Hi All,

I've seen how helpful you've all been with other newbies and wondered if you could help me out. We'll be in CR from May 26-31 and staying at the Melia Cariari hotel for all 5 nights.

What would you recommend we try to see in this amount of time? We will not have a car, but are willing to hire a taxi, take the interbus, etc. Is a beach out of the question?

Also, I'm curious about the currency. I've read in some travel books that Costa Ricans prefer the US Dollar. Is this true? And if not, should we exchange USD for colones before leaving the states?

Any comments are greatly appreciated!
~Sue

The dollar works very well in Costa Rica, but it is easier to use colones unless you carry a calculator! You can use ATM's to get colones or dollars. Whatever you decide to do there won't be a problem.

It is absolutely not out of the question to go to the beach. You are a little limited as to "which beach", but you can get to Jaco in 1.5 hour--not bad at all! Good for a day trip!

San Jose is a great base for some fantastic tours:

1-2 day rafting
Highlights Tour (10 hour--breakfast
at coffee plantation, Poas Volcano,
waterfall, hummingbird gallery,
lunch on the Sarapiqui River at
Selva Verde Hotel, jungle cruise
down the Sarapiqui to view wildlife
visit the town of Puerto Viejo de
Sarapiqui, drive through Braulio
Carillo National Park, etc.
A GREAT TOUR!

Irazu volcano, Lankaster Gardens, Orosi Valley--another full day trip--

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY (both of these tours)

Cafe Britt coffee plantation tour

JUST TO NAME A FEW! Have fun!

Sorry--the 1-2 day rafting trip is not connected to the Highlights Tour! I didn't intend for it to look that way!

See all the other threads - the National Parks are amazing and the volcano and coffee plantation tours are special.
The Melia Cairari is very nice, but atypical as you could be almost anywhere and not notice the difference.
As mentioned, CR is a very beautiful and special country that you must explore to enjoy.
M

We stayed at Vista del Valle for a week and did day tours from there. Hired a private driver.

We did go to Jaco Beach also, just a word of advice the sand is a blackish color. On the way we stopped at Carrera (sp) park to see if we could see any macaws, and on the way back we did a crocodile/wildlife tour out of Tarcoles, where we did see scarlet macaws.

Other things we did were:
Arenal and Tabacan
Paos & Waterfall Garden
Whitewater rafting
Zip line tour
Cafe Brit, zoo, and San Jose

So you should be able to keep your days busy.