We were eyeing the Grand Papagayo and the Allegro Papagayo resorts for our December honeymoon, as fiance and I don't want to stay in more than one hotel during our week-long stay (though not sure yet if we will go to Costa Rica or not). Is it a waste to stay in one of these all-inclusive resorts? We intend to go on lots of excursions, but I don't want to lose out on the experience of CR.

Although I don't know anything about the resorts you mentioned, I'm one of the people who would NOT do an all-inclusive in CR. All-inclusives seem to make sense if you want to stay isolated from your surroundings, but if you do that in CR, you miss out on everything that makes it special. In my opinion, if you're at an AI, you could just as well be at any other tropical place.

You said you plan to do excursions, and depending on what those are and where you're going to do them, you might feel like you got outside the resort. But if you want to do zip lines, for example, the ones near the resort probably won't be as exciting as the ones in Arenal and Monteverde.

Have you thought about Manuel Antonio? We stayed there twice, at Si Como No, and that hotel basically is all-inclusive if you want it to be (you can go on tours they set up, have spa treatments, eat at only their restaurants). But if you want to venture out and do other things, you can. The park is right there, as are beaches, and there are lots of other activities nearby.

We went for our 7-day honeymoon to Xandari, a gorgeous resort near the airport for one night, then Arenal and Manuel Antonio. On another trip, we went to Monteverde, Montezuma, and MA.

Good luck planning! Costa Rica is gorgeous.

In my opinion, yes, it's a waste. I've stayed at Allegro Papagayo. You might as well save your money and go to Miami, because you are pretty much trapped in the hotel and you won't know where you are. Nice pool w/ swim-up bar, but very far away from everything and excursions can be excrutiatingly long drives. Also you don't get that Tico hospitality you can get from the smaller, more charming places. It's big, crowded, and impersonal, the staff is not friendly or helpful and they have a lot of "rules" about when you can go to the beach, fines for losing your towel, etc., and it's full of people who are sitting around drinking all day long because it's too hard to do anything else!

Sandy

Our first trip to CR was an all inclusive package deal to the Costa Smeralda, which is now the Grand Papagayo.

Typically when we book a package like this, it is a last minute decision and a package that is extremely inexpensive. This was a Vacation Express Package offered out of Atlanta. The cost was not much more than the cost of airfare. I have often said that if we had not booked this last minute vacation I may not have had the 3 additional wonderful and exciting trips to CR. So for me no it was not a waste, it gave us an easy introduction that caused me to research further and ultimately become totally addicted to CR.

These two particular resorts are very secluded, nearest town is Coco. You will not find a little beach town in walking distance, instead you would need to rely on taxi, tour bus or rental vehicle.

As for tours Percy has some great advice. Plug in the name Percy in the search area and search Costa Rica.

Our trip was in 2001 and at that time the grounds of the GP were very nice, beautifully landscaped. We had one of the honeymoon suites (don't know how that happened!), but the views were very pretty and the room very comfortable. I am not a fan of buffet type restaurants, so the food was so so. We tended to have breakfast at the hotel and then lunch out and about - We drove into Coco for many of our meals.

We did spend 2 nights off property. We chose to drive to the Monteverde Cloud Forest and rented a room for a couple of nights. So enjoyed this area!

We are not people that do well sitting around doing nothing. My husband nevers spends time on a beach other than walking from point A to point B.

I would say many people staying here were very content sitting around the pool all day. Those people never saw anything other than another AI resort, could have been anywhere. If we had not ventured off property on our own each day, I can say we would have probably never returned to CR.

AI resorts are obviously very popular in many different countries. I think it depends mostly on what type vacation you wish to experience.

And with all this said, Costa Rica is a beautiful country with so much to offer, but having stayed at the GP, I personally would not consider it to be a prime honeymoon location. Although there were honeymooners there.

Bosque del Cabo in the Osa Penisula, I could say that would work for my honeymoon!

Or the MA area that was previously mentioned could offer you a nice experience.

Or so many other hotels/lodges.

I too wouldn't consider an AI in Costa Rica. We stayed at several hotels during our honeymoon, and if I was to recommend one for a week long stay, it would be Si Como No in Manuel Antonio, hands down. Beautiful resort, good restaurants, lots to do nearby (MA has spectacular beaches and lots of other activities) and we just really liked the feel of the place. We adored Costa Rica and would go back in a second...

Yes, it is a big waste, except as mentioned above, last minute deal, usually cheaper than the air ticket. In that case you can rent a car and travel around for days, forget the all inclusive.

December is a little early for the season, you might get rain and washed out roads!

Had the very same experience as dfarmer---the same year, and we've been back 10 times! It was those 2 daytrips we took into the Rincon de la Vieja from the Allegro Papagayo resort that forever chained Costa Rica to our hearts!

We were traveling with our older kids (upper teens and twenties) and they loved the AI atmosphere and made friends with several of the activity/dance team staffers. We've stayed a few nights at AI's since then (weekends here and there) visiting those same kids as they've made the rounds from one resort to another. It's been interesting! But since that first experience, it's been our desire to see as much as possible and we've made a lot of friends along the way.

For a honeymoon--you could enjoy an AI, but I think you'd enjoy more the Manuel Antonio suggestions you've received. We, too, loved Si Como No.
Also, Punta Islita would make a fabulous honeymoon destination as would Santa Teresa/MalPais.

Congratulations and good luck!