other options) and then move down to Manuel Antonio, Hotel Parador is a nice place, and activities for everyone can be arranged from the hotel including deep sea fishing.

Green_Travel_CR1

live in Costa Rica and I have three boys, when we travel they love Arenal Volcano and Rincon de la Vieja Volcano as well. The dates you are traveling are very busy but not impossible to find excellent accommodations that can please everybody expectations.

The children will be excited to do things like zip lines, floating tours, tubbing, and horseback riding and not to be miss the hotsprings, The hotel Borinquen in Rincon de la Vieja is a beautiful place to spend a great vacation with the family, you can stay there for 2 / 3 nights and then move to the north Pacific area, during the late April the North Pacific coast is great for catch sailfish, blue Marlin, dorado. The hotels in the north Pacific especially in Tamarindo, Papagayo Gulf organize fishing trips and the children will enjoy the kids club, another activity for them is surf classes, totally safe and fun!

The other combination that may work out for you is 3 nights in Arenal (the Arenal Springs may be sold out for those dates but there are other options) and then move down to Manuel Antonio, Hotel Parador is a nice place, and activities for everyone can be arranged from the hotel including deep sea fishing.